Kiev, December 9, 2025
Photo: news.church.ua
On Sunday, December 7, 2025, the feast of the Great Martyr Catherine, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of St. Agapit at the Holy Dormition-Kiev Caves Lavra.
The primate was concelebrated by four brother hierarchs, the brethren of the monastery, and clerical guests, reports the Information-Education Department of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
After the reading of the Holy Gospel, His Beatitude addressed the congregation with a homily on the healing of the woman with a spirit of infirmity and the life of St. Catherine.
His Beatitude noted that the devil can bind us bodily in various ways through illnesses. However, what is common in such cases is the inclination of our mind toward the earth, where we become “mentally infirm.”
The Archpastor noted that God gave us a mind so that we might come to know Him and the beautiful world He created. From this knowledge, we should “be inflamed with love and zeal for God.”
For his part, the devil tries to bind our mind to the earth. To do this, he uses wealth, fame, career, honor and so forth. “When we cling only to earthly interests, then the devil begins to torment and abuse us,” His Beatitude said.
Instead, we need to tear our mind away from such interests and remember eternity. Realizing the inevitability of separation from earthly things, we must raise our rational eyes to Heaven, to God.
Met. Onuphry added that when we do this and ask God for forgiveness and salvation, the Lord heals us, just as He healed the woman with a spirit of infirmity.
His Beatitude then spoke about the life and martyric death of the Great Martyr Catherine. Among other things, he pointed to the wisdom and learning of St. Catherine, which she displayed particularly in debates about the faith.
“May the Lord strengthen each of us through the prayers of the Great Martyr Catherine, so that we don’t cling with our mind only to earthly things. Yes, we must arrange earthly matters for ourselves. But the main thing for us should be Heaven, God,” His Beatitude noted.
The Ukrainian primate also emphasized that when we cling with our mind to God, He, knowing our needs, sends us everything necessary for earthly life. At the same time, if we cling to earthly things, we find no happiness in them and lose eternal life in Heaven.
In conclusion, His Beatitude remarked that directing our mind to God means “to pray to God, to reflect on our sins, on Divine holiness and on Heavenly eternal life.”
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