Metropolitan Onuphry urges faithful to forgive from the heart

On the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphrius presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra in the church dedicated to Venerable Agapitus of the Caves. This was reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC.

After the reading of the Holy Gospel, His Beatitude addressed the faithful with a sermon dedicated to the evangelical parable of the kingdom of heaven and the unmerciful debtor. "The Lord depicted our sins against our neighbor as 100 denarii," explained the Primate, "and our sins against God as 10,000 talents."

Metropolitan Onuphrius pointed out that people's debts before the Creator are incomparably greater than any human offenses, since 10,000 talents of silver equal 260 tons of precious metal. To gather such a sum, a person would have to labor for approximately 200,000 years.

The archpastor called sincere repentance the only way to receive forgiveness from the Creator: "Lord, forgive me, I am guilty, I have offended You, forgive me, I have no justification before You — this is the only way we can ask for God's mercy."

At the same time, the Creator expects mutual forgiveness of offenses from people. "If I cannot contain within myself forgiveness toward my neighbor for something so small — if I cannot forgive 100 denarii — then I cannot contain within myself the great forgiveness that God grants me for 10,000 talents," the Primate warned. The archpastor compared this to a person's physical capabilities, noting that one who cannot lift one kilogram will never lift one hundred.

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphrius touched upon the difficulties people experience when forgiving those who have offended them. "It happens that with my mind I understand that God said to forgive, and I forgive, but my heart resists and does not want to — yet if a person forces himself, prays and asks God to soften his heart, then God will help him sincerely forgive his neighbor."

The Primate called on the faithful to guard their conscience and to read Holy Scripture attentively. His Beatitude explained that it is precisely constant prayer that gives rise to attentiveness to the voice of conscience. During prayerful communion, a believer begins to clearly distinguish where the voice of God sounds and where the voices of the flesh, the world, or the devil are heard.

As the SPJ reported, His Beatitude presided over the celebrations marking the 510th anniversary of the Lavra Skete in Horodok.

Read also