Parma cathedral is host for Sunday of Orthodoxy (04/19/98)

Parma cathedral is host for Sunday of Orthodoxy

PARMA, Ohio - For 51 years the Greater Cleveland Council of Orthodox Clergy has celebrated the first Sunday of Great Lent - the Sunday of the Return of icons into the churches in Constantinople in 843 A.D - with a special vesper service in the different Orthodox churches in the Greater Cleveland area. The service has never been held in a Ukrainian Orthodox Church before.

On Sunday March 8, the vesper service was held at St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Parma, Ohio. Thirty minutes before the 6 p.m. service was to begin, the cathedral was already filled to capacity of 700.

With the bells ringing, a procession of 10 altar boys, 30 priests and led by Archbishop Antony proceeded from the parish center to the cathedral. Invited almost two years ago by the Orthodox clergy of Cleveland, Archbishop Antony was the main celebrant and speaker. Responses were beautifully sung by a 60-voice choir directed by Markian Komichak.

The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's daily newspaper, quoted Archbishop Anthony: "Icons are not just pretty pictures to decorate the church, they are windows through which we literally can gain a glimpse of God's heavenly kingdom ... each and every one of us is called to be the living icon of God."

At the conclusion of the vesper service, the Rev. John Nakonachny, pastor of St. Vladimir's Cathedral, welcomed the faithful, stating that it was the first time in 51 years that the service was held in a Ukrainian church. He also informed the faithful that Ukraine, being the second largest Orthodox country in the world, has over 33 million believers.

He asked for everyone's prayers and support so that the division in Ukrainian Orthodoxy will come to an end. Just as Ukraine's neighbors - Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Russia, Poland and Slovakia - have their own Autocephalous Churches, we pray that the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, with its own patriarch in Kyiv, will achieve this canonical recognition by world Orthodoxy.

Following the conclusion of the service, everyone in attendance was invited to the parish center for a coffee hour hosted by various organizations of the cathedral.