www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Praying in Ukrainian.

As I continue to explore the Ukrainain rite, and work on my Ukrainian, I have decided to start praying in Ukrainian. Thankfully, I can read cyrilic and found a website full of Ukrainian prayers.

My question is having to do with making the sign of the cross.
I want to know if I am doing this correctly....
- I hold my first three digits (thumb, index and middle finger) together, with the last two in my palm.
- I move from right to left
- I repeat the cross three times, with each cross repeating the phrase (barewith, i'll do this as best i can phonetically) "v em'ya ottsya, ee syna, ee svyahoto ducha" ... (each time do I say in the name of? "v em'ya")

and when completing the prayer, I do the same thing, but with the final sign of the cross I say amen ... or perhaps do i say amen with each cross?

and finally, another quick question.

I noticed during the Divine liturgy that a single cross was made when certain phrases were said? is that a sign of respect? I noticed it was said whenever they said "slavya" which I believe is "glory"? is that done just during the divine liturgy or should I do it again when I pray the "glory be" in Ukrainian, where slavya pops up again?

Andriy,

In the Orthodox church, or atleast in the Greek jurisdiction, whenever the 'Glory to the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit' is said, the congregation crosses themselves. I assume, therefore, that it must be the same in the Ukrainian Church.

In Christ,
Alice

thanks for the reply.

Well, it's not so much during the liturgy i'm worried about, but when I do my own private prayers at home. Should I do the three crosses, then when I say glory to, make another single cross mid prayer?

And does anyone know where I can find a list of those phrases where I should make a sign of the cross?

And I still would like to know if I am making the sign of the cross correctly? and saying the right words?

Andriy.

Are they using Ukrainian or Church Slavonic, or both?

Andriy,

I just read your story about discovering your grandparent's church. It was a lovely story, and I wish you all success!

I believe that our poster 'UkrainianCatholic' would be able to help you. He isn't on the forum every day, so you might want to private message him through the forum, and ask him these questions.

Good luck!

...and welcome to the forum.

In Christ,
Alice, Moderator

Ukrainian.

I haven't come across a Church Slavonic mass, but one language at time for now. (although I understand that they don't differ too much?)

I hope the phrase I have is Ukrainian, and not Church Slavonic! If so, if someone could point me in the right direction, please do so.

Thanks for the advice and the welcome. I'll point this out to him.

Is he the only Ukrainian Catholic on this forum?

I'm sure my family would know, its not that urgent, but I can't contact any right now and I'm eager to pray! I guess that's a good thing.

Did you check out the St. Elias UGCC webiste? It's outside of Toronto. It's a great website.
Here is the St. Elias link [saintelias.com]

I did, but I looked again and found the section on making the sign of the cross.

it did mention you have to bow, which is good, i didn't know that.

But it didn't talk about making the cross three times?
And it didn't mention what is said in Ukrainian as i make the sign of the cross.

It depends. Some places everyone will make the sign of the cross at every "Hospodi Pomiluj" during a litany. I'm waiting for someone to link up the Frederica Matthews-Green page on this, but it hasn't happened yet.
Some churches people will sign themselves when the priest says, "peace be with all of you" or, in Slavonic, "Mir vsim." In other churches, the people will bow at that point. Some churches people will bow when the clergy incenses them, some churches the people will make the sign of the cross.
You'll pick up on it.

ah, I see. Thanks for the explanation.
So I guess i'll learn that by just attending.

Anyway, the big question remains about making the sign of the cross for my own prayers at home.I know I can still do my old fashioned Latin sign of the cross, but I'm curious as how to do the Ukrainian Catholic way. (three times and the proper saying and all that, as indicated in the original post)

You're making the sign correctly and saying the right words, which are the same in Slavonic, Ukrainian and Russian. I think you need to say 'V(o) imja' only once, at the beginning. (Phonetic: VEEMya; the whole thing: VEEMya otSAH ee SINNa ee svyaTAho DOOha. ahMEEN.) Whether you cross yourself once or three times depends on the custom you're following. In some Byzantine Rite versions you only sign yourself once.

In church you cross yourself every time the three persons of the Trinity are mentioned, just like in the prayer above. That would be at the Glory to the Father and at the end of litanies. So you do it when you hear words that sound like the ones above.

to Andriy ,if you read ukrainian/some articles in polish/ invite you to Ukrainian Greek-catholic church in Poland
http://www.wroc-gda.opoka.org.pl/indexyz.php?ty=8
http://www.bazylianie.pl/

mozhna tezh tut spilkuvatys ukrainskoyu

Ah thank you so very much for the replies.

I'll get some of Ukrainian relatives to help me with pronounciation, but I think i'm pretty close.

And thanks for the sites, I can phonetically make out many cyrillic words, as I've learned the alphabet, but my grammer/vocabulary stink so I can't read Ukrainian, only pronounce it (and that's limited, but like I said i'll get some of my family to help me with correct pronounciation. )

And just to confirm, I say ahmen with each sign of the cross?

I don't think you do.