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8/10/99
South Bound Brook, NJ

 

Resolutions of the Metropolitan Council Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA

 

1. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA renders gratitude to Almighty God for having bestowed His abundant and manifold blessings upon our God-loving country, the United States of America throughout this 20th century. The Council calls upon all the faithful of our Holy Church to pray and fast for God’s continued blessings upon and strengthening of our nation in Christian morality as we enter the new century.

2. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA expresses most sincere gratitude to His Beatitude Metropolitan Constantine and to their Eminences Archbishops Antony and Vsevolod for their devoted spiritual guidance of our Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Council members pray for our Lord’s abundant blessings upon our hierarchs’ continued efforts in the promotion of the spiritual growth and development of the souls, both clergy and lay, entrusted to their care.

3. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of the USA rejoices at the news of the recent annual meeting of the Permanent Conference of Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops beyond the Borders of Ukraine, hosted by His Grace Bishop Jeremiah and the Ukrainian Orthodox Eparchy of South America in Curitiba, Brazil. The Council is overjoyed at the reports of our hierarchs concerning the rapid growth of the Eparchy and the increased spiritual development in the lives of the faithful under the guidance of His Grace Bishop Jeremiah and his clergy. The Council urges the faithful of our Metropolia to offer any financial and/or moral support possible for the Work of God being accomplished by them.

4. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA applauds the announced plans of the Permanent Conference of Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops beyond the Borders of Ukraine for the celebration of the Millennium with main celebrations scheduled for Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and Pittsburgh, PA or Parma, OH, USA. The Council awaits with much enthusiasm the development and further news of these programs and urges all the faithful and clergy of our Metropolia to participate in them fully.

5. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA reminds the faithful of our Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church that the Permanent Conference of Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops beyond the Borders of Ukraine has declared 1999 as the year of the Ukrainian Orthodox Family. Each member of our Holy Church is called upon to examine the life of his or her immediate family to determine what must be accomplished spiritually during this year to bring its members into close harmony and love in commitment to Christ our Lord.

6. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA warmly greets His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and offers sincere prayer for his continued health, happiness and success in all endeavors as the Spiritual Leader of world Orthodoxy.

7. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA, living in the ancient and profound relationship between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which began prior to 988 when St. Volodymyr the Great, Equal to the Apostles, baptized Ukraine into Holy Orthodoxy and renewed by the 14th Regular Sobor of the UOC of USA in 1995, implores the Ecumenical Patriarchate to effect the unity and recognized autocephaly of our Church in independent Ukraine and to secure and strengthen the position of the Kyivan Throne as the spiritual center and the Mother Church of all Ukrainian Orthodox Christians in Ukraine, free of any influence or control by the Moscow Patriarchate.

8. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA expresses most sincere gratitude to His Eminence Archbishop Antony, President, the members of the Consistory and its dedicated staff for their stewardship of church property, finances and programs entrusted to our earthly care by our Heavenly Father. Further, the Council expresses its deep satisfaction with the manner in which the Consistory has handled the burdens of daily administration and the significant problems of the Church in facing the continued expansion of secular humanism, which neglects the influence and presence of God’s guiding Spirit in all human affairs.

9. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA strongly supports the necessary steps taken by the Consistory to ensure the restoration of administrative discipline in the life of our Church. The Council directs continued efforts in this direction with the goal of eradicating the concept of congregationalism, which is foreign to Ukrainian Orthodox ecclesiastical structure.

10. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA expresses its profound satisfaction with the central church organizations of the Metropolia – the Ukrainian Orthodox Jr. and Sr. Leagues, the United Ukrainian Orthodox Sisterhoods and St. Andrew Society –warmly applauding the abundant programs conducted by these organizations in the Name of our Lord and for the salvation of souls in the USA, Ukraine, South America and other areas of the world. Programs like the Metropolitan John Scholarship Fund, the Lynn Sawchuk-Sharon Kuzbyt Scholarship Fund and the Youth Ministry Fund of the UOL; the Scholarship Fund, the Christian Aide Program and the New Museum Fund of the United Sisterhoods; and the Soup Kitchen Program, St. Michael Monastery Building Fund and Seminary Fund of St. Andrew Society are just a few examples of the devotion of Ukrainian Orthodox faithful of the USA to the extension of God’s Kingdom on earth. The Council urges all the faithful of our Metropolia to support these and other programs conducted by our central organizations.

11. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA is profoundly pleased with the good works accomplished in the Name of the Lord by individual parishes all over the country, which have brought much material and spiritual relief to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. The Council is overwhelmed at the response of parishes in appeals to assist sister parishes here in the USA during difficult times, with the response to a call for aid to the victims of the flood damage in Trans-Carpathia, Ukraine, as well as the many other programs of Christian aid being conducted in parishes for those in need throughout the world.

12. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of the USA draws the attention of the faithful of our Holy Church to the precarious status of our own St. Sophia Seminary. The Council urges all parishes and faithful of the Metropolia to actively identify, nurture and encourage vocations in addition to conducting fund raising campaigns and events in support of the continued growth and existence of the Seminary, which bears the responsibility before God of preparing the future spiritual leaders of our Church in sound Ukrainian Orthodox Tradition.

13. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA expresses its most sincere gratitude to all parishes which have fulfilled all their financial obligations to their Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA – setting a record for on-time submission and total contributions this year. The Council urges all parishes to a full comprehension the Church ecclesiastical structure as the Body of Christ and to realize that, as Sts. Paul and Ignatius remind us, "there can be no Church without a Bishop" and that no parish is an island unto itself. Each is an integral part of a rich and ancient Ukrainian Orthodox Tradition bequeathed to us by our forefathers, which we must enhance and pass on to our descendants.

14. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA wholeheartedly rejoices in and approves the renewal or establishment of the administrative Offices of: Publications, directed by V. Rev. Protopresbyter William Diakiw; Religious Education, directed by Fr. Deacon Joseph Kreta; Missions and Christian Charity, directed by Fr. Deacon Dr. Ihor Mahlay; Development, directed by Dr. Stephen Sivulich; and Youth Ministry, directed by V. Rev. Archimandrite Damian and strongly urges all clergy and lay members of our Holy Church to support the efforts of all these offices for the edification and education of souls.

15. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA rejoices in the announcement of the resumption of annual Church School Teachers’ Conferences and urges our parishes to sponsor the full participation of all parish teachers in this year’s conference near Washington, D.C. on 29-30 October 1999. The Council further rejoices in the recent Convention of the United Ukrainian Orthodox Sisterhoods in May and the Leadership Conference conducted in the Central Eparchy – 26 June 1999; the upcoming Convention of the Ukrainian Orthodox League 21-25 July 1999 in New Britain, CT; the Eastern Eparchy Conference – 2 October 1999, Allentown, PA; the Genocidal Famine Commemoration in the Western Eparchy – 19 September 1999 at St. Andrew Parish, Bloomingdale, IL; the Church School Encampment – 25-31 July 1999 at All Saints Camp; the Teenage Conference – 1-7 August 1999 at All Saints Camp; the Clergy Conference 3-5 November 1999 at Xavier Retreat Center, Morristown, NJ; and upcoming Youth Ministry Workshops and Programs and urges full sponsorship and participation in them by the faithful of our Holy Church.

16. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA calls upon all parishes and faithful of our Metropolia to fully support the upcoming capital fundraising campaign for the construction of a new UOC Museum and Permanent Genocidal Famine (1932-33) Memorial at the Metropolia Center in South Bound Brook/Somerset, NJ. The Council urges survivors of the famine to make audio and video records of their memories of this Ukrainian holocaust for inclusion in the Memorial and to contribute any physical evidence such as photographs or documents to the museum for possible permanent display.

17. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA joins in the expression of outrage at the planned "pilgrimage" through Ukraine and other former republics of the former Soviet Union by the Patriarchate of Moscow and condemns it as an attempt to instigate nostalgic memories of the soviet empire and to create a longing amongst the peoples of these nations for the false "stability" of bygone days. The Council calls upon the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, and his government to discourage the conduct of this planned event, which can bring no good to the nation or our brothers and sisters in the Faith.

18. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of USA condemns the recent attack perpetrated against Patriarch Filaret and clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate in Mariopol, Ukraine and questions the significant delay in the governmental investigation of this tragedy. The Council calls upon the government of Ukraine to create an official Hate Crime Commission, which would thoroughly and justly investigate any such attacks or provocations and bring to justice those who commit them.

19. The Metropolitan Council of the UOC of the USA rejoices with the faithful of Ukraine who will celebrate on the Feast of Transfiguration this year – 19 August – the tenth anniversary of the rebirth of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The Council recalls with fond memory the announcement by then V. Rev. Fr. Volodymyr Yarema (now Patriarch Dmitrij), the clergy and faithful of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Lviv, Ukraine, of the parish’s return to the Mother Church – the Ukrainian Autocelphalous Orthodox Church and its declaration of allegiance and subordination to Metropolitan Mstyslav, then the Prime Hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and Diaspora and later Patriarch of Ukraine.

For more information:

http://www.uocofusa.org/Calendar/calendar.htm

 

 


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