Michigan Ukrainians unite to celebrate 2,000th anniversary of Christ's Nativity (07/16/00)

Michigan Ukrainians unite to celebrate 2,000th anniversary of Christ's Nativity

by Wolodymyr Lewenetz

WARREN, Mich. - On Sunday June 18, an outdoor celebration of the 2,000th year of the Nativity of Jesus Christ took place here at St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church. This was an ecumenical event - a procession with church banners - to the statue of the Blessed Virgin, and to the crucifix and altar at which an ecumenical moleben (prayer service) was conducted.

The initiative committee of this jubilee event was made up of clergy of the Ukrainian Catholic Deanery, who created a community committee consisting of Ukrainians of the state of Michigan and who invited clergy and laity of other religious denominations to work with them.

An honorary committee made up of parish priests representing Ukrainian churches of the Greater Detroit Metropolitan area included the Very Revs. Pavlo Bondnarchuk Ph.D., Roberto Lucavey OSBM, Basil Salkovski OSBM, John Lazar, Mario Dacechen OSBM, Wayne Ruchgy and Andrew Rogers.

The executive committee was chaired by Dr. Paul Dzul, and co-chaired by George Korol. Over 20 people assisted in this project, working through a host of committees and subcommittees. Some committees were overburdened with work, particularly the Committee on Religious Affairs, headed by Stefan Fedenko and the Very Revs. Bodnarchuk and Salkovski; Program Committee Chair Roma Dyhdalo; Organizational Chair Jaroslaw Duzyj and his co-chair, Lubomyr Lypeckyj; Finance Chair Dr. Alexander Serafyn; Concert Committee Chair Wolodymyr Dyhdalo; and Public Relations Chair Wasyl Kolodchin and Co-Chair Irene Pryjma. Decorations were coordinated by Mr. Dyhdalo, flags by Myroslaw Pryjma. Many others helped make the jubilee event a success.

Playing a key role in preparing the ecumenical moleben and the concert planned for this fall were Maestro Volodymyr Schesiuk and Concert Committee Chair Dyhdalo. Maestro Schesiuk prepared the special Jubilee Choir and gave it a professional discipline.

On June 18 at 3 p.m., a beautiful sunny Sunday, a multitude gathered on the church grounds and in front of St. Josaphat's Church. The procession moved in an orderly fashion according to the instructions of the organizational committee - first to the statue of the Blessed Virgin, adorned with flowers, to ask for her intercession for the Ukrainian people; and then to the large area near the crucifix and altar, where the moleben, especially written for this event, was held. The service included prayers to the saints of the Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox Churches, with petitions seeking mercy and intercession for the Ukrainian community in the diaspora and the people of Ukraine.

In the procession following the cross and religious reliquaries carried by the altar boys were the national flags of the United States and Ukraine. Then came the banners of church organizations: the Sodality of Our Lady of Zarvanytsia, Sodality of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Sisterhood of the Holy Protectress and the Orthodox Sisterhood of St. Olha, followed by the Lesia Ukrainka Ukrainian Language School and the Detroit Regional Council of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America.

Preschool children, attired in traditional Ukrainian embroidery, had strewn the way to the statue and the crucifix with flower petals.

Behind them came Orthodox and Catholic youth, children from the Immaculate Conception schools and many uniformed members of the youth organizations Plast, SUM and ODUM with their banners, followed by veterans in dress uniforms, numerous choir members with their director and many altar boys. The faithful followed. In all, more than 600 people took part in the celebration.

At the crucifix on the church grounds, 10 priests took part in the ecumenical moleben: the Very Revs. Bodnarchuk, Lucavey, Salkovski, Lazar, Dacechen, Ruchgy, Rogers, Roman Hykawy OSBM, Daniel Czajkowki OSBM, and the Very Rev. Bohdan Rjabchuk, a guest from the village of Liuche, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine.

The text of the moleben was first prepared and adapted to the jubilee by Mr. Fedenko, and then approved by the Very Revs. Bodnarchuk and Salkovski. The text evoked the praise of many faithful currently visiting the United States, who recommended that copies of the moleben books be sent to Ukraine for use by the religious communities there.

"Unity in Christ Our Lord" was the main theme of the celebrations of the 2,000th year of the Nativity of Jesus Christ. In this spirit the Very Revs. Bodnarchuk and Ruchgy delivered short addresses in Ukrainian and English. A deep spiritual uplifting was evoked by the Very Rev. Bodnarchuk, pastor of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Protectress, who called upon the faithful to end prejudice and duality, and to seek a unifying dialogue. "We are united by our Ukrainian heritage, our language and our Christian traditions," he emphasized, petitioning Jesus Christ for a blessing for Ukrainian communities in the diaspora and in independent Ukraine.

It was with great devotion and inspiration that hundreds of faithful listened to the prayerful petitions to all the saints and martyrs of Ukraine, to the confessors of the faith, to the blessed and to the clergy, that they intercede before Christ and ask for blessings for Ukraine, its Churches, and for all Ukrainians throughout the world "so that the celebration of the 2,000th year of the Nativity of Jesus Christ may give our hearts the strength and desire to work for the good of the Ukrainian Church and the mother of our country."

The moleben celebration ended with the singing by the choir and the faithful of the powerful hymn "Bozhe Velykyi Yedynyi."

After the service, the people were invited to attend a special showing of icons in St. Josaphat Church's social hall. Approximately 100 icons, the works of numerous iconographers, were on display. In addition there was a lecture and slide presentation "The Meaning of Icons in Christianity" by the Rev. Deacon Slavko Nowytski. The exhibit was prepared by Program Committee Chair Dyhdalo, Co-Chair Vera Petrusha and Myrosia Baranyk.

(Translated by Irene Pryjma)

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