Kiev, October 15, 2025
Photo: uoc-news.church
The Orthodox faithful must always flee to the prayerful intercessions of the Most Holy Theotokos, both in good times and bad, says His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.
The primate of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church led the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God at Holy Protection Convent in Kiev yesterday, concelebrated by seven brother hierarchs and local and visiting clergy, reports the Information-Education Department of the UOC.
After the reading of the Holy Gospel, His Beatitude offered a homily for the feast, emphasizing that the omophorion of the Theotokos, which St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ saw protecting the city of Constantinople, has become a visible sign of her invisible intercession and protection for every person who turns to her with faith.
Met. Onuphry drew a Patristic parallel between the Theotokos and the Tower of David—a defensive structure in Jerusalem where shields, spears, arrows and other weapons were kept:
“The Mother of God is a spiritual tower, a spiritual stronghold, Who is the Beauty of the Church, and Who has all the implements to defeat the devil and all evil.”
He therefore called on the faithful to always pray to Theotokos, both in times of prosperity and in times of trials: “When things are good for us, we must thank God and thank the Mother of God for the fact that she has given us all good things through her prayers. When we have trouble, we must pray to the Mother of God to help us endure this trouble.”
He also emphasized that if a man prays during times of well-being, his prayer in times of trouble will be stronger and will have greater spiritual boldness.
In conclusion, Met. Onuphry wished that the protection of the Mother of God would be with every believer and with Ukraine as a whole.
At the end of the Liturgy, the hierarchs and clergy served the glorification to the Mother of God.
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