Liturgy – Page 6 – Royal Doors

Jul

21

2013

Concerning the Purely Vocal Nature of Authentic Liturgical Chant

Liturgy

Rev. John Sembrat, O.S.B.M. July 1995 One specific factor that is especially detrimental to the beauty and mystical character of our church music is the introduction of musical instruments in church services where they exert an uncontrollable secularizing influence, distracting the mind and heart of the faithful by diverting their attention from prayerful contemplation to a worldly and carnal kind of entertainment which certainly cannot be called authentic liturgical music. It was not by some pure coincidence of historical circumstances that the Catholic Church of both East and West has regarded, down to the present day, unaccompanied chant to be…

Jul

14

2013

By Fr. Michael Winn

Introduction to Epistle Readings Help Card

Faith, Liturgy

The following was created by Fr. Michael Winn for the Eparchy of Edmonton in order to help those who read the Epistle at the Sunday Divine Liturgy. It is a list of the "introductions" to the Epistle readings, in both English and Ukrainian, that also acts as a book marker. It was created on standard letter-size paper and is intended to be folded in half vertically and then laminated. Introduction to the Epistle Readings

Jul

02

2013

By Fr. Michael Winn

Holy Mystery of Marriage

Liturgy

O Lord our God Crown them with Glory and Honour! [alert style="info"]Please Note: As of the day of this post there is no official English translation of this Rite for the Ukrainian Catholic Church. This translation is provided until such time.[/alert] The Betrothal The couple to be crowned in marriage and their attendants assemble in the narthex before the doors of the church. When everything is ready, the clergy go out to meet them. The priest signs with the Cross three times, and then exclaims: Priest: Blessed is our God always, now and ever and for ages of ages. All:…

Jun

19

2013

By Most Rev. Lawrence Huculak

The Iconostasis and the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada

Faith, Liturgy

Introduction The Sistine Chapel in Rome is famous, not only as the place where new popes are elected but also for the important series of frescoes, begun in 1508, by arguably the world’s greatest artist, Michelangelo. On 12 November 1979, two icons by a lesser-known artist, Sviatoslav Hordynsky, were placed in the Sistine Chapel for the episcopal ordination of Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky, as Metropolitan-Archbishop of Philadelphia. The service took place according to the Ukrainian Byzantine Liturgical rites and the main celebrant was Pope John Paul II. The Sistine Chapel obviously did not lack in artistic decoration, but it was lacking…

Jun

19

2013

By Fr. Michael Winn

What is the Liturgical Year?

LiturgySeptember 1

In a pastoral letter issued at the close of the Second Vatican Council (1965), our Bishops, together with Cardinal Joseph Slipyj, defined the Liturgical Year as: “A liturgical cycle of the universal or some particular Church, that consists of Sundays, weekdays, the feasts of our Lord, the Mother of God, the saints and the periods of fasting and forbidden times.” We call the Liturgical Year the Ecclesiastical or Church Year, because it contains the Church Calendar, which in some respects is similar to and in others differs from the civil calendar. In the Eastern Church the Church Year differs from…

May

24

2013

By Fr. Michael Winn

The Language of the Liturgy: Speaking God’s Kingdom

Faith, Liturgy

The issue of religion and language has been with us since at least the third century BC, when the books of what we now call the Old Testament were first translated from Hebrew into Greek. Three centuries later, by the time the apostles began to move out from Jerusalem and carry the message of Jesus across the known world, each of them will likely have known Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek. Subsequently, as the Gospel spread and the liturgies of the Church developed, the languages of the Church multiplied. As we might expect, Latin was almost immediately added, but so was…

Mar

14

2013

By Fr. Roman Planchak

The Who’s Who of The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete

Faith, LiturgyGreat Lent

As we approach Great Lent, the time given to us specifically for repentance, the Church gives us a whole host of images to help us. St. John of Kronstadt teaches that: “Imagery or symbols are a necessity of human nature in our presently spiritually sensual condition; they explain [by the vision] many things belonging to the spiritual world which we could not know without images and symbols.” We need pictures to help us think, to help us digest and understand the truths given to us. What St. Andrew of Crete does in the Great Canon written by him, is to…

Jul

20

2012

By Fr. Michael Winn

Order of Holy Baptism and Chrismation

Liturgybaptism, chrismation, christening, holy mystery, initiation

All you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia! [alert style="info"]Please Note: As of the day of this post there is no official English translation of this Rite for the Ukrainian Catholic Church. This translation is provided until such time.[/alert] The priest, vested in an epitrakhil (and phelon, if it is the custom) goes with the deacon into the narthex of the church. The deacon faces the child to the East, opens its blanket and removes its hat. Then the priest breathes on the child’s face three times, makes the sign of the Cross on…

May

20

2012

By Fr. Michael Winn

In Honour of the Sunday of the Council of Nicaea

Liturgy

To the tune of "Supercalafragalisticexpialadocius" ... Um diddle diddle um diddle ay Um diddle diddle um diddle ay Superchristological and Homoousiosis Even though the sound of them is something quite atrocious You can always count on them to anathemize your Gnosis Superchristological and Homoousiosis Um diddle diddle um diddle ay Um diddle diddle um diddle ay Now Origen and Arius were quite a clever pair. Immutable divinity make Logos out of air. But then one day Saint Nicholas gave Arius a slap-- and told them if they can't recant, they ought to shut their trap! [chorus] Oh, Superchristological and Homoousiosis...…

Sep

01

2011

By Most Rev. David Motiuk

Discover the Beauty of the Liturgical Year!

Christian Life, Liturgy

We're used to marking our lives by the events during the year that give shape to our existence and of those around us. A birthday. An anniversary. A graduation. A death. Each of these celebrations helps us mark significant moments in time. We record many of these meaningful moments in pictures, videos, greeting cards, letters and the such. And from time to time, we reminisce about the people and happenings recorded for posterity, bringing a smile to our faces when our memories fill our hearts with gladness, or bringing a tear to the eye when we recall the loss of…