Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

Welcome, Readers and Surfers, of whatever persuasion! 
 
This website intends to be a doorway into the treasury of Christian insights and achievements afforded by that Garden of the eternal Church of Christ, sown and nurtured, as we believe, by our Lord Himself which is called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. 
 
Its title does not intend to imply any official connection with any Ukrainian Orthodox communion.  Indeed it has been enriched by folks who love this Garden, who find themselves in various Ukrainian Orthodox - as well as Ukrainian Catholic communities. About Us. We welcome the feedback, input and comments, laudatory or critical as well as analytical - and especially inquisitive! - of our readers and friends across the globe.

Manjava Skete: The Contemporary Relevance of Monastic Spirituality

Answers to Visitors' Questions

A reply to a visitor's question regarding the meaning of "chlenstvo", that is "membership" in a parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.

An answer to a question on cremation.

Two questions from a visitor regarding Christ Blessing Hands in Icons See answers

Could you please comment on the fact that The Jehovah's Witnesses claim all religions are false except those following the teachings of the Watchtower whose Governing Body has a direct channel to God! See answer

I am considering becoming a Jehovah's Wittness so that I may survive God's War of Armageddon, never die,  and live forever in my body on Earth, where I have experienced much happiness.
I would like your advice--please reply. See answer

Does the Ukrainian Orthodox church recognize Saint Austin? See answer

I and my fiancee are due to be married soon. She is Roman Catholic and although has agreed to have the service in my church, she has had some questions about altering the service a little. I told her that there is no> way that any musical instruments can be used in the churc and she gave in. However, her parents were married by a Ukrainian Catholic priest 30 years ago and they had the betrothal part of the ceremony in the front of the church rather than the back. I know that our traditions with the Uniate church are very similiar if not almost the same. Is it possible to have the betrothal part of the ceremony in the front of the church? Is it also possible to have a unity candle during the ceremony? Are these decisions up to my parishes priest or is it a doctrinal rule? See answer

What is the stand of the Orthodox Church regarding re-marriage when one person is divorced and the other has multiple partners?  Are both persons viewed the same?
See Answer

I am a Protestant who has recently graduated with a biblical studies degree, and have learned more about Roman Catholics than I have before.  I have also been to a Greek Orthodox temple a couple of times as well, learning some about the Eastern Church. Towards the end of my education, I have learned that the Eastern Church considers the Roman Catholic Church heretics.  I was wondering what the reason behind that was. See answer

I'm a Roman Catholic considering conversion to the Orthodox Faith.  I've read some articles on the internet and am confused as to whether I need to  be re-baptized.  Do you consider baptism in the Latin rite invalid?

I'm planing to attend my very first mass in your Faith and was wondering if I would be allowed to receive the Eucharist or do I need to go through some sort  of training first? See Answer

Can you please address the matter of Apostolic Succession with regard to the history of the Orthodox Church (including what the Church Fathers may have written about it) and secondly can you address Succession from a Scriptural perpective (including any Old and New Testament references to it!)  and what about the matter of the Catholic Roman Church claiming exclusivity with respect to the Petrine confession "thou art Peter and upon this rock I shall build my Church." See Answer

Previous Questions

Icons of the Mother of God
Often the Church Calendar besides the names of the Saints lists also Holy Icons, especially those of the Mother of God. The Orthodox Church has a special reverence for Icons for our Church experienced a most trying time of persecution of iconodules (those who venerated Icons) in the age of iconoclasm which lasted from 725 to 842. The veneration of Icons was confirmed in the Orthodox Church based on its teaching on the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity

Icon of the Mother of God “the Merciful” (Kikkotissa)

The Mother of God “Multiplier of Bread”

The Myrozh Icon of the Mother of God, 1198

The Pochayiv Icon of the Mother of God

The Chirsk (Pskov) Icon of the Mother of God, 1420

Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Okhtyrka

Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Boholiubov

The Icon “Axion estin” (“Dostoyno ye”)

Zhirovits Icon, Hrodna Oblast', Belarus

icon of St. Elias Monastery in Chernihi

Departments

Listing of articles on this site in accordance with the liturgical Calendar

Other Articles

Prayer Corner

Letters to Theophilus

Ukrainian Saints

Христос Воскрес! Воістину Воскрес!

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
Le Christ est Ressuscité! En Vérité Il est Ressuscité!

The Glorious Beauty of the Liturgical Calendar

Orthodox Christianity joyously proclaims that with God's entry into the space time continuum through the Incarnation of the Logos, the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, true God of true God, time itself has been forever changed.  The time before the Incarnation was the time of awaiting the Messiah and the time since then has become the time of the Messiah, the time of our salvation and the transformation of the cosmos into the manifest Kingdom of God which shall continue "unto ages of ages", in other words, forever.  The Church, the Body of Christ, lives in this time.  It does so especially by celebrating the hours, the days, the weeks, the months and the years of space time through the Church Calendar.  In this new section of Ukrainian Orthodoxy we intend to reflect upon the beauty of this Calendar by which the people of the Lord share and grow in the Life He has so graciously and abundantly shared with us.

The Lord’s Pascha. The Radiant Resurrection of Christ. What is it about this day that makes it so very special to millions of people around the globe? Why do people keep saying: “Christ is risen!” and responding “He is risen indeed!” with such conviction and joy almost two thousand years after this event?

The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem

St. Mary of Egypt On the Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast the Orthodox Church commemorates a woman who after 17 years of licentious living in Alexandria in Egypt, found the grace of repentance in Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Resurrection and spent nearly 50 years in the desert beyond the Jordan in spiritual labour and rejoicing.

Fifth Saturday of Lent. This year of our Lord 2008 a most fortuitous conjunction is marked on the Church Calendar by which a Feastday determined by the solar Calendar, the Feast of the Annunciation, celebrated on April 7 (which is the Gregorian equivalent of the Julian Calendar March 24) is closely followed by two commemorations determined primarily by the lunar Calendar which fixes the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection, the Holy Pascha.

The first of these two commemorations is the Fifth Saturday of Lent, during which we offer Praise to the Theotokos and pay particular honour to her Icon.

TARAS SHEVCHENKO’S CROSS On the Third Sunday of Great Lent we celebrate the Holy Cross as a reminder to us in our endeavour of fasting that it is by the Cross that our Lord achieved the final and decisive victory over death and brought us over into the life of the Resurrection. Such is the meaning of His triumphant cry upon the Cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30).

The Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste

First Sunday of Lent: The Triumph of Orthodoxy

Cheesefare Sunday – The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise

Meatfare Sunday – About the Last Judgement

The Sunday of the Prodigal Son

The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

The Radiant Beauty of the Saints

On February 10 (which is January 28 on the Julian Calendar), the Church celebrates the memory of a wonderful man of the Spirit, whose inclusion on the Calendar of Saints shows that canonical boundaries do not determine a person’s sanctity.

On January 25 (which is January 12 on the Julian Calendar), the Church celebrates the memory of a young woman of third century Rome, Tatiana, whose courage and prayers destroyed a series of idols of the most prominent of pagan gods and challenged one of the mightiest of earthly empires with the values of the true Kingdom of the King of kings.

On January 27 (which is January 14 on the Julian Calendar), we celebrate the memory of a remarkable woman, St. Nina, whom the Church calls “Isapostolos” which means “Equal to the Apostles”. It was by her ministry that the nation of Georgia became one of the first Christian nations.

January 19 (which is January 6 on the Julian Calendar), the Feast of Theophany, marked the 58th anniversary of the repose of a Ukrainian saint of modern times, the Venerable Lavrentiy of Chernihiv. During my visit to Chernihiv in the summer of 2006 I had heard of this remarkable man who kept the the Faith as a monk in the some of the most difficult days that the people of Ukraine have known. He is much revered in this district of Ukraine which has given many Saints.

On January 13 (which is December 31 on the Julian Calendar) Ukrainians traditionally celebrate the eve of the civic New Year (the ecclesiastical New Year is September 1/14 – the Indiction – marking the beginning of a new agricultural cycle after the bringing in of the harvest). They call such celebrations “Malanka” which comes from the name of the Saint of the day, St. Melania the Younger of Rome who reposed on this day in 439.

The story of the Saints we celebrate on December 24, Julian Calendar (which is January 6, Gregorian) is a stirring one. It is that of Eugenia, born in Alexandria, Egypt, to a high-ranking official, Philip, and his wife, Claudia, in the 3rd century A.D.

Martyr Boniface of Tarsus (Feast Day January 1)

On December 23 (December 10 according to the Julian Calendar) we commemorate the memory of another great Saint from Ukraine. It is St. Joasaph, Bishop of Belgorod (in western Russia, 40 kilometers from the border of Ukraine).

On December 18 (December 5 Julian Calendar) we celebrate the memory of a great monastic Saint who struggled to follow the way of Christ in the land where our Lord ministered. A special link to the Lord’s Nativity to which we are drawing near may be found in the fact that the Monastery he founded, the Mar Saba Lavra, continues to function to this day just under 15 kilometers from Bethlehem where Jesus was born.

On December 9 (November 26 Julian Calendar) we celebrate the memory of another of the marvelous Saints offered to Christ by the people of Ukraine. It is that of St. Innocent, the first Bishop of Irkutsk in Siberia.

St. Winifred of Holywell, Wales

Holy and Glorious Great Martyr Demetrius the Myrrh-streamer of Thessalonica

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Abercius, Bishop and Wonder Worker of Hierapolis

Panteleimon the Great Martyr and Healer (305)

St. John the New Martyr of Suchava

St. John "the Russian" (Ukrainian)

Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine and his mother, Helena

St. Epiphanius the Bishop of Cyprus

St. Celidonius the Blind Man

St. Photina, the Samaritan Woman

Previously Posted