The Orthodox Church in the Time of COVID-19

“The Orthodox Church in the Time of COVID-19”

The Wheel Journal (@wheeljournal on Facebook) has an extraordinary online Symposium “The Orthodox Church in the Time of COVID-19” is available on YouTube.

The conversation is moderated by Joseph Clarke. The panelists include: Archpriest Alexis Vinogradov, Sister Vassa Larin, Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, Father Peter Scorer, Dr. Gayle Woloschak, Archpriest Andrey Kordochkin, Deacon Nicholas Denysenko.

I highly recommend listening the symposium. It will open up some new perspectives.

Pascha

“Christ is risen! Indeed, he is risen”

It has become a habit of the “wise of this world,” – those who claim to discern reality as it truly is – to say that modern man can no longer believe in miracles. Science has invalidated “miracles,” and while the Resurrection is a very nice thing, it is only a spiritual subjective experience. But today I say: ‘Says who?”

Today St. Paul says, “Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? (1 Corinthians 1:20)” Even when we say that the resurrection is a spiritual subjective experience, we do this because we say that “God is the ground of all being,” as St. Paul preached to the Athenians, “‘In him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28)” If so, can he not give life that defies our earthly wisdom? Indeed, Jesus said to the Sadducees who denied resurrection, “As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled” (Mark 12:26-27). Did not St. Paul warn us, “if Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching; empty, too, your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:14).

What the resurrection of Jesus has taught us is that we enter the fullness of life through the gates of death, just as he did in the cross and resurrection, for “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit,” (John 12:24) and again, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35). The only difference is that Christ is risen, because “But God raised [Jesus] up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it … nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption” (Acts 2:24.27). Because of our sins, we must go through the corruption of death to attain life. The “wise of this world” say this is a childish belief, how can this happen, but again St. Paul writes, “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Nor, my brothers and sisters, is this other-worldly escapism: the resurrection can and should transform the way we live in the world today.

Easter Sunday Liturgy 2020

On Easter Sunday, the Divine Liturgy will be live streamed at 10:00 a.m. in English and in Ukrainian.

It will be on the parish Facebook page (stmichaelnewhaven) AND it will later be posted here on this website https://stmichaelukrainian.org

Keeping parish on mission and budget

Dear Parishioners of St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church:

It is apparent that parishioners will not be able to attend the Divine Liturgies in our church at least until April 30. Realizing that this is a very extraordinary and difficult time in all aspects of our life today, we humbly ask for your continued financial support by mailing in your donations until such time that the physical presence of our parishioners in church is restored. These weekly donations are the main source of income for our parish and are needed to meet our mission and our budget. Thank you for your generosity.

Please be so kind as to place your donation into your weekly donation envelope and enclose that into an envelope addressed to:

St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church
569 George Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Let us pray for the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary so that she may cover the whole world with her Spiritual Veil and guide us through this turbulent time.  And please be assured of my continued prayers for the spiritual needs of all our parishioners.

Very truly yours in Christ,

Fr. Iura Godenciuc

GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY

St. Gregory Palamas on the Atonement…

“Man was led into his captivity when he experienced God’s wrath, this wrath being the good God’s just abandonment of man. God had to be reconciled with the human race, for otherwise mankind could not be set free from the servitude. A sacrifice was needed to reconcile the Father on high with us and to sanctify us, since we had been soiled by fellowship with the evil one. There had to be a sacrifice which both cleansed and was clean, and a purified and sinless priest” (Christopher Veniamin, trans. Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies (Waymart, PA: Mount Thabor Publishing, 2009) p. 124).

“Christ overturned the devil through suffering and His flesh which He offered as a sacrifice to God the Father, as a pure and altogether holy victim — how great is His gift! — and reconciled God to our human race” (p.125).

“For this reason the lord patiently endured for our sake a death He was not obliged to undergo, to redeem us, who were obliged to suffer death, from servitude to the devil and death, by which I mean death both of the soul and of the body, temporary and eternal. Since He gave His blood, which was sinless and therefore guiltless, as a ransom for us who were liable to punishment because of our sins, He redeemed us from our guilt. He forgave us our sins, tore up the record of them on the Cross and delivered us from the Devil’s tyranny (cf. Col 2:14-15)”( p. 128f).”

Live stream Paschal liturgies

In addition to liveliturgy.com, which will give you abundance of options for the Divine Liturgy around the world, in various Eastern Churches and languages. This option was previously sent to you.
 
You can also attend the Paschal liturgies at St Michael’s in Terryville, CT … https://stmichaelsterryville.org/holy-week