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Dear Friends,

Just a note to say that the recent edition of "Svitlo" or "The Light" published by the Basilian Fathers has, on the front cover, a full colour icon of our 26 New Martyrs beatified by His Holiness the Pope in June.

This is the Beatification Icon. As Blessed Theodore Romzha and Blessed Josaphat Hordashewska were beatified separately, they are absent on this icon, as are Bl. Paul Goydich and Bl. Methodius Tricka, beatified later.

Among the martyrs in this icon is Blessed Leonid Fyodorov and Bl. Clement Sheptytsky who is holding a scroll on which is written "The Studite Rule."

FYI,

Alex

I was pleased to see that history was not edited by the Greek-Catholic iconographer: Blessed Leonti was in "high-back" vestments.

Sorry to go off topic here, but what's the deal with Leonti (Leonid Feodorov) being a bishop? Archimandrite Serge's edited book "Passion and Ressurection" (or maybe another book by Fr. Serge) has a picture of him in episcopal vestments on the inside front.

Daniil,

Alex may correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Blessed Leonid was made Exarch for the Russian Catholics first and was only later secretly ordained a bishop. I presume this was done to avoid trouble with the Russian Orthodox and the government. Becasue of this there was some confusion as to whether he was actually ordained a bishop, but I think recent research and other evidence such as a photo of Blessed Leonid in omophorion and sakkos proves pretty conclusively he was indeed a bishop. He certainly would never have doned episcopal vesture if he was not ordained to that order.

In Christ,
Lance, deacon candidate

Alex,
Do you know if copies of the beatification icon of the 26 martyrs are now available in the US or Canada? I would love to get a copy for my parish.
If not available yet, how can I obtain a copy of "The Light"?

Thank you and God bless,
griego catolico

Dear Alex,

Thank You for posting this information about the icon of the Ukrainian Martyrs.

This is my first post since the Byzantine Forum server crashed. My home computer crashed shortly thereafter and I have only recently gotten it back in working order. It's good to be back.

Happy and Holy New year to All!

John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck

[ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: Two Lungs ]

Actually, the story with Blessed Leonti is something like this (hopefully Alex will fill in the gaps):

Leonti (leonid Feodorov) was made exarch and then later he was ordained a bishop in secret by Metropolitan Andrei. So Leonti was then considered a bishop by everyone, except the Vatican which claimed that his episcopal odrination was invalid because it was not authorized by Rome. I don't know what the Vatican's position is on this now.

My reading has been not that the Vatican claimed that his episcopal ordination was invalid because it was not authorized by Rome, but that it is an open question as to if he ever was made bishops, the records seemingly to be lacking.

Soem evidence exists that the only source of his episcopal status is the misinterpetation by some western friends of the eastern church that photogrpahs with him wearing a miter indicate it. In fact, he was a mitered priest.

K.

Dear Lance and Daniil,

(Lance, when can we expect your ordination to the Diaconate in Christ, Friend? I have been praying for you and I get this feeling that you are all excited about something, or full of expectation - is it that your ordination is nearing?)

Even the consecration of Blessed Bishop Basil Velichkovsky to the episcopate was not initially recognized by Rome due to the facts cited by Kurt (your recommendation to me the other day really DOES work, Kurt!).

I remember when Blessed Basil came to Canada, in failing health from the poison given him by the KGB, but clutching his rosary, he was given deference as a bishop regardless.

His inclusion among the New Martyrs was also questioned, until official KGB documents were found that not only proved they had pronounced a death sentence on him that they carried out, but also that one of the charges against him was that he was "illegally" consecrated a bishop.

Rome also was reticent about recognizing consecrations to the episcopate by the Underground Byzantine Catholic Church because once such knowledge was made public, it dissed off the Soviets and there was fear that fresh persecutions would occur.

For example, the Soviets knew where Metropolitan Volodymyr Sterniuk lived and they knew about his activities (e.g. ordaining married priests for North America of all things . . .). If they wanted to put him under house arrest and make life miserable for him, they could do so at any time and they did this exactly 18 times since the Metropolitan returned from Siberia.

But today there is no doubt that Blessed Leonid Fyodorov was an Exarch and Bishop, consecrated by none other than Bl. Andrew Sheptytsky.

Also, excuse my great ignorance, but could you explain to me about the high-collared phelonians?

Is this the tradition of the Ukrainian and Ruthenian Churches? Is it, as some suggest, a Russification that shouldn't be in our Church, since we follow the Greek traditions? Can you help me out here?

God bless you and forgive me a sinner,

Alex

Dear Greigo Catolico,

Here is the website for the Basilian Fathers who publish the Light:

http://www.pathcom.com/~baspress/

God bless,

Alex

Well, how should I answer this...

There are two stories as to the origins of the "high-collared" vestments, or "high-backs". (There is really no name for them in Ukrainian/Russian without calling them Russian or Muscovite. Some try to call them "horbati" to avoid labelling.)

One story has it that they are a baroque invention from Poltava and that in that period starching things was very popular, so they starched the back of the phelon.
Another story is that the collar was raised to shield the priest from wind which could be really cold up north.

The really origin of these vestments is unknown to me, but it is true that they are asthetically more pleasing than the Greek style vestments. it must also be noted that they wear the raised collar phelons on Mt. Athos and at other Greek monasteries. At first they were received as gifts from the Tsars, but eventually some have fallen apart, yet when they sew the new phelons they use the pattern of the old high collared ones.

It is true that their origin is definately from Russia or Ukraine, and they were never worn by Ukrainian and Ruthenian Greek Catholics until recently. However, there are no cannons banning us from doing so, and if they look nicer, then...

About a "Russification that shouldn't be in our church": I don't really know what to say. My father is very opposed to them in our church (even though he does admit they look much better than ours). In Galicia, no one wears them (not even the UOC-KP), except the UOC-MP. However, this past Sunday when we had the outdoor water blessing at St.Elias, all of the priests were wearing "high-backs" except my uncle, and he was the only one that complained about the cold, while the other priests said they were nice and toasty.

Dear Daniil,

Thank you for your insights. You are wise beyond your years, to be sure. I can't imagine the length and breadth of your knowledge and insights five or ten years from now . . .

I think you've hit the nail right on the head re: your father.

There are certain things that the Russians do not have a monopoly on that Ukrainians in general seem to recognize as only "Russian" and therefore "not Ukrainian."

As you well know, one of these things is the Orthodox three-bar Cross with slanted foot-rest.

Many Ukrainians regard this as a "Russian only" cross. Yet, we know that it was developed in Kyivan Rus' and became a "national cross" of sorts, especially in western Ukraine wherever there was persecution of Orthodoxy (and Eastern Catholicism) by RC governments.

I think the starched high back vestments look wonderful too and we should all have them, regardless of the wind chill factor . . .

Personally, I think our parishes need more teaching about our traditions and Rite than we are getting.

Fr. Bohdan Lypsky did this constantly, as you know, at St Nicholas' parish.

He tried to get the people to stop singing non-liturgical songs during Communion.

After several Sundays of reminding them of this, the choir broke out into just one such hymn and Fr. Lypsky quickly glanced up at them, at which point they stopped and switched to another, more appropriate hymn.

The Church of St Nicholas, believe it or not, had a number of statues when it was first purchased.

The new Cantor, Mr. Brezden (another relative of ours by marriage) was very Eastern, but didn't know the pastor well enough to feel comfortable about approaching him about it.

Then, one day, Fr. Lypsky came out and asked the Cantor, "What do you think of those statues?"

To this he replied, "What do I think? I think I was going to eventually get the nerve to ask your permission to collect them all and donate them to the RC church down the street!"

Fr. Lypsky then replied, "God bless you, friend, go and do as you have said!"

They were the best of friends since . . .

Alex

SLAVA ISUSU CHRISTU!
SLAVA NA VIKI BOHU!

Daniil wrote:"...Another story is that the collar was raised to shield the priest from wind which could be really cold up north..."

I was told this also by a Russian priest.

The Byzantine Archdiocese of Pittsburgh does have an ikon of Blessed Bishop Theodore Romzha for sale. I believe it's $39.00 plus S&H. You can contact their offices for more information or email me and I'll try to find the mailing address.

the least servant of the servants of God...

mark

Dear Mark,

You are wonderful!!

Thank you for that information on Blessed Theodore Romzha.

God bless,

Alex

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kurt:
My reading has been not that the Vatican claimed that his episcopal ordination was invalid because it was not authorized by Rome, but that it is an open question as to if he ever was made bishops, the records seemingly to be lacking.

Soem evidence exists that the only source of his episcopal status is the misinterpetation by some western friends of the eastern church that photogrpahs with him wearing a miter indicate it. In fact, he was a mitered priest.

Dear Kurt,
If you click on to the following link: www.redemptorists.org.uk/mag/russian5.htm [redemptorists.org.uk] ,
you will see a photograph of Blessed Leonid in episcopal vestments. Notice that he is wearing the small omophor and the panagia next to his pectoral cross. As far as I know, only a bishop may wear the small omophor and panagia, and not a mitred priest.
This picture certainly substantiates the belief that the blessed exarch was indeed ordained as a bishop.

God bless you,
griego catolico

[ 01-23-2002: Message edited by: griego catolico ]

Sorry, but not everyone shares your opinion. I don't like highbacks as I think they look like the priest is getting choked or hung up on a post. Give me my Greek style vestments any day!

In Christ,

anastasios

[ 01-23-2002: Message edited by: anastasios ]