UOCC Centennial 2018
Categories: Publications, Sobor Tags:

Day Three. Commemoration of the Holy Martyr Callinicus of Gangra, in Asia Minor.

EXTRAORDINARY COUNCIL OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF CANADA
100Th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHURCH 1918-2018
August 9-12, 2018 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Day Three – Saturday, August 11, 2018. Commemoration of the Holy Martyr Callinicus of Gangra, in Asia Minor.
The third day of the Council began with a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at All Saints’ Parish co-presided by Archbishops Job (Getcha) of Telmissos, representing the Ecumenical Patriarch, and Daniel (Zelinsky) of the Western Eparchy of the UOC of the USA. The responses by the Edmonton Ukrainian Male Chorus directed by Orest Soltykevych (son of the most distinguished choir master Roman Soltykevych of blessed memory) were glorious and of enormous beauty.

After lunch in the Parish Auditorium the Sobor participants had a choice between a cruise on the Prairie Lily Riverboat through the heart of Saskatoon on the South Saskatchewan River and a historic landmark city bus tour which passed by the two previous St. Petro Mohyla Institute sites, where many of the founders of our Church met and laid the foundation for our Church, as well as the original Holy Trinity Cathedral site followed by the Eaton internment camp site.

Vespers were celebrated at the All Saints Church and the day concluded with a most memorable banquet and concert at the Saskatoon Inn. Greetings were also delivered by government and Church dignitaries, among them Bishop Brian Bayda of the Saskatoon Eparchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church – an inspiring testimony of the Christian fraternity brought by the Lord in the Ukrainian community after the divergence which gave birth to the UOCC whose centenary we are marking.

Performing in the lovely concert were: the Lastiwka Ukrainian Orthodox Choir and Orchestra of Saskatoon directed by Larry Klopoushak, Kateryna Khartova (who came to Canada from Ukraine at the age of 18), the St. Demetrius Quartet of Toronto, Fr. Volodymyr Kouchnir (Dean of St. Sophie Cathedral in Montreal), the delightful Dibrova Ukrainian Folk Ensemble of Saskatoon directed by Stanyslaw Hawryliw, distinguished international violinist Carissa Klopoushak, the Lastiwka Ukrainian Orthodox Choir and Orchestra also directed by the talented and energetic Larry Klopoushak, world renowned jazz pianist John Stetch, the Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton directed by Orest Soltykevych, and the Pavlychenko Folklorique Ensemble directed by Serhij Koroliuk.

The final piece was a masterful performance by the massed choirs directed by Larry Klopoushak of the complex spiritual-liturgical composition “Preslavnyy nyni den’” (“A Most Glorious Day”) by S. A. Dekhtyariv, referring to the Day of Pentecost. It was a most fitting tribute to the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and a reminder that it is His invincible action that brought about the formation and unfolding of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.

Humbly submitted by
Fr. Ihor G. Kutash