Primate of UOC speaks about the faith that earned the Lord's praise
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine addressed the faithful during the service at the Church of Venerable Agapitus of the Caves in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
During his homily, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry explained the content of the Gospel passage (Matthew 8:5-13), which the Church offers on the 4th Sunday after Pentecost.
The Primate of the UOC reminded that the Lord praised the centurion for his faith and suggested reflecting on what kind of faith earned God's praise.
The archpastor explained that there are two kinds of faith: the faith of the mind and the faith of the heart.
"The first is the faith of the mind, which is born from the word. We understand with our reason that there is a Creator in the world who created everything and gives life to everything. And there is the faith of the heart. This is the experiential knowledge of God, not only with the mind but with one's life. This faith of the heart is born from fulfilling God's Word," said His Beatitude.
The Primate noted that when a person not only remembers God's commandments but also begins to live by them, living by the commitment to fulfilling Divine Laws, they understand from their personal experience that God exists, God is strength.
"And this experiential knowledge of God, which is born from fulfilling Divine laws, is called the faith of the heart. It is about this faith that the Lord says, 'If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you' (Matthew 17:20). Such great power this faith has," he explained.
"As much as possible, we must compel ourselves to obey the commandments of Divine love, and then we will have the faith of the heart, which will grow," said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.
As the Primate noted, the main fruit of this faith is that a person becomes worthy of eternal salvation and bliss in Christ.
As the UOJ previously reported, His Beatitude explained earlier why it is important to preserve love in the modern world.
