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.

Footnote about a little-known Ukrainian Royal Saint: 
St Viacheslav Volodymyrovych of Kyiv (1183-1154)

Calling All Ukrainian Churches, Organizations and Families:  Let’s all mark September 22nd as theAnniversary of the Repose of Ukraine’s great Hero, Hetman Ivan Mazepa.

The Holodomor of 1933 -
Spiritual Reflections
Silence
Evil
Faith
Foregiveness - Eucharist
Hope
Justice and Mercy
Love

Answers to Visitors' Questions

How should a Ukrainian Orthodox understand Sophia, the Wisdom of God?  What is the tradition of personification of The Lord's traits (the Sacred Heart of Christ is often depicted in some Catholic icons, so does it too carry similar personification weight - meaning and relevance)? See answer

Why is the "Word of God" not a sacrament of the Orthodox, Catholic or the Protestant churches??

Our answer to a visitor's question regarding marriage to a Protestant.

In the Latin Church, only those “in a state of grace” are to receive holy communion: state of grace being defined as not being in “mortal” sin and even though with “venial” sins should, preferably, go to sacramental confession before receiving holy communion.
What is the position of the Orthodox church for the faithful to receive Holy Communion? See Answer

Previous Questions

New Ukrainian Saints

On September 28 (corresponds to September 15 on the Julian Calendar), the day after the Feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Cross, we celebrate an ancient Icon of the Mother of God upon which the Christ Child holds a Cross while blessing the believers. This Icon bears the name of a Gothic Saint through whom the Icon came into the world. It is Saint Nicetas, the Great-Martyr.

On September 22 (corresponds to September 9 on the Julian Calendar), the day after the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, we celebrate the memory of her parents, the grandparents of Jesus, whom we joyously and gratefully proclaim as True Man and True God. This perfect union of earth and Heaven, of humanity and Divinity, which heals the alienation between God and His human children, finds a beginning in the union of these two righteous Saints of the Old Testament, Joachim and Anna. We read about them primarily in the ancient Protoevangelion of James.

A new liturgical cycle of immobile Feastdays begins with the arrival of the Indiction on September 14 (which is September 1 on the Julian Calendar). Foremost among the Saints we celebrate this day is Simeon the Stylite (stylos is the Greek word for pillar). He bears this title because he lived for almost forty years upon pillars of ever increasing height – the first was some 2 meters in height, and the last was 15 meters.

As the liturgical cycle of immobile Feastdays is drawing to an end with the arrival of the Indiction on September 14 (which is September 1 on the Julian Calendar), the Church remembers another of Christ’s Twelve Apostles, St. Bartholomew (known also by the name Nathaniel which means “gift of God”). On September 7 (August 25 on the Julian Calendar) we celebrate the Feast of the Translation of his holy Relics.

The Glorious Beauty of the Liturgical Calendar

The Radiant Beauty of the Saints

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