His Beatitude: Not enough to seek salvation with mind – we must trust God
The Primate of the UOC called on the faithful to fulfill the will of the Lord, not their own desires.
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy called on the faithful not to limit themselves to intellectual faith, but to entrust their lives fully into the hands of God. On the feast day of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olha, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reminded his flock that true Christianity requires active obedience to the will of the Creator.
Addressing the faithful, the Archpastor emphasized that Saint Olha is venerated as the enlightener of our land, who nurtured the seeds of faith brought by the Apostle Andrew the First-Called. His Beatitude noted that modern people often acknowledge God only intellectually, while continuing to live according to their own whims.
"With our minds we acknowledge that God is the Creator, that God is the Maker, God the Provider, God the Mind, beauty, wisdom, power. God is everything, and we are God's creation. We believe this, we acknowledge it with our reason, but we live as we please," the Primate stated.
According to His Beatitude, in order to attain eternal salvation, one must move from a mere acknowledgment of God's existence to complete trust in His Providence. He explained that a believer must strive to fulfill not his own desires, but what the Lord commands.
"To be saved, one must both believe with the mind and entrust oneself to God. Not only to believe in God, but to place oneself in God's hands. That is, to commit oneself to God and to do what God wills. Not what I want," Metropolitan Onufriy emphasized.
The Archpastor gave examples from everyday life in which a person must choose between his own "I want" and his Christian duty. He noted that instead of going to a football match or the gym, a Christian is called to visit the sick or fulfill a church obedience.
"A person who entrusts himself to God does not do what he wants, but what needs to be done. He sets aside his own desires and goes to do what God commands. This is what it means to place oneself in God's hands," His Beatitude explained.
At the conclusion of the homily, the Primate called on his flock to wisely remove from themselves everything that is not in accordance with the divine will. He wished the faithful to be worthy children of the holy Princess Olha, so that through her prayers the Lord would help each one become an heir of the eternal Heavenly Kingdom.
As the UOJ reported, the Primate of the UOC led the patronal feast at the Olha Cathedral in the capital.
