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2005 EASTER PASTORAL LETTER
TO THE CLERGY, RELIGIOUS AND FAITHFUL OF THE
UKRAINIAN AUTOCEPHALOUS ORTHODOX CHURCH OF NORTH & SOUTH
AMERICA & THE DIASPORA:
MAY THE GRACE AND PEACE OF GOD OUR FATHER AND OF OUR
RISEN LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH ALL OF YOU AT THIS
RADIANT TIME, WITH OUR ARCHPASTORAL BLESSING!
"Your resurrection, O Christ our Savior, the angels in
heaven praise with hymns. Grant also to us on earth, to
glorify you in purity of heart." -
(Processional Troparion, Tone 6, Resurrection Matins)
Pascha - Velykden' - 2005
The Radiant Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ
With these words, we begin our liturgical celebration of
this "Great Day," recognizing the significance of the
Resurrection for the entire universe, both here in the
physical world and in the spiritual realm that worships
along with us.
While we rejoice and celebrate the Feast, let us not
forget that it is based not on power or self-worthiness,
but on humility, endurance and peace. Prior to the
resurrection, Jesus' disciples did not quite understand
the nature of the Kingdom that he was about to
establish. Thinking more in a worldly, temporal mindset,
they often missed the message behind Jesus' messiahship.
To truly understand what constitutes God's glory and
power and thus, the Resurrection of our Lord, we must
look to the experience that led to this victory.
Jesus Christ endured criticism, persecution and finally
bitter suffering and death, to show the world the real
meaning of God's glorious reign. As Christians, we are
often called to share in the self-humbling of Jesus, as
we try to live life according to the Gospel message. Let
us always remember that the difficulties we may
experience for the sake of righteousness will bear fruit
in a positive, liberated future, where God's love and
peace will rule all things.
This is our faith and this is the message of hope that
Pascha offers us. It is also a time for us to celebrate
according to the beautiful traditions passed down to us
from our ancestors. In as much as these liturgical and
cultural practices move us to witness to the
Resurrection in our present lives, let us hold fast to
them and understand the message that they bear.
I thank our beloved clergy and cantors for their
dedicated service during this past Lent, Passion Week
and throughout the year. Without their ministry, our
celebration of paschaltide would not be the wonderful
experience that it is.
Assuring you of my paschal blessing and heartfelt
prayers at this time of celebration, I ask you to
remember me and the work of our church throughout the
world in your Easter supplications to the Risen Lord.
Faithfully in the Risen Christ,
+Metropolitan
Michael
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2004 CHRISTMAS PASTORAL LETTER
SBU officer reveals insurrection plans
TO THE DEVOTED CLERGY, RELIGIOUS AND FAITHFUL OF THE UKRAINIAN AUTOCEPHALOUS
ORTHODOX CHURCH OF NORTH & SOUTH AMERICA, PEACE, HEALTH AND SALVATION IN THE
NEW-BORN CHRIST, WITH OUR ARCHPASTORAL BLESSING!
CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!
KHRYSTOS RODIVSYA! SLAVITE JOHO!
- Let the stars in the sky remind us of man's compassion. Let us love till
we die and God bless us, everyone!
- In your heart there's a light as bright as a star in heaven. Let it shine
through the night and God bless us, everyone.
- Till each child is fed; till all men are free; till the world becomes a
family.
Starlight, by star in the sky and kindness by human kindness, let me love
till I die and God bless us everyone!
- ("A Christmas Carol - The Musical" Music by Alan Menken,
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens - 1995 Broadway Production") -
On the Sunday after Thanksgiving Day, many of us had the opportunity to view
for the first time, the motion picture version of Alan Menkin's (The Little
Mermaid; Alladin, others) rendition of the timeless work of Charles Dickens'
"A Christmas Carol" which was featured on NBC network television. Some of us
may even have had the chance to see this particular version of the classic
Christmas story when it played on Broadway, where it opened in 1995 or at
Madison Square Garden, where it played for nearly a decade, before its final
season last year.
While there are countless versions of Dickens' work, theatrical and on the
silver screen, spoken and musical, such as the still popular 1970 musical
motion picture featuring Albert Finney, the score from this production has
always left a spiritual impression on me and helped to better understand the
real meaning of Christmas and of the Incarnation of the Son of God.
We know from scripture and dogma, that the birth of Christ, the coming of
God's Word into our human flesh, was an expression of God's mercy and
compassion for the human race. Theology calls it a "kenosis" or an "emptying
of self," that God deigned to accept our human situation in every way, in
order to show to us, the way to become one with God (theosis -
divinization). The fragile and broken state of life in this world could only
have hope of improvement and salvation if the Almighty himself actually came
among us to show and teach us the way.
Much of Our Lord's teaching in the Gospels has to do with love and
compassion for others, for going beyond ourselves, emptying ourselves of
pride and self-concern, in order to make God present to others - to bring
the Kingdom of God into concrete reality in peoples' everyday lives and to
make them better. At Jesus' birth, the dawn of God's compassion for
humankind, it was a star that played a pivotal role in announcing the good
news of the joyous occasion. The Christmas star led a group of diverse,
well-thinking people - those we call the "wise men" or "magi" in the
birth-narratives. Because of their devotion to faith and to reason, God gave
them the insight to follow this star, because it was a sign of something of
ultimate importance happening - God's compassion raining down upon the
world. "Let the stars in the sky remind us of man's compassion."
Jesus tells us during his ministry, to "come, follow me," and to "do for
others, what I have done to you." If we believe in God and in the one whom
he sent, Jesus, his only Son, we are to be like him in every way. Jesus'
focus in the New Testament is about compassion, forgiveness and kindness
towards others, as God is compassionate, forgiving and kind to us. This
kindness of heart, this miloserdya or misericordie would be ultimately
revealed at the end of the Gospel story, when the Word, the Son of God,
Jesus, gives up even his own life, for the benefit and salvation of all.
"Let us love till we die and God bless us everyone."
If we are to benefit at all from the annual Christmas observances and
festivities, from the liturgical services and from the memorial of the birth
of Jesus Christ, we must be willing to receive him into our hearts, our
minds and our souls, and follow seriously, the example that this feast
celebrates and the path upon which the Christmas story leads. At the
holidays, despite commercialism and political sensitivities that have taken
a spiritual toll on the celebration, many people are "filled with holiday
spirit." Many are a little kinder, a bit more pleasant, forgiving perhaps,
of wrongs and misunderstandings. There are those who even go out of their
way further, to help others, the poor, marginalized and less fortunate. This
is laudable, but is also a pattern of behavior that the serious Christian
must strive for not only at Christmas, but each and every day. "In your
heart there's a light as bright as a star in heaven. Let it shine through
the night and God bless us, everyone." In the prologue to the Gospel of
John, we read, "The true light that enlightenes everyone, was coming into
the world," (Jn. 1:9).
In the Gospel of the "Last Judgment" which we read on Meatfare Sunday, two
weeks before Lent, gives us the ultimate criterion for the Christian life.
God will judge us on how much compassion and kindness we have shown to
others in our lives. "When I was hungry, you fed me, thirsty, you have me
to drink, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me . . . " (Mt. 25:
31-45). Compassion, according to the dictionary, means " a deep
awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering; and (2) the humane
quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something
about it." We cannot call ourselves followers of Christ - Christians,
Orthodox or otherwise, if we do not make compassion, that deep "kindness of
heart - miloserdya" a real part of our lives. It requires real action,
physical, personal and emotional. "Till each child is fed; till all men
are free; till the world becomes a family."
While we have many advantages at our disposal, both material and cerebral,
that were not available in centuries past, the world today is often a
difficult and confused place for many. It goes beyond those who are in
chronic, stereotypical impoverished and underprivileged situations, who
always, according to the Gospel and the teaching of the church we must have
a "preferential option for," to those of us in our communities, our
parishes, our workplaces and our own families, who for one reason or another
are suffering. Some of us suffer from physical hunger or lack of medical
attention. Other of us experience deep suffering of a spiritual or emotional
nature, that is equally or even perhaps harder to alleviate.
Regardless of our condition, we all have some "human frailty" inside of us,
to whatever extent it may be, that reflect not the loving, compassionate way
that God desires for his people, but rather, the result of sin and the real
struggle between good and evil in our world. What God desires for us, the
evil one (the devil) wishes the opposite. It is a serious matter, as Jesus
tells us, to "keep vigilant" because "the evil one will come like a thief
in the night . . . " . Christmas tells us that God's ultimate compassion
and kindness of heart will triumph and life can be experienced as part of
the God's happy reign, but only if we follow the example set by his Son,
Jesus. Both the Nativity of Our Lord and his Passion tell us that it is
God's compassion as imitated by people, one to another, that the real "so
what" of our lives can be discovered. If God's heart was so moved to love us
enough to send his Son into this world, then our hearts too, must make God's
presence known to others, through our own self-emptying - kenosis, our own
compassion, our own tenderness of heart and understanding.
In keeping with the Gospel message and the Old Testament prophetic
tradition, particularly that of Isaiah, which is read often in the
liturgical services of Christmas, compassion and self-emptying sometimes
require that we change our way of thinking or opinion on some matter,
particularly those that directly effect other human beings and the welfare
that God desires for them. Compassion means a lack of judgment, going the
long run in the art of selflessness, as shown by God through the gift of his
Son. They also imply a concrete doing of something to change others' lives
for the better, whether it be by our thoughts, words or deeds. Compassionate
love, God's love implies freedom and liberty for human beings, to live out
their lives according to their good conscience. It presumes that justice be
established for peoples where it is lacking, whether it be in social policy
or from tyrannical, imperial and oppressive regimes, because "God will come
to rule the world with justice." It demands the right of each one to
self-determination and expression, in imitation of God's compassionate love,
because God took on our human nature in its entirety, and our human life
with all that goes with it (cf. St. John Damascene).
The character in Dickens' tale, Ebenezer Scrooge was saved from a life that
lacked compassion. He had no concern for anyone but himself. Events in his
life had helped to made his heart so hardened that he spent years in
self-isolation, coldness and cruelty towards his fellow human being. He was
in misery and called a "miser." However, he was given a "second chance" to
see life for what it really should be and the opportunity to choose the path
of compassion and kindness. Fortunately, it would save him from a future of
further misery, misfortune and ultimately, eternal death. Scrooge saw the
road signs pointed out by the Christmas spirits and had a change of heart, a
metanoia, a turn around. Christmas gives each of us the same opportunity to
consider our lives and discover just how much we are living up to the
expectations of God's compassion for us. We like Ebenezer, want God to have
mercy and kindness towards us when our time comes to leave this earthly
life. If we are serious, then we have to put into action, the example of
compassion given in the Cave of Bethlehem where Jesus was born, not just at
Christmas, but all year long.
And so we continue to believe and we continue to pray. There will certainly
be or are, times in each of our lives that require compassion, times when we
want God and other people to be kind to us and take compassion on us. It is
important to remember that our lives are gifts from God and that he wants us
to live them happily, but that there is also the force of evil around us,
trying always to bring us out of God love and compassion. Staying ever close
to God and giving our lives to him, as he gave his life to us at Christmas,
will help to make sure that we travel the path of life correctly and survive
well through both obstacles and times of ease. And as we look to the end of
our life's path, which is hopefully, union and happiness with God in his own
kingdom - his own dwelling place, and communion with the saints, including
our departed loved ones and friends, we already know, from Jesus' words in
the Gospel of St. Matthew quoted above, that it is our compassion on which
we will be finally judged.
It is our sincere prayer and hope that this Christmas may be a special
experience of the compassion of God and the kindness of others, for each of
us. May Our Lord Jesus Christ, through the celebration of his Blessed
Nativity, help us to spread the love and compassion of God's reign, into the
particular part and type of the world in which we each live. "Star by
star in the sky and kindness by human kindness, let me love till I die and
God bless us everyone!"
May the Peace and Blessing of Almighty God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
descend upon you all, your families, loved ones, friends, parishes and all
in your lives, and may it remain with you and within your hearts, forever.
Sincerely in the New-Born Christ,
+Metropolitan Stephan
____________________________________________
The Most Rev. Stephan F. Petrovich, DD.
Archbishop-Metropolitan of Toronto
Primate
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of North & South America
+Metropolitan Michael
____________________________________________
The Most Rev. Michael Javchak Champion, DD., MA Th.
Archbishop-Metropolitan of the United States & the Americas
Apostolic Administrator of Western Europe
Coadjutor to the Primate
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of North & South America
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