His Beatitude Onuphry: One can know God’s will by listening to conscience

His Beatitude Onuphry. Photo: UOC press service

On the sixth Sunday after Pascha, dedicated to the remembrance of the healing of the born-blind man by the Savior, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry addressed the faithful with a sermon at the Agapit Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra about the spiritual significance of the Gospel miracle and the conditions for a prayer to be heard.

In his speech, the Primate of the UOC detailed the Gospel narrative of how Christ healed a man who was blind from birth, despite the opposition of the Pharisees, who believed that healing on the Sabbath violated the law.

Spiritual lessons of the miracle

His Beatitude Onuphry emphasized that the miracle demonstrated the divinity of Christ as the Creator of the visible and invisible world, since the man born blind did not even have eyeballs: "The Lord not only created everything that exists in the world, but also created eyes for this blind man."

Special attention in the sermon was given to the words of the healed blind man to the Pharisees: "God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him." The Primate explained that these words have a direct relation to the prayer life of every Christian.

Conditions for a prayer to be heard

"It is very important what spiritual and moral state a person is in when addressing God in prayer. If he honors God and does His will, then this prayer will definitely be heard," emphasized Metropolitan Onuphry.

His Beatitude clarified what it means to "honor God": "God must always come first. A person must know and remember that God is the source of all blessings... And always put God first — above wealth, above human glory, above everything."

On knowing God's will

Speaking about doing the will of God, the Primate of the UOC pointed to three sources of its knowledge: "One can know the will of God when a person reads the Holy Scriptures, the writings of the holy fathers, and when he listens to his conscience. All these spiritual sources proclaim to a person the will of God."

His Beatitude Onuphry warned that the will of God "can sometimes be inconvenient for our earthly existence" and even contradict human establishments, but a Christian must "put the will of God above human will, because in the will of God is life".

The choice between life and death

"Whoever does the will of God lives and goes to life. Whoever does his own will, which is not in accordance with the will of God, — my will will inevitably end in death, it leads to death," emphasized His Beatitude.

Metropolitan Onuphry explained: "The most beautiful human will, desire, if it is not in accordance with the divine desire, leads a person to death. If we fulfill God's desires, then we go to life."

A call to spiritual struggle

In conclusion, His Beatitude called on the faithful: "May the Lord help us live in this world so that God is always in the first place for us, so that we strive to do the will of God. Then our life will be blessed here on earth and will be salvation for us in heaven."

The Primate noted that following the will of God "requires a certain self-discipline, work on oneself", but such a person "has a strong prayer".

The sermon was delivered in the context of the ongoing celebration of Holy Pascha in one of the main churches of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra — the spiritual center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in his sermon on the feast day of St. Theodosius of the Caves, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry spoke about how humility makes a person strong.

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