BRAMA, Jun 16, 2003, 9:00 am ET
Press Release
Metropolia Commemoration: Tenth Anniversary of Patriarch Mstyslav's Falling Asleep in The Lord
The Metropolia Center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA in South Bound Brook/Somerset, NJ was the site on 8 June of our Church's commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the falling asleep of His Holiness Patriarch Mstyslav, the long-time Prime Hierarch/Metropolitan of our Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and in Diaspora. Several hundred people took part in this prayerful commemoration, which began with Divine Liturgy in St. Andrew Memorial Church. His Beatitude Metropolitan Constantine and Archbishops Antony and Vsevolod concelebrated the Liturgy, assisted by Rev. Fathers Yurij Siwko, Michael Hutnyan, Bohdan Ostash (a guest from the Church in Ukraine) and Michael Hontaruk, along with Protodeacon Ireney Dziadyk and Deacon Bohdan Peshko from Chicago.
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In his homily during the Liturgy, Archbishop Antony spoke about the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord and the 318 Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, whose memory were commemorated on this particular day. These bishops understood the real meaning of the Feast of Ascension as the culmination of the events in our Lord's life - His Nativity, His Baptism, His Crucifixion, His Resurrection, His Ministry, His Teaching, His Prayers - as He returned to sit at the Right Hand of God the Father - as St. John Chrysostom says - "both God and Man" - that we may be one with God as He is One with the Father. The Holy Fathers understood that God is always with us and the Archbishop counted His Holiness Patriarch Mstyslav as one among the bishops who are descended from these Holy Fathers, who always acted with courage and boldness, knowing the God was, indeed, with him and would strengthen and enable him to accomplish that, which he was chosen to accomplish, for the Glory of God and for the good of the entire Ukrainian nation. He frequently said very clearly that if the Ukrainian nation fails to remain faithful to God and the faith of its forefathers, it would never live up to its fullest potential. The Archbishop elaborated on the meaning of the Patriarch's immense and extremely important contribution to ecclesiastical life throughout the 20th century. The Patriarch was commemorated during the Litany for the deceased during this Liturgy.
In the Patriarch's crypt in Holy Resurrection Mausoleum beneath St. Andrew Church the hierarchs, 35 clergy and the faithful gathered in the late afternoon to offer prayer for the repose of His Holiness' soul. Participating in these prayers were the Patriarch's son, Yaroslav and wife Sophia from Edmonton, Canada and daughter Tamara from Toronto, Canada with her children and grandchildren. St. Andrew Memorial Church Choir under the direction of Taras Pavlovsky sang the responses.
His Eminence Archbishop Vsevolod spoke prior to the Panakhida remembering His Holiness Patriarch Mstyslav as the eldest among all the Patriarchs of the Orthodox world and a Church leader who linked the 19th and 20th centuries. The Patriarch was the nephew of Simon Petlura and it was from this family line that he inherited his civic and political commitment, which in conjunction with the spiritual commitment he inherited from his monastic relatives, made him the unique being he was - as Patriarch Mstyslav. The Ukrainian nation and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, during its process of rebirth following Ukraine's independence, was very fortunate to have a person such as the Patriarch who was so completely prepared for the role he was called to play in their life as spiritual leader, administrator and diplomat - all of which he fulfilled with untiring dedication and devotion.
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Immediately following the memorial service, over 200 people remained for a memorial dinner in the Ukrainian Cultural Center. His Beatitude Metropolitan Constantine spoke about Metropolitan Mstyslav, who worked closely with His Beatitude Metropolitan John, his predecessor as Prime Hierarch of the Church. Both were profoundly dedicated to Christ, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and to a free Ukraine. One witnessed the horrible consequences of the destruction of the reborn Church after 1921 under the new order of Lenin. The other matured in the flames of Soviet and Nazi occupation. One elevated him (then Deacon Theodore Buggan) to the priesthood, the other elevated Fr. Theodore to Archimandrite and later Bishop Constantine. The forte of Patriarch Mstyslav was administration and under his leadership the entire Metropolia Center was founded and built up over his 43 years as a Bishop, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Church. It was through his efforts that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and Diaspora has now taken its rightful place at the altar of World Orthodoxy - the consequence of his unceasing communication with three Ecumenical Patriarchs: Athenagoras, Dmitrij and Bartholomew. His Eminence thanked God for providing the Church with such a leader as Patriarch Mstyslav and called all, particularly the Ukrainian government, to assist in the struggle for ecclesiastical unity in Ukraine.
Mykola Francuzenko, a long-time co-worker of His Holiness Patriarch Mstyslav, next presented a dramatic biographical sketch of the Patriarch's life, which, by no means exhaustive, provided many details unfamiliar to the majority of faithful and clergy in attendance. His presentation included information about many of the close relatives and forefathers in the young Stefan Skrypnyk's life, which undoubtedly had an enormous influence upon him. Many of those individuals were monastics - his great-grandfather, Oleksij (Monastic name Arkadij) who was a founder of the Monastery of St. Jonah in Kyiv, and his great-grandmother Antonia a monastic who lived in several monasteries in Poltava, his brother, Fr. Sylvester a priest of the UAOC, who was murdered by the Soviets and three other brothers, all of whom completed theological studies at the Poltava Seminary, but were not ordained - who would make certain that their young relative developed a strong commitment to God and to his native Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Among them were founders of the monastery of St. Jonah and two aunts who were monastics. Also among those relatives were the political leaders of the era in Ukraine, including Simon Petlura, head of the Ukrainian government (the Directory) of the short-lived Ukrainian National Republic (the first brief period of Ukrainian Independence from 1918-21), who ensured the young man's commitment to his nation and his people. With such a background and upbringing, Stefan Skrypnyk's destiny would be fulfilled and he became one of the most important historical personalities of the 20th century.
The Honorable Boris Bazylevskyj, Consul General of Ukraine in the city of Chicago spoke about his earliest recollection of the name Stefan Skrypnyk and Bishop Mstyslav. It was early in his life, still living under the Soviet system, when he heard of the bishop who had been consecrated in Kyiv during the Nazi occupation of the city. Of course, most of what he had heard was from a negative point of view, but the fact that his mother had worshiped in St. Andrew Cathedral in Kyiv when the Bishop served there and that his grandfather remembered the young bishop as a man who spread the news about the rebirth of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in 1942 created a positive impression in his mind about the man. The Consul General recognized the Patriarch as a man important to the history of Ukraine and wanted to participate in the commemoration of this tenth anniversary in order to see where and with whom the Patriarch worked and lived at the Metropolia Center.
Yaroslav Skrypnyk, the Patriarch's son, concluded the evening's program expressing the gratitude of his family for the commemorative event and for all that the hierarchs, clergy and faithful have done in support of his father during his lifetime and the remembrance of him since his death. He expressed the family's hope that our hierarchs remain involved in the struggle for church unity in Ukraine, undeterred by the difficult circumstances with which they are faced, where the divisions seem to be increasing rather than decreasing.
The evening concluded with the screening of a videotape of the Patriarch's first arrival in Ukraine to the capital of Kyiv, well after midnight, his reception by thousands of people at the airport and surrounding St. Sophia Cathedral in the city and his first visit to St. Sophia Cathedral in 49 years. Also depicted was his first visit to Lviv and the incredible reception by over 100,000 people surrounding the visit to Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, the first to leave, under the leadership of its Pastor, Fr. Volodymyr Yarema (later Patriarch Dmitrij), the Moscow Patriarchate and declare itself to be under the omophor of Metropolitan Mstyslav in the USA. The next day it was an amazing and emotional sight to see - even on video - as the Patriarch stood on the balcony of the Lviv Opera Theater and looked out over a sea of more than 300,000 faithful who came to greet him, hear him speak and receive his blessing.
Those who took the time to participate in this emotional commemoration of the repose of Patriarch Mstyslav returned home with a deep satisfaction in their hearts, thankful to God for having known His Holiness and having benefited from his spiritual guidance and leadership of the Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Sometimes it takes the passage of time following the death of an individual to make the touch his touch in one's life more real than it seemed when that person was alive. May his memory be eternal.
UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE USA
OFFICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
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