Month: December 24, 2020 10:10 am

ISTANBUL – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew served a memorial service on November 28 at the Patriarchal Church at the Phanar for the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine on the occasion of the 87th anniversary of one of the greatest tragedies in the modern history of the country, during which millions of people died of starvation. The service was attended by Metropolitan Kyrillos of Imvros and Tenedos, Bishop Adrianos of Alikarnassos, Archimandrite Charalampy Nichev, who is responsible for the Ukrainian community in Istanbul, the Consul General of Ukraine in Istanbul, Oleksandr Gaman, as well as officials of the consulate and members of the Ukrainian community of Istanbul.

Writing in a recent Facebook post about the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our lives, Metropolitan-Archbishop Borys Gudziak succinctly captured how these past nine months have affected our mental health and well-being.  “We yearn for hope, normalcy, freedom, eager to exhale, unwrap our wings, and break out from the confinement.  Many pray just to survive,” the archbishop wrote on December 23.

It has certainly been a difficult year for most, if not all, of us.  As we look back over the past year and reflect on 2020, we share Archbishop Gudziak’s perspective that this time of year is also an opportunity to reflect more deeply on our lives, on our relationships with one another, and on our own well-being.

Forty-seven years ago, on December 28, 1973, world renowned Russian writer, dissident and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature Alexandr Solzhenitsyn published the first of his three tomes on “The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956,” that detailed the concentration camps’ secret police surveillance and terror in the Soviet Union.

Chronicling the period following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 until Nikita Krushchev’s rise to power, Solzhenitsyn warned “if freedom does not come to my country for a long time,” then the mere reading of this book will be considered a serious crime.

Most people understand the importance and benefits of being bilingual.  Increased brainpower, academic advantages in kids, increased awareness of cultures, improved competitiveness in the job market, and making it easier to learn a third language are just some of the benefits. For me, I believe that language is the basis of culture and, without language, the culture eventually disappears. 

When I became a mom, I didn’t know there were so many resources out there that could help in learning Ukrainian.  So much has changed since I was a kid.  After nine years and four kids, I thought I would offer a list of compiled resources that have helped my family, as well as some tips on raising truly bilingual children.  I hope this may help others in their quest for their kids to know Ukrainian as well.  This obviously is not all-encompassing, but it is meant to offer a good base from which to begin.

Nativity Epistle of the Permanent Conference of Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops Beyond the Borders of Ukraine to the God-beloved Pastors, Venerable Monastics, and all Faithful Children of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Diaspora and in Ukraine.

“Today Christ is born from a Virgin in Bethlehem, today the Eternal One is born and the Word is incarnated: the powers of heaven rejoice, the earth and all mankind rejoice” (Festal Stykhyra)

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor that react to articles published on its pages. Opinions expressed by letter writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of either The Weekly editorial staff or its publisher, the Ukrainian National Association.

Letters must be signed (anonymous letters are not published) and the city from which they are sent will be published under the author’s name. However, the daytime phone number, e-mail address and complete mailing address of the letter-writer must be given for verification purposes.

If Joe Biden is to reset the U.S. relationship with Russia, the starting point needs to be 1994, the year the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, the U.S. and the U.K. sat side-by-side in Hungary to sign the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. Its intent and purpose was clear. Ukraine was to give up the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

In exchange, Russia would respect the existing borders of Ukraine and “refrain from the threat of or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine.”

Below are the statements of greeting from the prime hierarchs of the Orthodox Churches of Greece, Alexandria, Cyprus and Constantinople on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Unification Council that was held on December 15, 2018, which was instrumental in the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), and its election of Metropolitan Epifaniy as its prime hierarch. The 2018 Unification Council and its decisions led to the Tomos of Autocephaly being granted to the OCU by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on January 6, 2019, which recognized the OCU as independent. (Source: pomisna.info, translated by Matthew Dubas)

PHILADELPHIA – For two days, on October 14-16, the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia was host to Hollywood, as a Netflix movie, “Hustle,” was filmed on location.

Filming scenes included the Chancery Offices of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, and the former cathedral parochial school had a new sign over the entrance, which read “St. Francis Roman Catholic High School.”

Over 1,200 people from across North America participated in a celebration of the 95th anniversary of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA) on December 6.  This virtual gala was a celebration of the generations of unique Ukrainian American women who, quietly and without much fanfare, have accomplished so much over the decades. 

Highlighting the members and projects of the organization’s many branches and featuring beloved performing artists from Ukraine, the gala raised over $36,000 for important educational, cultural and humanitarian initiatives provided through the UNWLA.

BLOOMINGDALE, IL. – On Sunday, December 13, St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) in Bloomingdale, Ill., invited the Ukrainian community of Illinois and beyond to participate in a virtual celebration of the feast of the patron saint St. Andrew the “First-Called” and the 50th anniversary of the inception of the parish in 1970.

The Very Rev. Mitered Archpriest Victor Poliarny, vicar of St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral and secretary for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in U.S.A. and Canada, officiated a divine liturgy and a moleben to the Holy Mother of God.  For those who participated in the liturgy in person, all regulations and recommendations of local, state and federal agencies regarding COVID-19 were adhered to, and the service was live-streamed on Facebook.

Popular narrative tropes are not always accurate predictors of how a story will ultimately develop. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the former presidential hopeful and a person believed by many to have won the presidential elections of August 9, is widely seen as a positive character in the unfolding Belarusian drama. Courageous and likable, she does her best to rally international support for the protest movement in her home country.

Ms. Tikhanovskaya has already met personally with six heads of state. And last week (December 10), Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania visited her office in Vilnius to explain that even though his colleague in Minsk had recently presented his credentials to President Alyaksandr Lukashenka (Belta, November 24), this did not reflect Israeli support for Mr. Lukashenka’s policies (Nexta, December 10).