On the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost and the feast day of the Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates, the conciliar services at the Lavra church dedicated to Venerable Agapit of the Caves were presided over by the Sacred Archimandrite of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine.

During the Divine Liturgy, the Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was concelebrated by Archbishop Sylvester of Bilohorod, Archbishop Lavr of Irpin, Archbishop Mark of Borodianka, as well as the brethren and visiting clergy of the monastery led by the Lavra’s spiritual father, Archimandrite Anthony.

Following the reading of the Gospel, the First Hierarch addressed the faithful with a sermon, explaining the words of Christ the Saviour:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry reminded the faithful that:

“Wealth consists of those earthly blessings that God has granted us for our use. It often happens that people place wealth where it does not belong. A person should not serve wealth but only make proper use of it. God must come first in human life.

May the Lord help us, dear brothers and sisters, to understand how to live rightly. A person should use wealth and not become its slave. If a person cultivates such an attitude and regards the Creator, rather than wealth, as his Lord, then that person’s life is filled with Divine grace, and he becomes worthy of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

During the service, special petitions were offered for peace and tranquillity in the land of Ukraine, for deliverance from every enemy and adversary, and for God’s blessing upon those who provide shelter and assistance to people who have been forced to leave their homes.

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