His Beatitude Onuphry: Seeking God is an ultimate task, the rest will come
God makes human beings happy, not the mortal treasures of this world, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church said in his Sunday sermon.
First and foremost, one should always search for the Eternal God, without Whom no wealth and even health can bring happiness. His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine spoke about human priorities in his sermon at the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on June 28, 2020, the UOC Information and Education Department reports.
The Primate noted that "the Lord replied to the main question that has always bothered mankind – how to treat wealth? in the Gospel" (Matthew 6: 22-33 - Ed.).
“If a person ranks money first and God second, then such a person, albeit rich and powerful, will be unhappy,” he said. “Because happiness comes from God, not wealth.”
According to the Archpastor, the treasures of this world and even health are perishable and therefore cannot make one feel happy without presence of God in one's life: “Both health and wealth are fleeting, there remains only the Eternal God Who created us in His Image and likeness and wants us to be partakers of eternal life and the bliss that man can only find in God. It (eternal life – Ed.) is nowhere else but in the hands of God, and the soul of man strives for this, even of the one who does not recognize God."
The soul of man cannot find peace until it finds God, His Beatitude added.
“A man is wretched unless he finds God or at least searches for Him, and his soul mourns being aimless. “People often don’t understand what the reason is: “Why can’t I calm down, why am I restless and confused and always unhappy? I go to one place and feel miserable, I go to another place and feel miserable again, then I think I’ll be finally happy if I go somewhere else. But it doesn’t work again ...” Thus, the lack of God's grace in the soul makes a person restless. The Holy Scripture says there is no peace in our bones due to our sins. In order to find peace, one must join the Source of Peace. This Source is God only.”
Therefore, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry upheld, "the primary, the ultimate task for man is to search for God."
“The ultimate task is to seek the truth of God, to conceive the truth of God, which shows man the right path to the Kingdom of Heaven. Only after that we can meet other priorities: we can work, earn money and do something for a living,” said the Archpastor stressing that after the first task has been completed, everything else will not require an extra effort from a person: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6: 33).
As reported by the UOJ, earlier the Primate of the UOC His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry explained why there are no crooked roads to God.
