The Connecticut State Ukrainian Day Committee has a long and proud history of serving our diocese and the Ukrainian community in Connecticut. Each year in September the Committee organizes a Ukrainian festival on the Stamford diocesan grounds for thousands of visitors from the East Coast. This year marks the 50th festival which will be held on Sunday, September 10th. All proceeds are donated to various diocesan and Ukrainian community causes.
Recently the Committee made a generous $2000 donation to support wounded Ukrainian soldiers receiving medical treatment in the U.S. To date, 4 Ukrainian soldiers have been treated in Connecticut at various hospitals throughout the state. New Haven’s St. Michael’s parish has worked closely with Revived Soldiers Ukraine (www.rsukraine.org), a non-profit which has helped some 25 soldiers receive treatment throughout the U.S. Both the Hartford and Bridgeport Ukrainian communities have provided assistance.
New Haven Post 33 of the Ukrainian American Veterans (UAV) is actively engaged in this critical ongoing project for wounded Ukrainian soldiers. Most recently Connecticut UAV chapters, under the direction of State Commander Ihor Rudko, have joined Post 33 and Connecticut’s United States Senator Richard Blumenthal to secure medical care at U.S. military hospitals.
Shown standing before the commemorative plaque of New Haven- area Ukrainian American veterans and presenting the donation are ( left to right): Michael Muryn, Treasurer of the Connecticut State Ukrainian Day Committee, Donald Horbaty, Committee General Co-Chairman, Myron Melnyk, UAV Post 33 Welfare Officer, Carl Harvey, Post Commander, New Haven UAV Post 33, Gloria Horbaty, Connecticut State Ukrainian Day Committee Corresponding Secretary.
Other Connecticut State Ukrainian Day Committee members are: Roman Stanislavskyy, Committee General Co-Chairman; Olena Stanislavskyy, Committee Recording Secretary and Mary Muryn, Committee Raffle Chairman.
by Myron Melnyk
Today, the Byzantine Church commemorates the holy protomartyrs of the Kievan-Rus’, Boris and Gleb, in baptism named Roman and David. They sit in opposition to the common approach to leadership and power among people.
The image of God was truly preserved in you, O Mother, For you took up the Cross and followed Christ. By so doing, you taught us to disregard the flesh, for it passes away, But to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal. Therefore your spirit, O Holy Mother Macrina, rejoices with the Angels! (Trop. 8)
In this Gospel, Jesus forgives the sins of the paralytic man before healing him. It is a manifestation of God’s infinite mercy, but there is today and probably always has been, a rigorism which is uncomfortable of forgiveness without conditions.” It is, of course, quite reasonable to expect that one condition for forgiveness would be repentance and, really, that must be assumed. After all, Jesus’ preaching of the Gospel begins, “Repent (metavoite, “change your minds”), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)” (Read on the Sunday after Theophany) We are always free to reject God’s forgiveness. However, it is strange that in the gospel stories of forgiveness, “repentance” is downplayed. When our Lord forgives the woman caught in adultery, he does not ask, “Do you repent for your sin?” but instead interrogates her accusers. Only after they are gone and the woman is spared, does he say, “Go, and sin no more.”