The Head of the UGCC on Sunday of Orthodoxy: “Great Fasting is a time of an open heaven”

Monday, 21 March 2016, 22:08

Gospel words “Come and see” are resounded to all of us today, since Fasting is a period when Church calls us to meeting with God. The Son of God wants to meet us and invites meeting Him!

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It was said by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC during a homily at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv, on Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 20^th.

Moreover, the Head of the Church thinks that time of Great Fasting is a time of an open heaven. “This fasting road we have started is a road to heaven, the way of God’s mercy, the way of confessing our sins, and a moment of meeting God. So come and see what does it mean to encounter God in a Church life: in Penance, where God is waiting for us ready to embrace, forgiving our sins, and in Eucharist after what, we can see heavens, open above and angels, descending on us as those who were made to be God’s sons and daughters in the womb of our Church”, said a preacher.

It is known that exactly on Sunday of Orthodoxy Church refers to icons. Where can apply to in order to encounter the Son of God present in Church and His saints? “An icon is a space for meeting what we can personally feel. The icon changes everybody who comes to it”, explained His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

That is why it is not surprisingly the strategy of UGCC development is called “A vibrant parish – a place to encounter the Living Christ”. For everything Church owns (a prayer, chants, prostrations, Liturgy) gives us an opportunity to encounter the One, whom our hearts are waiting for, whom our Christian faith and hope lead to, Whom our love is accomplished in.

“Having met God, we ought to direct our eyes to a live icon, who we all are, - proceeds the Major Archbishop of the UGCC. How important it is to see God Who wants us to meet in those persons who are rejected today. Thus, the true fasting has three constituents: prayer, fast and almsgiving. There is no truly full Christian experience without almsgiving”.

At the end of the homily the Head of the UGCC invited everybody to come and meet Christ, Who opens His embraces to us. “Now you, in turn, embrace those who are mostly in need because of the war in Ukraine”, encouraged he.

The UGCC Department for Information