In order to stand worthily before the Lord, a person must whiten the garment of his soul by repentance said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine in his sermon during the Divine Liturgy at the Dormition Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra on September 26, 2021, the Sunday before the Exaltation of the Cross, reports the Information and Educational Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“During their earthly life, people must whiten their spiritual clothes, make them light, cleanse the dirt of sin through repentance and put on a grace-filled garment in which they can stand before God in the Kingdom of Heaven,” said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.
The metropolitan noted that one can cleanse oneself from sins precisely through humility and repentance.
“A person must repent of his sins before God: “Lord, forgive me!” This is humility. The Lord grants grace for humility, and a person becomes worthy of eternal life,” said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.
According to the Primate of the UOC, one should be ashamed to sin, and when one has sinned, one should not be ashamed to say: “Lord, have mercy!”
The archpastor reminded those present of the words of the holy fathers about commendable shamelessness.
“When a person has sinned, but still prays to God – indeed, there is a certain shamelessness in this. But this is just commendable shamelessness, because a person prays to God and says: “Lord, forgive me! I am guilty, I have no excuse,” and the Lord forgives a person any sin,” said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.
Only the sin, which a person does not want to repent of, is not forgiven, the metropolitan said.
“May the Lord help us to avoid sin. And if we have sinned, then we must pray to God, repent and ask Him for forgiveness, humble ourselves before Him. And we will have that necessary clothing of the soul, which makes us worthy and able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven in Christ Jesus our Lord,” concluded His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.
Prayers for the end of the coronavirus pandemic, for health of doctors and the sick were offered during the divine service.
Photo: news.church.ua
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