Ukrainian Orthodox Church remembers Patriarch Mstyslav on the 10th anniversary of his death (06/29/03)

Ukrainian Orthodox Church remembers Patriarch Mstyslav on the 10th anniversary of his death

by Hieromonk Daniel Zelinsky

SOUTH BOUND BROOK, N.J. - The Metropolia Center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. in South Bound Brook/Somerset, N.J., was the site on June 8 of the Church's commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of His Holiness Patriarch Mstyslav, the long-time Prime Hierarch/Metropolitan of our Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. and Diaspora.

Several hundred people took part in the prayerful commemoration, which began with divine liturgy in St. Andrew Memorial Church. Metropolitan Constantine and Archbishops Antony and Vsevolod concelebrated the liturgy, assisted by the Revs. 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.

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 was 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. The holy fathers understood that God is always with us.

Archbishop Antony counted Patriarch Mstyslav as one among the bishops who are descended from these holy fathers, who always acted with courage and boldness, knowing that God was, indeed, with him and would strengthen and enable him to accomplish what he set out to accomplish for the glory of God and for the good of the entire Ukrainian nation.

He recalled that Patriarch Mstyslav frequently said very clearly that if the Ukrainian nation fails to remain faithful to God and the faith of its forefathers, it will 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.

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, with his wife, Sophia, from Edmonton; and daughter Tamara from Toronto, with her children and grandchildren. St. Andrew Memorial Church Choir under the direction of Taras Pavlovsky sang the responses.

Archbishop Vsevolod spoke prior to the panakhyda (requiem service) remembering 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 Symon Petliura 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 leader he was.

The Ukrainian nation and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, during its process of rebirth following Ukraine's independence, were 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, said Archbishop Vsevolod.

Immediately following the memorial service, over 200 people remained for a memorial dinner in the Ukrainian Cultural Center. Metropolitan Constantine spoke about Metropolitan Mstyslav, who worked closely with Metropolitan John, his predecessor as prime hierarch of the Church.

Both were profoundly dedicated to Christ, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and a free Ukraine, said Metropolitan Constantine. 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 Father Theodore to Archimandrite and later Bishop Constantine.

The forté 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, continued Metropolitan Constantine. It was through his efforts that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. 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. Metropolitan Constantine concluded by thanking God for providing the Church with a leader like Patriarch Mstyslav and calling on all, particularly the Ukrainian government, to assist in the struggle for ecclesiastical unity in Ukraine.

Mykola Francuzenko, a long-time co-worker of 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, Oleksii (who took the monastic name Arkadii), 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, Father Sylvester, a priest of the UAOC who was murdered by the Soviets in 1937 - all of whom made certain that their young relative developed a strong commitment to God and to his native Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Also among those relatives were the political leaders of the era in Ukraine, including Petliura, head of the Ukrainian government (the Directory) of the short-lived Ukrainian National Republic (the first brief period of Ukrainian Independence in 1918-1921), who ensured the young man's commitment to his nation and his people.

With such a background and upbringing, Mr. Francuzenko noted, Stefan Skrypnyk's destiny was fulfilled, and he became one of the most important historical personalities of the 20th century.

Borys Bazylevskyi, 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, the consul general said, but the fact that his mother had worshipped 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.

Consul General Bazylevskyi recognized Patriarch Mstyslav as a man important to the history of Ukraine and wanted to participate in the commemoration of this 10th anniversary in order to see where and with whom the patriarch had worked and lived at the Metropolia Center.

Yaroslav Skrypnyk, the patriarch's son, concluded the evening's program by expressing the gratitude of his family for the commemorative event and for all that the hierarchs, clergy and faithful had done in support of his father during his lifetime and in his memory since his death. He expressed the family's hope that the 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 Ss. Peter and Paul Parish, which was the first to leave, under the leadership of its pastor, Father Volodymyr Yarema (later Patriarch Dmitrii), the Moscow Patriarchate and declare itself to be under the omophor of Metropolitan Mstyslav in the United States. It was an amazing and emotional sight to see - even on video - as the patriarch stood the next day on the balcony of the Lviv Opera Theater and looked out over the sea of more than 300,000 faithful who came to greet him, hear him speak and receive his blessing.

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