UGCC SingCon 2025 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Oct. 23-26

SingCon is an annual gathering of cantors, choristers, choir directors, and anyone interested in the musical tradition of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church. This year it is being hosted by the parish of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, from October 23-26. The weekend includes workshops on liturgical and musical topics, vocal exercises, mass choir practices, and liturgical services, including Vespers, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy. For further information, visit the website at https://ugccmusic.com/, or the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ugccmusic. (Student rates are available)

The link to registration is here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfqK0lfq_0xaLqgDFnzAH30RLIH6OOTf9zDXWBPjzCmg22FXA/viewform

Registration Fees: Regular rate: $175 USD (includes all meals, photocopies, etc.)

Student rate: $150 USD (also open to all Canadian residents due to the exchange rate)

Family rate: write to hello@ugccmusic.com for more information and rates.

The goal of SingCon is to advance the state and quality of church music in the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church (UGCC) in the English-speaking world, gathering cantors, choir directors, singers, clergy, and others interested in church singing to meet one another, network, share resources, discuss various issues, and—most importantly—to pray together, glorifying God. SingCon sees the traditional Byzantine liturgy and chant of the UGCC as essential sources of liturgical and spiritual renewal for Christians in the twenty-first century. Following the principles outlined by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky in his pastoral letter on church singing from 1941, SingCon seeks to successfully integrate congregational and choral singing, raising both to the highest standard.

The Fourth Centenary of the Martyrdom of St Josaphat

Today, the Church marked the four-hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of St Josaphat, who was killed for his ardent championship of union with Rome among the Byzantine-rite Christians of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A member of the Basilian Order, Josaphat, né John Kuntsevych, was made bishop of Vitebsk in 1617, at the age of only 37, and archbishop of Polotsk the following year. (Both cities are now in Belarus.) In a period of great tension between Catholics and Orthodox, he went to preach at Vitebsk; on the steps of his co-cathedral he was struck in the head with an ax, and then shot by fanatical opponents of the union with Rome, on the sixth anniversary of his episcopal consecration. They then tore off his clothes, and for a moment thought they had killed the wrong man, since he was wearing a hairshirt underneath; the body was thrown into the river, but recovered three days later. The Roman Breviary states that the first beneficiaries of his martyrdom were his own assassins, who were all reconciled to Rome, as was his principal opponent among the Orthodox clergy, Bishop Meleti Smotrytsky. Beatified only 20 years after his death, he was canonized by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1867; originally assigned to November 14th in the Roman Rite, his feast was moved to the day of his death in the calendar revision of 1969.

A few weeks ago, the Gregorian University in Rome inaugurated a special exposition to mark this anniversary; we are grateful to Fr Joseph Koczera SJ for sharing these pictures of it with us.

An eighteenth-century Baroque portrait of the Saint attributed to the Italian artist Sebastiano Conca (1680-1764). 

The official portrait used at his canonization ceremony in 1867.

A 1934 painting of a teenaged St Josaphat and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by the Italian artist Mario Barberis (1893-1960): created for the chapel of the Pontifical College in Rome named for the Saint, but removed in the 1960s, when the very Latinized style of the work had fallen out of fashion in an era of re-Byzantinization.

A 1946 painting of St Josaphat by Mykola Azovskyj (1903-47), an important 20th-century Ukrainian artist, who offered a modern depiction of the saint that nevertheless stands in continuity with both Byzantine and Latin iconography.

An icon of St. Josaphat by Juvenalij Mockryckj (1911-2002), with the Pochaiv Lavra, one of the most important monasteries in the western part of Ukraine, depicted at the bottom of the image. (The church at the far right was designed in the early 1900s by a Russian architect named Alexei Shchusev (1873-1949), who ironically went on to design Lenin’s mausoleum.)

A prayer card distributed at the event, featuring a reproduction of the earliest-known image of St. Josaphat.

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UGCC SingCon 2023 in Welland, Ontario, Sept. 28 - Oct. 1

SingCon is an annual gathering of cantors, choristers, choir directors, djaki, and anyone interested in the musical tradition of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. After successful gatherings in Parma, Ohio, and Stamford, Connecticut, this year it is being hosted by the parish of St. Michael the Archangel in Welland, Ontario, from September 28 to October 1. The weekend includes workshops on liturgical and musical topics, vocal exercises, mass choir practices, and liturgical services, including Vespers, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy. For registration details and further information, visit the website at https://ugccmusic.com/, or the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ugccmusic. (Student rates are available)

The goal of SingCon is to advance the state and quality of church music in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) in the English-speaking world, gathering cantors, choir directors, singers, clergy, and others interested in church singing to meet one another, network, share resources, discuss various issues, and — most importantly — to pray together, glorifying God. SingCon sees the traditional Byzantine liturgy and chant of the UGCC as essential sources of liturgical and spiritual renewal for Christians in the twenty-first century. Following the principles outlined by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, SingCon seeks to successfully integrate congregational and choral singing, raising both to the highest standard.

SingCon gatherings include the following activities:

● Liturgical services (Vespers, Matins, Vigil, Divine Liturgy, Parastas, etc.)

● Music rehearsals

● Workshops on practical and theoretical topics, led by experienced cantors and choir directors

● Lectures by experts in liturgical theology and/or sacred music

● A forum or Town Hall, with discussion and a Q+A session

● Meals and evening social events (with networking opportunities)

While liturgical services include some Ukrainian and Church Slavonic, the main liturgical language at SingCon is English, which is also the language of rehearsals, workshops, forums, and lectures. We aim to always attract church musicians from every age and level of experience, from every region and eparchy. SingCon also welcomes participation of other Eastern Catholics, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox Christians as an opportunity to build bridges and work for the unity of Christ’s Church.

An Ordinariate Rite Votive Mass for Peace in Ukraine

The following description was provided by James T.M. Griffin, executive director of the Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy and Music. Our thanks to him, and to Mrs Allison Girone for these photos. We strongly urge all our readers to fervently pray for a swift end to the hostilities in Ukraine, and particularly for the safety of the many Byzantine Rite Catholics in that country.

The parish of St John the Baptist in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, where I serve as subdeacon, is an Ordinariate community serving the Philadelphia region. Besides having a Ukrainian Catholic parish up the street for neighbors, we are in proximity to the cathedral of the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia. Following the invasion of Ukraine, we were moved to organize a special votive Mass for peace (or, as the Ordinariate’s Divine Worship Missal calls it, a Mass “in time of war or civil disturbance.”) This was originally intended to be a simple votive Mass in place of one of our regularly scheduled low Masses, but over the span of four days, interest grew, such that visiting singers and additional volunteers allowed us to celebrate a solemn Mass for this occasion. Our parish was additionally honored by the attendance of several descendants of Blessed Nicholas Konrad, a Ukrainian Catholic priest martyred during World War II.

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A Report on the UGCC’s Recent Church Music Conference

We are grateful to the organizers of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s annual Singing Conference, and to the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission, for this report on the event, and the videos which accompany it.

From Thursday, September 26, to Sunday, September 29, cantors, singers, choir directors, clergy, and all those interested in church singing gathered for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s second annual Singing Conference, or “SingCon,” a weekend of prayer, learning, and fellowship, at St Basil’s Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut. Under the leadership of Deacon Daniel Galadza, and with the support of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission, the gathering was organized by a group of American and Canadian cantors, church musicians, and other clergy and laypeople, and hosted by the Eparch of Stamford, Bishop Paul (Chomnycky), and Fr Bohdan Tymchyshyn, rector of St Basil’s Seminary. Over seventy participants came from parishes in every part of Canada and the United States, as well as the UK and Germany, included many college students, young adults, professionals and married couples, along with several Roman Catholic and Orthodox participants, whose presence demonstrated the value of sacred music in strengthening ties between sister Churches and in ecumenical dialogue.

This year’s gathering continued the previous year’s initial efforts to advance both the availability and the quality of Church music in the English-speaking world by bringing together cantors and choir directors to meet one another, network, share resources, discuss various issues, and—most importantly—to pray together.

Four practical workshops were offered over the weekend, on 1) the Divine Liturgy (using The Divine Liturgy: An Anthology for Worship published by the Sheptytsky Institute), 2) introducing Vespers into parishes, 3) services from the Trebnyk, or Book of Needs (Baptism, Marriage, Funerals; the equivalent of the Rituale Romanum), and 4) the sources of the Kyivan and Galician liturgical music tradition. Networking sessions during meals led by Linda Dudar covered topics such as how to develop a choir, and how to trouble-shoot mistakes and misunderstandings that inevitably arise for leaders of church singing.

Part of Matins on Friday morning

The participants divided the remainder of their time between rehearsals, tours of the Stamford Seminary Museum and Library, and the celebration of liturgical services (Vespers, Matins, the Hours, and the Divine Liturgy) with homilies by Frs Martin Canavan and Joseph Matlak, culminating in a Saturday evening Vigil and Sunday morning Divine Liturgy. Bishop Bohdan (Danylo) of St Josaphat Eparchy in Parma, Ohio, the English-language coordinator of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission, presided and preached at the Vigil on Saturday evening and at the concluding Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in the chapel of St Basil Seminary. Roman Hurko’s new composition The Jesus Prayer had its world premiere, sung by the choir during the Communion.

On Thursday evening, after Vespers, dinner, and a word of welcome from Bishop Paul participants continued with a rehearsal and Town Hall/Armchair session moderated by Larisa Cronin, entitled “High Place, Altar, Krylos, Pew: Tell us, what’s your point of view?”, a forum for various perspectives on church singing in the UGCC, from bishops and priests to cantors and lay people. Metropolitan Borys (Gudziak), this year’s representative from the bishops, encouraged those present to continue their ministry of church singing and invited them to Philadelphia in 2020.

On Friday evening, cantor Joseph Roll gave a keynote address on the history of liturgical music at the Stamford Seminary. Professor Roll, who had organized similar church singing conferences in the 1980s and 1990s, provided an overview of the numerous liturgical translations and musical arrangements that were prepared in the seminary’s halls by its professors, clergy, and students, among them Fr (later Patriarch) Lubomyr Husar, Mother Andrea of the Missionary Sisters of the Mother of God, and Prof. Ivan Zadorozhnyj. The lecture received a standing ovation.

A key result of the conference is that the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission will have a better sense of the support, resources, and training that cantors, choir directors, and singers in the UGCC in North America need to fulfill their vocation. Participants expressed the urgent need for official translations and publication of liturgical books in both English and Ukrainian, as well as resources that will help them sing the services in those books.

SingCon’s focus on English-language liturgy and singing in the UGCC stems from the 2017 decision of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC to create local linguistic groups within the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission. At the encouragement of Bishop Benedict (Aleksiychuk) of Chicago, a committee was formed at this year’s SingCon to prepare statutes for the formation of the Church Music Association of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in North America. This meeting was attended by, among others, Bishop Basil (Losten), Bishop Bohdan (Danylo), and representatives of the Church Music Association of America (NLM’s parent organization).

Information on the schedule and the music, as well as photos and videos from the weekend, can be found on the conference website (www.ugccmusic.com) and on the Facebook page of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission (https://www.facebook.com/plc.ugcc/) with the hashtag #SingCon2019.

The next SingCon is scheduled for October 1-4, 2020, in Philadelphia, and will be hosted by the Philadelphia Archeparchy. For updates, subscribe to the mailing list on www.ugccmusic.com or write to hello@ugccmusic.com.

Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Bishops Celebrate a Roman Anniversary

This past weekend, the bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, gathered in Rome for a synod, also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the church of Santa Sophia (Holy Wisdom) on the via Boccea, the Ukrainian national church in the city. The head of the UGCC, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych, celebrated Vespers on the evening of Saturday, August 31st, and the Divine Liturgy on the morning of Sunday, September 1st, to mark the occasion. Among those attending the Sunday liturgy were Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches; the former President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, with his wife Marina; and the Ukrainian Ambassador to the Vatican, Tetiana Izhevska. The UGCC’s television channel Живе Телебачення live-streamed both services, and has now posted them on its YouTube channel; in the second video, the liturgy starts around the 21:00 mark.

The basilica was originally consecrated on September 27 and 28, 1969, by Yosyf Cardinal Slipyi (1892-1984), together with seventeen bishops of the UGCC, and in the presence of the Pope. The church is next to the Ukrainian University in Rome, which is dedicated to Pope St Clement I (ca. 88-99AD), who was exiled to the Crimean peninsula, which is now part of Ukraine, and died there as a martyr. For the original dedication service, part of the relics of St Clement were brought from the Lateran and placed in the church’s altar.

The Meeting of the Lord Celebrated in L’viv

On the Julian Calendar, yesterday was the feast of the Meeting of the Lord, as the Presentation of Christ is called in the Byzantine Rite. As one final photopost for the feast, here are some images and video of the celebration at the parish of the Annunciation to the Mother of God in L’viv, Ukraine, which was sung by the Kliros choir. Great Vespers with Litiya started at 11 pm, followed by an break for agape, then Matins and Divine Liturgy, ending at 5 am.

Part of the singing of Psalm 103 at the beginning of Vespers; more videos are available at the parish’s website.

Here we can see the loaves of bread prepared for the blessing at litiya. These are the cut up and distributed to those present at the end of Vespers.

A reader chants the six Psalms at the beginning of Matins.

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Cardinal Slipyi on the Need for Beauty in the Liturgy

If you want to talk about the poor, in this place only I can speak, because I spent twenty-five years in the misery of a communist jail. You also want to take from the poor, who have little to eat, all expression of art, of music, or beauty? That too? Do you really not know that they need those things more than those who are well off?” – Yosyf Cardinal Slipyi (1892-1984), Major Archbishop of Lviv and head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, speaking to the Synod of Bishops in 1971. (h/t Luca Pava Bresciano)

Byzantine Subdiaconal Ordination in California

On December 31st, St Peter Eastern Catholic Church in Ukiah, California, welcomed His Grace Benedict Aleksiychuk, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Bishop of Chicago, to celebrate the ordination of one of the church’s native sons, Philip Gilbert, to the orders of candle-bearer, reader, cantor, and subdeacon. We are very happy to share these pictures of this event with our readers, and to offer our congratulations to Mr Gilbert, to his family and to the whole community of St Peter - Mъногая и благая лѣта! There is a video of the ordination part of the ceremony at the bottom of this post; you can see other videos which cover the entire ceremony on the parish’s Facebook page.

The ordination was celebrated after Matins and the hierarchical vesting of the bishop, during which he is repeatedly incensed by the deacons.

The ordinand is led to the bishop, who says a prayer over him, after which he is given a lighted candle; he then recites the trisagion prayers and some troparia.

He receives the clerical tonsure...

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Enthronement of the New Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Eparch of Chicago

Yesterday, on the feast of Ss Peter and Paul, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Chicago celebrated the enthronement of its new Eparch, Bishop Venedykt Aleksiychuk, who has hitherto served as an Auxiliary of Lviv in Ukraine since 2010. The ceremony, which took place at the Cathedral of St Nicholas, was presided over by the head of the UGCC, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych. The Ukrainian Catholic Church’s television channel Живе Телебачення live-streamed the Divine Liturgy, and has now posted it on its Youtube channel; the ceremony starts around the 9:30 mark. It is, as one might well imagine, fairly lengthy, but like all such ceremonies in the Byzantine Rite, incredibly beautiful and majestic.

We wish every blessing upon Bishop Venedykt in his new ministry, and upon the people he will serve in the Eparchy of Chicago - Многая Літа!!

Resurrection Concert Series of Ukrainian Sacred Music

This April 19th-22nd, over 50 singers from Canada, the United States, and Ukraine will be presenting Resurrection: Music from the Ukrainian Sacred Choral Tradition in Toronto, Rochester, Philadelphia, and New York. This concert series will showcase the new composition for a setting of a Resurrectional Divine Liturgy by Ukrainian Catholic priest Fr. John Sembrat OSBM, including masterpieces specific to the Paschal services from renowned Ukrainian composers such as Dmytro Bortniansky, Artem Vedel, and Roman Hurko. The choir will be led by one of the leading choral directors in North America, Michael Zaugg of Pro Coro Canada. This combined male choir features fourteen members from the following renowned professional choirs in Ukraine: the Boyan Ensemble of Kyiv, the Chorus of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, the Homin Municipal Choir of Lviv and Vydubychi Church Choir of Kyiv. The 50-plus member ensemble will also include members of Edmonton’s professional ensemble Pro Coro Canada, the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of Detroit, the Axios Men’s Ensemble, and the Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton.

The organizers write, “We firmly believe this music can act as a primary vehicle for evangelization, reaching people in an intimate and direct manner. This is true not merely for those who have elementary or no knowledge of the Church and its Sacred Traditions, but for those surrounded by it from birth. It is our intention that the beauty and transcendence of this music will move the faithful to greater devotion and be better disposed for the reception of the fruits of grace belonging to the celebration of the Most Holy Mysteries. It is our aim is that this music will help stimulate a renewal in Eastern sacred music; to advance the pursuit of excellence in sacred music in conformity with truth, goodness, and beauty; and, most importantly, for the glory of God, the life of His Church, and the transformation of society.”

For more information about the recording and concert series, including video and audio highlights, see the website https://www.resurrectionalliturgy.com/

Blessing of the Waters on Julian Epiphany

Yesterday was the feast of the Holy Theophany on the Julian Calendar, the commemoration of the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan. It is a tradition of the Byzantine Rite to bless not just water in vessels within the church on this day, but also large bodies of water such as lakes and rivers. If the body of water is frozen (as is often the case, especially in the Slavic nations), they will then cut a hole in the ice, so that people can have a polar-bear swim in the newly blessed water. Part of the ritual of the blessing involves submerging a hand-held cross in the water three times; in many places, it is the custom for the bishop or priest who performs the blessing to throw the cross into the water, after which, people dive in to retrieve it. It is popularly believed that the person who gets it will enjoy good health for the coming year, which will definitely be needed after taking that bath.

Here we see part of the ritual at the Greek-Catholic Cathedral of the Resurrection in Kyiv Ukraine, celebrated by the Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, (and some ‘polar-bears’ at the end,) from the Youtube channel of Живе Телебачення (Zhyve Telebachennya), the television channel of the UGCC.

Procession in Ukraine to Honor Bl. Theodore Romzha

A good friend of mine, Mr Marc Williams, whose work we have featured here before on a few occasions, is spending his summer in the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, learning about the language, faith and traditions of the Rusyn people in Transcarpathia. On Tuesday, he attended the procession held every year in honor of Blessed Theodore Romzha, a Greek-Catholic bishop of the Eparchy of Mukachevo, who was martyred in 1947, and took these pictures, which we are thankful to him for sharing with us, along with a description of the ceremony. The complete photoset can be see at the Facebook page A Traveller in Carpathia.

Every year on June 28th, the Greek Catholic community in the Eparchy of Mukachevo in Ukraine celebrates the Feast of the Translation of the Holy Relics of the Bishop and New Martyr Theodore Romzha.

The icon of Bl. Theodore used at the ceremonies described below.

Fr. Theodore Romzha was consecrated Bishop of the Eparchy of Mukachevo in 1944, after the death of Bishop Stojka (likely from poisoning) in 1943. He was a shepherd who led his flock without fear during the Soviet persecution and suppression of the Greek-Catholic Church. He is often remembered for encouraging the faithful by saying, “Faith is our greatest treasure on this earth. To preserve our faith we must even be ready to lay down our life. If we must die, then let us die as true martyrs, defending our faith. One thing is sure; that we will never abandon our faith nor betray our Church.” The communists had first thought they might be able to force the conversion of this young bishop, consecrated at only thirty-three years of age, but it soon became evident that he would not abandon the Catholic Church. They then began confiscating church property, even taking his car so he could not travel long distances, none of which deterred him from carrying out his duties.

On October 27th, 1947, while making visits in the countryside to encourage the faithful, his carriage was hit by a Soviet truck, he and those travelling with him were then beated and left for dead. He was able to be taken to a hospital, and still recovering from his injuries when he was poisoned by the NKVD on November 1st, for refusing to renounce Rome and place himself under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church.

The faithful gather with banners for the liturgies and following procession.

In 2003, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Josef Tomko as a special envoy for a ceremony during which the relics of Bishop Romzha were be transferred from Hungary to the Cathedral in Uzhhorod in Ukraine. Tens of thousands of people participated. coming from Hungary, Slovakia, and Ukraine, along with as a delegation from the Ruthenian Catholic Church in America. Priests who had been riding with Bishop Romzha when their carriage was hit, and were also beaten alongside him, gave testimony regarding his life and death.

Two days ago, the thirteenth annual celebration of this translation was attended by thousands of the faithful, over a hundred and fifty priests, and nine bishops. The principal celebrant of the Divine Liturgy was Metropolitan Eugeniusz Popowicz, archbishop of the Byzantine Rite diocese of Przemysl-Warsaw, joined by the Hungarian Greek Catholic Metropolitan Pèter Fülöp, archbishop of Hajdùdgorog, Metropolitan Ihor Vozniak of the Archeparchy of Lviv, Bishop Orosz Atanaz of the Eparchy of Miskolc, Bishop Milan Chautur of the Eparchy of Kosice, Bishop Milan Sasik of the Eparchy of Mukachevo and his auxiliary, Bishop Nil Lushchak.

The feast started with Matins, followed by the Divine Liturgy, and then the procession with the relics from the Greek Catholic Seminary to the Cathedral in Uzhhorod, a distance of approximately four kilometers. As we walked through town, people came out of their houses and shops to watch the procession, and venerate them; some women even threw roses out onto the road before the relics as they passed by, as the faithful proudly sang the troparion of Blessed Bishop Romzha:

“O priest martyr Theodore, following the Apostles’ path of piety, as a good shepherd guarding Christ’s flock, you laid down your life; for having been slain by the godless, o Blessed One, adorned with wounds you entered into eternal joy, o Long-Suffering One, and received from the Lamb of God the crown of glory. Pray to Him to save our souls!”

The procession ended with the relics being taken into the Cathedral, where the faithful were given the opportunity to venerate them. Although his principal feast on the calendar is kept on the day of his death, it was explained to me that this has really become the main occasion to honor the Blessed Bishop Romzha for the Greek-Catholic faithful, as evidenced by the many thousands who participated.

Holy Bishop and New Martyr Theodore Romzha, pray to God for us!

Singing of the Gospel at Matins 

Matins

The Hierarchical Divine Liturgy

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The Rebuilding of St Elias Church in Brampton, Ontario

Two years ago, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church of St Elias the Prophet in Brampton, Ontario, was completely destroyed by fire. Ever since then, the community has been working to rebuild its church, and an important phase has just been completed, with the mounting of the main dome. Here is a video from their Facebook page, which really has to be seen to be believed. (Wait for the end, when the bells of the church are rung to celebrate this important phase of the rebuilding.)

The head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, will consecrate the finished church at the end of September and beginning of October; details will be announced on their Facebook page. If you are anywhere near the area, you should certainly attend the ceremony if at all possible. St Elias has and deserves a reputation as a place where the Byzantine liturgy is cultivated in the fullness of its richness and beauty, and this will be a unique opportunity to witness a ceremony of even-greater-than-usual magnificence.

Call for Icon Painters for the Ukrainian National Shrine of the Holy Family

A former student of mine, a graduate of Thomas More College in New Hampshire, who is now studying at CUA and attends the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington DC has contacted me about this project. The shrine has issued a call for icon painters to undertake the painting of icons for the iconostasis and for selected walls. Go here to find out more about the commission.

The Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family is the face of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the capital of the United States. Located adjacent to the Roman Catholic Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, on the campus of Catholic University of America, and less than 4 miles from the Capitol Building, it is not only a center for worship for Ukrainian Catholics but has been built to convey information about the Ukrainian Catholic faith and about Ukrainians and their history. It has recently completed two phases of a three-phase building process, and is now ready to go forward with the third - the commission of sacred art for the interior.

The front of the nave as seen while looking East.

Over 35 years, thousands of generous Ukrainian Catholics have contributed financially to the construction of the church. The shrine, designed by architect Myroslav Nimciw, was built in three phases: the lower level in 1979, the upper sanctuary shell in 1988, and the sanctuary interior in 1999. The final phase, as mentioned, is to install icons in the sanctuary, both within the structure of a new iconostas, designed by architect Larysa Kurylas, and on select walls of the sanctuary.

You can click on the lower of the two images given above for a larger version in which can read the schema of the program for the iconostasis.

For information about the commission follow the link here.

This is an ambitious and worthy project, and a great opportunity for a good icon painter. Oh that more of our Roman Rite churches would embark on such a systematic and informed process in the commissioning of art! 

More Photos of Archbishop Shevchuk’s Divine Liturgy in Rome

I recently published some photos of a hierarchical Divine Liturgy celebrated by Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych and leader of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, at the high altar of the Roman basilica of St Mary Major. His Beatitude was joined for the liturgy by a large number of concelebrating bishops and priests, and a very large crowd of the faithful; many of the latter were pilgrims visiting Rome together with their bishops, and many were members of Rome’s sizeable Ukrainian immigrant community, who always turn out in force when Archbishop Shevchuk is in the Eternal City. A good friend of mine, Mr Marc Williams, was also present, and since he is a much better photographer than myself, I asked him to share some of his photos with our readers, to which he very kindly agreed.

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“Our Fidelity to the See of Peter” : The Ukrainian Hierarchy Celebrates the Divine Liturgy in Rome

Earlier today, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych and leader of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, celebrated a hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the high altar of the Roman basilica of St Mary Major. Several other bishops of the UGCC and a very large number of priests concelebrated; the liturgy was sung by the choir of the Ukrainian College of St Josaphat, and the central nave of the church was packed with the faithful.

The sermon was given in Ukrainian, but at the end of the ceremony, His Beatitude briefly addressed in Italian those who might happen to be present as pilgrims in the basilica, which is of course a focal point of the Jubilee celebrations and devotions in Rome. He spoke of the persecutions which the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church has undergone over the years, and how “the voice of the Evil One” (la voce del maligno) tried 70 years ago to force the Church which he leads to renounce its fidelity to See of Peter. He then stated that the same voice now seeks to convince them to become Orthodox or join the Patriarchate of Moscow “so as not to be an obstacle.” The celebration of the Divine Liturgy in a Pontifical Basilica in Rome, therefore, is a concrete sign of the continuing fidelity of the UGCC to the See of Peter. He then led the entire assembly in singing a prayer for peace in the Ukraine, to which we unite our own fervent prayers.

During the Trisagion

During the Prokimen (the chant before the Epistle)

Incensation of the congregation during the Alleluia

The chanting of the Gospel

The sermon

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