Royal Doors

Nov

08

2016

Who is Like God!?

FaithAngels, Daily Readings, Feasts, St. Michael

Glory be to Jesus Christ! Today we commemorate St. Michael and all the heavenly hosts! In our reading from Luke 10:16-21, we see our Lord refer to this battle between St. Michael and his angels and the evil one: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18). In the sending out of the 70, we see the continuation of this battle with evil in the world, a battle which continues to rage in our times, but a battle which has already been decisively won by our Lord through his passion, death and Resurrection. St. Michael gives us our…

Oct

29

2016

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Videos: Edmonton Eparchy Introduces Christ Our Pascha

Faith, Featured Articles, News, UGCC

Source: Edmonton Eparchy New Catechism - Christ Our Pascha. Now that the Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church has been translated into English, Bishop David has convoked an Eparchial Mini-Sobor which took place on Tuesday, October 18, at Saint Josaphat Cathedral Hall. Special guest speaker: Very Rev. Peter Galadza, Professor, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute, Ottawa. Father Peter and others will introduce us to the new Catechism, which is comprises of three parts: Part I - The Faith of the Church (what we believe); Part II - The Prayer of the Church (how we pray); and Part III - The Life…

Oct

29

2016

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Enthroned in the Heavenly Realm

Faith

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS is one of the most beautiful in the New Testament. It was probably written at the end of St. Paul’s life or compiled from his writings shortly after his death. Although it is addressed (in most manuscripts) to the Church in Ephesus, it does not deal with any local problems like some other Pauline epistles. Rather it speaks of the Church is a more general or universal sense, stressing its mission to make the Gospel known throughout the world. This has led some scholars to suggest that it was a kind of circular letter sent…

Oct

18

2016

By Brent Kostyniuk

Living in Harmony

Both Lungs, Featured Articles

by Brent Kostyniuk Although the Catholic Church consists of 23 separate or sui iuris Churches, over 98 per cent of her members belong to the Latin, or Roman, Church. The remainder belong to the 22 Eastern Churches, which include Coptic, Maronite, and Ukrainian Catholics among others, Put another way, of the 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide, only 16 million are of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Inevitably, as in any family, conflicts do arise when dealing with each other. Recently, Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter intended to bring a little more harmony into this family. The Apostolic Letter De Concordia Inter…

Oct

17

2016

By Fr. Roman Planchak

The Church in Council

Faith

THE BYZANTINE CHURCHES commemorate liturgically each of the seven Ecumenical Councils of the first millennium. Both Catholic and Orthodox Churches have held important councils since then, but none of those councils are celebrated with liturgical feasts in either the East or the West. Why are only the seven Councils which we commemorate so set apart? An answer may be found in the title of a recent book on these councils, edited by Sergey Trostyanskiy. Its title, Seven Icons of Christ, indicated the unique character of these gatherings. They articulated the heart of the Church’s faith in Christ, expressed in the…

Oct

15

2016

By Fr. Roman Planchak

St. Lucian of Antioch: Scholar and Martyr

Faith, Liturgy

MOST CHRISTIANS KNOW that the books of the New Testament — the Gospels, the Epistles and the rest — were written in the first century ad. Some know that these books were compiled as the New Testament sometime in the next three centuries. Few know that the form of the New Testament which we use in our Church — the “Byzantine text” — is largely the work of St Lucian of Antioch, whom our Church remembers on October 15. Who Was Lucian of Antioch? Born in c. 240, Lucian was the son of Christian parents in a Syriac-speaking area in…

Oct

13

2016

By Fr. Roman Planchak

St. John Chrysostom: Family

Christian LifeWisdom of the Fathers

"Don’t say, “Bible-reading is for monks; am I turning my child into a monk?” No! It isn’t necessary for him to be a monk. Make him into a Christian! Why are you afraid of something so good? It is necessary for everyone to know Scriptural teachings, and this is especially true for children. Even at their age they are exposed to all sorts of folly and bad examples from popular entertainments. Our children need remedies for all these things! We are so concerned with our children’s schooling; if only we were equally zealous in bringing them up in the discipline…

Oct

02

2016

By Fr. Roman Planchak

“The Gospel I Received”

Oct

01

2016

By Fr. Roman Planchak

St. Romanos: Patron of Church Musicians

Christian Life, FaithMusic

ONE OF THE MORE POPULAR CHANTS in our Church is the kondakion of Christ’s Nativity, “Today the Virgin gives birth…” What many do not know is that this hymn is an excerpt from a much longer work and that it was written by St Romanos the Melodist. Who is This Saint? St Romanos was born in Homs, Syria (some say Damascus), to a Jewish family in the latter part of the fifth century. We do not know when he was baptized or whether his family was converted as well. As a young man he moved to Beirut and entered the…

Sep

28

2016

By Brent Kostyniuk

Camp St. Basil

Both Lungs, Featured Articles

by Brent Kostyniuk Thank goodness they still exist. Many decades ago, parish operated summer camps were a common feature on the prairies, however few remain. A remarkable exception is Camp St. Basil located about 45 miles south west of Edmonton near Mulhurst Bay on Pigeon Lake. The spark for Camp St. Basil came in 1950 when it was decided an overnight camp in the country would provide a highly desirable opportunity to educate Ukrainian Catholic youth in the Catholic faith and Ukrainian culture. It would have greater impact on them than the summer day camps for boys and girls operating…