Dobrodiyka

Question:

An acquaintance had Dobrodiyka in front of her name.  What does this mean?

Answer:

Alex Roman & Fr. Ihor Kutash

The term "Dobrodiyka" means, literally, "doer of good" or a benevolent person. It can be used, in both its masculine and feminine variants, to describe anyone as a title of respect and honour. When this is used formally in Canada it almost always means that the lady is the wife of a priest, or even deacon of the Ukrainian Orthodox or Ukrainian Catholic Church. In the United States the more common title is "Pani-Matka" or, if one is speaking in English, simply "Pani".

In Ukraine - and even outside Ukraine's borders - it is not at all unusual to call a priest's wife "Matushka", which is an affectionate form of "Mother". This troubles some folks, however, because it is a Russian form (the modern literary form would likely be "Matinka"), and Ukrainians are justifiably wary of the Russification which has been directed at us for well over 300 years of domination by rulers of Moscow. By the way, the folks who use "Matushka" often call priests "Batiushka" showing that the practice has Ukrainian roots, for only in Ukrainian is "Bat'ko" a common word for "Father" (in Russian the formal word would be "Atyets" and the colloquial would be "Papa" or even "Papasha").

[I and Fr. Volodymyr Kouchnir, Dean of St. Sophie's Cathedral in Montreal (the previous Parish in which I exercised my priestly ministry for 30 years and 3 months), with whom I am very close friends, have taken to - playfully - calling each other "Tatku" which is pure Ukrainian. I first heard the term from a sweet story about my dear middle sister, Victoria, but I am told that it is a common term among Bulgarians who, when praying the "Our Father" in their native tongue, may say "Tatku nash". Fr. Ihor].