Articles by Fr. Ihor Kutash

The Glorious Beauty of the Liturgical Calendar

Orthodox Christianity joyously proclaims that with God's entry into the space time continuum through the Incarnation of the Logos, the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, true God of true God, time itself has been forever changed. The time before the Incarnation was the time of awaiting the Messiah and the time since then has become the time of the Messiah, the time of our salvation and the transformation of the cosmos into the manifest Kingdom of God which shall continue "unto ages of ages", in other words, forever. The Church, the Body of Christ, lives in this time. It does so especially by celebrating the hours, the days, the weeks, the months and the years of space time through the Church Calendar. In this section I intend to reflect upon the beauty of this Calendar by which the people of the Lord share and grow in the Life He has so graciously and abundantly shared with us.

• Св. Архангел Гавриїл - 26-го липня На 26-го липня за григоріянським календарем (це – 13-го липня за юліянським) ми святкуємо Празник, що начебто несподівано появляється у церковному році. Це – Собор Архангела Гавриїла. Переважно такий Собор слідує після великого Свята, як нагода відслужити Божественну Літургію на честь Святого чи Святих зв’язаних з головним Празником. Тут такого немає. Якась таємниця в цьому, чому саме в цей день святкують цей Собор.
• The Holy Archangel Gabriel - July 26On July 26 on the Gregorian calendar (which is July 13 on the Julian Calendar) we celebrate a Feast which seems to just come out of the blue. It is the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel. Usually a Synaxis follows a major feast day as a liturgical assembly in honour of the Saint or Saints involved in the primary celebration. Such is not the case here. Why it is celebrated on this day is a bit of a mystery.

Great Fast

• The Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast – St. Mary of EgyptOn the Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast the Orthodox Church commemorates a woman who, after 17 years of licentious living in Alexandria in Egypt, found the grace of repentance in Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Resurrection and spent nearly 50 years in the desert beyond the Jordan in spiritual labour and rejoicing.
• Fourth Sunday of the Great FastWe are at the mid-point of our journey through the Fast to the Bright Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a good time to pause and check out what we have achieved up until now.
• Third Sunday of the Great FastAt the beginning of the 20th century some thinkers proclaimed their certainty that a new golden age was dawning, in which the final problems of the world would be resolved thanks to progress in education and technology. They expected that all darkness was about to be dispelled and that the time of enlightenment would soon come upon everyone.
• Second Sunday of the Great FastToday's Gospel reading (Mark 2:1-12) invites us to find inspiration and direction for our lives in the example of the four friends of the paralyzed man who were exceedingly determined to help their friend. They were not discouraged when they could not get into the crowded house where Jesus was speaking. They made an opening in the roof to let their friend down on his pallet. The Lord recognized the amazing faith expressed by their unflagging determination, and healed the sick man, first proclaiming that his sins were forgiven.
• First Sunday of the Great Fast: The Triumph of OrthodoxyToday the Orthodox throughout the world celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy over the last of the great heresies.
• First Saturday of the Great Fast: Great-Martyr Theodore the TyroOn the first Saturday of the Great Fast (and also on March 2 on the Gregorian Calendar, which is February 17 on the Julian Calendar), we celebrate the memory of a youthful Saint named Theodore the Tyro.

Pascha

• The Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council On the Seventh Sunday after Pascha the Holy Church commemorates the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. This Council was convened in 325 A.D. in the city of Nicea (today Iznik in Turkey, a source of popular brilliant blue ceramics) by St. Constantine, Equal-to-the-Apostles, the Emperor of Rome who stopped all persecution of the Faith of Christ and made it the faith of his Empire.
• St. Celidonius the Blind ManThe Sixth Sunday after Pascha is dedicated to the remarkable account of our Lord’s healing of the Blind Man (John 9:1-38). Again the Church reminds us about the meaning of Christ’s Resurrection for humanity.
• St. Photina, the Samaritan WomanThe Fifth Sunday after Pascha is dedicated to recalling the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman. The theme, as on the Fourth Sunday, is the meaning of Christ’s Resurrection for humanity.
• Fourth Sunday after Pascha, of the ParalyticOn the Fourth Sunday after Pascha, the Church remembers the marvelous event of our Lord’s healing of the man who had lain for 38 years paralyzed beside the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. This miraculous pool was sometimes stirred up by an angel and whoever got into it first would be healed of their infirmities. This man had been there waiting for this for nearly two generations! So was not Jesus’ question to him strange? “Do you want to be made well?”
• The Myyrh-Bearing WomenOn the third Sunday after Pascha the Church remembers the early-morning journey of the Myrrh-bearing Women to the tomb of Our Lord. We who walk thrice around the Church on the night of Pascha represent those blessed Women – and they represent the Church which continually seeks the Presence of the Lord and always emerges from darkness into glorious light and joy!
• Antipascha. St. Thomas Sunday.“I like to ask priests whether or notthey believe in God.” So began aninteresting conversation recentlybetween a pastor and his friendvisiting from out of town at a lunchmeeting they had arranged to catchup on what had been going on theirlives. This provided a welcomeopportunity for an honest discussionabout the relationship between faithand doubt.The event we celebrate on today’sSunday sheds light on this matter.The Apostle Thomas, we shouldremember, was a man of loyalty.
• The Lord’s Pascha. The Radiant Resurrection of Christ.Once again the great wheel of the Church calendar has brought us to the celebration of the Lord’s resurrection. What is it that we are celebrating today? A historical event? Yes. Christians throughout the ages have lived and died with the conviction that Jesus of Nazareth truly lived, truly died and truly rose from the dead and ascended to the Right Hand of the Father.
• Palm Sunday. Entry of the Lord into JerusalemToday we join in with the joyful throng greeting our Lord as He rides into Jerusalem! What joy! What exhilaration! The hope of the ages is fulfilled. God has kept His promise. He has sent His Messenger, His Anointed One to restore that which we lost – and continually lose – by our apostasy and betrayal.

Pentecost

• Tenth Sunday after Pentecost: Mission Impossible?Today's Epistle (I Corinthians 4:9-16) describes what it means to be an Apostle. A more arduous calling would be difficult to imagine: 'To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labour, working with our own hands', he writes. This lists some of the physical ordeals they endured. Paul goes on to describe the attitude which an Apostle is called to have: 'When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate'. He ends with something that almost sounds like a complaint (but is not): 'We have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things'.
• Ninth Sunday after Pentecost: He Went up to Pray!Today's Gospel reading (Matthew 14:22-34) gives a dramatic account of the miracle of Jesus' walking upon the sea. His disciple, Peter, seeing this most extraordinary sight, was inspired to ask for the grace to do the same - and did so!
• Eighth Sunday after Pentecost: Be United!In today's Epistle (I Corinthians 1:10-18) the Apostle Paul exhorts us to accomplish something which seems to be virtually impossible. He says: "I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and same judgment".
• Seventh Sunday after Pentecost: What are we Communicating?As we read today's Gospel (Matthew 9:27-35) we discover something ironic. Here is a man who could not speak because he was possessed by a demon. And as soon as Jesus cast the demon out of him the man who had been dumb until that time began to speak.
• Sixth Sunday after Pentecost: God’s forgiveness - the way to eternal life!In today's Gospel (Matthew 9:1-8) we read of Jesus' pardoning the sins of the man who was paralysed - just prior to healing him of his infirmity and restoring to him the gift of mobility.
• Fifth Sunday after Pentecost: Evil -Unmasked!In today's Gospel reading (Matthew 8:28-9:1), we may hear the voice of evil speaking. It comes from the demons possessing the two men from Gadara, whom Jesus was about to free from their horrible bondage: "If you are going to drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs" (Today's English Version). These words are revealing. They give us a glimpse into what evil is really about.
• Fourth Sunday after Pentecost - Are We Really Free?The Icon of Christ (shown in the article) graces the Russian Orthodox chapel of the Resurrection built at Dachau, the site of the first Nazi concentration camp. The chapel is a memorial to the many POWs from the former Soviet Union who died there. The ones who were liberated at the end of the second world war did not fare much better. They were treated as traitors by the Soviet government when they got back to their homeland - and were shipped off to the gulags.
• Third Sunday after Pentecost - At the Right Time!In today’s Epistle we read Saint Paul’s good news: "While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6).
• Second Sunday after Pentecost: All Saints Who Shone Forth in and from Rus’- UkraineOn the Second Sunday after Pentecost it is the tradition of the Orthodox to remember the Saints who have been glorified in their own land or locality.
• Trinity Sunday - Pentecost - The Descent of the Holy Spirit Today's Feast - the Day of Pentecost, the Descent of the Holy Spirit brings us a Gospel reading (John 7:37-52,8:12) with images which speak of a happiness that lasts and that makes other people happy, too. Jesus says: "If any one thirsts, let him come to Me and drink".

Icons of the Mother of God

Often the Church Calendar besides the names of the Saints lists also Holy Icons, especially those of the Mother of God. The Orthodox Church has a special reverence for Icons for our Church experienced a most trying time of persecution of iconodules (those who venerated Icons) in the age of iconoclasm which lasted from 725 to 842. The veneration of Icons was confirmed in the Orthodox Church based on its teaching on the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity.

• Kasperivs’ka Icon of the Mother of GodOn July 12 (which is June 29 on the Julian Calendar), on the Feast of the Leaders of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, we celebrate the Kasperivs’ka Icon of the Mother of God. The Icon is also commemorated on Bright Wednesday and on the Feast of the Protecting Veil of the Theotokos, Svyata Pokrova, on October 14 (which is October 1 on the Julian Calendar). It is an Icon of Tenderness. Mother Mary caresses her Son, Who holds a scroll in His hand. St. John the Baptist and the Martyr, St. Tatiana, are on either side, probably because they are the patrons of the unknown original owner.
• Icon of the Seven Arrows (celebrated on the Sunday of all Saints)On the Sunday of All Saints, as well as on the Feast of the Meeting of Christ (February 2/15) and on the second to last day before the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God (August 13/26) we celebrate an Icon of the Mother of God with two names: “The Softening of Evil Hearts” and “Of the Seven Arrows”.
• The Icon of The Mother Of God of The St. Elias Monastery in ChernihivOn April 29 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is April 16 on the Julian) the Icon of the Mother of God of the St. Elias Monastery in Chernihiv is remembered. This Monastery was founded by the Venerable Anthony, founder of monasticism in Ukraine, who came to Chernihiv in 1069 and dug a cave on Mount Boldynia.

The Radiant Beauty of the Saints

Fr. Anthony Coniaris has written: "...[W]hen a saint gets to heaven, he will be surprised by three things. First, he will be surprised to see many he did not think would be there. Second, he will be surprised that some are not there whom he expected to see. Third, he will be surprised that he himself is there." The veneration of Saints and prayerful requests for their help in our daily walk are essential components of Orthodox Christian spirituality. The following meditations are gleaned and edited from various published sources and passed through the filter of this sinner's personal experience and pastoral work. He offers them for the encouragement and edification of fellow-sojourners on the way to the Kingdom - which has already manifested through these glorified Brothers and Sisters of ours and which is yet to come.

• The Righteous Priest Aaron, Brother of MosesOn some Orthodox Calendars March 25 (which is March 12 on the Julian Calendar) is the day we commemorate a prominent Old Testament Saint, Aaron, the brother of Moses the Prophet and God-seer. Aaron, together with his grandson, the Righteous Phineas. From him comes the line of Old Testament Priests who served the Lord, and he is a prototype of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, the One Who confers the Royal Priesthood upon all the baptized, and the Sacramental Priesthood upon those so chosen by God and the Church.
• Venerable Anastasia (Romanova) of KyivEach year since April 26, 1986, Ukrainians throughout the world have gathered on the anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster to remember and to pray and thus to express their faith and hope that this tragedy, whose destructive effects will be felt for generations, has not been meaningless. Coincidentally this day is also remembered as the day of repose in 1900 of the Venerable Anastasia, known in the world as the Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrivna Romanova, founder of the Holy Protection Women’s Monastery in Kyiv.
• The Venerable Athanasius of Mt. AthosWhy do bad things happen to good people? This is a question that has troubled people of faith for millennia. On July 18 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is July 5 on the Julian) we celebrate the memory of a man who made an outstanding contribution to the monastic heritage in Orthodoxy, and whose departure from the world on this day at the beginning of the second millennium of Christianity highlights the challenge presented by the above question. It is St. Athanasius, the founder of the Great Lavra of Mount Athos (in 963), and thus of the monastic community that has flourished there to this day.
• St. Epiphanius the Bishop of CyprusThe Ukrainian Orthodox of Montreal, and especially those of the Hromada of St. Mary the Protectress of which I am honoured to be the current Pastor, recall with fondness the zeal and dedication of a good Shepherd and Confessor who wrote, preached and taught his flock and presided over the building of Churches – including ours – who celebrated his Patron Saint’s Day on May 25.
• St. Eusebius, Bishop of SamosataOn July 5 (which is June 22 on the Julian Calendar) we celebrate the memory of St. Eusebius of Samosata, a Bishop noted for his defence of the teaching on Christology proclaimed at the First Ecumenical Council held in Nicea (today Iznik in Turkey) in 325. His life gave his colleague and friend, St. Gregory the Theologian, the occasion to praise him as: “a pillar of the Church", "a gift of God" and "a rule of faith".
• The Child-Martyr Gabriel of Bialystok (1690)On May 3 Gregorian Calendar (which is April 20 on the Julian), Orthodox Christians celebrate the memory of a child-martyr, Gabriel Gavdel, of the village of Zwierki near the town of Zabludow in the diocese of Bialystok who died on April 11, 1690.
• Venerable Gerasimus of the JordanThe saying goes that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. And a lion figures prominently in the story of a Saint who is celebrated on March 17 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is March 4 on the Julian). It is St. Gerasimus of the Jordan – so called to differentiate him from another Gerasimus, the “walking Saint” who is the Patron of the Greek Island of Kephalonia.
• Holy Right-Believing IhorOn June 18 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is June 5 on the Julian) we celebrate the Feast of the Translation of the Relics of the Holy Right-Believing Passion-Bearer Ihor, in Baptism George, Tonsured Gabriel, Knyaz’ of Chernihiv and Great Knyaz’ of Kyiv.
• St. John (Maksymovych), Archbishop of San Francisco, WonderworkerOn July 2 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is June 19 on the Julian) we commemorate a modern-day Saint, born in Ukraine, who is often known as John of Shanghai, or John of San Francisco, or simply John the Wonderworker.
• The Righteous Priest Jonah of OdesaFor May 30 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is May 17 on the Julian) the Ridna Nyva of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada lists another twentieth-century Ukrainian Saint – the Righteous Priest Jonah Moyseyevych Atamansky of Odesa, on the day of his repose in the Lord in 1924.
• New Martyr Lazarus the Shepherd of BulgariaOn May 6 according to the Gregorian Calendar (which is April 23 on the Julian) we commemorate, beside the greatly renowned Great Martyr George, another much less familiar one. It is the New Martyr Lazarus the Shepherd, of Bulgaria who gave his life for the Lord in the year 1802.
• Hieromartyr Macarius, Metropolitan of KyivOn May 14 (Gregorian – which is May 1 on the Julian Calendar) we celebrate the memory of a Saint whose Holy Relics are venerated in the St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv, the seat of Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate). It is the Hieromartyr Macarius, Metropolitan of Kyiv, who gave his life for Christ on this day in 1497 during the celebration of Liturgy in the village of Stryholovo on the banks of the Prypyat’ River in what is now Belarus’.
• St. Michael, First Metropolitan of KyivOn June 28 (which is June 15 on the Julian Calendar) we celebrate the memory of the first Metropolitan of Kyiv, St. Michael, who reposed in the Lord on that day in 992.
• St. Monenna, Founder of the Killevy Monastery in IrelandOn July 19 (which is July 6 on the Julian calendar) we celebrate the memory of one of the many Saints of the undivided Church of the first millennium – St. Monenna, founder of the the Killevy (often spelled “Killeavy”) Monastery in Northern Ireland, who reposed in the Lord on that day in 518.
• Преподобний Онуфрій ВеликийПостать Преподобного Онуфрія, високого стрункого чоловіка з довгою білою бородою, що спливає перед ним майже до землі, дає натхнення Східнім Християнам століттями. На 26-го червня 1996 між-церковною Відправою Духовенство Українських Канадських Церков Католицької та Православної посвятили Українську Католицьку Церковцю, як експонат в Музею цивілізації в Оттаві.
• Venerable Onuphrius the GreatThe vision of the Venerable Onuphrius, a tall slender man with a long white beard flowing to the ground before him, has been an inspiration for Eastern Christians for hundreds of years. On June 26, 1996, a Ukrainian Catholic Church was dedicated in an inter-Church ceremony (with clergy of the Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of Canada participating) as an exhibit at the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa.
• Venerable Paisius, Abbot of UglichOn June 19 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is June 6 on the Julian) we commemorate the Venerable Paisius Abbot of Uglich, an Orthodox monk who laboured for the Lord in his particular vocation for 96 years. It was on this the day that he reposed in the Lord in 1504 at the age of 107 years!
• St. Sampson the Hospitable of ConstantinopleOn July 10 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is June 27 on the Julian) we commemorate a Saint who moved from Rome to New Rome (Constantinople). His name is linked with an important event in the history of Russia and Ukraine. He is remembered on the Church Calendar as St. Sampson the Hospitable of Constantinople.
• Hieromartyr Simeon, Kinsman of the LordOn May 10 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is April 27 on the Julian) we celebrate the memory of another of the kinsmen “according to the flesh” of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, St. Simeon, the second bishop of Jerusalem.
• Our Holy Father Simon, Monk of the Kyivan Caves Lavra, Bishop of Suzdal’ and VolodymyrOn May 23 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is May 10 on the Julian – this year, 2010, it coincides with Pentecost) we celebrate the memory of another “Podvyzhnyk” (Ascetic) of the early Kyivan Church. It is St. Simon, a Monk of the Kyivan Caves Lavra who became first Bishop of the newly-created diocese of Volodymyr (on the Klyaz’ma River) and Suzdal’.
• New Martyr Schema-Abbess Sophia of KyivOn April 4 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is March 22 on the Julian) we celebrate the memory of one of the countless martyrs of the Communist persecution in the captive lands which comprised the former Soviet Union. It is the New-Martyr, Schema-Abbess Sophia of the Holy Protection Monastery of Kyiv.
• Venerable Stephen, Abbot of the Kyivan Cave Lavra, Bishop of Volodymyr-Volyns’kyyOn May 10 (Gregorian Calendar – which is April 27 on the Julian) we commemorate a Ukrainian Holy Father from the eleventh century. It is the Venerable Stephen, third Abbot of the Kyivan Cave Monastery (Kyyivo-Pechers’ka Lavra), who later was the Bishop of Volodymyr-Volyns’kyy.
• St. Tarasius, Patriarch of ConstantinopleOn March 10 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is February 25 on the Julian) we remember a Saint after whom the great poet of Ukraine Taras Shevchenko was most likely named as he was born on the day before his Feastday and died on that very Feastday, 47 years later. It is St. Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople.
• Right-believing Yaroslav, in Baptism ConstantineOn June 3 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is May 21 on the Julian) we commemorate the Wonderworkers of Murom, the Holy Knyaz’ Yaroslav and his sons, Michael and Theodore. They are, most likely, commemorated on this day because it is also the Feastday of the Equals-to-the-Apostles, Saints Constantine the Emperor and his mother, St. Helena. Yaroslav, great-grandson of St. Volodymyr the Great, grandson of St. Yaroslav the Wise (known in Norse sagas as Jarisleif the Lame), son of Svyatoslav (all of the above held the distinguished post of Great Knyaz’ of Kyiv), was baptized Constantine and thus commemorated his Patron Saint on this day.

 

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