A Christian

A year ago, the new head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphriy was enthroned. The "Komsomolskaya Pravda" asked the head of the administrative apparatus of the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC, archimandrite Victor Kotsaba to remark on this occasion.

This word is so familiar and hackneyed that calling ourselves so, we rarely think what it really means. Today a "Christian" is the one who says that he/she believes in God. Actually, true, not formal, Christians are not numerous. Sociologists say that they make about 3%. The criterion here is whether they are church-goers or not. Well, maybe this is an argument for sociologists. But not for God: "Not everyone who says" Lord, Lord” 'shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” Rather, this is not the only criterion for being a "Christian." There are many others: appeal to God (read - repentance), fulfillment of the commandments, and participation in the Sacraments. All of them can be expressed in two lines: "Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself."

I was lucky enough to know two people whose lives are fully consistent with this commandment - His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphriy.

Interestingly, both were elected to the Kiev metropolitan throne in very difficult times for Ukraine and for the Church. The former is a year now no longer with us, the latter is a year the head of the UOC.

People often ask me what kind of person he is. My answer is the following: he is modest in life, easy-going and open-hearted to everybody. He doesn’t rank people by their social status, gender or position in society. He is the same with the president and with the cleaner. He is the father for all, and absolutely doesn’t look like a boss, as very often he humbles himself. Humility is a word which is often not familiar to a secular man. So, Metropolitan Onufriy, being the Primate of the largest religious denomination in Ukraine and one of the biggest in the world, can wash dishes with monks and sweep floors with cleaners!

A humble man is a man of peace. His Grace seeks peace and shares it with everyone. The most important thing for him is to be in accord with God.

His Beatitude is a hearty, hospitable person, with a great sense of humour. When he is told that he is very spiritual, he says, that only half spiritual. The second half, as we may guess, is his human nature. For him, Christ is a joy! And I know that everyone who has happened to talk to Metropolitan Onuphriy caught that Joy from him. Maybe, that's why let’s hope everything will be all right with us.

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