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Ukrainian Orthodoxy |
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Orthodoxie ukrainienne |
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Liturgical Calendar
Changing them by your Spirit: How to celebrate Pentecost every day
Is There Real Happiness? Trinity Sunday - Pentecost - The Descent of the Holy Spirit
The Harvest Road First Sunday after Pentecost - All Saints
Second Sunday after Pentecost - All Saints of Rus'-Ukraine
In today’s (July 2) Epistle we read Saint Paul’s good news: "While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6). Third Sunday after Pentecost
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost In today's Epistle (Romans 6:18-23) we find the interesting statement: "You have been set free from sin". But what does that really mean? English | français
Peter, Paul and the Church:
Seeing the Whole in the Part We have already considered how the different feasts of Saints (on the Sundays following Pentecost) are a proclamation of the work of the Holy Spirit in His Temples. The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (July 12, New Calendar) focuses on the particular character of the Temple or Church of Christ itself both as a universal Body and as a local entity. This feast under-lines what the Church really is and why it is so critically important to all Christians. 
Fast of the Apostles Is the Orthodox Church serious - another fast so soon after the Great Fast? Why do the Apostles require us to deprive ourselves of food? What is the significance of this period of preparation? What are we preparing for?
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost English | français
July 24 being the feast of St Olha, the Sovereign of Kyivan Rus'-Ukraine, weshould take a moment to reflect on the enduring impact of this noble woman on the historical, cultural and national development of Ukraine and Eastern Europe as a whole. The grandmother of St Volodymyr the Great, she truly shaped her grandson into what she knew he would become. She did the same for the peoples and kingdom she ruled over.
The period between July 28 and August 14 is a significant one in the history of the Kyivan Church. These dates frame a time of celebration of St Volodymyr and his legacy to our Church. The first date is his proper feast, while the latter date marks the day on which Volodymyr officially received Orthodox Christianity as the state religion of Kyivan Rus'-Ukraine in A.D. 988. What was it exactly that this Sovereign did and why is it so significant?
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
The Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ
An answer to a visitor's question regarding customs on Transfiguration Feast Day
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost In today's Gospel reading (Matthew 18:23-35) we receive a most valuable message about forgiveness. Jesus recounts how a steward who was forgiven ten thousand talents (an enormous sum - much more than a labourer of the day could earn in his whole lifetime) passionately refused to forgive a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii (something that the labourer could have earned in about a hundred days' work).
The Feast of the Dormition: Comparing an Assumption Both Orthodox and Roman Catholics celebrate the mystery of Christ's taking His Mother, body and soul, into Heaven. Yet both have quite different ways of approaching this Feast that reflects their differing perspectives on the Mother of Christ our God. Their liturgical focus is different one from another as are the very terms by which they name this Feast. Let's take a closer look . . .
This Feast, which falls on August 28 (corresponds to August 15 on the Julian Calendar) is of such great significance that it is preceded by a Fast which lasts for thirteen days. It is called the Dormition Fast. In Ukrainian it is commonly called “Spasivka” since the Feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration (“Spasa”) falls during this time.
Translation of the Image-not-made-by-hands of Our Lord Jesus Christ from Edessa to Constantinople (944) – Third Feast of the Saviour This Feast, called in Ukrainian “Nerukotvornyy Spas”, the last of the three Feasts of Our Lord which close the Church year, falls on August 29 (corresponds to August 16 on the Julian Calendar).
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost Today we shall reflect on Jesus' words in the Sunday Gospel (Matthew 19:23-26): "There is only One Who is Good. Keep the commandments if you want to enter life".
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost In today`s Epistle (I Corinthians 16:13-24) our teacher, the Apostle Paul, tells us to do everything in love. Good advice, no? But we might want to ask whether Paul himself is acting in love when we read him saying in this same section: "Whoever does not love the Lord - a curse on him!" Did not Jesus say that we should bless those who curse us? How is this acting in love?
The Beheading of the Holy, Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist St. John
This Tuesday, September 11, we shall be celebrating a Feast that requires a fast. We shall be commemorating the Beheading of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptizer John. That is the glorious title that the Church has given him in recognition of the special place he has in the assembly of Saints. English | français | Ukrainian (PDF)
The Placing of the Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos (September 13)
Just as the calendar year of fixed (immobile) Feasts, determined by the annual passage of the Earth around the Sun, drew to an end shortly after the Great Feast of the Dormition (repose) of the Most Holy Theotokos (August 15/28) so a new one begins with the Great Feast of her Nativity (September 8/21).
The first of the great Twelve Feasts of the Church, the Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos celebrates the birth of Her from Whom God took flesh and became Incarnate - Our Lord Jesus Christ. September 21
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost "What is the greatest commandment in the law?" Such was the question Jesus was asked in today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 22:35-46). Jesus answered immediately that it was to love - to love God and to love one’s neighbour. This included loving one’s most immediate or closest neighbour. Who would that be? Of course! It is YOURSELF! For if one can not love oneself then one can not love ANYONE ELSE.
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 27) The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross underlines the role of the Most Holy Theotokos as agent of our Salvation through Christ, and we, who yesterday shared in the joy of her parents, Joachim and Anna, at the birth of their Daughter, today remember how She stood beneath the very same Cross we celebrate.
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost In today`s Epistle (Galatians 2:16-20) our teacher in the faith of Christ`s Church, the Apostle Paul, speakd of things that are hard to understand: how do we obey law (i. e. follow the call of duty) and yet remain in the freedom that Christ has brought us.
Today's Feast (October 14), the Pokrova or Protection of our Lady the Theotokos, is a national one of the Ukrainian people. It celebrates the constant intercession and protection given to Christians by the Mother of Christ in Heaven. We are members of the Body of Christ and so Mary is our spiritual Mother who is there, along with all the Saints, to help nurture us in the life in Christ.
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost In today`s Gospel (Luke 5:1-11) we hear how Jesus helped the fishermen get a huge catch of fish, after they had laboured all night in vain. They were amazed by this! It was a sign to them that they were in the presence of Divinity. Who else but God could give them such a huge catch when they had not been able to get anything at all, experienced fishermen though they were.
Ninteenth Sunday after Pentecost In today`s Gospel (Luke 6:31-36) we are encouraged to enter into a part of our soul which is dark and uninviting. It is the place whence come the feelings of hatred, of the thirst for vengeance, for violence. Our Lord issues this invitation to us by telling us to love our enemies and to do good to them. It is a very hard thing He is asking us to do. It is hard enough to act in this way to those who have done us some personal wrongs. But it gets even harder.
Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost
Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost
Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost
Today`s Gospel (Luke 16:19-31) talks about a whole range of subjects. It can be seen that they all deal with power.
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost Today's Gospel (Luke 8:26-39) tells the terrible story of the pigs who were drowned because of the action of evil spirits which possessed them after they were commanded by Jesus to leave a man who had been their victim. It is also the wonderful story of the man who was restored to society by Jesus' act.
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost In today’s Epistle (Ephesians 2:14-22) we hear Paul tell his readers, the Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians of Ephesus, the joyous news that God had included them in His eternal family, which He loves and for which He has made the greatest of sacrifices. Meditating upon this mysterious inclusion can lead us into wonder, hope, faith, peace and joy!
Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost If we listen carefully to today’s Gospel (Luke 10:25-37) we may be able to hear Jesus telling us that good religion requires imagination.
Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Twenty-seventh Sunday after Pentecost
St. Nicholas is On His Way (December 19)
Twenty-eighth Sunday after Pentecost As winter strengthens its hold upon our land, while nature rests under its mantle of snow, it is good to think about life that will never die - the life that has been given to us, as well as to all who thirsts for it, by Jesus the Messiah.
Twenty-ninth Sunday after Pentecost
The Theophany: Seeing the Light (January 19) The twelve days of Christmas are celebrated in a markedly different manner in the West than in the East.
Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee "God, I thank Thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector". It is strange to think that, according to the Lord's parable that we hear in today's Gospel (Luke 18:10-14), these proud words are part of a prayer!
Discover the True Code of the Universe Sunday of the Prodigal Son
Meat-fare Sunday English français
Cheesefare Sunday English français
First Sunday of Lent and Triumph of Orthodoxy Ukrainian English français
Second Sunday of the Great Fast Today's Gospel reading (Mark 2:1-12) invites us to find inspiration and direction for our lives in the example of the four friends of the paralysed man who were exceedingly determined to help their friend.
Third Sunday of the Great Fast: Adoration of the Cross English | français
Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast: Commemoration of St. John of the Ladder English | français
Palm Sunday English | français
The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem Once again the cycle of the Liturgical Year has brought us to Palm Sunday, the Entry of our Lord in glory into Jerusalem. And we are blessing willows rather than guns or swords – with gratitude to the Lord Who has again given us these gifts of nature, notwithstanding the early date this year. We shall take them to our homes and also decorate the graves of our loved ones with them as a reminder of the Lord’s love and victory over the last enemy, death.
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