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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Below is a link to a new Byzantine Catholic Missionary Group that was started by Fr. Robert Anderson of the UGCC in Canada. A number of students at the Sheptytksy Institute and some Seminarians from Holy Spirit Seminary joined the group and they have put together a website. Most of it is still under construction, but they do have an online version of Isadore Dolnytsky's Typikon in English. This is the official Typikon of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and as far as I know, this English translation is a first!

Mnohaya Lita to Father Matthew of the Parma Eparchy for translating the Typikon!

St Irenaeus Mission Society [stirenaeus.net]

z Bohom,
ALity

Ality:

Thank you for the website. Maybe they will succeed where others have failed? I hope we won't be entertained with glossy photo-ops depicting evangelization meetings that go nowhere but next week�s eparchial newspaper. Spreading the Gospel goes further than self-promotions. I applaud their efforts.

Which Parma are you referring to? There is the Ukrainian eparchy called St. Josaphat�s IN Parma and the Ruthenian Eparchy OF Parma. Both cathedrals are only several blocks away from each other.

Also there is a Yahoo discussion group also associated with this group. He is referring to Fr. Matthew of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Parma. What a wonderful service he has done in translating the Dolnytsky Typikon.

God bless Fr. Matthew of the Eparchy of St. Josaphat.

Dear Diak,

Fr. Isidore Dolnitsky also wrote Akathists, I believe, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception - that are in the 1893 Akafistnyk published in Lviv.

His argument at the time was that EC's liked going to Latin Churches for public devotions to these subjects and so he cast them in a Byzantine style.

Is he up for canonization?

I also notice in the Typikon the names of Orthodox Saints - were these in the original typikon or were they added later?

St Arsenius of Tver was a Kyivan Caves Father. I know that the Austro-Hungarian government ordered the removal of "too Orthodox" Icons (such as Kazan, Pochaev and some others) and "too Orthodox" saints from the Greek Catholic calendar at one point.

Alex

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I am very glad to learn of this new mission society. I pray for their success, I wonder what we can do from our locales to further the work they have dedicated themselves to?

Mnohaya Lita to the founders, contributers and participants of this noble endeavor!

In Christ,
MichaEL

Funny how I get jumped when I use the term Byzantine Catholic.....

This would be better named the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Missionary Group, as not all Byzantine Catholics use the Typikon of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Also there is only one Eparchy of Parma, the other is the Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma.


David, the Byzantine Catholic

Dear David,

It's in English, what more do you want?

This is the first time I'm seeing something in English in my Church . . .

Do you think I don't get jumped up?

Alex

Greetings,
Regardless of the name, I applaud their efforts. Perhaps they can be a model for the work of many others.

I am always happy to see Byzantine Catholicism promoted, if there were more Ukrainian Catholic parishes around, there would be more places for Romanian Catholics, Slovak Catholics and Carpatho-Rusyn Catholics (and who knows how many others) to worship. If there were more Slovak Catholic and Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic parishes around, there would be more places for Ukrainians to worship.

If we must contend with divided jurisdictions, at least we can support each others efforts to get the Word out. We must not let these artificial barriers defeat us in our own minds, a people of faith need to act as one even if the limitations of church structure will discourage it.

In Christ
MichaEL

Dear Michael,

At our new bishop's banquet, we had Carpatho-Rusyn Catholics, Romanian Catholics and Hungarian Catholics join us in singing "Mnohaya Lita!"

I don't know the answer to our different and slowly weakening jurisdictional boundaries.

I think that the view of many Ukies would be "resist to the death every last change."

And the idea of including the UGCC in North America in one Byzantine jurisdiction, well, I don't want to think about it . . .

Don't shoot the messenger . . .

The idea is one that will be greatly resisted.

It is easy for some here to jump all over me for critiquing the idea of a unified Byzantine jurisdiction.

But I don't disagree with the principle.

I just would rather not face the wrath of our people over the issue.

And I've had enough out of them to last a lifetime, thanks very much.

Alex

Dear Alex,
You will note I was not issuing a call to "tear down the walls". I want to deal with reality here.

Do you suppose that if I was to send a check to them they would return it because I am not Ukrainian? I think not, so you can see already one way we of different jurisdictions can work together.

Can't we be a little more creative and accomplish some small things in the name of Christ?

Your respectful friend,
MichaEL

Dear Coalesco,

Let me get this straight then . . .

What you are talking about is a "reality check?"

Then I don't see how anyone can be against it!

Alex

No, if both eparchial sees are located geographically in Parma, then therefore there are two Eparchies of Parma.
While one does call itself the Eparchy of St. Josafat in Parma occasionally the two are also denoted as Eparchy of Parma/Ruthenian or Epachy of Parma/Ukrainian. Similarly the Eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago for Ukrainians simply goes occasionally by Eparchy of Chicago.

I don't understand your reasoning. Both Eparchs are in Parma, so there are two Eparchies there.

And back to the Mission society, Mnohaja Lita to Fr. Robert, Deacon James, Hieromonk Taras and everyone else who participated from our little initial group of ten or so on the Yahoo list. Our churches need much more of this type of mission activity. We have to move out from our comfortable enclaves and take it to the streets.

Well said, Michael. The reasons that precipitated the unfortunate split in jurisdictions after the death of Kyr Soter Ortynsky of blessed memory are long behind us. When you are in the "sticks" of the West, speaking from direct experience, all this jurisdictional hoopla from back East really seems irrelevant when people drive as much as two hours one way.

All of the Greek Catholic parishes out here are a mixed bag of Ukrainians, Slovaks, even some Croatians and Melkites. we have everything from Mormon converts to off-the-boat new Ukrainian immigrants.

And more and more, people not originally of Greek Catholic background. We've got room for everyone.

Actually I prefer to call it a Catholic Missionary group, because that is what we are. We are a part of the Universal church. Byzantine refers to rite, not particular church, ergo the UGCC is a Byzantine Church, as is the Ruthenian Catholic Church.

Yes, Father Matthew is of the Ukrainian eparchy of Parma.

And you are correct that not everyone uses the Dolnytsky Typikon as the normative typikon for their church. But maybe some would like to compare it with their typikons; and for any non-Ukrainian speaking North American priests in the UGCC, this will be an invaluable tool for them to prepare for the liturgical celebrations at their parish. I encourage everyone to pass the link on to any UGC priest who may find it valuable.

Many of the members of the society are full time students or seminarians, so we do not have alot of time to devote to the society. What we are trying to do is establish our foundations, so that we can gradually begin to do active missionary work. Please pray for us and pass on any ideas to the site administrator at the site.

z Bohom,
Alex

I will just comment quickly for Diak.

There are not two Eparchies of Parma nor are there two Eparchies of Chicago nor are there two Eparchies of any city.

One Bishop per city.

This is why there is a Bishop for the Eparchy of Parma and a Bishop for the Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma.

It is funny how you guys are prickly over my use of Byzantine Catholic Church, how you get upset when we use terms that you don't like, but when it comes to describing your things, you don't hold yourselves to the same standards.


David, the Byzantine Catholic