His Beatitude says what weapons defeat evil forces

His Beatitude Onuphry. Photo: news.church.ua

In his Sunday sermon, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry spoke about what weapons defeat the evil force, reports news.church.ua.

Interpreting the Gospel passage about the healing of the demon-possessed boy, His Beatitude emphasised that "this kind, i.e. demons, is driven out only by prayer and fasting".

“A man is constantly (even if he might not realize it) struggling with the devil. He struggles not to succumb to some temptations that would lead him to the devil and the latter would destroy him," His Beatitude said.

According to him, there are people who wage this struggle on their own, "for example, if a person is fighting another person, he can take a stick, but if he goes at a missile with a stick, this is not the weapon with which to destroy a missile."

"To fight the devil there is a special weapon with which he can be defeated. It is fasting and prayer," Hie Beatitude stressed. “That is why the Church (the Holy Spirit, who guides the Church) has established fasts: four multi-day fasts, as well as every week on Wednesday and Friday. Fasting is a weapon that, together with prayer, helps to ward off all the wiles of the devil."

His Beatitude also urged believers to pray more often.

"Life is so organised now that a person has almost no time to take a prayer book and stand in front of an icon and pray. All the time it is necessary to run somewhere, to do something, to be engaged in something. But we must force ourselves to find time. If it is not possible to stand in front of the icon, then at least pray on the road, while walking or working. Even when you are resting, pray. At any place and in any form, one should pray," the Primate noted.

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