Address of UOC Primate on the occasion of Forgiveness Sunday and arrival of the Lent is published

We are entering the Lent – the most important and ancient among all many-day fasts. The Lent is a saving period for us to prepare ourselves for the greatest event – meeting of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ. It is said in the Address of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and all Ukraine to the UOC parish, reports the UOC Information and Education Department

«The Lent is a special time for serving God and people around you. This is the time for repentance and an active fight with one's sins and passins. Our Lord Jesus Christ pointed to the importance of the Lent having said that evil forces are conquered only by fasting and praying. Therefore He Himself was fasting in the desert and thus was able to overcome all temptations the devil offered to Him,» underscored the Primate.

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry told that before one enters the Lent, the Holy Church established a special Day when each of us, from the bottom of our hearts, in the spirit of love should ask our relatives, near ones, as well as all who surround us for forgiveness. We need to learn to forgive. «This is not an easy task and demands lots of strength. Saint fathers teach us that evil has to be conquered by Christian humbleness and patience rather than by hostility, outrage, hatred or retaliation to the insult.»

«The essence of the Lent consists not only in restraint from food, but namely in improving our love for God and our neighbours, since all Christian values rest on love. Neglecting your self-cultivation and your inner world leads undoubtedly to the loss of peace and calm in your soul, which has an immediate effect on all who surround us,» the Address writes.

«With sore hearts we have witnessed for a long while continued hostilities in the east of Ukraine. All this bears clear witness to the absence of love and mutual understanding between us. Every day we keep on pleading All-Merciful Saviour to have mercy on us and bestow peace on our much-suffering native land,» said the Primate.

He added in conclusion the Church «asks everybody whoever it depends on to enter upon the road of good and do everything possible for the arrival of peace in Ukraine. Forgiveness Sunday is the very day one can and must do it.»

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