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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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March 2022
Yes, let us bury war.
Though now retired, I was in the course of my life, first, a priest in south Lebanon, in dialogue with all denominations, then a metropolitan bishop in the Holy Land, sometimes amidst conflict between Israelis and Palestinians; lastly a patriarch, living through the scourge of war on Syria; I also experienced the horrors of civil war in Lebanon.
So, on the basis of my friendship with Russian and Ukrainian Churches and having experienced something of the tragedies of war, I appeal to my brothers in Russia, where there is the largest Orthodox Church in the Christian world, and to my brothers in Ukraine, where there is also a large Orthodox Church and a Greek Catholic Church in communion with the Church of Rome, saying, “Bury war, the God of war, and weapons of all kinds,” as this conflict unfolds from one day to the next, bringing calamities and destruction, thousands of victims and tragedies.
Yes, let us bury war, instead of burying war victims in their thousands, as we hear on the news.
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Vatcan.va - The Holy Father has approved the change of the circumscription of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto of the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, from eparchy to exarchate, transferring its jurisdiction from the sui iuris metropolitan Church of Prešov of the Byzantines to that of Pittsburgh of the Byzantines.
The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Kurt Richard Burnette of Passaic of the Ruthenians, U.S.A., as apostolic administrator sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Exarchate of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto of the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada.
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BYZANTINE CATHOLIC EPARCHY OF PASSAIC
Office of the Bishop
455 Lackawanna Avenue
Woodland Park, New Jersey 07424
February 26, 2022
Glory to Jesus Christ!
My dear friends in the Faith,
As everyone else, I am horrified and sorrowful about the brutal invasion of the Ukrainian nation. It is horrible for everyone, but it brings back recent memories in our own Church, even in modern times. The part of Ukraine where our church is located was annexed to the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two, and the destruction of our church was swift and ruthless. Our bishop in Uzhorod was murdered. The priests were told to convert or suffer the consequences. About half of the priests joined the Russian Orthodox Church, and about half refused. Who can condemn those who joined? They had wives and children to care for. But the priests who remained Catholic received long prison terms in Siberia, including the fathers and grandfathers of priests in our own Eparchy of Passaic today. Russia has been waging a propaganda war against us for decades now. I experienced it myself in Florida where I attended a party with Russians, and a simple man who watches Russian television began screaming “fascist” when he found out I was Byzantine Catholic. He ran to the others side of the ball room in terror and screamed fascist over and over while pointing to me. I don’t pretend that I suffered persecution, but I tell you this story so you can see how thoroughly the Kremlin propaganda machine operates twenty four hours a day seven days a week. Our Church was relegalized only thirty years ago in Ukraine. We can be sure that religious persecution will be inevitable during a Russian occupation.
In Romania, the soviets told the youngest Greek Catholic bishop they would make him the head of the church in Romania if he renounced the Catholic faith, and he refused. They cut him up with an ax while he was still alive. Our bishops in Slovakia suffered a living martyrdom for many years. Of course, not only were monks and nuns killed, but everyone lived a life of fear and poverty. Family members reported each other to the secret police, and people who attended church were denied all government jobs and many other jobs as well. Bishop Milan Lach’s father walked away from an excellent position and lived a life of agrarian hard labor because he refused to deny his faith in Slovakia. Both Milan and his brother Peter became priests because of the faith of their saintly father.
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February 24, 2022
We enter the Great Lenten Fast. Just as the hope of relief from the Pandemic began to grow, the invasion of Ukraine and threat of a larger global war has arisen. Since 1991 the faithful living in Ukraine had the joy of political and religious freedom. The occupation of parts of Lugansk and Donetsk Provinces has already cost 14,00 lives. With the threat of Communist suppression of the entire nation, the shadow of the return to the decades of gloom has returned for the Ruthenian and Ukrainian Catholic members living in the nation of Ukraine.
We pray for our members who have families in Ukraine. Especially, we pray for the families of our ten priests from Ukraine serving in the Pittsburgh Archeparchy as well as for several other priests and religious serving other churches in the United States.
The Great Fast is the season of praying, fasting and almsgiving. We certainly will remember Ukraine in our paying and fasting during the Great Fast. Also, we will take up a collection on the Third Sunday of the Fast for the Church in Ukraine. We ask our parishes to send the collection to the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh. We will transfer the offering to the Eparchy of Mukachevo.
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Today we solemnly proclaim: “Our soul and body offer we for our freedom! With one heart we pray: “Lord, Great and Almighty, protect our beloved Ukraine!”
Beloved in God people of Ukraine!
Our country is in danger again!
The treacherous enemy, despite his own commitments and assurances, breaking the basic norms of international law, as an unjust aggressor, stepped on Ukrainian soil, bringing with him death and destruction.
Our Ukraine, which the world fairly called "lands of blood", which has been so many times sprinkled with the blood of martyrs and fighters for the freedom and independence of its people, calls us today to stand up for it - to defend its dignity before God and humanity, its rights for existence and the right to choose one's future.
It is our natural right and sacred duty to defend our land and our people, our state and all that is dearest to us: family, language and culture, history and the spiritual world! We are a peaceful nation that loves children of all nations with Christian love, regardless of origin or belief, nationality or religious identity.
We do not infringe upon others and do not threaten anyone, but we have no right to give our own to anyone! At this historic moment, the voice of our conscience calls us all as one to stand up for a free, united and independent Ukrainian State!
The history of the last century teaches us that all those who started world wars lost them, and the idolaters of war brought only destruction and decline to their own states and peoples.
We believe that in this historic moment the Lord is with us! He, who holds in his hands the fate of the whole world and of each person in particular, is always on the side of the victims of unjust aggression, the suffering and the enslaved. It is He who proclaims His holy Name in the history of every nation, captures and overthrows the mighty of this world with their pride, the conquerors with the illusion of their omnipotence, the proud and insolent with their self-confidence. It is He who grants victory over evil and death. The victory of Ukraine will be the victory of God's power over the meanness and arrogance of man! So it was, is and will be!
Our holy Church-Martyr has always been and always will be with its people! This Church, which has already survived death and resurrection, as the Body of the Risen Christ, over which death has no power, the Lord gave to his people in the baptismal waters of the Dnipro River.
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By Gina Christian • CatholicPhilly.com
With as many as 190,000 Russian troops now amassed at the Ukraine border, Ukrainian Catholics in the Philadelphia area and beyond are redoubling their prayers to deescalate tensions and prevent an invasion.
“The thought of more lives being lost is devastating,” said Father Ihor Royik, pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church in Phoenixville. “But God is with us. He does intervene in human history; if he didn’t, it would be a disaster. He’s in charge, even of our neighbor (Russian president Vladimir) Putin.”
The Ukrainian Catholic bishops of the U.S. called for a three-day prayer vigil Feb. 13-15 “for peace and the conversion of the hearts of those who preach violence and escalate war.”
“May our churches be open throughout the day, may the prayer of the church interchange with personal contemplation,” the bishops wrote in a Feb. 12 statement. “Conduct and participate in services, pray the Jesus Prayer, the Marian Rosary, the Paraclesis (a prayer service of supplication), sit with the Scriptures. Fast in order to focus on the hope that only God gives.”
Continue reading at CatholicPhilly.com
Photo: Ukrainian Catholic clergy led some 175 participants in a prayer vigil before the White House Feb. 8 to intercede for peace and security in Ukraine, now under threat of Russian invasion. (Facebook/Archeparchy of Philadelphia)