Orthodox Church dedicates memorial mausoleum/museum

by Andrew Nynka

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - With the initiation of fund-raising for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's Historical and Educational Complex, church leaders have taken the first step in realizing Patriarch Mstyslav's dream of creating a resource "to preserve the treasures of the national-spiritual creativity of our Ukrainian people, especially those which are of ancient origin."

On September 25, 1966, then Archbishop Mstyslav and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church dedicated the Memorial Church Museum located beneath St. Andrew Memorial Church in spite of the fact that the space below the church was initially intended as a mausoleum.

Thirty-five years after the initial dedication, Church leaders realized atmospheric conditions and other factors were destroying precious articles, some of which were over 500 years old. Many of the artifacts were moved to a temporary location inside the Ukrainian Cultural Center in order to protect them from any further deterioration.

On April 21, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church hosted an opening and blessing of the temporary museum exhibition in the Ukrainian Cultural Center. In the museum, Prof. Raisa Zacharchuk-Chuhaj gave a lecture on the significance of the museum collection titled "Our Museum - A Unique Treasure of Spirituality and Culture of the Ukrainian People."

On April 22, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church consecrated the finished Holy Resurrection Mausoleum and Museum devoted to the life of Patriarch Mstyslav. The mausoleum is located beneath the Memorial Church.

The Church has drawn up plans to create a Historical and Educational Complex that will be an annex of the current Consistory/Library building at St. Andrew Metropolia Center and will give the museum artifacts a permanent home. The complex will include state-of-the art museum display areas, a permanent Famine memorial, and a museum lounge, library, lecture room and reading area.

The groundbreaking of the Historical and Educational Complex is scheduled for late 2001, but Church officials are uncertain of a completion date.

For information about either Holy Resurrection Mausoleum or the Historical and Educational Complex of the UOC of USA, contact Natalia Honcharenko, The Office of the Consistory, P.O. Box 495, South Bound Brook, NJ 08880; telephone, (732) 356-0090; e-mail, uocofusa@aol.com; fax, (732) 356-5556.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 3, 2001, No. 22, Vol. LXIX

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