His Beatitude Sviatoslav: "Blessing water for us, the Lord calls us to renew our Christian life"

Tuesday, 20 January 2015, 12:21

We need public and social renewal. Very often we call the renewal the necessity of reforms in our country, the fight against corruption, bribery. But we must understand that the power and ability to make all this we can only get from God. For renewal and revival comes not from man, but from God that gives Himself to a man. That was told on this day, the Epiphany by the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church His Beatitude Sviatoslav during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ.

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In His homily to the faithful His Beatitude noted, that one of the most important signs of which we read in the books of Scripture about our God is that He is revealed. Today, Christ Church celebrates one of the greatest Christian holidays - Epiphany.

The Preacher explained that our Lord did not want to be hidden God, unknown to humans. He makes the first step to a man and reveals Himself to us. "Even when we use the word "sacrament", saying about the Lord God, that does not mean that He is hiding something from us about Himself. And vice versa – this, that people can not understand, because it is beyond the scope of human life and conception, God initiates people into such life. He opens His sacrament"- retold the Primate.

Today the Lord God above the Jordan reveals to man the mystery of the Holy Trinity. "We see the Son of God, who enters into the waters of the Jordan. We see the Holy Spirit as a dove that hovers over the water. We hear the voice of the Father, which reveals to us the privacy of communication with His beloved Son. He says: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased. Therefore the Church today glorifies our God as God revealed above the Jordan"- noted the Head of the Church.

According to His Eminence, today the Lord God transforms Jordanian font into the font of victory. Today in the waters of the Jordan is dying the enemy of the human race, is dying the evil spirit and every evil that holds us in its slavery. "Blessing water for us, the Lord God calls us to renew our Christian life. Because we all stepped into the font of regeneration and renewal, which is the holy sacrament of Christening"- explained the Preacher.

After the Divine Liturgy, the faithful, led by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, came to the "Ukrainian Jordan" - the Dnieper, "to bless the font of victory at the heart of our homeland, to draw the power from this consecrated water". "With this power we can be reborn in the Divine grace" – marked the Hierarch.

The Head of the Church wished all and each of us to celebrate today's holiday as the feast of our rebirth, renewal and victory. To bless with this Jordan water our hearts and souls, homes, towns and villages. "Let the Ukrainian Jordan bear this consecrated water to the southern Ukraine, to the Black Sea. Let it clear all the evil and calamity which today are coming over Ukraine. And thus will give us His blessing and enlightenment "- wished the Primate.

Following the Liturgy His Beatitude blessed the water in the Dnieper.

UGCC Department of Information