English > UOGCC Publications
What is the greatest blessing?
Post date: 2024-03-27Autor: BCP
The greatest blessing is when God gives us the grace to be evil spoken of, unjustly suspected, reproached and humiliated for His name’s sake. The Lord Jesus trod this path before us, because He loved us. He was completely innocent. Yet He forgave and prayed for everyone.
Jesus wants mature people
Post date: 2024-03-27Autor: BCP
Jesus wants mature people. He can do more with one mature person in a year than He can do with hundreds of immature people in 200 years. The mark of maturity is actually the degree of dying to self with Christ. The essence of this death to self is in humility, in completely renouncing at every moment one’s own will, one’s own good, one’s own ideas or desires, and accepting everything out of love for Jesus. People who are completely forgotten, buried, those who have died with Christ, mature souls, who have offered themselves as a sacrifice to Jesus – it is their sacrifice that decides the future of nations.
Think about what your cross is every day
Post date: 2024-03-23Autor: BCP
Truly we know neither the day nor the hour, and nothing is more certain than death. Therefore, we have to redeem the time. How? By a living faith, by daily practising humility, that is, constantly renouncing our own wishes, good plans or intentions. Let us not stick to our own opinion, but bring everything to light, and humble ourselves every time we act spontaneously on our own. However, when others do something wrong, we should not condemn them but, again, humble ourselves in spirit: “Lord, I am twice as bad. I’ve made the same or even greater mistake so many times. And mine was a banal one that this person would never make.” Let us accept the concrete hardships as a cross to carry. Every day we should take a few moments to reflect on what our cross is – not abstract but concrete.
The greatest suffering in hell is the separation of the soul from God
Post date: 2024-03-12Autor: BCP
The truth about hell is indeed very serious and is linked with our salvation. If we take seriously the eternity of hell, we are also aware of the seriousness of the entire teaching of Christ about salvation based on this fact – Christ came into the world, God became man to deliver us from the bondage of the devil, to deliver us from hell and to give us a new life – eternal life.
We need to be purified so as to become effective instruments of God
Post date: 2023-06-07Autor: BCP
The power of God is manifested in our powerlessness. If we give rein to our ego, Christ – the almighty power of God – cannot work. We take everything into our own hands. We are guided by our perception, by our feelings. Admittedly, we can do something, but we are like a steam locomotive, puffing, sparks flying in all directions… Yet it keeps running, though the efficiency is only 5%. We run on the same principle. What shall God do with us? He takes us as we are. However, in order to use us, God must first purify us so that we may become His effective instruments. We must be dependent on God; therefore we freely choose to become slaves of God. This is true freedom.
Who gives the life-giving strength? (video)
Post date: 2023-05-23Autor: BCP
Who gives the life-giving strength? + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Self-humiliation and little sacrifices
Post date: 2023-05-22Autor: BCP
The first form of love is constant self-humiliation. But you need not fabricate anything. You only need to accept the truth! If you feel bitterness towards your neighbour, remember his good qualities and his good deeds, and on the other hand your bad qualities and evil done in the past, and humble yourself before him in spirit and see Jesus in him. And God will then give you the light and fill your heart with love for this person.
Heaven is at hand!
Post date: 2023-05-21Autor: BCP
Heaven is at hand, for I will die soon. Just a few more years and I shall stand before the gates of heaven. And should I even live a hundred more years, they will pass in no time. How powerfully the thought of heaven should motivate me! The thought of heaven filled many a saint with the fire of zeal, urging them to make the best of the short time and to lay up for themselves treasures in heaven.
God gives victory (video)
Post date: 2023-04-08Autor: BCP
God gives victory. + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
True love of yourself (+german version)
Post date: 2022-05-20Autor: BCP
The first commandment says: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” However, we must love ourselves in the right way – so that we may be saved. I must love myself in such way as to keep the most precious treasure – eternal life – and I must desire this treasure for everyone, even for my enemies or murderers, like the saint martyrs. If I wish to love myself truly, I need to repent. This is pure love for myself – to put things in order in my heart. To give the first place to God and the cares of God, and to seek first the kingdom of God.
True love of yourself and your neighbours
Post date: 2022-05-19Autor: BCP
Saint Augustine says: “Chastise me here, O God, and spare me the tortures (fire) of hell.” Lord, I want to be a holy egoist. I want to love myself truly and so I do not want to be in Purgatory for a single minute. If through chastising I will be saved from Purgatory, please chastise me. But I love my neighbours too. I do not even want my enemy to go to hell or Purgatory. If You want to purify him by Your fire through suffering, e.g. a disease, Your will be done. I love both myself and my neighbour, and I believe that the punishment which You will send on both me and him will save us.
Stand guard over your nation! (video)
Post date: 2022-05-13Autor: BCP
Stand guard over your nation! + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
When will the resurrection of the nation come? (video)
Post date: 2022-05-09Autor: BCP
When will the resurrection of the nation come? + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Lord, give us Your word
Post date: 2022-05-07Autor: BCP
The whole world is undergoing a crisis of faith; we are witnesses to mass apostasy from Christianity. Thank God that we can fight for the purity of faith. God has put us on a battlefield to fight for the whole Church. Seeing how big this problem is, we say in prayer: “O God, what shall we do? We are not in a position as David against Goliath but rather as if we stood with a sling against an atom bomb. We have no chance. But we trust that You are Almighty, that You will overcome in this fight and that there will be spiritual resurrection. And how? We are in darkness: we face a problem and see no solution; nevertheless, we believe that if You give Your word of prophecy, the Spirit who is behind Your word will come. And by Your Spirit You can change and renew everything.
God has the right to us (+german version)
Post date: 2020-03-10Autor: BCP
Jesus has a kind of right to us. We no longer belong to ourselves. Why not? Partly because God created us, called us into existence, created us in His own image. He is really our Father. Our spirit longs for Him, as St Augustine says: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” This is a deep truth. Our soul is hungry for God. God not only created us but He also has the right to us because He gave His Son for us. Jesus shed His Blood for our sake. He paid a high price for us – not with silver or gold but with His Blood, out of His love for us.
The lamp of the body is the eye (+german version)
Post date: 2020-03-03Autor: BCP
There is light which comes to us through our physical sight. We can see the light of the day, people, trees, houses, the beauty of nature. There is also the light of reason through which we can know certain hidden truths. Then there is also the light of faith. The light of reason is not sufficient for the fight with darkness. But if we open to the Holy Spirit, He will open God’s Word to us and give us the light. If we seek the truth and repent, God really works. He gives the true light to all who pray in earnest and seek the will of God with a sincere heart.
What it means to be in the Lord’s presence (+german version)
Post date: 2019-08-30Autor: BCP
We need to experience what it means to be in the Lord’s presence. It does not mean that we will have a vision, or that Christ will appear to us. Standing before the Lord is very simple: I stop, realize God’s presence and stand in truth, as a sinner, before God. I confess at least one sin to Him, and I am ready to accept that He will expose my other sins too. I am also ready to forgive all who have hurt me, because I want God to forgive me.
If you judge yourselves, you will not be judged (+german version)
Post date: 2019-06-07Autor: BCP
If we lived in the truth, put our sins under the power of the Blood of Jesus, walked in the light, judged ourselves, then it is true: “If you judge yourselves, you will not be judged.” (1Cor 11:31) This is very important.The sins which we have given to Christ have already been judged. We confessed them and repented. And God forgives, rectifies all our mistakes but we must repent time and again. I must be ready at all times for an encounter with Christ. The final judgment depends on us. We decide it. What to do? To settle our accounts before the Day of Judgement.
Where to get the courage and strength? (+german version)
Post date: 2019-04-14Autor: BCP
Jesus says to the apostles several times: “Do not be afraid!” And where to get the courage and strength? In prayer. In God’s presence. When you pray, do not talk to yourself, for such prayer will not give you strength. First realize: Where is Jesus? He is here and He is waiting for you. He is waiting for you to come into contact with Him, to give Him your sin and your problems. Jesus is with us in every problem, we only need to be aware of it.
Michael Faraday – scientist and Christian
Post date: 2019-04-12Autor: BCP
Every true scientist should be a believer if he is a real expert in his field. Michael Faraday was the man who invented the dynamo. He died in 1867. He was a devout believer. When asked what his idea was about what would happen after death, he said he had no idea but he was sure about it. He quoted the Scripture from the letter to Timothy: "I know whom I have believed" (2Ti 1:12). And he added: "I'm sure. I'm sure that after I die, I’ll pass into Jesus' arms. I trust the Word of God."