Kiev, January 20, 2025
Photo: YouTube
All of creation is fallen and defiled by sin, thus all of creation requires cleansing, which requires repentance, the Ukrainian primate said in his homily on the eve of Theophany.
The great prophet St. John the Baptist preached repentance and thereby prepared the people to receive the Messiah. The baptism that he performed served as a sign of the people’s repentance, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine explained, reports the Information-Education Department of the UOC.
The Metropolitan preached:
Many different people came to John the Baptist. Pharisees and scribes came… Simple people came to be baptized, as well as soldiers. And they asked what repentance means. And he said that soldiers shouldn’t slander anyone and should be content with their wages. The prophet also said that whoever has two garments should give one to the poor, and whoever has abundant food should do the same. This is how he taught what repentance is. Repentance isn’t just words, but deeds. When a man did something wrong but instead begins to do good—this is the fruit of repentance.
The archpastor explained that according to Tradition, just before their immersion in the water, people would confess their sins to the Baptist. But when the time came and the Lord Jesus Christ entered the waters of Jordan, the Forerunner immersed Him in water immediately, because the Savior had no sins; He came to be baptized not for repentance, but to “fulfill all righteousness.”
His Beatitude also spoke about the significance of holy water:
In honor of the Baptism that the Lord received from St. John, today the holy Church celebrates the Great Blessing of Water. Holy Theophany water has great power. It drives demons away from people. It cleanses us from the filth of flesh and spirit. And it’s necessary for everyone to drink this water themselves, bring it home and, if possible, invite a priest to read a prayer and sprinkle the dwelling with holy water.
“Everything needs cleansing,” Met. Onuphry continued, “Our sins defile everything: ourselves and everything around us, where we live and what surrounds us. And holy water cleanses and sanctifies what we defile with sin, because every creation needs the grace of the Holy Spirit.”
In conclusion, the Ukrainian primate wished the faithful to lead their earthly life worthily and bear fruits of repentance, so that we might be filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit in this age and be deemed worthy of salvation in the future age.
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