UOC Primate: If you live by the laws of holiness, you yourself become holy

Metropolitan Onuphry. Photo: UOC Press Service

On August 14, 2025, the Feast of the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord and the Commemoration of the Holy Maccabean Martyrs, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Agapitus Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. In his sermon, he spoke about the spiritual meaning of the feat of the ancient martyrs.

The cross as the banner of victory of good over evil

The Primate of the UOC reminded the faithful that on the first day of the Dormition Fast, the Holy Church brings out the precious and life-giving Cross for the veneration of the people. “The Cross is the banner of victory of good over evil, the banner on which human sins were destroyed and man was reconciled with God,” His Beatitude Onuphry noted.

He stressed that fasting is a special time of reconciliation with God and with one’s neighbors. For this reason, the Church invites the faithful to venerate the life-giving wood so that “by the power of the precious and life-giving Cross of Christ, we may overcome all visible and invisible enemies.”

The feat of the seven brothers and their mother

His Beatitude paid special attention in his sermon to the memory of the Holy Maccabean Martyrs – seven brothers, their mother Solomonia, and their teacher Eleazar, who suffered for the faith 160 years before the Nativity of Christ during the persecution by the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes.

The Primate described the family of the Maccabees as “remarkable,” distinguished by their special love for God. “Love for God is expressed not only in inner feelings but is determined by human actions. A person who loves God keeps the divine law,” he emphasized.

Metropolitan Onuphry spoke in detail about the martyrdom of the brothers, who endured everything as “holy and good warriors of Christ.” He described with particular tenderness the feat of their mother Solomonia, who not only did not hinder her children in their confession but also strengthened them in the faith.

The example of hypocrisy is unacceptable

The Primate also dwelt on the story of their teacher Eleazar, to whom friends suggested outwardly complying with the demands of the pagans while secretly keeping his own convictions. “If I, an old man, begin to act with hypocrisy, then I will become a stumbling block for young people. And whom would we then raise before God? Hypocrites,” the Primate conveyed the martyr’s words.

A call to holiness

Concluding his sermon, His Beatitude Onuphry underlined the relevance of the Maccabees’ example for modern Christians. “Every person must strive to be holy, that is, to strive for holiness. This striving takes place when we compel ourselves to live according to the divine laws, when we show active love for God,” he said.

“When a person begins to live by the laws of love, by the laws of holiness, he himself becomes love, he himself becomes holy. And holiness, love – this is what everyone seeks,” the hierarch noted, calling on the faithful to build their lives upon the divine laws so as to resemble the ancient confessors of the faith.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to the Primate of the UOC, when you fall, you must always ask God to extend His hand to you.

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