CHANCELLOR’s REFLECTION
Of the Most Blessed, Holy and Great Sabbath – Saturday (May 1, 2021) for Holy PASCHA (in 2021 on May 2, 2021)
“Нехай воскресне Бог, – і розсипляться вороги Його, і нехай біжать від Нього ненависники Його!” (Пс. 67: 1-2)
“Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee from before His face.” (Ps. 67: 1-2)
Our faithful journey through Holy Week, and right to the Cross at Golgotha, and then the veneration of and placing “temporarily” in a new tomb of the Most-Pure Body of Our Lord has brought us to PASCHA – the inauguration of a new age.
This first day of week, when the Myrrh-bearing Women proceed with trepidation to the “temporary” tomb, becomes by the Grace of God, the “eighth day.” It is our taste, in this age, and in this life, of the new and unending day of the Kingdom of God. For us, it is the Year of Our Lord 2021 – it is May 2nd, (and yes there is a Covid pandemic,) and yet by the love and Grace of God we also partake here and now of this Kingdom of God.
Upon arriving at the tomb, the women are asked by the angel: “why do you seek the living among the dead?” And they rush out – as do we when we walk around the now empty tomb (our churches where the Plaschanytsia now lays on the altar table, instead of in the midst of the church,) and we all proclaim: “Thy resurrection, O Christ our Saviour, the angels in heaven sing. Enable us on earth to glorify Thee in purity of heart.”
As we sing a little later – “This is the day of resurrection. Let us be illumined by the feast. Let us embrace each other. Let us call ‘Brothers’ even those that hate us, and forgive all by the resurrection, …”
And soon after (in the Matins service,) in the sermon of St. John Chrysostom, “By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive…” and as the Prophesy of Isaiah foretold, “…Hell took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven.”
Let us open our hearts, souls and minds to the over-whelming love, power and grace of God as it flows to and through the whole world, sanctifying, saving and healing all of us and leading us up to life everlasting!
ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕС! ВОЇСТИНУ ВОСКРЕС!
KHRYSTOS VOSKRES! VOISTYNU VOSKRES!
KHRISTOS ANESTI! ALITHOS ANESTI!
CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!
(Fr.) Taras Udod,
Chancellor, UOCC
Of Holy and Great and “Strastna” Friday (April 30, 2021) FOR the Most Blessed, Holy and Great Sabbath – Saturday (May 1, 2021)
Слава Богу за все!
Glory be to God for His ever-continuing care and sustenance of us!
… and as Our Lord said to the repentant thief on His right side: “today you will be with me in paradise,” so he has called everyone of us – to life in abundance, and to life-everlasting. He has called us all to live fully, to love with all our heart and to serve one another as long as we have breath!
Having just returned from the Vespers service of the carrying out of the Holy Shroud, the Holy and Sacred Plaschanytsia, at St. Ivan’s Sobor parish, here in Winnipeg, we reflected with Fr. Evan, and with the very limited in size congregation, on the many powerful themes that this service and this day bring to mind.
Our fore-fathers who brought the Orthodox Christian faith in our Ukrainian cultural and spiritual traditions to Western Canada had faith and convictions that have stood the test of time. One of these spiritual treasures was this very service of the “carrying out of the Holy Plaschanytsia.” Fr. Evan and I reflected how earlier in our pastoral service, we had been blessed to celebrate this service in as many as six or seven different churches over the course of Holy Friday afternoon and into the evening. We are grateful for our brother clergy who served before us, and grateful for our brother clergy who are called to and able to – and now, despite our current pandemic circumstances, are still able to do this service, and even in multiple churches.
Our fore-fathers established a firmly-held practice – to venerate the Holy and Sacred Plaschanytsia. Let us all be grateful – that we have churches, that at least a few of us are able to gather and venerate our Plaschanytsias, and let those of us who are able to do so, be mindful of doing so, especially in this year, “for” those of you who may not be able to physically attend to venerate. And Our Loving God calls to you to “hold” the Plaschanytsia as close as you can to your heart via the live-streaming of services, or even a cross or an icon held closely and tightly.
Holy Saturday, (and the services of this day begin with the Vespers of the Plaschanytsia service,) is that day when Our Lord “descends into Hades and breaks the bonds of the captives (held there,) …” (as we sing at every memorial service in our Church.) Simply put – the Resurrection “begins” the moment Jesus yields up His spirit on the Cross, “…for it was not possible for the Author of Life to become a victim of corruption, …” as we pray in the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great.
Let us continue our spiritual journey through this Great and Holy Sabbath – Saturday, and let us all strive, as we are reminded to in the hymn which replaces the Cherubic Hymn: “Let all mortal flesh keep silent, and with fear and trembling stand; and let it take no thought for any earthly thing. …” For yet further and yet deeper Our Lord assures us that indeed and always …
з нами Бог! God (is) with us!
(Fr.) Taras,
Chancellor, UOCC
Of Holy and Great Thursday (April 29, 2021) FOR Holy and Great Friday (April 30, 2021)
Слава Богу за все!
Glory be to God for His ever-continuing care and sustenance of us!
We have arrived at “the night when He was given up, or gave Himself up for the life of the world …” and the day of the Crucifixion of Our Lord.
Having just returned from attending and concelebrating the very limited in numbers “Strasti” service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral (due to Covid restrictions,) I am grateful to have heard and been able to read through the full gospel account of the trial, tribulations and ultimate death on the Cross of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ for us and for our salvation.
These most-holy and blessed church services of Holy Friday (Thursday evening’s Matins, and then the Vespers of Holy Saturday – the “Plaschanytsia” service,) really do “speak for themselves. As Fr. Gene emphasized at the end of the service this evening – let us continue to persevere, we are tired, we are witnessing the death of Our Lord on the Cross, and at the very same time – we call out to Him: “Remember me, O Lord, when you come into Your Kingdom.” And he responds, before “yielding up His spirit, … TODAY you will be with me in paradise!”
Let us with all solemnity “keep” this Holy Friday – let us do the very best we can to fast from all food and drink, and let us partake as fully as God’s grace allows for us to stay with Him and close to Him and let us prayerfully, following His example of extreme humility venerate His most-pure body along with Joseph of Arimathea who wraps it in a shroud, after having taken it down form the cross.
Let us remain faithful knowing that always
з нами Бог! God (is) with us!
(Fr.) Taras,
Chancellor, UOCC
Of Holy and Great Wednesday (April 28, 2021) FOR Holy and Great Thursday (April 29, 2021)
Слава Богу за все!
Glory be to God for His ever-continuing care and sustenance of us!
By now, after these three days at the start of Holy Week, we are getting tired … the reality is sinking in that we have been doing our best to “walk” with Our Lord as He goes to His ever-memorable and life-creating death on the Cross. This world-changing and certainly and hopefully for everyone of us, life-changing event is now but a day away.
The church services of Holy and Great Thursday are shaped by two events: The Last Supper of Christ with His disciples and the betrayal by Judas. As put so eloquently more than fifty years ago by Fr. Alexander Schmemann: “The meaning of both of these events is in love. The Last Supper is the ultimate revelation of God’s redeeming love for man, of love as the very essence of salvation. And the betrayal by Judas reveals that sin, death and self-destruction are also due to love, but to a deviated and distorted love, love directed at that which does not deserve love. The mystery of this unique day, and its church services where light and darkness, joy and sorrow are so strangely mixed, challenges every one of us with the choice on which the eternal destiny of each one of us depends.”
At the Matins service (Утреня,) served either Wed evg or early Thursday morning, we hear in the Troparion about the “… impious Judas (being) darkened, ailing with avarice, …” and we call one another to “Flee from the greedy soul which dared such things against the Master. O Lord who art good towards all people, glory to Thee!” (Тропар: “Коли славні ученики умиванням ніг …“)
The Divine Liturgy on this day begins with Vespers (of Holy Friday, already,) and is the Last Supper of Our Lord with His disciples. It is then into this evening and night following in which Our Lord is betrayed by Judas, where Peter denies knowing him, and yet nonetheless, through His unimaginable and unfathomable love for everyone of us, He “gives Himself up for the life of the world.”
On Holy Thursday evening we gather for the Matins already of and for Holy Friday. The service, known popularly as “Strasti” (“Страсті,“) – the Holy and Passionate Sufferings of Our Lord, has twelve gospel readings. “To take away our sins, Christ willingly endured the spittings, scourgings, buffetings, scorn, mocking and the purple robe; the reed, sponge, vinegar, nails, spear and, above all, the Cross and Death.” (by Rev. George Mastrantonis.)
Let us support one another, and encourage one another as we continue this difficult walk with Our Lord through this very last day of His earthly ministry. Let us be deeply mindful that He is doing this for us and for our salvation. Our Lord means to have us come with Him … so that we can be with Him and continue to grow to be evermore like Him. Let’s continue on knowing that at all times, at every moment.
з нами Бог! God (is) with us!
(Fr.) Taras,
Chancellor, UOCC
Of Holy and Great Tuesday (April 27, 2021) FOR Holy and Great Wednesday (April 28, 2021)
Слава Богу за все!
Glory be to God for His ever-continuing care and sustenance of us!
On Holy and Great Monday and Holy and Great Tuesday we have been “walking” with Our Lord to His ever-memorable and life-creating death. The triumphant joy of His Glorious Entrance into Jerusalem (even without “instant communication,”) has faded and given way to the reality that is unfolding. Our Lord, and God and Saviour, Jesus Christ is speaking plainly and openly about the End, about death, His death on the Cross.
The church services of these first three days of Holy Week may not be familiar for many of us. I invite us all to take the opportunity this year to let God speak to us through the scriptural readings of these days as the very powerful resource for all of us in confronting the illness, suffering and death, that is around us.
Many readers of this “reflection” will be aware that on Holy Wednesday, our UOCC will be bidding an earthly farewell to a newly-reposed Dobrodiyka (priest’s wife,) +Brenda Kocur, that His Eminence Metropolitan Antony (of the USA,) will soon be bidding an earthly farewell to his youngest brother, the newly-reposed, +Ronald, and one of our UOCC clergy is grieving the sudden death of his earthly father, +Петро, recently reposed in Ukraine due to Covid and complications arising therefrom. May their memory be eternal! All of us are aware of and have and do experience the illness and suffering and death of people near us and near to us – in the present including due to the Covid 19 pandemic, as well as in the past.
The scripture readings for Holy Wednesday’s services, while they may strike us as stark and even jarring, can and by God’s love and grace do comfort us, heal us and save us.
In the Matins service, we hear from the Gospel of John 12: 17 – 50. This passage speaks about the rejection of Christ by this world and the growing conflict between the ways of God, and the ways of this world. Our Lord plainly and directly calls us to serve – “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour.” (v.26) And this passage from Ch 12 concludes with the ultimate warning: “Now is the judgment of the world … He that rejects my words has one that judges him, the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last days.” (v.48)
At the Liturgy of Pre-Sanctified Gifts, we hear the Gospel reading from St. Matthew 26:6-16. This is about the woman who pours precious ointment on Jesus, and He responds by stating that she is preparing his body for burial. This is the image of love and repentance which alone unites us with Christ, not the opposite example in verses 14 – 16, when Judas’ betrayal begin.
We also continue through Holy Wednesday to chant the special tropar, the “last” third of which goes as follows: “… But rouse yourself, (O my soul,) crying: Holy! Holy! Holy! art Thou, O our God, Through the Theotokos, have mercy on us!”
Let us continue our difficult walk with Our Lord in these last days of His earthly ministry – He is doing this for us and for our salvation. It is meant and intended to get our attention and is meant to at the same time shake us out of our spiritual slumber and awaken us to the unimaginable, and unfathomable love, power and grace of God being revealed to and for everyone of us, His children. Let us do our best to persevere in living, loving and serving to be open to this knowing always that.
з нами Бог! God (is) with us!
(Fr.) Taras,
Chancellor, UOCC
Of Holy and Great Monday (April 26, 2021) FOR Holy and Great Tues (April 27, 2021)
Слава Богу за все!
Glory be to God for His ever-continuing care and sustenance of us!
… and our “walk” through the heaviness of these three days at the start of Holy Week referred to as “the End” continues … (including this year’s 35th Anniversary of the Chernobyl’ disaster, and in many parts of our country of Canada [and beyond,] increasing restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.)
Every Holy Week in the past, we have been called and invited – indeed challenged to deepen our faith. Perhaps this year, we can deliberately make the time to read the scripture readings of these days, and really strive to enter into that “Kairos” time almost two thousand years ago and walk with Our Lord like we’ve never walked before.
Most of us are aware of when Our Lord comes to us – He does so in the form of people sent into our lives whom we can love, and help and serve.
The other week, I was blessed to “fill in” for Fr. Alexandr at our Sobor parish, here in Winnipeg. God provided that I arrived early at precisely the same time that an obviously poor man was walking by the church. He asked me if he could enter to pray. I invited him in. He looked disheveled but was polite, and had a mask on. He sought to register his name, but could not provide a phone number, (as I assumed he did not have a phone.) He then asked me if he could sit in the very back for a few minutes, which I invited him to. A short while later, he got my attention, and asked if he could leave. I asked for his name, and asked if I could pray for him, and if there was anyone that he would like me to pray for. His response was very moving, after he provided his full name, he then stated clearly and emphatically: “Father, please pray for everybody, pray for the whole world, and pray that this pandemic passes and no one gets any sicker or has to die.” We then parted and he left the church. It was subsequently a beautiful and very moving liturgy.
“For” Holy and Great Tuesday (April 27th,) I invite us to take careful note of the Scriptural readings – at Matins (which would be served on Monday evg,) St. Matthew 22: 15-23, 29 where Our Lord condemns the Pharisees, and especially those who practice a blind and hypocritical religion, condemning others while not seeing their own short-comings and sins.
According to Biblical Scholars, the event, (described in all four Gospels,) of Our Lord driving the money-changers from the Temple in Jerusalem took place on this Tuesday before the Passover. Let us take heed ourselves to stay very close to Our Lord in all of our ways of thinking and behaving.
In the second gospel reading that we would hear at the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts, St. Matthew 24:36 – 26:2, we hear Our Lord teaching in parables about the End: the five wise virgins who had enough oil in their lamps, and the five foolish one who were not admitted to the bridal banquet; the parable of the talents “… therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” And finally, the Last Judgement.
In the first three days of Holy Week we also chant the special tropar, the second third of which goes as follows: “Beware, therefore O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death, and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom.”
Let us continue our difficult walk with Our Lord in these last days of His earthly ministry – living fully and as closely as we can to Him, partaking as much as we can of His loving example for us, and striving to be like Him, and through Him, let us serve as long as we are able – by being open and welcoming for His coming into our lives to heal and save us and the world around us today, knowing always that.
з нами Бог! God (is) with us!
(Fr.) Taras,
Chancellor, UOCC
Of Palm Sunday (April 25, 2021) FOR Holy and Great Monday (April 26, 2021)
Слава Богу за все!
Glory be to God for His ever-continuing care and sustenance of us!
… and by the Loving Grace of God, we have now entered into the these first three days of Holy Week (Mon, Tues, and Wed,) which are simply referred to in the Church as “the End.”
We have rejoiced triumphantly as Our Lord entered Jerusalem. And now, the really hard, and difficult days are upon us. It is always a challenge to live as a Christian – and in and through Holy Week, this is increased dramatically.
In the first gospel reading that we would hear at Matins, (the morning service served on Palm Sunday evg,) from St. Matthew 21:18 – 43, we hear of the fig tree which was cursed and withered by the Lord. This fig tree had leaves but bore no fruit. This is symbolic of the many people who claim ethical and religious identity, but who too often live empty lives that bear no fruit.
In the second gospel reading that we would hear at the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts, St. Matthew 24:3 – 35, we hear Our Lord: “…And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. …” (vv. 12-13,) and the end of that gospel reading: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (v.35)
In the first three days of Holy Week we also chant the special tropar, the first third of which goes as follows: “Behold! The Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom he shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. …”
Let us all walk with Our Lord – living this day as close as we can to Him, loving as well as we can, like Him, and through Him, and let us serve -by being watchful for His coming into our lives to heal and save us today, knowing always that.
з нами Бог! God (is) with us!
(Fr.) Taras,
Chancellor, UOCC
Of Lazarus Saturday and for the Glorious Entrance of Our Lord into Jerusalem – Palm Sunday also known as “Verbna” or “Shutkova.”
(April 24 – 25 , 2021)
Слава Богу за все!
Glory be to God for His ever-continuing care and sustenance of us!
By the Will and Grace of God we have now concluded our forty-day sojourn “in the desert” or in the “wilderness.” Indeed, for many of us, living with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, including this illness affecting us or those in our families and parishes, this has most likely felt like an on-going walking without an end in sight.
Let us remember always – God sustains us, and especially when we least “expect” it. There is a beautiful passage in the prayers which the priest reads during the divine liturgy, an excerpt of which refers to Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ “… going to His ever-memorable and life-creating death …”
This most-blessed “two-day festival” (the resurrection of Lazarus, and Our Lord’s Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem,) is the beginning of His going to that “life-creating death.”
A central theme of these next eight days is Our Lord’s own example of living, loving and serving right to the very end, including sacrificing Himself for everyone of us, and for our salvation.
We are called to live, to love, to serve and to sacrifice with Him – to literally walk with Him – especially over these next eight days. And to do, as He does – whatever it takes, to whatever extent it takes, as much and as long as it takes. Let us joyously begin by entering into Jerusalem now, knowing that at all times.
з нами Бог! God (is) with us!
(Fr.) Taras,
Chancellor, UOCC
