His Beatitude speaks about spiritual desert accessible to modern man

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. Photo: UOC

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry addressed the faithful with an archpastoral word at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy in Feofania, celebrated on the feast day of St. Onuphrius the Great — the heavenly patron of the UOC Primate, reports the  UOC Information and Educational Department.

In his homily, His Beatitude spoke about the spiritual legacy of Ыею Onuphrius the Great and explained how a modern person can follow the example of the ancient ascetic.

He noted that when honoring the memory of God’s saints, every believer inevitably compares his own life with that of the saint and asks himself how he can follow the saint’s example. At the same time, he emphasized that there are saints whom one can resemble “only figuratively, only in a relative sense.”

According to the Primate, no one today is capable of replicating the rigorous desert life led by St. Onuphrius the Great, because the Lord has withdrawn from people that special grace. Modern man is surrounded by family, acquaintances, and social responsibilities: “The world today is like an anthill. It is no longer possible to run away somewhere.” At the same time, His Beatitude stressed that the impossibility of external seclusion does not exempt a Christian from spiritual labor.

The alternative to the physical desert for the modern Christian, according to the Primate, must be the inner desert. "Every person can enter their own heart with their mind and there offer prayer, conversing with God. TThis will be a spiritual feat, similar to the great feat accomplished by St. Onuphrius," His Beatitude concluded his homily.

At the end of his address, the Primate thanked the archpastors, clergy, monastics, and faithful for their prayerful congratulations.

As the UOJ reported, the UOC congratulated the Primate on his name day in Feofania.

Read also