His Beatitude: Through Baptism, the Lord showed how we should act
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine. Photo: news.church.ua
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine congratulated the Ukrainians on the feast of the Theophany, the Baptism of the Lord. The address of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was broadcast live on the "112 Ukraine" TV channel.
“The Lord through Baptism showed us an example of how we should act,” the Archpastor noted. “When the Lord approached John the Baptist, and John did not want to baptize him, he said that "I need to be baptized from you, but you are coming to Me." The Lord said, "Leave it now, for we need to fulfil any truth."
This truth of God, explained His Beatitude, is that the Lord gave us an example that "every person who wants to be the heir of eternal life and bliss must be baptized in water in the name of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
“I sincerely congratulate everyone on this great day, I wish you salvation, health, happiness, God's blessing. Let everyone on this day drink holy water, take holy water into his home, sprinkle everything with it, because holy water has great power, it drives away the hostile force, the power of dark spirits that are always fighting against man. May the Lord bless all of us,” His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry wished.
As reported, on the day of the Feast of the Theophany, the Primate of the UOC celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Sts Anthony and Theodosius Church of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. After the festive Divine service, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry performed the great consecration of the Dnieper waters in the Obolon district of Kyiv.
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