Great prayer bears great fruit.

The Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple teaches us the correct prayer and how important it is to love the temple. This was stated by His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Onuphry in his sermon during the Divine Liturgy at the Dormition Cathedral of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra on December 4, 2020.

As the Archpastor noted, the Mother of God is the fruit of a great prayer – Her parents, the righteous Joachim and Anna, have been asking God to grant them a child for over 50 years. During this time, they experienced many reproaches and insults, because the Jews considered childlessness a curse, but they did not stop hoping, praying and were heard by God.

«From this story we learn how much God loves when a person prays long, patiently and humbly. We sometimes think that a powerful prayer that I began to say and have not yet said «Amen!», But God has already given me what I wanted. This is not a strong prayer. Strong prayer that bears great, important fruit for a person – long-term, patient, humble», – said the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

«It is also important that the Lord prepared the Vessel for Himself in no other place, but in the temple. There, in the temple, the Holy Spirit pre-cleansed the Blessed Virgin Mary and made Her able to contain the Incompatible God. Therefore, the temple is very important for a person. It is both a school of piety, where a person learns how to live piously, and a hospital, where a person receives healing and healing of his ulcers, wounds with which he is struck by sin, and the place where a person has a special communion with God, where Heaven opens for him/her... Therefore, it is very important to love the temple», – noted the Archpastor.

«The temple is not only a building typical as we are here, the temple is any place where people gather for prayer. In the first centuries, these were the catacombs where people prayed to God. These are temples and our caves, where the saints fought, pleasing God. Therefore, it is very important that people have church fellowship. It makes our prayer strong. If one person cries out to God – this is one voice, when many people gather in the Name of God and cry to Heaven – this is another prayer, even stronger», – said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.

«May the Lord God help us, dear brothers and sisters, to love the temple, love prayer, and remember that great prayer is long-term, patient and humble. Great prayer bears great fruits», – concluded the Primate.