Primate of UOC: We go along the street called the road to eternal life
The sole goal of a Christian is eternal salvation, said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine.
The Church teaches a man how to go his way to the goal for which he was called by the Lord. On August 17, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry spoke of this after the service on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of his enthronement.
The Primate of the UOC thanked the flock for prayers and support and also said what the mission of the Church is.
"A man keeps going all the time," said Vladyka. "We go along the street, which is called the road of eternal life. This street has its own rules. If a person does not know these rules, he/she often undergoes some kind of catastrophe, or falls from this path, goes astray. We teach people how to go this way, so as not to lose it and reach the goal for which the Lord called us."
His Beatitude recalled the main goal in the life of every Christian.
"I’m often asked: ‘What plans did you have when you were enthroned?’ " said His Beatitude Onufry. - Honestly, I had no plans. I did not plan to be where I am now. It's a secular fashion – to set goals. We always have one goal, one plan, one direction, one vector – this is eternal salvation. If you look at our predecessors, I think that they all set this main goal – not to fall away from salvation, not to fall from the church ship."
The Primate drew attention to the fact that it would be a mistake to think that people care about the Church and can save Her.
"We shouldn’t do this," Vladyka explained. "We should not care of the Church, we must take care of ourselves. As a Saviour, when He was carrying the Cross, people wept. The Lord said, "Do not weep for me, weep for yourself, for your children." We must weep for ourselves and for our posterity, for our brothers and sisters, so that we will not fall from the Church of Christ. No one can destroy the Church, and if we fall away, we will perish."
At the same time, His Beatitude Onufry urged believers not to fall into despair, seeing the upheavals in the world.
"Fuss, wars, military rumours, various catastrophes, disasters – all this reminds us that we are sitting on a powder keg," stressed the Primate. "And this keg must explode. And how quickly this time will come depends on us. Not on God, but depends on us – we are arsonists for this keg. If we do not set it on fire with our own sin, it will stand so for many years. If we sin, then the sin, like fire, scorching a person and his soul, will set fire to this gunpowder and we will perish."
On August 17, 2018, the Divine Liturgy on the occasion of the anniversary of the enthronement of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry was celebrated at the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
