The Holodomor Remembrance in New York City will take place on Saturday, November 16. The cost for bus $40.00 for adults, $20.00 for students. To reserve seats call Halia Lodynsky 203 494-6278. The bus will stop in New Haven at 9:30 Ikea Parking Lot (rear) Brewery Street.

STAMFORD CHARITIES APPEAL

REMINDER: Please don’t forget to donate to the Charities Appeal. Kindly make checks payable to the Byzantine Rite Eparchy of Stamford. DO NOT MAIL THIS FORM TO THE CHANCERY OFFICE. We sincerely ask all parishioners to make generous contributions.

Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky

Venerable Andrey Sheptytsky was born in 1865 in a village 30 miles from Lviv, which was then part of the Austrian Empire. He entered the Order of St. Basil and was professed in 1889. In 1892, he made solemn profession and was ordained a priest. In 1899 he was consecrated a bishop, and appointed Bishop of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk). Then in 1901 he was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Lviv, making him head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. He remained in this position until his death on November 1, 1944, at the age of 79. His time as Metropolitan Archbishop was marked by conflict with and persecution by the successive governments that ruled Ukraine, including the Russian Empire, the Second Polish Republic, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union. Under the Russian Empire, he was jailed from 1914 to 1917 for his pro-Ukrainian position and his promotion of Catholicism. The Second Polish Republic twice held him for supporting an independent Ukrainian state and for opposing Latinization. When the Soviet Union occupied Poland in 1939, he opposed the atheist regime and supported an independent Ukraine, and at first welcomed Nazi armies as liberators when they pushed back the Soviets in 1941. However, he spoke up against Nazi policy towards Jews, encouraging his faithful to treat Jews well, with a 1942 pastoral letter. He also encouraged his priests and local abbots to follow his example, and shelter Jews. Archbishop Sheptytsky also promoted Christian unity: the Archbishop worked tirelessly throughout his lifetime for reconciliation between Ukrainians, Russians and Poles, as well as other nations and groups. Particularly legendary were his efforts to see Catholics and Orthodox overcome their historical estrangement as he was a precursor of the ecumenical movement long before the Catholic Church officially endorsed the movement. Concerned for the poor, Sheptytsky used his resources to create a free clinic, provide countless scholarships and help victims of famine, flooding and war. At the moment, the process of his beatification is ongoing. (From “The Way” – October 20, 2019)