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). […]
Summer, in our world at least, is a time for sun and fun: cookouts, the beach, pool parties and the like. Yet in the midst of summer – in the week which has been compared to the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning –we are called to fast. The […]
Many Christian Churches in America were founded by a pastor who had a Bible, a microphone and a conviction that God wanted him to preach. So he gathered a few followers (often his own relatives), rented space and scheduled services. Americans see nothing unusual in this – after all freedom of speech and individual initiative […]
“On the first day of the week we pray standing, but everyone does not know why.” This issue, raised in the fourth century by St. Basil the Great, may be just as timely today. In most Eastern Churches standing is the most appropriate posture for prayer. Sitting is always in order for those who are […]
The Church has used many terms to describe the saints. Some of these are common to all the historic Churches, such as apostles or martyrs. The Eastern Churches also speak of some saints as “Equal to the Apostles,” believers who were responsible for bringing the Gospel to significant groups of people or nations throughout the […]
On most feasts of our Church year we display an icon which depicts the event commemorated and explains its theological meaning. This is not the case on the Feast of Mid-Pentecost which is observed this week. To be sure, the icon shows Christ preaching in the Temple but that does not give us a hint […]
Source: “THE NOBLE JOSEPH took down from the tree Your spotless body, wrapped it in pure linen with aromatic spices and laid it for burial in a new tomb.” This troparion, which summarizes the Gospel account of the Lord’s burial, is sung as the holy shroud (epitaphios) is placed in the tomb on Great Friday […]
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! Yesterday I was buried with You O Christ, Today I rise with You as you arise. Yesterday I was crucified with You; Glorify me, O Saviour, in Your Kingdom. (Paschal […]
Holiness in Life Pope John Paul II’s solemn proclamation of the new martyrs and faithful servants of God of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church as blessed is another divine manifestation to our people. During more than 1,000 years of salvation history on our land, Ukrainian Christians have rejoiced in various signs of God’s presence. The Word […]
For over one hundred years Ukrainian Catholics in Canada have been coming to their churches to pray before God, to listen to his Word, and to receive the Lord Jesus through the gifts of the Holy Eucharist. With the human eye we see only bread and wine. But with the eyes of faith we see the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The icons, especially on the iconostasis, focus our attention on the sanctuary—the place where God resides—and help us see and understand more readily this great mystery of God’s love for us.
