UOC Chancellor: God has the last word in any trials

Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary urged the faithful to take an example from the ascetics of piety, who trusted God in everything.

"Christians today are faced with many questions: how not to lose faith and faithfulness, how to preserve hope and love in the midst of all this horror? What can we oppose to the numerous trials that have befallen us?” says Vladyka Anthony.

The metropolitan notes that many people, trying to find answers to all these questions, rely on personal experience and on examples of human history.

"Believers see all the worldly upheavals first and foremost through the prism of the Gospel, the Holy Scriptures and the lives of piety, who were able to renounce the hustle and bustle of worldly life and come to unity with God. What made the saints differ from us? The desire to go their own way to God, the determination to live according to the laws of the Kingdom of Heaven already in this life and full trust in God in every moment of their short earthly life," the hierarch highlighted.

"Before making any important decisions in their lives, they prayed to feel the good news from God in their hearts, and then they acted according to God's will, which was revealed to them. They checked their course amid the sea of life with the beacon of Christ's teaching. two-minded and did not suffer from spiritual schizophrenia, they were not torn between heaven and earth, between the fulfilment of God's commandments and life according to the laws of the sinful world,” said Metropolitan Anthony.

To this, according to the hierarch, we are also called on, however, our sins and addictions lead us in the opposite direction from salvation.

"Salvation cannot take place amid comfort. Christ endured need and discomfort from childhood. He was born in a poor cave, was a refugee in Egypt, fasted for 40 days in the desert, and had no place to lay His head for His entire earthly life. Sinless, He accepted suffering, beatings and death on the Cross for us to fulfil the will of His Heavenly Father. Every Christian is called to follow the Saviour on the thorny path of asceticism. To be an ascetic means not to give up, not to break, to keep the light in yourself, to suffer without complaint and through suffering, step by step, to come closer to your Creator," the UOC Chancellor urged the faithful.

"The pain of the consequences of the Fall is present in every person, in ourselves, in our families, our country and in the whole world. Wherever you look, there are wars, death, hunger, cold and injustice. Once you watch the news release, your heart immediately feels pain. And that pain could break anyone if we did not know that God has the last word. All our sufferings have a deep meaning if we look at them from the perspective of eternity: even the worst evil is stopped by the merciful Lord and eventually turned into good. Everything in our life is arranged by God for our salvation, and the main vector of our life is directed upwards, to our Father's house," said Metropolitan Anthony.

Vladyka also reminded the faithful of the spiritual law, according to which a person who does not suffer is not comforted by God.

"Through sorrows, suffering and tears, in which humility is born, the Lord gives us His great consolation. God comforts the offended, the suffering, the sick and the destitute. He is always with those who are in trouble. God is always with us, too, if we do not forget about Him and our great calling – to become citizens of Heaven," the hierarch concluded.

As reported, Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary noted that people who remain faithful to Christ will definitely win.