Royal Doors

Apr

24

2015

Why Are There Two Paschas?

Christian Life, Faith, Featured ArticlesPascha

A sore point in the relationship between the Churches concerns the date on which we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Often one group of Christians is observing Pascha while their neighbors may have up to a month to go before they do the same. While some people may enjoy having two festive meals as a result (they rarely observe both fasts), Christians have always seen this as a regrettable, if unavoidable anomaly. The Quartodecimans The oldest celebration of Christ’s resurrection is not Pascha (Easter) but every Sunday, the Lord’s Day. When an annual festival came into being is not known…

Apr

24

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

A Lamb Without Blemish and Without Spot

Faith, Featured Articles

What’s in a name?” This question, which Shakespeare put in the mouth of Juliet, has become something of a cliché ever since. Nevertheless, it is certainly a valid question when we look at our name for the Feast of Christ’s Resurrection. In AD 725 St Bede the Venerable, an English monk and scholar, addressed this question in his work, The Reckoning of Time. He tells us that the word “Easter” was the Old English term for the month which we call April and which, in turn “was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honor feasts…

Apr

18

2015

By UGCC Bishops of Canada

Message of the UGCC Bishops of Canada on Pascha 2015

Featured Articles, UGCCPascha, Pastoral Letters, UGCC Bishops of Canada

To the Reverend Clergy, Monastics and Religious Sisters and Brothers, Seminarians and Laity of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada: Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen! Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ! “Behold, today is the day of the Resurrection, let us glory in the Feast; let us embrace one another in joy” (from Resurrection Matins). The glorious proclamation of Our Lord’s Resurrection marks the most joyous and transformative event in human history. During the Resurrection Matins, we are overwhelmed by the power of God’s graciousness, a power that moves us to recognize more clearly the meaning of life…

Apr

18

2015

By Fr. Michael Winn

Kneeling Prayers of Pentecost Sunday

LiturgyKneeling Prayers, Pentecost

First Kneeling Prayer Priest: Again and again on bended knee let us pray to the Lord. All: Lord, have mercy. Priest: O Lord, most pure, incorruptible, without beginning, invisible, incomprehensible, unsearchable, unchangeable, unsurpassable, immeasurable, and forebearing: You alone have immortality; You live in unapproachable light; You made heaven and earth and the sea and all things created in them. You grant to all their requests even before they ask. We pray to You, and we beseech You, O Master who loves all mankind, the Father of our Lord, God, and Saviour, Jesus Christ. For our sake and for the sake…

Apr

17

2015

By Brent Kostyniuk

Blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky, CSsR – A Martyr for Christ

Both Lungs, Featured Articles

by Brent Kostyniuk When I was in Grade Three, our teacher asked the class what we would do if someone came into the room and threatened to shoot anyone who was Christian. It was an incredibly scary prospect back then and it still is today. Yet, there are brave and faithful people who resist any temptation to deny their faith and face martyrdom instead. Blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky did exactly that. Vasyl Velychkovsky was born in 1903 into a priestly family in Western Ukraine. His father was a priest, as were both his grandfathers. After serving as a rifleman in World…

Apr

10

2015

By Fr. Michael Winn

Message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav on Pascha 2015

Christian Life, Featured Articles, NewsPastoral Letters, Sviatoslav

Most Reverend Archbishops and Bishops, Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers, Venerable Brothers and Sisters, Dearly Beloved in Christ of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church Christ is Risen! Let the divinely inspired Habbakuk stand with us at the divine watch; Let him show us the brilliant angel who proclaims: Today salvation comes to the world; for Christ, being Almighty, is risen. (Ode 4, Paschal Canon) Beloved in Christ! Once again we gather in Ukraine and throughout the world to greet one another on the glorious feast of our Lord’s Resurrection. For more than a year we have been traveling along a special…

Apr

10

2015

By Fr. Michael Winn

Pastoral Letter of His Beatitude Sviatoslav to the Youth on Palm Sunday 2015

Christian Life, NewsPastoral Letters, Sviatoslav

My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways. (Prov. 23:26) Dear Young People in Christ! I always await Palm Sunday with great anticipation – the day of the glorious entrance of Christ into Jerusalem – for it is an opportunity to support and bless you and to speak to you the Word of God. Today we experience a profound Gospel event – the entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem. This is a celebration of Christ’s triumph and glory that opens the door to suffering and death, one of the most important episodes of His life. The…

Apr

03

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Singing in the Midst of the Flames

LiturgyDivine Liturgy, Holy Week, Liturgical Year, Old Testament, Scipture

Source: Eparchy of Newton One of the last books in the Old Testament – and perhaps the most intriguing – is the Book of Daniel. Written in the second century bc, it tells the adventures of the godly Jewish nobles Daniel and his companions Ananiah, Azariah and Mishael who were taken captive by the Babylonians four hundred years before. Given new names – Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – and trained for service in the Babylonian court, they were imprisoned for not worshipping the gods of their pagan masters but vindicated by the power of the true God, the God…

Mar

31

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

The Seal on Our Repentance

Featured Articles, LiturgyMystery of Holy Unction

Source: Eparchy of Newton During the forty days of the Great Fast the Church urges us to ascetic effort as a preparation for the observances of Holy Week and Pascha. We know that, by His death and resurrection, Christ has achieved the restoration of our human nature in Himself and has enabled us to share in His victory over sin and death by baptism. Like Adam in the resurrection icon, Christ has taken us by the hand to draw us from the pit of spiritual death. But we know that, like Adam, our feet are still in the grave. It…

Mar

31

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Christ in Prophetic Song

Faith, Featured ArticlesMatins, Old Testament

Source: Eparchy of Newton When the Risen Christ joined the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the Gospel says that, “beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). Where and how did Moses and the prophets speak of Jesus, whom the biblical teachers of His day did not recognize? The Church Fathers described the references to Christ in the Old Testament as a typology. A Biblical “type” is a person or event which points beyond its original meaning to something greater to come. The human author –…