His Excellency Msgr. Venedykt (Valery) Aleksiychuk, M.S.U. has been appointed as the Bishop of the Eparchy of Saint Nicholas of Chicago for Ukrainians.

Active in children’s and youth ministry, monastic spirituality and reform, liturgy, psychology and spirituality, His Excellency has a breadth of experience spanning parochial, consultative, administrative, and monastic leadership. He is sure to be a blessing to our eparchy and to our nation.

У четвер, 20 квітня 2017 року, у Ватикані повідомлено про те, що Папа Франциск поблагословив рішення Синоду Єпископів УГКЦ про призначення дотеперішнього Єпископа-помічника Львівської архиєпархії владику Венедикта (Алексійчука) Правлячим єпископом єпархії Святого Миколая УГКЦ з осідком у Чикаґо, США, перенісши його з титулярного осідку Германіціяни.

---

Born on 16 January 1968 in the village of Borshchivka in the region of Rivne, Ukraine, the bishop began his post-secondary studies at the Rivne Medical College, completing his degree in 1987 as a Physician’s Assistant. After graduation, he worked as an Emergency Medical Technician at the ambulance station in Kostopil. From 1987 to 1989, he served in the military. Afterwards, he worked as a Physician’s Assistant, initially at a city clinic and later at a sanatorium in the city of Truskavets.

After attending the major seminary of Drohobych from 1990-1993, he was ordained a deacon by His Beatitude Phylymon (Kurchaba) on October 9, 1991 and a priest by His Beatitude Myroslav-Ivan (Lyubachivskyi) on 29 March 1992. A year later, on 13 May 1993, he joined the Univ Holy Dormition Lavra of the Studite Order–the only lavra (monastic hermitage) of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. He accepted tonsure on 13 October 1993 and received the little schema on 31 December 1995.

In 1996, he completed a Masters of Theology degree at Lublin Catholic University with a thesis on the topic of “Christian spirituality according to St. John of Kronstadt.” Later that year, he was transferred to St. Catharine’s in Canada with the aim of founding a monastery there. At the time, he also served at the parishes of Grimsby and Beamsville for the Toronto Eparchy of the UGCC. He returned to Ukraine in April 1999 after being elected hegumen of the Univ Holy Dormition Lavra. In May 2000, he was re-elected hegumen and he was then elected for a third term in May 2005.

He went on to continue his theological studies at Lublin Catholic University with a licentiate degree in 2006 and a 2008 Doctorate of Philosophy with a thesis on “The Superior as a Spiritual Father: Investigation in the light of the works of Saint Theodore the Studite.”

Picking up the thread of his work as a Physician’s Assistant, he focused his studies on psychology from 2008-2012, completing a course of Practical Psychology at the European School of Correspondential Education (Kharkiv), Propaedeutics of Mental Disorders with the Ukrainian Community of Psychiatrists, and Pedagogy and Psychology at the Ignatianum Academy in Krakow, Poland.

All this was accomplished while he:

• was an assistant priest at Holy Trinity Church in Drohobych,
• was responsible for children’s ministry within the Drohobych deanery,
• worked for the Patriarchal Catechetical Commission where he was responsible for the organization of mission work in Eastern Ukraine,
• was a member of the Patriarchal Commission of Monasticism,
• was the administrator of St. Nicholas parish in Peremyshlyany,
• worked on the renewal of monastic life and the restoration of the Monastery of Borys and Hlib in Polotsk (Belarus) while simultaneously serving at the parishes in Polotsk, Vitebsk, Gomel, Mogilev, and Brest (Belarusian Greek Catholic Church),
• was the spiritual father of the Christian Youth Community in Minsk,
• was the head of the Secretariat of the UGCC Council of Monasticism,
• was the head of the UGCC liturgical council on preparing texts of divine services,
• was the head of the Council of Higher Superiors of Monasteries of the UGCC,
• was a member of the Secretariat of the Patriarchal Sobor,
• was the head of staff of the Lviv Archeparchy Curia,
• was the head of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission of the UGCC,
• was the chair of the Synodal Committee on Liturgical Issues,
• and wrote four books: A Superior as A Spiritual Father, Spiritual Instructions, Be Saints, and Borshchivka – A Pearl of Polesia.

His episcopal ordination was held on 5 September 2010 at St. George’s Cathedral in Lviv with Archbishop Ihor (Voznyak), the Metropolitan of Lviv, as the main consecrator and Bishop Yulian (Voronovskyi) of Sambir-Drohobych and Bishop Pavlo (Chomytskyi) of Stamford as the co-consecrators. On 3 August 2010, His Beatitude Lyubomyr (Husar), Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia, by general consent of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, appointed hieromonk Venedykt (Aleksiychuk) the bishop-auxiliary of Lviv Archeparchy with a titular see in Germaniciana.

From 2014-2016, the bishop studied in the Key Executive MBA Program at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv and obtained a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. During this time, he also published two books (Reflections on the Liturgical Reading of the Gospel and Reflections on the Liturgical Reading of the Apostles), was awarded the Cross of Military Chaplain, and named a senator of the Ukrainian Catholic University.

On 20 April 2017, the synod of bishops’ election was confirmed by Pope Francis, appointing him Bishop of the Eparchy of Saint Nicholas of Chicago of the Ukrainians in the United States of America. We welcome him warmly to the eparchy!

Довідка про єпархію. Єпархія святого Миколая в Чикаґо входить до Філадельфійської митрополії та є її найбільшою частиною з огляду на територію, охоплюючи території північних, центральних та західних штатів країни. Вона була заснована 1961 року та згідно з даними «Annuario Pontificio 2017», станом на минулий рік нараховувала приблизно 50 парафій, надаючи духовну опіку понад 10 тисячам вірних. Цей осідок став вакантним 16 серпня 2016 року після відходу до вічності четвертого Єпарха Чиказького владики Річарда (Семінака).

Below are excerpts from an interview with Patriarch Sviatoslav on the topic of the Cuban meeting of Pope Francis and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. The full interview can be read in English here and in Ukrainian here. The joint declaration the two issued and on which Patriarch Sviatoslav is commenting can be read here.

Firstly, I would like to say something about the meeting of the Holy Father with Patriarch Kirill, and then I will comment on the text of the declaration.

One notices immediately, especially from their comments after the meeting, that the two sides existed on two completely different planes and were pursuing different goals. His Holiness Pope Francis experienced this encounter primarily as a spiritual event. He opened his remarks by noting that we, Catholics and Orthodox, share one and the same Baptism. In the meeting, he sought out the presence of the Holy Spirit and received His support. He emphasized that the unity of the Churches can be achieved when we travel together on the same path. From the Moscow Patriarch one immediately sensed that this wasn’t about any Spirit, or theology, or actual religious matters. No common prayer, an emphasis on official phrases about “the fate of the world,” and the airport as a neutral, that is, non-ecclesial environment. The impression was that they existed in two parallel worlds. Did these two parallel realities intersect during this meeting? I don’t know, but according to the rules of mathematics, two parallel lines do not intersect.

Speaking of the signed text of the Joint Declaration, in general it is positive. In it are raised questions, which are of concern to both Catholics and Orthodox, and it opens new perspectives for cooperation. I encourage all to look for these positive elements. However, the points which concern Ukraine in general and specifically the UGCC raised more questions than answers.

It was officially reported that this document was the joint effort of Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) from the Orthodox side and Cardinal Koch with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity from the Catholic side. For a document that was intended to be not theological, but essentially socio-political, it is hard to imagine a weaker team than the one that drafted this text. The mentioned Pontifical Council is competent in theological matters in relations with various Christian Churches and communities, but is no expert in matters of international politics, especially in delicate matters such as Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Thus, the intended character of the document was beyond their capabilities. This was exploited by the Department of External Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is, first of all, the instrument of diplomacy and external politics of the Moscow Patriarchate. I would note that, as the Head of our Church, I am an official member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, nominated already by Pope Benedict. However, no one invited me to express my thoughts and so, essentially, as had already happened previously, they spoke about us without us, without giving us a voice.

In general, I would like to say that paragraph 26 of the Declaration is the most controversial. One gets the impression that the Moscow Patriarchate is either stubbornly refusing to admit that it is a party to the conflict, namely, that it openly supports the aggression of Russia against Ukraine, and, by the way, also blesses the military actions of Russia in Syria as a “holy war,” or it is appealing first of all to its own conscience, calling itself to the same prudence, social solidarity, and the active building of peace.

Nonetheless, I encourage our faithful not to dramatize this Declaration and not to exaggerate its importance for Church life. We have experienced more than one such statement, and will survive this one as well. We need to remember that our unity and full communion with the Holy Father, the Successor of the Apostle Peter, is not the result of political agreement or diplomatic compromise, or the clarity of a Joint Declaration text. This unity and communion with the Peter of today is a matter of our faith. It is to him, Pope Francis, and to each of us today, that Christ says in the Gospel of Luke: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

On Nov 25, 2013, Patriarch SVIATOSLAV led a solemn Pontifical Divine Liturgy at the altar of the Vatican Basilica of St. Peter on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the transfer of the relics of St. Josaphat, martyr for Church unity.

Speaking fluently in the pope’s native Portuguese, Patriarch Sviatoslav greeted Pope Francis by saying, “Vostra Santità, vi presento la Chiesa Ucraina Greco-Cattolica, una Chiesa Patriarcale.” “Your Holiness, I present to You the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, a Patriarchal Church.”

St. Josaphat (Kuncevych) was a Basilian monk and archeparch (archbishop) of Polotsk who lived from 1580 to 1623, which meant he faced the daunting task of bringing the local populace to accept the Union of Brest which declared the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church’s union with Rome. St. Josaphat faced stiff opposition from the monks, who feared a Latinization of the liturgy of the Church. As archeparch, he restored the churches: he issued a catechism to the clergy, with instructions that it should be learned by heart; composed rules for the priestly life, entrusting to the deacons the task of superintending their observance; assembled synods in various towns in the dioceses, and firmly opposed the Polish Imperial Chancellor Sapieha who wished to make too many concessions to the Eastern Orthodox. Throughout all his strivings and all his occupations, he continued his religious devotion as a monk, and never abated his desire for self-mortification. Through all this he was successful in winning over a large portion of the people.

St. Josaphat’s activity provoked a strong reaction. A rival hierarchy was set up by the Orthodox Church, with a monk being appointed the Orthodox Archeparch of Polotsk. Smotrytsky publicly claimed that St. Josaphat was preparing a total Latinization of the Church and its rituals. The inhabitants of Mogilev revolted against the saint in October 1618 and chased him out of the city. St. Josaphat then complained to King Sigismund who brutally suppressed the Orthodox revolt—all leaders of the revolt were executed by the king and the rival Orthodox churches were taken away and given to the Greek-Catholics.

The suppression caused the saint to be even more fiercely resisted by the Orthodox. During November 1623, despite warnings, he went to Vitebsk. There, on November 12th, the Orthodox sent to his residence a priest who stood in the courtyard of his house shouting insults like “uniate” at him. The archbishop had the priest taken away and confined to his house. In response, the town bell was rung, which summoned a mob of Orthodox Christians who rejected union with Rome. The mob attacked the archbishop’s residence, and in the course of the attack an axe-stroke and a bullet ended his life. His body was tossed into the river. It was recovered and honored, eventually transported to Rome and given the honor of burial within St. Peter’s Basilica. It was on the 50th anniversary of this transfer that Patriarch SVIATOSLAV visited Rome and held a solemn pontifical liturgy at the altar where St. Josaphat is buried. Over 3,000 pilgrims from Ukraine and Belarus were in attendance.

Pope Francis addressed the pilgrims by saying, “The memory of this martyred saint speaks to us about the communion of saints, of the communion of life between all of the people who belong to Christ.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, the best way to celebrate St. Josaphat is to love among each other and to love and serve the unity of the Church. We are supported in this also by the courageous witness of so many martyrs of recent times, which constitute a great wealth and a great comfort for your Church.”

“I hope that the deep communion that you wish to strengthen each day within the Catholic Church, will help you build bridges of fraternity also with other Churches and ecclesiastical communities in Ukrainian land, and wherever your communities are present,” the pope concluded.

Some text adapted from Wikipedia’s article on St. Josaphat under it’s creative commons license.

Just in time for your summer travels! Those of you traveling to areas where the priests aren’t familiar with Eastern Catholicism can now print off a guide that hits all the important points about Eastern Catholic faithful communing in Roman Catholic parishes.

Questions answered include:

• What should Eastern Catholics do when visiting a Roman Catholic Mass?
• Is the Eastern Catholic held to western rules when in the Latin Church?
• What happens when the norms contradict each other?
• Does it contradict the Latin rite’s liturgical norms to commune an infant?
• Is a person who is under the age of reason properly disposed to receive?
• May the priest apply prudential judgment if he thinks the visitor is significantly lacking in knowledge or understanding of the Eucharist?
• What if the congregation might be scandalized by a child receiving?
• What makes an Eastern Catholic properly disposed to receive?
• How can the Eucharist be administered to an infant or toddler?

We hope it will assist many–clergy, religious, and laity of East and West alike–in greater appreciation and participation in the universal nature of the Church. We encourage you to share it far and wide online and in person!

The pamphlet is the first major work of The Star of the East, a canonically established public association of the faithful, headquartered at St. Sophia. The Star of the East has a primary mission of disseminating reliable and orthodox material from appropriate and competent authorities to Eastern Catholic clerical, religious, and lay leaders on the topics of evangelism, catechesis, and missiology.

We want every Catholic to have free access to this meticulously accurate, easily comprehensible guide and we put in all the work to make that a reality. All that needs to happen now is to have it shared!

You can direct others to the St. Sophia website to see more about it, or to download and share the fantastic resource.

This pamphlet is offered under an “Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives” Creative Commons license. That means others may download and share the pamphlet as long as the author/publisher is attributed, it isn’t used commercially or for profit, and isn’t changed in any way. Using 2-sided printing, it fits on a single 8.5″ x 11″ paper.

---

ABOUT ENCOUNTER 2012
Every ENCOUNTER presents an opportunity for change.

An encounter is described as a ‘coming together,’ a face to face meeting, an experience, which may be unexpected and sudden.

Consider the unexpected spiritual encounters with God related through Scripture; accounts of Abraham and Sarah, Moses, David, Samuel, Elijah, and Jeremiah; Mary, Joseph, the Apostles, the centurion, the woman at the well, the blind man, the paralytic, the possessed, the adulteress, the myhrr-bearing women, and on and on. Their sudden and unexpected encounters with the living God resulted in each experiencing a personal change, a metanoia, and a call to discipleship; a burning desire, a commitment to spread the good news and good works of their God.

There are so many examples throughout church history and present times of encounters—those face-to-face meetings, sudden or unexpected experiences– with the living God. Contemporary society may refer to these as “Aha!” moments. But, when guided by the Spirit of love and the eyes of our hearts, God is encountered in the poor, the lonely, the hungry, the sick, the dying, the imprisoned, the orphans, the widows, the undereducated, the addicted, the abused, the homeless, the rejected and the persecuted. These encounters result in God’s people experiencing a personal change and the call to discipleship, with the desire, determination and commitment to become God’s eyes and heart, His hands and feet, His love and mercy. By sharing the love we receive from God, we act on our call to ministry. Led by the Spirit, this is spiritual discipleship.

One may ask, “Is a lay person really called to discipleship and to be about God’s work?” Paul guides us with these words, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,…and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Cor 12:13). And so by virtue of our baptism we are all called to discipleship, members of the royal priesthood, anointed in the oil of chrismation and sent forth as workers in Christ’s vineyard, not alone, but as co-workers. “All you who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Alleluia!”

ENCOUNTER 2012 of the Eastern Catholic Churches invites us—each one of us—to be open to our call to spiritual discipleship through the theme “Together in Christ” and with the purpose of exploring “clergy and laity together in the vineyard of Christ” with “Unity in Mission; Diversity in Ministry.” In Romans 12: 4-8, Paul tells us, “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them: if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; if one exhorts, in exhortation; if one contributes, in generosity; if one is over others, with diligence; if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Encountering God, personal metanoia, service through discipleship, co-worker in the vineyard of Christ—this is the promise of ENCOUNTER 2012 of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Many are called, will you be among the chosen? Will you accept the invitation to…ENCOUNTER?

ENCOUNTER 2012: Eastern Catholic Churches “Together in Christ” is a unique Conference embracing the entire Church family, bishops, clergy, religious and laity, who through baptism, share in the priestly, prophetic and royal office of Christ.” The Eastern Catholic Bishops of the U.S.A. invite all seekers to come and experience ENCOUNTER. Choose the most convenient location and date.
 

---

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Thursday and Friday of the Conference are reserved for clergy due to Liturgical obligations Saturday and Sunday. The Clergy Conference, which begins Thursday with registration from 1 to 2 p.m., includes prayer services, sessions, vendor visits and hospitality. The conference concludes Friday 2 p.m. Topics for the sessions are the same as the main conference.

The Main Conference, for bishops, clergy, religious and laity, begins Friday at 5 p.m. with registration and hospitality. Registration will begin again Saturday at 8:00 a.m, for those arriving. A continental breakfast will be available until time of prayer. The opening prayer service is at 9:45 a.m. The day includes sessions, visits to vendor booths, meals, prayer and hospitality. The topics of the sessions include: Who is Church? Activity of the Royal Priesthood, The ‘How’ and ‘Why’ of Lay Leadership: Action—Put on Christ, and, Blueprint for Church Growth. Sunday begins with Matins, Divine Liturgy and the keynote address at brunch—a charge to ‘Servant Leadership: Be all you can be!” Liturgical services will be according to the sacred-uniqueness of the faith traditions of the various Eastern Churches.
 

---

CONFERENCE LOCATIONS
MID-WEST: Cleveland, Ohio
EAST: Hillsborough, New Jersey
WEST: El Segundo, California
 

---

HOTEL INFORMATION
MID-WEST September 20-23, 2012
Holiday Inn Cleveland South Independence
6001 Rockside Rd., Independence, OH 44131
Rooms: $89.00/night 216-524-8050

EAST October 11 – 14, 2012
St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Center
1900 Brooks Blvd., Hillsborough, NJ 08844
Rooms: Days Inn (½ mile from St. Mary)
$59.99/night 908-685-9000

WEST November 1-4, 2012
Hacienda Hotel (at LAX Airport)
525 N.Sepulveda Blvd. El Segundo, CA 90245
Rooms: $69.00/night 310-615-0015/800-421-5900

Contact hotel directly for room reservations. Use group name Encounter for special rate.
 

---

REGISTER ON-LINE
Conference registration and payment will be accepted on-line at the below links or registration may be by mail with the brochure registration form and payment sent to the regional coordinator at the indicated address. Brochures will be available at all Eparchial parishes, regional coordinator offices and on-line.

MID-WEST
EAST
WEST

Fee for the conference is $75 for individuals; $50 per person in groups of 5 or more. Reservations for hotel rooms are separate at nominal rates (see brochure or website for information).
 

---

DOWNLOADS
Encounter 2012 Brochure
Mid-West Conference Schedule
East Conference Schedule
West Conference Schedule

Today marks the third day of our 48-day Great Fast that is leading us to the Paschal joy of the Resurrection.  As our Roman Catholic brethren begin their lenten journeys today by putting ashes on their heads, we continue ours with the   vesperal Pre-Sanctified Liturgy. As they bury their alleluias, we enter the Season of Alleluias. As they carry the cross with Christ and unite themselves to His sufferings in the Stations of the Cross, we look to the Resurrection in our All Souls Saturdays with the parastas or memorial prayers. As they kneel in repentance, we prostrate ourselves before each other and the Lord.

Many of the externals are different in how East and West make their lenten journeys, but the tri-fold path of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are at the root of our Christian conversion, our metanoia, our transfiguration, our theosis in Christ. Our traditions provide the framework that supports the repentance and conversion we are all called to.

Fr. James Kubicki, SJ, the National Director of the Apostleship of Prayer (a Roman Catholic apostolate) reflected on Pope Benedict’s prayer intention for this month:

“For the eastern Churches, that their venerable tradition may be known and appreciated as a spiritual treasure for the entire Church.”

This Catholic Tech Talk article by Brad West lists St. Sophia’s among its notable parish websites! Just think how much better it will be when yours truly, the webmaster, figures out what she’s doing! We’re just getting started.

The Pilot New Media talk and resources on “Creating Excellent Parish Websites” that he mentioned were an amazing resource in this work. We are grateful that the Archdiocese of Boston live streamed it and even took questions all the way from Texas. St. Elias’ church in Brampton and St. Joseph’s in Chicago have also been quite helpful. We are hoping that this website will in turn pay it forward by providing content that other Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Churches can use on their sites so that we can fulfill Patriarch Sviatoslav’s call when he told Our Sunday Visitor:

…we have the right time in order to give the bread of life to those people who are hungry or thirsty for this spiritual dimension of human life. It’s why I proclaimed evangelization is our most important task.

In commenting on the UGCC synod of bishops’ recent Strategy for Development through 2020, the patriarch said, “The development of the parish community should be our priority. By fostering and reviving communities we foster and vivify the whole Church.” It is our hope that this website assists in doing so.

Below you will find audio and video which answer the basic question of, “What is Eastern Catholicism?”

The above player has a series of videos from many sources. You can scroll through the videos on the gray bar in the bottom of the player or you can see the entire playlist on YouTube here.  Read more…