Welcome!

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Whether you are visiting us for a brief time, looking for a new parish community, are returning to the practice of your Catholic faith, or are interested in finding out more about the Eastern Catholic Church, we’re happy to have you here.

St. Michael’s is a faith-filled people of the Ukrainian Catholic tradition. We strive to make the Divine Liturgy the heartbeat of our faith community and we stand ready to bear witness to the Lord with our life. Saint Michael’s is a parish rooted in Jesus Christ, active in our love of neighbor, on the path toward salvation in the Holy Trinity.

Join us today in supporting the St. Michael’s Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief Fund!

Your gift today will provide food, medical supplies, clothing, and items for children. These items will all be immediately distributed, and 100% of your gift will go directly to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. No amount is too small.

The Great Fast

Each year the onset of the Great Fast raises questions about how one should be fasting and what the Church requires. And, while we should never approach fasting pharisaïcally, it is spiritually profitable to be aware of traditional practice and the minimum required by the Church in order to chart one’s own course according to personal circumstance. To this end, we have produced a chart detailing the traditional fasting rule and the canonical minimum set by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church with an empty column for one’s own fasting plan. ✠

Lent –the Great Fast

Lent begins forty days before Flowery (Palm) Sunday, on the Monday after Forgiveness Sunday (Cheese-Fare Sunday), and lasts until the Friday preceding Palm Sunday.

Holy Week is a special Fast in honor of our Lord’s Passion, and lasts from the evening of Palm Sunday until Holy Saturday inclusive.

Fasting is voluntary. It is an imposed, self-discipline, and expected of all who are physically able. To help us, the Church sets out both the maximal and minimal rules for fasting. Faithful Christians need to take into account their individual circumstances, – health, age, physically, demanding jobs, etc., when making decisions around fasting. With the exception of nursing and expectant mothers, small children, the poor, the mentally or physically, ill or aged, all are required to keep the minimal fast

Penitential fasting practices, repentance and abstinence that aim to expiate the sins committed and to achieve a greater level of perfection for personal sanctity are the oldest tradition in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. (Canon 115 §1 of the Particular Law of the UGCC).

Canon 115 §2 of the Particular Law of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church imposes on all faithful the following obligations during the Great Fast:

A strict fast is observed on the first day of the Great Fast and Passion Friday, i.e. abstention from meat and dairy products and eggs as well as foods that contain these ingredients.

Abstention from all meat and foods containing meat is to be observed during the first week of the Great Fast and all days of Passion Week.

During the Great Fast, abstention from the consumption of meat and meat products is to be observed on all Mondays, encouraged on Wednesdays and Fridays. All other foods are permitted on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

6.3 of the same canon enumerates those who are dispensed from any obligation to fast:

children up to 14 years of age; persons over 60 years of age; the gravely ill; pregnant women; postpartum mothers and those who are breastfeeding; those who are travelling (if the travel time exceeds eight hours); those engaged in heavy labour; those who eat from the table of others; the poor who live from charity.

Cheesefare Sunday Breakfast 2026

Today, the members of the parish Knights of Columbus council and friends, prepared a delicious breakfast for the parishioners. We all did a spectacular job –having fun feeding friends.

Thank you!

Parish breakfast Sunday

The Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Knights of Columbus Council at our parish invites everyone to a PANCAKE BREAKFAST on Sunday, February 15th at 11:30 AM in our church hall , after the 10:30 Mass. Admission of $10 will be collected at the door. All proceeds will be used by the Council for program needs (Mother’s Day, Oktoberfest, etc). We thank everyone for their generosity and support.

Рада Лицарів Колумба імені Митрополита Андрея Шептицького при нашій парафії запрошує всіх на СНІДАНОК‑ПАНКЕЙКИ у неділю, 15 лютого, о 11:30 у парафіяльній залі, після Святої Літургії о 10:30.
Вхід — $10, оплата при вході.

Усі зібрані кошти будуть використані Радою для потреб програм (День Mатері, Октоберфест тощо).

Щиро дякуємо всім за вашу щедрість і підтримку.

Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Sunday, 2/1, Sunday of the Prodigal Son
9:00 a.m. +Irene Hladkyj requested by Barbara Schwartz
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Luke 15:11-32, Tone 1

Monday, 2/2, The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple — Blessing of the Candles
9:00 a.m. +Irene Hladkyj requested by Maria Wysowskyj

Tuesday, 2/3, Synaxis of the Holy Simeon and Anna
9:00 a.m. No particular intention for the Divine Liturgy scheduled

Wednesday, 2/4, Our Venerable Isidor
9:00 a.m. No particular intention for the Divine Liturgy scheduled

Thursday, 2/5, Holy Martyr Agatha
9:00 a.m. +Irene Hladkyj requested by Myron Kulinsky

Friday, 2/6, Holy Bishop Bukolus
9:00 a.m. No particular intention for the Divine Liturgy scheduled

Saturday, 2/7/26 Holy Parthenius
9:00 a.m. All Deceased of the Parish —Sorokousty

Sunday, 2/8, Sunday of the Meatfare
9:00 a.m. +Pelagia Zinchak (56th Anniv.) requested by Joseph M. Levitzky
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 8:8-9:2
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46, Tone 2

Parish news

Christ is among us!

This week vigil light is offered by Margaret Brezicki Maybury in memory of Michael and Pauline Kurylo.

On Sunday, February 15, we will celebrate only one (1) Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. The Knights of Columbus members will prepare breakfast. $10 per person.

SOROKOUSTY: will be celebrated in All Souls` Saturdays. February 7, 28, March 7, 14, May 23. Please take a book found at the entrance of the church, fill it out. Place it in envelope, and drop it in the collection basket. Let us remember all our loved ones who have gone to their heavenly reward. Eternal Memory!

Blessings of Homes: If you would like to bless your house please fill the form that are in the vestibule or call the rectory office 203-865-0388.

New Knights of Columbus Officers elected: On December 9, 2025, the members of Knights of Columbus council Metropolitan Andrey Sheptysky, located here at parish elected new officers. Myron Melnyk (Grand Knight), Todd A. Lane (Deputy Grant Knight), Jeffrey D. Majoris, (Financial Secretary) and Brandon Czabala (Treasurer).Father Iura Godenciuc continues to serve as council chaplain. We are grateful for the service of many years of the immediate past officers: Hank Lingren, Volodymyr Dumalskyy, Roman Kuc and Andrew Bamber. More information on the KofC and council: https://stmichaelukrainian.org/knights-of-Columbus.

BULLETIN’S EMAILED: If you would like to receive a copy of the weekly Parish Bulletin, please email your email to the Parish email. stmichaels@snet.net

For sale: stuffed cabbage with meat $12.00 container, borsht $7.00 container, cabbage with meat $10.00 container, pierogis (varenyky) $20.00 for two dozen.

FOOD DONATIONS: A container is in our church vestibule for non-perishable food. Please give generously new item within the expiration date. These items will be given out to the poor in our community. Thank you for your generosity and support.

CHURCH HALL RENTAL: With the modernization plans for the church hall substantially complete, we are now officially open to rent the church hall. We are able to offer meals, entertainment, and audio visual and bar services. Please contact the Rectory for further information.

The Yevshan Choir to perform

The Yevshan Choir, under the direction of Alex Kuzma, will be performing at St Basil’s Seminary Chapel, 195 Glenbrook Road in Stamford CT on Saturday January 24, 2026 at 3:00 pm.

It is for the benefit of the Ukrainian Museum in Stamford as we work to preserve cultural treasures, particularly in the face of the Russians destroying museums and cultural centers in Ukraine.

New Knights of Columbus Officers elected

On December 9, 2025, the members of the Knights of Columbus council 16253 Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, located here at the parish elected new officers. Myron Melnyk (Grand Knight), Todd A. Lane (Deputy Grand Knight), Jeffrey D. Majoris (Financial Secretary) and Brandon Czabala (Treasurer). Father Iura Godenciuc continues to serve as council chaplain.

We are grateful for the service of many years of the immediate past officers: Hank Lindgren, Volodymyr Dumalskyy, Roman Kuc and Andrew Bamber.

Our council meeting is the second Monday of the month.

More information on the KofC and Council may be found here.

St Gregory of Nyssa

St. Gregory of Nyssa (335-395AD), whose memory we celebrate today – January 10th – was one of the great spiritual and mystical writers of the early Church. He was the younger brother of St. Basil the Great.

Born in Cappadocia (modern Turkey), he played a leading role at the Second Ecumenical Council that gathered in Constantinople in 381AD, which proclaimed the Holy Spirit as fully God and completed the writing of the Creed that we still confess in Church at every Liturgy as our personal statement of faith.

One of the books he’s best known for writing is “The Life of Moses” in which he uses the story of Moses’ life – his birth in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, his wanderings in the desert and ascent of Mt. Sinai to encounter God and receive the 10 Commandments – as an image of the soul’s journey towards God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Gregory was also one of the first Christian voices to say clearly and unequivocally that slavery as an institution was inherently sinful and wrong. He believed that the institution of slavery in the ancient world violated human dignity, as all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God and are therefore of inestimable worth. He believed, on the basis of the Book of Genesis in the Bible, that freedom is an essential characteristic of human nature.

Human fulfillment, Gregory believed, consists of a life lived in the Light of Christ, becoming luminous, and offering that Light to everyone.

The fun thing about being Catholic is the diversity of liturgical calendars. We live in full communion in the Catholic Church thinking of the 5 liturgical families. This feast day gives us this perspective.

How to prepare for a House Blessing at Theophany

Father Iura is blessing houses. Call him.

The place where we live is very important and special to us. During the feast of Theophany we observe the custom of having our homes blessed to ask God for His protection and blessing upon all who live there or visit there.

To prepare for a house blessings, please observe the following:

A) Have a candle, icon or cross on a clean linen at your icon corner or in a main room.
B) Have some holy water in a small container from the feast of the Theophany.
C) Have all radios, stereos, televisions and electronic devices turned off for the blessing.
D) Please have pets confined.
E) If you have any religious articles you wished to be blessed, please place them by the cross and candle in the main room.