From the Head of the UGCC on the 350th day of the war: “God alone has the right to decide who will live and who will pass away”
No human being has the liberty to arrogate to himself the authority of God. No one can say: “You have to die, and you have the privilege to live.” We do not even have the liberty to decide for ourselves, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC, said in his daily address on the 350th day of the war.
On this day, His Beatitude Sviatoslav reminded us that every person is a person loved by God, a person from the first moment of conception. Therefore, he or she is loved by God not only till the end of this earthly life, till death, but is a son or daughter of God, whom He remembers even at the time of death and leads to eternal life.
The word “vocation” means that there is someone who calls me, who personally addresses me — God, who establishes personal relationships with each person. St. Basil the Great writes that the Lord helps a person fulfill the vocation to which he is called because a person cannot comprehend Him through his efforts.“One can step into the life of the Holy Trinity only by the hand of God the Father, the Son, by the power and work of the Holy Spirit. That is why we say every human soul is innately Christian, as the early Church Fathers said. But, after all, the full realization of that life and vocation is to aspire to participate in the life of God,” said the Patriarch.
One of the elements that God gives to a person to help them realize their desire for a happy life in God is baptism. Living a Christian is an extraordinary calling. And the Lord calls everyone to it.
The UGCC Department for Information
