UOC Сhancellor: Power, glory and reason aren't eternal, only faith can save

In his sermon during the Divine Liturgy on August 14, Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary reminded the congregation that it is neither power, nor reason, but only faith that can save believers. 

According to the hierarch, reason cannot save, because it is rational and perceives only what can be proved scientifically.

"Power and glory are impermanent quantities, today they are and tomorrow they are not. <...> Faith is that power which is in each of us, in each person. But only faith, really, as a concentration of all human forces to God gives the result – salvation," said the Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Anthony also reminded the believers that, according to examples from the history of the USSR, faith can be directed to another sphere to fill the emptiness in human souls. In Soviet times, the authorities, wanting to fill this very void, invented the ideology of communism, but this led to disaster.

"Only true faith, which is filled with the grace of God, is able to lead a person through life. If we fill this power of faith with something else, we will end up at a dead end. Because only God, as absolute love, can fill the emptiness that is in man," His Eminence said.

Vladyka cited the words of a 19th-century philosopher who said that faith begins when one forgets about oneself.

Certainly, there is sin that instils the seeds of doubt and lack of faith in a person's mind, but through the power of faith a person copes with these trials as well.

"Only when a person trusts in both God and the Church, then he is filled with the power which we call faith with that which gives us life," said Metropolitan Anthony. 

Vladyka urged to enrich one's faith through good deeds, the struggle against passions and vices, through daily service to others.

As earlier reported, the UOC Chancellor believes a free life is possible only when a person stops sinning.