Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine reflected on the meaning of genuine Christian love in a social media post, emphasizing the need not only to share in the suffering of others but also to sincerely rejoice in their happiness and achievements.
Drawing on the words of Saint Paul, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), Metropolitan Epifaniy said that fulfilling this exhortation is a measure of how genuine, deep and sincere Christian love truly is.
While compassion for those experiencing hardship may come more naturally, he noted that sincerely rejoicing in another person’s success can be considerably more difficult.
Citing Saint John Chrysostom, Metropolitan Epifaniy stressed that rejoicing with others requires spiritual awareness, vigilance and nobility of soul. Many people, he observed, can sympathize with those experiencing grief and suffering, but fewer are able to celebrate another person’s achievements wholeheartedly, without envy or the desire to diminish their success.
According to the Metropolitan, pride often stands in the way of such genuine love. The success and happiness of others can highlight a person’s own perceived failures, giving rise to dissatisfaction, envy and sadness.
For this reason, he recalled Saint John Chrysostom’s teaching that those who sincerely rejoice in the happiness of others receive a “double crown”: they demonstrate the virtue of love while simultaneously overcoming envy and pride.
“Sharing in another’s joy is evidence not only that you are free from envy, but also that love has taken root in your heart,” Metropolitan Epifaniy quoted Saint John Chrysostom as saying.
He further warned that an inability to rejoice in another person’s well-being can transform relationships into rivalry and competition. Where comparison and rivalry begin, he said, brotherhood and genuine love disappear.
Concluding his reflection, Metropolitan Epifaniy stressed that Saint Paul’s exhortation is not merely a call to become more sensitive toward others, but an invitation to overcome selfishness, egoism and pride.
“By sharing in our neighbor’s sorrows, we ease their pain; by sharing in their joys, we multiply them,” he wrote.
Metropolitan Epifaniy concluded by encouraging the faithful, with God’s help, to increase goodness in the world by supporting those who suffer and sincerely rejoicing in the successes of others.
