His Beatitude speaks of a miracle of St. Nicholas in our time

His Beatitude Onuphry. Photo: UOC press service

On December 19, 2025, the feast day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, celebrated a divine service at the St. Nicholas Church of the Intercession Monastery in Kyiv and delivered a homily in which he spoke about a miracle of St. Nicholas that occurred in modern times.

His Beatitude reminded the faithful of the life and ascetic labors of St. Nicholas – the great saint of God, who from an early age was brought up in the fear of God and devoted his entire life to serving God and helping people.

The Metropolitan emphasized that St. Nicholas continues to help people even today. As confirmation, the Primate recounted a remarkable incident that he had witnessed about fifty years ago.

According to His Beatitude Onuphry, a woman who in her youth had not lived according to God’s commandments fell gravely ill and found herself at the brink of death. Her entire life passed before her eyes, and she saw the multitude of her sins.

“And she turned to the Lord and said: ‘Lord, extend my life at least for a week or two. I will not sleep, I will pray constantly and repent, so that You may forgive me my sins,’” the Primate related.

After this prayer, the woman felt relief and fell asleep. In her sleep, a radiant, venerable elder appeared to her and reproached her for promising to repent but falling asleep as soon as she felt better. The elder commanded her to rise and pray to God.

The woman rose in fear and began to pray. The Lord extended her life not for two weeks, but for many years. When she recovered and came to church, approaching the icons, she recognized in one of them the very elder who had appeared to her in the dream. It was St. Nicholas.

“And with great reverence she venerated the icon of St. Nicholas, thanking God for sending her such an intercessor and helper, who aided her in repenting of her sins and in bringing her earthly life to a worthy end,” His Beatitude said.

Concluding his homily, Metropolitan Onuphry called on the faithful to repent of their sins and to build their lives according to God’s commandments.

“May the Lord, through the prayers of St. Nicholas, help us as well, dear brothers and sisters, first of all to repent of our sins, because there is no person who has lived and not sinned,” the Primate said.

His Beatitude reminded the faithful that the purpose of human life is the attainment of likeness to God through the fulfillment of the divine commandments. God has given man His image, but the likeness of God a person must form within himself through living according to the sacred divine laws.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, sacrificial love leads a person to heavenly life.

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