“Blessed are You, O Christ our God who revealed the fishermen as most wise by sending them the Holy Spirit; through them You caught the entire world. Loving Master, glory to you.”
Pentecost Pastoral of Ukrainian Catholic Bishops USA
Pentecost Pastoral of the Ukrainian Catholic Hierarchy of the U.S.A.
To our Clergy, Hieromonks and Brothers, Religious Sisters,
Seminarians, and Beloved Faithful
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
We greet you on the joyous feast of Pentecost, the birth of the Church, and the rebirth of nature. This year, Pentecost coincides with an apparent decline of the pandemic and a loosening of quarantine restrictions. We are enabled to celebrate the birth and renewal of the Church by again attending Divine services —if not today then, by God’s grace, tomorrow. Having conscientiously endured restrictions on interpersonal encounters and interactions we hope to be together in prayer and in the Descent of the Holy Spirit Who comes to us. Our hope is real, and it is being realized. Saying “Happy Birthday” to our Mother-Church, born out of the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are also privileged to observe how life returns to our houses of worship as they refill with people, our chants, incense, and candlelight.
At Pentecost the Father, through the Son, sends to us the Holy Spirit, “the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, everywhere present and filling all things.” In the Feast, we all share the joy of being together. We celebrate the Spirit of communion in the Divine Trinity, in the Church, and in the human race. Our God is three Persons in One, a triune community. Each one of us is created in God’s image and likeness to live in divine-like relationship and communion. Sent by the Father, through the action of the Holy Spirit in Mary, the Mother of God, the Son assumed our life and death. In His Resurrection we overcome all obstacles to encounter, reconciliation and union with God and all of God’s children. No COVID-, no isolation, no death, is stronger than the healing and uniting Spirit of God, “who renews the face of the earth” (Ps 104:30).
Together we pray for the disease to be defeated, for recovery of those struck by sickness or crushed by the death of loved ones, and for the eternal rest of all virus victims. On the Last Day, may they be resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit to new and everlasting life (Ez 37: 1-14; 1 Cor 15).
Divine Liturgy for the coming week
Christ is risen!
Sunday, 5/31, Pentecost Sunday, the Moleben to the Mother of God follows the Liturgies
9:00 a.m. +Mary Ann Yursha requested by Janet Farnish
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish
Epistle: Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11
Gospel: John 7:37-52 and 8:12, Tone 7
Monday, 6/01, Pentecost Monday
9:00 a.m. + Mary Ann Yursha requested by Bohdan Sowa
Tuesday, 6/02, Holy Patriarch Nicephor
9:00 a.m. + Anastazia Sobko requested by Bohdan Sowa
Wednesday, 6/03, Holy Martyr Lucillian and companions
9:00 a.m. +Mary Ann Yursha (Pan.) requested by Katharina Szymkiw
\Thursday, 6/04, The Holy Patriarch Metrophanes
9:00 a.m. +Olga Mackew (40 days, Pan)
Friday, 6/05, Holy Bishop Martyr Dorotheus
9:00 a.m. + Marguerite Komondy (7th Annie., Pan.) requested by Chris Komondy
Saturday, 6/06, Our Venerable Fathers Bessarion and Hilary
9:00 a.m. +Christoforo Schiano (Pan.) requested by Luba Schiano
Sunday, 06/07, Sunday of All Saints, the Moleben follows the liturgies
9:00 a.m. +Ann Muryn requested by Mary and Michael Muryn
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish
Epistle: Hebrews 11:32-12:2a
Gospel: Matthew 10:32-33; 37-38 &19:27-30, Tone 8
Parish announcements
The Holy Spirit is among us!
This week vigil light is offered to God’s glory by Judith Pond in memory of Anna Lipcan.
Every Sunday you can watch live on parish Facebook at 10:30 Divine Liturgy in Ukrainian languages. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stmichaelnewhaven
The Liturgy is also posted here on the parish website.
The Panachyda Service at the gravesites will take place TODAY, May 31st at 1:00 p.m. at St. Lawrence Cemetery. Please call the rectory office for appointment. For Panachyda Service at other cemeteries please call the rectory.
Pentecost
“Blessed are You, O Lord, for giving us fishermen most wise, sending down upon them the Holy Spirit. Thereby they catch the universe of mankind in the net of salvation. Glory to You, most merciful Lord.” (from the Tropar of the Feast)
On the fiftieth day after Christ’s Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles (see Acts 2:1-4). This sending of the Holy Spirit signals the fulfillment of God’s condescension to creation, a condescension that began at the creation of the world. In the Holy Spirit, God offers himself to the human race. This gift of God’s life is always a blessing for us, and thus we refer to it as grace. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives us the opportunity to become partakers of God’s nature, to be divinized, to enter into the communion of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit fills creation with his grace and perfects it in accordance with God’s plan: “God’s Spirit was to spiritualize the darkness of matter, to illuminate it, and to draw it into the sphere of God’s life.”
The Holy Spirit bestows upon us a wealth of gifts. And though there is one Spirit, there are many gifts (see 1 Cor 12:4). “There its not a single gift that creation possesses that has not come from the Holy Spirit .” The Holy Spirit brings meaning and purpose to the history of humankind, directing it toward Christ, the Divine Logos. The Holy Spirit is the Source and Giver of every human life. It is the Holy Spirit who creates humankind in the image of Christ, making it a living soul, his temple and the dwelling place of the Most Holy Trinity. (Christ Our Pascha: 255-256)
Parish Opening
Dear Parishioners,
This Sunday, May 31, 2020, our church in New Haven will resume public attendance at the Divine Liturgy, which will be celebrated at 9:00 (English) and 10:30 (Ukrainian). We will be adhering to the Guidelines for Opening Churches provided by our Diocese. Some of these guidelines include:
1. Please maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet between yourself and anybody else not in your immediate family.
2. We ask that all parishioners please wear a facemask during the Divine Liturgy. If you do not have a facemask, we have a limited number of facemasks that we can give you. Hand sanitizer will also be available.
3. Veneration of crosses or icons should be done without touching or kissing them.
4. There will be no missals or songbooks left in the pews. We will arrange for you to bring a missal home and you may use this each week when you come to church.
5. Collection baskets will be placed on the tables at the back of the church. Please drop your donations into one of these baskets.
6. At the end of the Divine Liturgy, please leave the church and do not congregate outside.
7. For the time being, there will be no parish coffee hour after the Divine Liturgy. This will resume at a date yet to be determined.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all back to attendance at the Divine Liturgy and I would also like to thank each and every parishioner who helped to support our parish by mailing in their donations during this difficult time.
Very truly yours in Christ,
Fr. Iura Godenciuc
Divine Liturgy for the Sunday of the First Father of Nicea -online
Divine Liturgy for the coming week
Christ is risen!
Sunday, 5/24, Sunday of the Fathers of the First Council
10:00 a.m. For the people of the parish
Moleben to the Mother of God
Epistle: Acts of the Apostles 20:16-18 and 28-38
Gospel: John 17:1-13, Tone 6
Monday, 5/25, Third Finding of the Head of John the Baptist
9:00 a.m. +Eugenia Dobczansky (Pan.) requested by Christine and Myron Melnyk
Tuesday, 5/26, The Holy Apostle Carpus
9:00 a.m. + Eugene Koziupa requested by Bohdan Sowa
Wednesday, 5/27, The Holy Bishop Martyr Therapont
9:00 a.m. +Allan & Mary Ann Yursha requested by the Chermak family
Thursday, 5/28, the Holy Bishop Nicetas
9:00 a.m. +Stefan Daniw requested by Bohdan Sowa
Friday, 5/29, Our Venerable Martyr Theodosia
9:00 a.m. +Mary Ann Yursha requested Barbara Schwartz
Saturday, 5/30, The Holy Prophet Isaac
9:00 a.m. +Stefan Brochinsky requested by Bohdan Sowa
9:30 a.m. Sorokousty
Sunday, 05/31, Pentecost Sunday —the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
10:00 a.m. For the people of the parish
Moleben to the Mother of God
Epistle: Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11
Gospel: John 7:37-52 and 8:12, Tone 7
Parish announcements
Christ is risen!
This week vigil light is offered to God by Emilia Iwaniw in memory of Orest Dubno.
Every Sunday you can watch live on parish Facebook at 10:00 Divine Liturgy in both languages Ukrainian and English. The Liturgy is posted HERE on the parish website. On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stmichaelnewhaven
The Panachyda Service at the gravesites will take place on Saturday, May 30th at 11:00 a.m. at All Saints Cemetery and May 31st at 1:00 p.m. at St. Lawrence Cemetery. Please call the rectory office for appointment. For Panachyda Service at other cemeteries please call the rectory.
Thank you to all of our parishioners who continue to mail in their donations to St. Michael’s Church. Your support and generosity during this difficult time is enabling our church to meet its obligations, our mission and our budget.
Ascension of the Lord 2020
The mystery of the incarnation is not simply a historical commemoration. It is entering into the reality of God sharing our bodiliness. For in Jesus, God becomes a human being that we might share in his divinity. This is the deeper meaning of Christ’s birth — a process that is continued through his life, ministry, passion, death, resurrection and ascension. Ultimately Jesus brings the whole of creation with him when he ascends to the Father. He ‘ascends’ so that he can be universally present — indeed omnipresent — through the very matter that seemingly hides his presence.
New Skete Monastery
Bishop Paul celebrates his birth
Today (May 19th), our Bishop Paul Chomnycky, OSBM, the Eparch of Stamford, celebrates his birthday.
Bishop was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He entered the novitiate of the Order of St. Basil the Great, the Basilian Monastery in Glen Cove, New York, in November 1982 and professed final vows in Rome on January 1, 1988, ordained to the priesthood on October 1, 1988. He was appointed Exarch for Ukrainian Catholics in Great Britain on April 5, 2002 and ordained bishop on June 11, 2002 by His Beatitude, Lubomyr Cardinal Husar and installed as fourth Eparch of Stamford, February 20, 2006.
Happy birthday, Bishop Paul! Many blessings!