His Beatitude explains difference between faith and trust in God

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. Photo: UOC

On Great Friday, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Onuphry, addressed the faithful after the Shroud of the Savior was carried out in the Church of St. Agapit of the Kyiv Caves at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

The archpastor recalled that on this day the Church commemorates Christ’s sufferings on the Cross and His death for the salvation of mankind. He noted that, by taking on human nature, the Lord accomplished the greatest feat of love in order to restore to man the path to eternal life.

His Beatitude also drew attention to the events that followed the Savior’s crucifixion. He recalled the faithfulness of Christ’s secret disciples – Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus – as well as the myrrh-bearing women, who did not abandon the Lord in His darkest hour.

Metropolitan Onuphry gave particular emphasis in his homily to the distinction between faith and trust in God. He said that faith in itself is common to many people, yet it may go no further than acknowledging that God exists.

“When a person trusts God, he not only says that he believes, but lives according to the divine laws,” he said, stressing that it is precisely this kind of faith – united with trust – that is the strongest and most precious. It helps a person remain with God even amid sorrows, temptations, and the hardships of life.

The Primate also noted that the path to such trust requires spiritual labor and the struggle against sin, since man is opposed by the world, the devil, and his own flesh.

In closing, the archpastor called on the faithful to cultivate trust in God – the kind of trust that makes a person spiritually strong and helps him follow Christ in every circumstance.

As previously reported by the UOJ, on April 9, the eve of Great Friday, His Beatitude presided at Matins with the reading of the 12 Passion Gospels at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

Read also