Christian Life – Page 5

Feb

08

2015

Everything You Wanted to Know About Lent but were Afraid to Ask:

Christian Life, Featured Articles

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT LENT BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK: The Great Fast or Lent – there are three others on the Byzantine calendar: before Christmas, before the Dormition (August 15) and before Ss. Peter and Paul (June 29) – is the seven week period of preparation before the celebration of Pascha (Easter). It is like a retreat held by the whole Church: a time of spiritual renewal, a time of repentance. ISN'T LENT KIND OF MORBID AND NEGATIVE? Repentance is not “giving up”: it is a turning back to God whom we realize is the very source…

Dec

18

2014

By Fr. Andriy Chirovsky

Fr. Andriy Chirovsky Speaks About Ukraine and About the Meaning of Christmas

Christian LifeChristmas, Nativity of our Lord

On December 16, 2014 The "Daily Double" radio program on Tucson, AZ, radio station KVOI 1013 AM featured an hour-long conversation with the founder of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies (MASI), Fr. Andriy Chirovsky. The program, hosted by Chris DeSimone, features a daily extended interview with one guest. Fr. Andriy has been the featured guest before. This time the MASI professor was asked to speak about the current situation in Ukraine, after it has largely fallen out of the attention of the Mass Media. He was also asked to speak about Christmas, focusing not only on folk customs…

Jun

30

2014

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Peter the Rock of Faith

Christian Life, Faith, Featured Articles

Most of the Epistles found in the New Testament are attributed to St. Paul. In addition there are three Epistles of St John, one each of James and Jude, and two of St Peter. Since these are not read at a Sunday Divine Liturgy, we may be less familiar with them. They are all read at weekday Liturgies in the time between the Theophany and the beginning of the Great Fast. In addition portions of 1 Peter are read at Great Vespers on June 29, the feast of Ss. Peter and Paul. 1 Peter is addressed to Christians in “Pontus,…

Jun

11

2014

By Brent Kostyniuk

Both Sides

Both Lungs, Christian Life, Faith, Featured Articles

by Brent Kostyniuk “I’ve looked at life from both sides now…” I’m sure Joni Mitchell’s words mean something different to just about everyone who hears them. Over the past several months, they have taken on a special new meaning for me, as I reflect on St. John Paul II’s famous exhortation that the Church needs to breathe through both lungs - East and West. For the past five years, this column has used the saint’s words as a focus in attempting to spread knowledge and appreciation of Eastern theology and spirituality to those from the Christian West. Often, the theme…

Jun

03

2014

By Fr. Michael Winn

The Feast of Pentecost

Christian Life, Featured Articles, Liturgy

by Fr. Julian Katrij, OSBM Exceprt from A Byzantine Rite Liturgical Year We have seen the true light, we have received the Heavenly Spirit, we have found the true faith, we worship the undivided Trinity, for It has saved us. (Stichera of Solemn Vespers of the Feast of the Pentecost) The glorious feast of the Resurrection concludes with a feast also most glorious and great – and that is, the feast of the Pentecost. After the Nativity and Resurrection of our Lord this feast belongs to the greatest feasts in the Ecclesiastical Year. The Descent of the Holy Spirit is, as…

Jun

03

2014

By Fr. Michael Winn

Edmonton Eparchial Sobor

Christian Life, Featured Articles, UGCC

Edmonton Eparchial Sobor May 23-24, 2014 Vision 2020 “The Vibrant Parish: The Place to Encounter the Living Christ” From time to time, the Church gathers together the clergy, religious, monastics and laity to study and reflect upon pastoral concerns which affect the life and well-being of the Church. In the context of an eparchy, such gatherings are called an Eparchial Sobor or Assembly. Since the Jubilee Year 2000, the Eparchy of Edmonton has now convoked 5 such Sobors: 2001 – “Jesus Christ: Fountain of Rebirth” 2003 – “The Ukrainian Catholic Church in Alberta: 100 Years Later” 2008 – “Evangelization and…

May

13

2014

By Fr. Michael Winn

Mission Days 2014

Christian Life, Featured Articles, PrayerPentecost

Appeal of His Beatitude Sviatoslav to the Faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church on the Occasion of the Missionary Days Dearly Beloved in Christ ! Today I address all of you faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, led by your priests and bishops, and invite each one of you to embark together with me on an extraordinary pilgrimage that will last for ten days—from the Ascension to the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost. We are calling this pilgrimage the Missionary Days in which we turn the attention of our entire Church towards our common vocation as "missionaries,"…

May

06

2014

By Brent Kostyniuk

Ut Unum Sint

Both Lungs, Christian Life, Faith, Featured Articles

by Brent Kostyniuk As this marks the fiftieth appearance of the Both Lungs column, it seems appropriate to learn more about the context in which Saint John Paul II made the remark from which this column takes its title and its theme. As it turns out, he used the phrase many times. However, one which seems most relevant to this column was in the encyclical Ut Unum Sint [That They May Be One] given on May 25, 1995. Ut Unum Sint looked ahead to the year 2000 and the Jubilee of the Incarnation of the Son of God. It builds…

Nov

25

2013

By Fr. Michael Winn

The Phillipian Fast – The Preparatory Season for the Nativity of our Lord

Christian Life, Liturgynativity fast, pilipiwka

by Rev. Msgr. Russell A. Duker from Christ-bearers - Meditations for the Pre-Christmas Fast, Christmas, and Theophany The oldest Christian feast is the Resurrection of our Lord or Easter. This Holy Day includes a whole cycle of feasts such as the Ascension and Pentecost. It is the great feast of our redemption and sanctification. Later Holy Days followed slowly until the fourth century. After the Church won official recognition and full freedom of worship and evangelization, our present calendar of festal celebration began to develop. This development was motivated by the Church’s desire to honor both events in the life of…

Sep

14

2013

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Taking Up The Cross

Christian Life, Featured Articles

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF PASSAGES that we find in one of the Gospels but not in the others. The raising of Lazarus, for example, is recorded only in John. The birth of John the Baptist, certain of the Lord’s parables, such as the Good Samaritan, and Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet are found in only one Gospel, not the others. It may be that the people who first witnessed one of these events or heard a certain teaching were important to the local community and emphasized it in their preaching. Thus this episode found a place in the…