Royal Doors

Jan

02

2021

2020 Nativity Greeting from UGCC Bishops of Canada

Featured Articles, UGCC

Christ is Born! Glorify Him! Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.Luke 1:28 Dearly Beloved in Christ! With what mixed emotions did the Mother of God experience the Annunciation when the Archangel Gabriel greeted her? On one hand, she experienced fear and confusion about what was taking place in her life: physically, bearing Jesus in her womb while not yet [fully] married, and spiritually, being filled with the Holy Spirit and overwhelmed with peace and joy! Nine months later, at the birth of her Son Jesus, she continued to treasure and ponder all these words in her heart. And…

Dec

25

2020

By His Beatitude Sviatoslav

2020 Christmas Pastoral Letter of His Beatitude Sviatoslav

Featured Articles, UGCC

Prot. N. 20/349 ENG Most Reverend Archbishops and Metropolitans, God-loving Bishops, Very Reverend Clergy, Venerable Monastics, Dearly Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Ukraine and throughout the world For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,so that you by his poverty might become rich.2 Cor 8:9 Christ is born! Glorify Him! Beloved in Christ! It is hard to believe how our life has changed from the final carol of last year to the first “Boh Predvichnyj” (God Pre-eternal) of this year’s Christmas Eve. Throughout 2020 we were, it…

Dec

22

2020

By Brent Kostyniuk

Icons, but not Statues

Both Lungs, Faith, Featured Articles

by Brent Kostyniuk “Then we went on to Greece, and the Greeks led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendour or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it.” This is how Prince Vladimir’s emissaries described their experience of Byzantine Christianity in 987, leading to the baptism of Kiev in 988. No doubt, the emissaries’ feelings were shaped by the richness of the Byzantine Tradition – they heard the beautiful singing, they smelled the…

Nov

20

2020

By His Beatitude Sviatoslav

Only One Thing Will Remain – That Which You Have Given to the Poor

Featured Articles, UGCC

Pastoral Letter of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church of 2020 to the clergy, religious, and laity Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers!Venerable Brothers and Sisters in Religious Life!Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ! I. “The poor you always have with you” (Jn 12:8): the faces and dimensions of poverty around us 1. With the present Pastoral Letter of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, we, your Pastors, wish to direct our gaze, together with you, on the suffering poor person, whose silent cry often fails to reach the ears and hearts of our contemporaries. The poor,…

Sep

26

2020

By Brent Kostyniuk

Internment

Both Lungs, Featured Articles, News

by Brent Kostyniuk It has become fashionable to resurrect historic injustices and blame them for present day conditions. However, there is one event which remains little known, which brought horrible sufferings to thousands, and for which no reparation has even been considered—the internment of Ukrainian Canadians during World War I. Imprisoned This infamous incident in Canadian history began when the War Measures Act came into law in 1914. Under the pretext of safeguarding the country from enemy aliens, some 8,500 men were interned as prisoners of war. Far from being enemy alien combatants, these men were civilians. Some detainees were…

Aug

07

2020

By Brent Kostyniuk

Life of the World to Come

Both Lungs, Featured Articles

by Brent Kostyniuk In this time of the pandemic, it is normal, if not expected, that people will worry about what lies ahead. For many, the fear of death brought about by this new plague has become a part of everyday life. However, as Byzantine Christians, we know full well what lies in store. At each Divine Liturgy we, along with many other Christians, pray the Nicene Creed and those words which tell us precisely what is in store for us. “I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” We are further…

Apr

15

2020

By Respected Author

Metropolitan-Archbishop Emeritus Stephen Sulyk

Apr

14

2020

By UGCC Bishops of Canada

2020 Paschal Greeting of UGCC Bishops of Canada

Featured Articles, UGCC

https://youtu.be/0uc45ywkab8 To the Very Reverend Clergy, Monastics and Religious Sisters and Brothers, Seminarians and Laity of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada: Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord – Christ is Risen! Христос Воскреc! How difficult it is during the darkness of the COVID 19 pandemic, with closed churches and empty streets, to respond with enthusiasm to this greeting of joy – Indeed, He is Risen! Воістину Воскрес! Rather, we might feel urged to chant the words from the psalm the Church sings on the Sundays preceding Great Lent: “By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept,…

Apr

04

2020

By Respected Author

Holy Week & Pascha – A Brief Explanation

NewsHoly Week, Lent, Pascha

by Fr. Peter Babej Lazarus Saturday The Great Fast (40 days) ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday. Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday form a short and joyous prelude to the days of grief which will follow. Bethany is the place where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and reveals Himself to be “the Resurrection and the Life.” “Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live” (John 11:25). Bethany is also the point of departure for Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. On this Saturday, we go to Bethany, to Lazarus’s tomb. We want to meet Jesus at Bethany…

Apr

01

2020

By His Beatitude Sviatoslav

Pascha 2020 Letter of His Beatitude Sviatoslav

Featured Articles, UGCC

Most Reverend Archbishops and Bishops,Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers,Venerable Brothers and Sisters in Monastic and Religious Life,Dearly Beloved Laity in Christ of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church Christ is Risen! When those bound by chains in the realm of HadesSaw Your boundless mercy,They hastened to the light with joy, O Christ,Praising the eternal Pascha. Ode 5, Paschal Canon Beloved in Christ! This year we are celebrating Christ’s Pascha in particular circumstances. Many of us spent the season of Great Lent at home, isolated from others, physically distant from our churches and parish communities. Yet even in such challenging conditions, no one…