Metropolitan Anthony: One should treat God with affection
Chancellor of the UOC, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Boryspil and Brovary. Photo: www.antoniy.com.ua
We need to learn how to treat God with affection, because it is the crown of love, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich), the UOC Chancellor, called on the flock.
“Affection or devotion is a Christian concept. Even more, affection is unthinkable outside of Christ. It is the highest degree of love that goes beyond earthly emotional attachment, passionate feelings; it is the crown of love, passionless and therefore magnificent,” Metropolitan Anthony said on the pages of the Pravlife portal.
The hierarch drew the attention of believers to the fact that affection is a quality of God, which refers to the Divine, rather than human nature.
He reminded the flock of the Apostle Paul’s call to “be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love” (Rom. 12:10).
Metropolitan Anthony explained that in these words the apostle defines the highest state of love – affection, which rejects evil, which is genuine and seeks good even where it is difficult to find it.
“In order to treat one another with affection, one must first learn to treat God with affection. Possessing this highest experience for man, the soul will never be able to think about the choice between the Creator and something or someone else. Only God is forever, the UOC hierarch emphasized. “Affection opens the heart, and it begins to tirelessly preach about the Almighty God and perceive the world in His Light.”
Metropolitan Anthony drew the attention of believers to the fact that affection is a state of saints who have gone beyond the boundaries of earthly love.
Therefore, we need to go through all levels of love and strive with all our hearts for affection, the hierarch urged the flock. Affection is so great that even the entire world cannot embrace it; it lives only in a humble heart, he concluded.
Earlier, the hierarch reiterated that everything must be done so that people are not deprived of the Sacraments.
Read also
In Podgorica, multi-thousand procession held on city's patron saint day
Thousands of believers walked in a procession through the capital of Montenegro, honoring the memory of Saint Simeon the Myrrh-Streaming.
Persecuted UOC parish in Zeleniv reads Great Canon
A Bukovynian Orthodox community, deprived of its church in 2024, conducts Great Lent services in an adapted facility.
Patriarch Bartholomew warns against unacceptable peace for Ukraine
The head of the Constantinople Church stated that to achieve peace in Ukraine, the leaders of nations must take the "narrow path of justice."
MinCulture opens Lavra's Near Caves only for groups and by reservation
The Ministry of Culture's statement says that "the opening of the Near Caves for believers is not only a long-awaited and outstanding event in church life but also a sign of the indestructibility of our faith".
Metropolitan Onuphry reads Great Canon at Intercession Convent of Kyiv
The Primate of the UOC led the Great Compline with the reading of the second part of the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete at the capital's Intercesssion Convent.
OCU “hierarch” selling fake ID documents sent to pre-trial detention center
The Ivano-Frankivsk court has chosen a preventive measure for the OCU "bishop" suspected of issuing fictitious ordination certificates for the rank of deacon to evade mobilization.