The Rev, Kalinin installed as new pastor of Ukrainian Baptist Church of Chicago (01/24/93)

The Rev, Kalinin installed as new pastor of Ukrainian Baptist Church of Chicago

CHICAGO - The Rev. Olexander M. Kalinin was installed as the new pastor of the Ukrainian Baptist Church of Chicago on Sunday, December 27 1992, during the morning worship service.

He succeeds the Rev. Olexa R. Harbuziuk, 72, who retired at the end of the year. The church bestowed the title of senior pastor emeritus on the Rev. Harbuziuk.

The guest speaker was the Rev. Volodymyr Domashovetz, president of the worldwide All-Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Fellowship. He delivered a message about the responsibilities of a pastor to his church.

The Rev. Harbuziuk preached a sermon outlining the congregation's responsibilities to its pastor.

Corsages were presented to the incoming and outgoing pastors and their wives by Nina Wozny, president of the women's group.

At the conclusion of the installation service, six ordained ministers gathered behind the pulpit with Pastor Kalinin to offer special prayers for God's blessings in his new assignment. After the closing hymn, Pastor Kalinin was escorted to the entrance of the sanctuary, where he greeted worshippers as they exited.

A dinner was held immediately afterward in the fellowship hall of the church in Berwyn. At 3 p.m. a special program was held to thank Pastor Harbuziuk for his many years of dedicated service and recall his numerous accomplishments.

Pastor Kalinin, 38, came to Chicago in June 1991 from Kyyiv, where he was an assistant pastor of a large Baptist church. He was ordained in 1983. He began serving as assistant pastor under the Rev. Harbuziuk in November 1991.

Pastor Kalinin and his wife, Maria, have four children: Volodymyr, Yulia, Liudmila and Ihor.

Decades of service

The Rev. Harbuziuk served as pastor of the church for 16 years, first for six years starting in the summer of 1949 and again for the last 10 years. Under his leadership, the church moved in December 1985 from its building at 1042 N. Damen Ave. in Chicago to its current location in Berwyn.

For most of his 43 years as a member of the Chicago church, the Rev. Harbuziuk served as radio pastor, directing a weekly broadcast, and often preached on Sundays even when he wasn't the church pastor. He also was director of radio programs broadcast into Ukraine, served in various leadership capacities of church associations, and edited a magazine.

Over the years he has spoken in churches or at conferences in Australia, Africa, Europe, South America, and throughout Canada and the United States.

Pastor Harbuziuk plans to remain active in church life and continues to direct matters of the Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Convention of Churches in the United States as its general secretary.

Pastor Harbuziuk, who was born in the village of Berehy in western Ukraine on March 29, 1920, visited Ukraine in each of the past three years.

The Rev. Harbuziuk and his wife, Sophia, have seven children and 10 grandchildren.

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