Lviv Pseudo-Council commemorated in Kyiv
Mar 22, 2006
For more than a week (March 3 till March 12, 2006) Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church commemorated Lviv Pseudo-Council of 1946.
(ugcc.org.ua, 13.03) Following events were held to commemorate notorious Council: on March, 7 - Requiem concert at Solomia Krushel'nycka Lviv National Opera and Ballet Theatre; on March, 8 - Pontifical (Archiepiscopal) Divine Liturgy in St. George's Cathedral (the Liturgy was celebrated exactly on the same day when sixty years ago Lviv Pseudo-Council voted for the “re-union” with the Russian Orthodox Church); on March 11 - a special religious procession through the streets of Lviv. And on Sunday, March 12, all UGCC Churches in Ukraine and abroad celebrated Divine Liturgies for the victims of persecution and their persecutors.
In Kyiv's Patriarchal cathedral of Christ's Resurrection His Beatitude Lubomyr, Major Archbishop of Kyiv and Halych, concelebrated a commemorative Liturgy with His Excellency Bohdan Dzyurakh, auxiliary bishop of Kyiv and Vyshorod of the UGCC. Stanislav Shyrokoradyuk, auxiliary bishop of Roman Catholic Church diocese of Kyiv and Zhytomyr, Msgr. Wojcech Zalucky, chargé d'affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in Ukraine, as well as numerous clergy and laymen also participated in the solemn celebration.
As His Beatitude explained in his sermon, three important events in the life of Kyiv-Vyshorod Archeparchy coincide on this day: The Sunday of Orthodoxy (the first Sunday of the Great Lent), the parochial commemoration of Lviv Pseudo-Council, and presentation to the faithful their new bishop – His Excellency Bohdan Dzyurakh. (His Excellency bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh was consecrated on the feast of the Encounter of Our Lord, on February 15, 2006. Synod of Bishops appointed him as an auxiliary bishop for Kyiv-Vyshorod Archeparchy).
After the Liturgy, bishop Stanislav Shyrokoradyuk, Msgr. Fr. Wojcech Zalucky and bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh addressed the faithful. His Excellency Bohdan Dzyurakh said: “Today we have gathered at this Liturgy to thank God for the gift of freedom, for the Spring of our Church. And at the same time we ask our God to grant us wisdom and strength, so that we can be loyal witnesses of Christ in the today's world. I personally anticipated this Liturgy with special anxiety, and now I am glad that I could bring this first bloodless sacrifice as the auxiliary bishop of His Beatitude Lubomyr in our cathedral together with all of you. I am happy to have an opportunity to pray for all of you – priests, sisters, brothers, all faithful of our Archeparchy. And with this prayer to give thanks to God for your presence here, for your service and work in the name of the aim, which is often reiterated by His Beatitude, “For the Church can be what it is: the Church. And it should resemble even more the ideal Church, theway Our Lord wants to see it”.
After the Liturgy the rite of blessing of an icon was celebrated. Then bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh blessed all the present. The common prayer ended with a modest dinner in a domestic surroundings. Everyone was invited.
Lviv Pseudo-Council commemorated in Kyiv