Primate of UOC: Faith teaches us to direct freedom towards obeying God’s Commandments

Faith reveals the inner self of the man, determines his choice between good and evil. This was said by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kiev and All Ukraine in an interview with the "Church Orthodox Newspaper", writes the Information and Education Department of the UOC.

"Having redeemed our sins on the cross, the Lord opened the path to the Kingdom of Heaven with His Resurrection. Therefore, the feast of the Holy Easter is the greatest and most joyful for a Christian. Life has already acquired a new meaning, it was filled with great hope, and death lost its might and power. Each of us is called upon to become a participant in the great spiritual victory that our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished.

The power of the apostolic preaching is in the gift of the Holy Spirit, Which filled the hearts and mouths of Christ’s disciples. The First Christian Church was filled with special gifts of the Spirit, which opened the hearts of people and put in them the Good Message about the Resurrection of Christ and the salvation of man. Besides, the power of the apostolic preaching is in the experiential knowledge of what they preached and what they taught. The truth of their sermon almost all the apostles witnessed with martyrdom. They taught us to truly believe in God.

Apostle Paul says that without faith it is impossible to appease God. Our faith is the fulfillment of the expected and the certainty in the unseen. It is the highest form of free will. Faith reveals the inner self of the man, determines his choice between good and evil.

Faith teaches us to direct our freedom towards obeying God's commandments and not being affected by passions. Sometimes the man can be influenced by undeniable facts that determine his faith. As it was, for example, when the apostle Thomas met the risen Christ," said the Primate.