His Beatitude Onuphry: Each life trial examines our faith

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. Photo: UOC

The more we rely on the will of God, the easier it is to endure trials, noted the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine in an interview with the Orthodox Life publication.

“Each life test is a kind of exam of our faith,” said His Beatitude Onuphry. “It must always be borne in mind that without the will of God or God's permission nothing happens either on earth or in the life of every single person.”

At the same time, as the Archpastor told it, one should not be afraid, “if we happen to lose our head, lose our heart, lose our spiritual guiding lines, or simply speaking, get lost in ourselves like in a forest.”

“It is necessary like a warrior at the frontline to show courage, to force yourself to stand up and go through repentance or even crawl to Christ, and then the Lord will go towards us, like the Father to the prodigal son, to lift up despondency, disbelief and cowardice from us. It is necessary to appeal to the Lord like the prophet David called to Him in difficult times of life: “With my voice I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me from His holy mountain. I fell asleep (spiritually), slept and woke up, for the Lord will protect me” (Ps. 3). These words are heard daily in the temples of God and we need to remember them and repeat in difficult times as the prophet David repeated them. It is important to always force yourself to courageously return to the previous positions of spiritual life,” stressed the Primate of the UOC.

Recall, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry answered the question of what church to go to and where to seek Christ in order to be happy and blessed: “Go to the temple where the Kingdom of God and His Truth are sought: Christ lives in this temple; in other temples He does not."

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