Thomas Sunday

Today is the eighth day of the celebration of the eighth day. Pascha! The Resurrection of our Lord! The Feast of Feasts!

It is a time of absence and presence.

Absence – when the risen Messiah comes to his apostles through locked doors, by divine providence, Thomas is not with them. May he come through the locked doors of our hearts!

Presence – when the risen Messiah comes to Thomas a week later, the doubting apostle gives the proclamation of faith that resounds through the ages: “My Lord and my God!

Absence – when the women come to the tomb, the body of Jesus is not there. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” the angels ask.

Absence – the disciples on the road to Emmaus do not recognize the Lord.

Presence – they do recognize him in the breaking of the bread, “were our hearts not burning when he explained the Scriptures to us?”

Absence – we do not stand in the presence of the Lord in the same way as the apostles did.

Presence – the Lord is with us in Holy Communion, as he comes to us more intimately than we could imagine.

Absence – “But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you” (John 16:7).

Presence – “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Today the Gospel tells us – “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Our celebration of the Resurrection, therefore, is not simply a historical report or remembrance, it is the truth of God-with-us today, challenging us to live in Christ.

Are not our two Christian greetings exactly the same:

Christ is risen! Indeed, he is risen!
Christ is among us! He is and he will be!

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

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PASCHA – The Feast of Feasts

At the Resurrection Matins, there is a procession where the people walk around the church. This procession recalls the way the women went to the tomb. The people stop in front of the Church doors and listen to the priest announce “Christ is Risen!”

The church bells ring, and the priest and people sing, “Christ is Risen!”

The doors are opened, and the church is filled with light.

The Holy Shroud is on the Altar as a sign that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. The people walk into the church singing, “Christ is Risen!”

There are many changes in the church. The doors on the Icon Screen are open. They will remain open from Pascha until after Divine Liturgy on Bright Saturday. This is to remind us that He opened the gates of Heaven and granted us eternal life.

The priest blesses a special bread called the Artos. The Artos is Christ – the Bread of Life.

It will remain in the church all of Bright Week. It will be distributed on Thomas Sunday.

People greet each other with – “Christ is Risen!” And respond with – “Indeed He is Risen!”

Melanie Struk fell asleep in the Lord

Melanie Horn Struk, 94, of North Haven, passed away peacefully on Monday, April 15, 2019. She was a longtime member of St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Our condolences go to Peter and Victoria Struk as we also pray for her husband Peter and daughter Anna who predeceased Melanie.

A funeral service will be conducted in the North Haven Funeral Home, 36 Washington Avenue on Thursday morning at 10:30.

Melanie’s full obituary may be read here.

May Melanie’s memory be eternal.

Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Christ is risen!

Sunday, 4/21, The Glorious and Holy Sunday of the Resurrection of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ

Note: There is no fasting this week. Bright vestments are worn throughout the Pentecostal season. The Holy Doors as well as the side doors of the Iconostasis are left open throughout Bright Week.

9:00 a.m. Procession and Paschal Matins
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

~Blessing of Artos
~Blessing of Easter Foods

Epistle: Acts of the Apostles 1:1-8
Gospel: John 1:1-17, Tone 1

Bright Monday, 4/22, Our Venerable Father Theodore
9:00 a.m. Special Intention requested by Dionizia Brochinsky

Bright Tuesday, 4/23, The Holy and Glorious Great Martyr, Victory-bearer and Wonderworker George
9:00 a.m. God’s blessing and health for Stephanie and Melanie requested by the Chermak family

Bright Wednesday, 4/24, The Holy Martyr Sabbas Stratelates
9:00 a.m. +Petro and Anastazia Malyk (Pan.) requested by Kateryna Szymkiw

Bright Thursday, 4/25, The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark
9:00 a.m. +George Mazur (Pan.) requested by Anna Mazur

Bright Friday, 4/26, The Holy Priest-Martyr Basil
9:00 a.m. All deceased of Zinych and Musij family (Pan.) requested by Walter and Ulana Zinych

Bright Saturday, 4/27, The Holy Priest-Martyr Simeon, Relative of Lord, Our Venerable Father Stephen

Note: The doors of the iconostas are closed, following the morning Divine Liturgy. After the Ambo Prayer, the Artos is removed from the tetrapod and the Prayer at the Breaking of the Artos is said (cf. Trebnyk or Molytvoslov). It is distributed to the faithful on Thomas Sunday, instead of antidoron.

9:00 a.m. +Yaroslava Kalynets (Pan.) requested by the Chermak family

Sunday, 4/28, Thomas Sunday
9:00 a.m. +Allan Yursha requested by the Chermak family
Distribution of Artos
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: Acts of the Apostles 1:1-8
Gospel: John 1:1-17, Tone 1

Parish announcements

Christ is risen!

This week vigil light is offered to God’s great glory by Margaret and Stuart Maybury in memory of +Vera Walnycky.

Asleep in the Lord: Melanie Struk fell asleep in the Lord. Please remember her in your prayers. Eternal Memory!

The traditional Easter parish “SVIACHENE” will be held on May 5, following the Divine Liturgy. We will celebrate only One Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. We will be running a raffle. If you would like to donate any items to be raffled, please bring them to our church hall on Sundays before our “Sviachene” or on Sunday, May 5. Tickets are $25.00 for adults, $10.00 for youth from 12 to 18. Free for altar boys, and under 12. Also we ask you to donate cakes for desert. We trust that all parishioners will join this parish gathering and through their presence attest to cherishing in our hearts a love for one another which builds our PARISH FAMILY.

Helping the poor – a work of charity: The Director of the St. Vincent DePaul Homeless Shelter in Waterbury wrote to us requesting assistance in collecting bath soap, tooth brushes, tooth paste, deodorant, Q-tips, men’s underwear, for the ministry to the homeless. We will have this collection for the poor through Pentecost (June 9). These items can be put in the basket at the entrance of the church in the marked box.

Can we follow the example of the Lord who exhorted us to care for the poor? Let us follow the holy example of the Venerable Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky who heroically lived a life of Christian virtue with his commitment to the poor. Pray to Venerable Metropolitan Sheptytsky for guidance in living a holy life.

Paul Zalonski (of our parish) will drive the donations to the Homeless Shelter in Waterbury.

The Knights of Columbus Have available for sale a freshly cooked batch of 2 quarter pound of tasty recipe kovbasa and cabbage meals for $10.00 each or a 2lb. vegetable only mix for just $6.00. These meals may be purchased in the church hall, please see Walter Ushchak.

The organizational meeting of the newly formed Facilities Maintenance Team of St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church took place on Friday evening, January 18. The schedule of work sessions was also established for the entire year so that plans can be developed for doing all the projects and arrangements made for the purchase of required supplies and equipment. The usual time frame for the work sessions will run from 6:30 to about 9:30 p.m.. There will be occasions when it is necessary to work later than 9:30 to complete some of the projects.All parishioners who would like to become part of the team should leave your contact information with Fr. Iura after the Divine Liturgy. Forms for providing your contact information can be found in the vestibule of the church.

Olga Iastrubchak will be offering private dance classes for children ages 3-18. Classes will be held on Saturdays at 1:00 pm the St Michael’s church hall. For more information please contact Olya at (203) 400-4467 or email: olgaiastrubchak@gmail.com

The world-renowned Kyiv Chamber Choir returns to perform a Hartford concert at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 20, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 679 Farmington Ave, West Hartford, CT. Tickets are available at Ukrainian National Home (860-296-5702) or online at www.universe.com or you may call Platinum Concerts International, toll-free, at 1-877-232-9835 and at the door. For concert information, go to www.platinumconcerts.com. This is a are opportunity to hear one of the world`s great choirs share ‘hidden treasures, from 1,000 years of Ukrainian sacred and folk music.

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Great and Holy Saturday

Great and Holy Saturday is the day on which Christ reposed in the tomb.

The Church calls this day the Blessed Sabbath. The great Moses mystically foreshadowed this day when he said:

God blessed the seventh day.
This is the blessed Sabbath.
This is the day of rest,
on which the only-begotten Son of God rested from all His works . . . .

(Vesperal Liturgy of Holy Saturday)

By using this title the Church links Holy Saturday with the creative act of God. In the initial account of creation as found in the Book of Genesis, God made man in His own image and likeness. To be truly himself, man was to live in constant communion with the source and dynamic power of that image: God. Man fell from God. Now Christ, the Son of God through whom all things were created, has come to restore man to communion with God. He thereby completes creation. All things are again as they should be. His mission is consummated. On the Blessed Sabbath He rests from all His works.

THE TRANSITION

Holy Saturday is a neglected day in parish life. Few people attend the Services. Popular piety usually reduces Holy Week to one day — Holy Friday. This day is quickly replaced by another — Easter Sunday. Christ is dead and then suddenly alive. Great sorrow is suddenly replaced by great joy. In such a scheme Holy Saturday is lost.

In the understanding of the Church, sorrow is not replaced by joy; it is transformed into joy. This distinction indicates that it is precisely within death the Christ continues to effect triumph.

TRAMPLING DOWN DEATH BY DEATH

We sing that Christ is “. . . trampling down death by death” in the troparion of Easter. This phrase gives great meaning to Holy Saturday. Christ’s repose in the tomb is an “active” repose. He comes in search of His fallen friend, Adam, who represents all men. Not finding him on earth, He descends to the realm of death, known as Hades in the Old Testament. There He finds him and brings him life once again. This is the victory: the dead are given life. The tomb is no longer a forsaken, lifeless place. By His death Christ tramples down death.

THE ICON OF THE DESCENT INTO HADES

The traditional icon used by the Church on the feast of Easter is an icon of Holy Saturday: the descent of Christ into Hades. It is a painting of theology, for no one has ever seen this event. It depicts Christ, radiant in hues of white and blue, standing on the shattered gates of Hades. With arms outstretched He is joining hands with Adam and all the other Old Testament righteous whom He has found there. He leads them from the kingdom of death. By His death He tramples death.

Today Hades cries out groaning:

“I should not have accepted the Man born of Mary.
“He came and destroyed my power.
“He shattered the gates of brass.
“As God, He raised the souls I had held captive.”

Glory to Thy cross and resurrection, O Lord!

(Vesperal Liturgy of Holy Saturday)

THE VESPERAL LITURGY

The Vespers of Holy Saturday inaugurates the Paschal celebration, for the liturgical cycle of the day always begins in the evening. In the past, this service constituted the first part of the great Paschal vigil during which the catechumens were baptized in the “baptisterion” and led in procession back into the church for participation in their first Divine Liturgy, the Paschal Eucharist. Later, with the number of catechumens increasing, the first baptismal part of the Paschal celebration was disconnected from the liturgy of the Paschal night and formed our pre-paschal service: Vespers and the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great which follows it. It still keeps all the marks of the early celebration of Pascha as baptismal feast and that of Baptism as Paschal sacrament (death and resurrection with Jesus Christ — Romans 6).

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Great and Holy Saturday

Great and Holy Saturday, 4/20
8:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy
 
4:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
6:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
 
7:00 p.m.  Prayers at the Tomb
 
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Great and Good Friday

Our faith is a faith of paradox.

Today the crowd choose Barabbas instead of Jesus. Yet the name Barabbas means “Son of the Father.” The crowd does not choose Jesus, the true Son of the Father. Barabbas, the gospel tells us, was an insurrectionist, a political creature. The kingdom of Jesus is spiritual, and people cannot discern it, they cannot see the true Son of the Father.

The mob cries out, “His blood be upon us and upon our children!” Asking for a curse? God has made it a blessing, for he poured out his blood upon us, we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and are redeemed every day anew by the Blood of Christ, in whom we achieve Communion, for forgiveness and life. What was meant as a curse God has made an infinite blessing.

Pilate, on the other hand, declares, “I am innocent of the blood of this just man.” But he is guilty of his sentence of death. Pilate refuses to share in the blessing of the Blood of the Lord, and like Peter, would hear the words of the one who wished to reject the passion for salvation, “Get behind me, Satan!” Of course, we must not cry out, “Crucify him!” but we must be willing to accept the chalice of the Lord, as Jesus asked James and John, “Can you drink the cup which I will drink? Will you be baptized with the baptism with which I will be baptized?”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

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Blessing of Easter Baskets

The priestly blessing of Easter foods is a venerable and beautiful tradition of the Kievan Church (not seen often among the Greeks and Melkites). The Polish and other Eastern Europeans bring their Easter foods to church to be blessed.

Sadly, too often the Slavs will bring their foods to church for the blessing but completely ignore the liturgical services of Great Week. This is a disconnect. The worship of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is paramount. The importance of having our foods blessed signals the end of the Great Fast and the arrival of joy with the celebration of our Lord and Saviors Holy Resurrection.

Blessing of Easter Foods on Great and Holy Saturday
~4:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
~6:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods

(The Liturgy at 7pm)

and AFTER the 10:30 a.m. Easter Liturgy.

****Pyrohy will be available for sale on Holy Saturday made on April 13 for $7. per dozen.

Great and Holy Thursday

Today we celebrate three mysteries of the church.

The Mystery of Holy Oil for Anointing the Sick. The Eastern Church has a much broader interpretation of the sick. Ordinarily, those who are suffering the crisis of physical illness receive to anointing to strengthen their whole being – body and soul – by renewing our faith in Christ the Messiah – the Anointed One. When we were baptized we received a holy anointing as a part of our Christian decision to reject evil and commit ourselves wholly to Christ. When the sick were anointed, not only the sick person him/herself but those who were to give care and those present were also anointed, a sign of our solidarity in fighting illness through faith. Perhaps the Holy Anointing of the whole congregation on Holy Thursday is because of the epistle for this day: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying” (1 Corinthians 11:27-30). The anointing is a response to our unworthiness to receive Communion.

The Mystery of Reconciliation. In the ancient church, Holy Thursday —before the baptisms of Holy Saturday – was the time for the reconciliation of those who were in public penance. This is why Judas is presented in the liturgical texts as one who did not repent. He is contrasted with Peter, who denied our Lord but repented. Judas did not repent. “The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born” (Matthew 26:24). The constantly repeated hymn in the Divine Liturgy of this day proclaims that we should not follow Judas, but remain ever faithful to our commitment to Christ. “Accept me today as a partaker of your mystical supper, O Son of God, for I will not reveal your mystery to your enemies, nor will I give you a kiss as did Judas.”

We now repeat this every time we receive the mysteries of our Lord’s Body and Blood.

The Mystery of the Eucharist. Today is the day our Lord revealed the mystery of the Divine Liturgy. The bread and wine that we bring to the Holy Table becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. This makes the passion, death and resurrection an everlasting participation of the sacrifice of our Lord, it is for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. Our remembrance of the infinite love of our Lord on the Cross is not “history,” it is an eternal reality, for our salvation today and for all times. Therefore, we sing (Irmos of the Ninth Ode): “Lifting up our minds to the Upper Room, O faithful, let us enjoy the lordly hospitality and the eternal banquet. Having learned from the Word about the Word, we extol him who has ascended.”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras
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