St. Michael Church

St. Michael ChurchSt. Michael ChurchSt. Michael Church

St. Michael Church

St. Michael ChurchSt. Michael ChurchSt. Michael Church
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A little About our Church

About Us

St.  Michael Parish is an Eastern Catholic Church, part of St. Nicholas  Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chicago of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic  Church. Our Bishop is the Eparch of Chicago. We are in full and visible  communion with Rome.

One need not be ethnically Ukrainian to join  our parish. The Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church (also known in North  America simply as the Ukrainian Catholic Church) is a church that comes from  the Ukrainian people, but is for  the entire human race.

To reach Fr. Nick Kostyk

Call (520) 298-4967

email: st.michaelugcctucson@gmail.com 

Reflections On Who We Are and The Faith We Hold

 St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Parish is an Eastern Catholic church.  We  are part of the the St. Nicholas Eparchy of Chicago, which is part of  the Philadelphia Metropolia for Ukrainian Catholics in the United  States.  The Philadelphia Metropolia is part of the worldwide Ukrainian  Greco-Catholic Church (UGCC), headed by the Synod of Bishops, under the  leadership of Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), who was elected and  enthroned on March 27, 2011. 


 

Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church worldwide

Верховний Архиєпископ Києво-Галицький, Отець і  Глава УГКЦ

  Metropolitan Borys (Gudziak) of Philadelphia, proto-hierarch of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church in the USA 

 Bishop Benedict (Aleksiychuk), Fifth Eparch of St. Nicholas in Chicago, our Bishop 

The Eastern Catholic Churches

 The Catholic Church is a communion of churches, the Roman (Latin) church  and various self-governing (sui-juris) Eastern Catholic Churches, all  of which are equal in stature.  The UGCC is in full and visible  communion with the Holy See of Rome, under the leadership of the Pope of  Rome. Eastern Catholics are Orthodox Christians of the East who live in  full and visible communion with the See of Rome.  The Eastern Catholic  Churches have their own theology, liturgical-sacramental systems,  spirituality and canonical traditions.  This diversity is not a  weakness, but a gift from God, discernible from the earliest ministry of  the Apostles, preaching in a multitude of tongues to the many present  on Pentecost.  The one Gospel message was incarnate very early in a wide  array of cultures, but the various local Churches remained united in  communion with each other, looking to certain apostolically founded sees  for guidance and leadership. 

Theology

Canonical tradition

Canonical tradition

Canonical tradition

 The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches
is the General law that governs all of the Eastern Catholic Churches.  
Each also has its own Particular Law.

It  is in the very structure of our Church as a self-governing Church  within the Catholic Communion that we first see the seeds of Church  particularity. The various Eastern Catholic Churches are to govern  themselves in a way that allows for the gospel message to be preached  more effectively and the Kingdom of God to be established more solidly  in the lives of the faithful. In the case of the Church of Kyiv that  means a Church governed by the Synod of Bishops drawn from both Ukraine  and the diaspora, and chaired by its Father and Head, the Patriarch of  Kyiv-Halych and All Rus’-Ukraine.

There are many more issues in  which the distinctive canonical tradition of the Kyivan Church comes  through. One of these is the ordination of married men to the  priesthood. While priests never marry, most of the Eastern Churches have  preserved the ancient divinely instituted apostolic tradition of  married clergy. Jesus chose married men as his apostles. Our Lord cured  Peter’s mother-in-law (and there is only one way to get a  mother-in-law!)

The Roman Church also practiced the ordination of  married men to the priesthood until the eleventh century, but ceased at  that time for various reasons, and instituted universal enforced  celibacy. The Eastern Catholic Churches decided not to follow this  Western innovation. In the Ukrainian Catholic Church there has always  been a great respect between the monastic clergy who are celibate and  the parochial clergy who are by vast majority married. 

Liturgy

Canonical tradition

Canonical tradition

 Our liturgical tradition is based on the experience of the beauty and  glory of God’s plan for us. Our ancestors in the faith long ago decided  that it was through worship and beauty that the True God was found. The  Story of the Conversion of Rus’, as related in the Kyivan Primary  Chronicle, focuses on this reality.


Volodymyr, the ruler of  Kievan Rus’, sent out emissaries to find true religion. They went  throughout the world and tested various faiths, but reported to their  ruler that they had found no glory, … until they arrived in  Constantinople. When they returned to Kyiv the emissaries reported to  the Prince what had happened there in the great Cathedral of Holy Wisdom  — the Haghia Sophia.



“They took us where they worshiped their  God, and we did not know whether we were in heaven or upon earth, for  there is not upon earth such sight or beauty. This much we do know, that  there, God lives among men, and we can never forget that beauty…” 

 St. Volodymyr accepted Christianity in its Orthodox or Byzantine (Constantinopolitan) form for himself, his boyars (courtiers) and his people, who were baptized in 988. It is through  beauty and the glory of God that we still primarily relate to the Lord.  Our services are sung and they are never rushed. Even in a tiny parish  such as ours, great care is taken to try to preserve and promote beauty  and depth in our liturgical life. However, it is really God who acts in  liturgy. At a certain point we simply need to get out of His way. 

Spirituality

Canonical tradition

Spirituality

 The Spirituality of the Kyivan Church has been characterized as particularly kenotic. Kenosis is a Greek term that refers to the self-emptying of Christ, who “did  not think equality with the Father something to be grasped at” but  rather humbled Himself, becoming one of us (see Philippians 2:5-8).

The  first saints to be canonized in Kyivan Rus’ were two sons of Prince  Volodymyr, Borys and Hlib. They were murdered by their brother, who  apparently saw them as potential rivals for the throne of Kyiv (Kiev).  The two princes had an opportunity to defend themselves, but sent their  military retainers away, preferring not to raise weapons against their  brother, and accepting an unjust death. The newly Christian populace saw  in these victims a clear echo of the self-sacrifice of Christ. 

 Throughout the tragic history of the next ten centuries many  opportunities would present themselves for self-sacrifice and  non-violence amid a people who had heard the Gospel message of the meek  inheriting the earth. In the twentieth century, this same church went  through its bloodiest and most woeful persecution at the hands of the  Bolshevik regime of the USSR, only to rise again in unprecedented glory  as that government rotted away. When this Church was decriminalized in  the Soviet Union on December 1, 1989, it had some three hundred clergy  left, with an average age of about 75.  Three decades years later, this  Church has 3000 priests in Ukraine, with an average age of 36.

Living  in the midst of a post-modern secularism in North America, there should  be nothing triumphalistic about the approach of our Church to the  questions of the day. We are sinners in a world of sinners. The only  difference between us and those who do not bother with the things of God  is that we know that we are sinners… and that for some reason God loves  us.

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner. 

Vatican II and The Eastern Catholic Churches

Pope John XXIII and Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj, 1963

Pope John XXIII and Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj, 1963

Council Fathers of the Second Vatican Council

If customers can’t find it, it doesn’t exist. Clearly list and describe the services you offer. Also, be sure to showcase a premium service. The Second Vatican Council, held in the 1960’s, had many things to say  about the Eastern Churches.  Here are a few passages from the teachings  of the Council:

“The Catholic Church holds in high esteem the  institutions, liturgical rites, ecclesiastical traditions and the  established standards of the Christian life of the Eastern Churches, for  in them, distinguished as they are for their venerable antiquity, there  remains conspicuous the tradition that has been handed down from the  Apostles through the Fathers and that forms part of the divinely  revealed and undivided heritage of the universal Church.” (Orientalium  Ecclesiarum, Decree on the Eastern Churches,#1 Vatican II)

“Between  these [Eastern and Western Catholic Churches] there exists an admirable  bond of union, such that the variety within the Church in no way harms  its unity; rather it manifests it, for it is the mind of the Catholic  Church that each individual Church or Rite should retain its traditions  whole and entire and likewise that it should adapt its way of life to  the different needs of time and place.” (Ibid. #2)

“These  individual Churches, whether of the East or the West, although they  differ somewhat among themselves in rite (to use the current phrase),  that is, in liturgy, ecclesiastical discipline, and spiritual heritage,  are, nevertheless … of equal dignity, so that none of them is superior  to the others as regards rite and they enjoy the same rights and are  under the same obligations, also in respect of preaching the Gospel to  the whole world (cf. Mark 16, 15) …” (Ibid.#3)

“Means should be  taken therefore in every part of the world for the protection and  advancement of all the individual Churches… “(Ibid. #4)

“The  Sacred Council, therefore, not only accords to this ecclesiastical and  spiritual heritage the high regard which is its due and rightful praise,  but also unhesitatingly looks on it as the heritage of the universal  Church. For this reason it solemnly declares that the Churches of the  East, as much as those of the West, have a full right and are in duty  bound to rule themselves, each in accordance with its own established  disciplines, … “(Ibid. # 5) 

Pope John XXIII and Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj, 1963

Pope John XXIII and Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj, 1963

Pope John XXIII and Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj, 1963

 “All members of the Eastern Rite should know and be convinced that they  can and should always preserve their legitimate liturgical rite and  their established way of life, and that these may not be altered except  to obtain for themselves an organic improvement. All these, then, must  be observed by the members of the Eastern rites themselves. Besides,  they should attain to on ever greater knowledge and a more exact use of  them, and, if in their regard they have fallen short owing to  contingencies of times and persons, they should take steps to return to  their ancestral traditions. “( Ibid. #6)

“Eastern Churches in  communion with the Apostolic See of Rome have a special duty of  promoting the unity of all Christians, especially Eastern Christians …  by prayer in the first place, and by the example of their lives, by  religious fidelity to the ancient Eastern traditions, by a greater  knowledge of each other, by collaboration and a brotherly regard for  objects and feelings.“(Ibid. #24)

In 1991, the Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium [CCEO] was promulgated by Pope John Paul II for all of the Eastern Catholic Churches. This Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches was  a step towards the concrete working out of the canonical implications  of the Second Vatican Council. There are three parts to Eastern Catholic  Canon Law: the General Law (common to all of the Eastern Catholic  Churches), the Particular Law of each Eastern Catholic Church, and the Ius Speciale ad tempus (which governs the relationship between members of an Eastern Catholic  Church outside its traditional territory with its synod and patriarch).  Much of the second and third parts of Eastern Catholic canon law is  still being worked out.

In 1996, the Holy See’s Sacred  Congregation for the Eastern Churches published a set of Instructions  for the implementation of those aspects of the canons that had to do  with liturgical-sacramental questions. It is worthwhile to read at least  a brief quotation from that document.

“In every effort of  liturgical renewal, therefore, the practice of the Orthodox brethren  should be taken into account, knowing it, respecting it and distancing  from it as little as possible so as not to increase the existing  separation, but rather intensifying efforts in view of eventual  adaptations, maturing and working together. Thus will be manifested the  unity that already subsists in daily receiving the same spiritual  nourishment from practicing the same common heritage.”[26] (Sacred  Congregation for the Eastern Churches: 1996 Instructions for the Liturgical Implementation of the Canon Law of the Eastern Churches, III)

Divine  Providence has placed the Eastern Catholic Churches in a unique and  often precarious position, as a catalyst between the two realities of  worldwide Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The Eastern Catholic Churches have a  special role to play in helping the Catholic world to know the Orthodox  Tradition of the East and simultaneously in assisting the Orthodox  world to come to know the Catholic Communion. At the same time, the  Eastern Catholic Churches know that their existence in each individual  case is a contingent reality, since the division between the Orthodox  and Catholic Churches is a sinful condition that is contrary to the will  of God. Once this great division is healed, each of the Eastern  Catholic Churches will need to re-examine its place in the worldwide  communion. Many will doubtless choose a kenotic route of voluntary  integration with newly re-united Churches. The key here is the word  “voluntary,” since several Eastern Catholic Churches, among them the  Greco-Catholic Church of Ukraine, have experienced (over the centuries,  but as recently as during the 20th century) severe and bloody attempts  at integration of their structures with other Churches by force. The  second Vatican Council hints at this contingency of everything it says  about the Eastern Catholic Churches when it states:

“The Sacred  Council feels great joy in the fruitful zealous collaboration of the  Eastern and the Western Catholic Churches and at the same time declares:  All these directives of law are laid down in view of the present  situation till such time as the Catholic Church and the separated  Eastern Churches come together into complete unity.” (Orientalium  Ecclesiarum, Decree on the Eastern Churches,#30 Vatican II) 

Additional text

Pope John XXIII and Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj, 1963

Additional text

 Theologically, Eastern Christians tend to think in terms that are more  synthetic and intuitive rather than analytical. We usually prefer  paradox (antinomy) to the “precision” of some philosophically-based  thought, but that does not mean that our theology is fuzzy. It is  experientially focused, anchored in the living Tradition of the Church. 

 As Eastern Catholics we often face the question of how we reconcile our  Orthodox and Catholic loyalties. This is an area that is still being  worked out in light of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on the  fact that the Eastern Catholic Churches have their own theology. Some  of us would express it thus: we hold Orthodox positions on all  theological matters, except when they are in conflict with the expressed  teachings of the Holy Roman See. In that case, by virtue of the full  and visible communion that exists between our Church and Rome, we cannot  ignore the Roman teaching on a given subject, but must find a way to  reconcile positions. 

THE MISSION STATEMENT OF ST. MICHAEL CHURCH

  

St.  Michael’s Parish was established to bring us together as a faith  community of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the Tucson area. We are  Orthodox Christians who are in full and visible communion with the Pope  of Rome and the worldwide Catholic Church, living out the more than  thousand-year-old tradition of Kyivan Christianity in the America of our  own day. We will provide support for all our members through:

  • a beautiful and dynamic liturgical life in the Byzantine Ukrainian tradition,
  • life-long religious education,
  • opportunities for service,
  • through social events the simple enjoyment of each other.

The pursuit of charity and justice are important concerns to us.

We  will be witnesses to our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ who has  touched our lives. We will proclaim His Gospel and be His Church. We  also recognize and support a responsibility to the broader community of  the Southern Arizona area, to our Eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago, to  the Philadelphia Metropolia, to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and  the Ukrainian Diaspora, the Synod and Patriarch of the Ukrainian  Greco-Catholic Church, and to the whole human race which our Lord has  endowed with His own image and likeness and redeemed through His Most  Holy Death and Resurrection.

Our parish life will center on our  life in the Liturgy, during which we will celebrate among us the  presence of the Risen Lord who sends His Holy Spirit to fill our hearts.  We seek to love one another so that we may be of one mind in confessing  the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity one in being and  undivided.

As a parish we:

  • gather as a community that worships together and supports one another in spiritual growth;
  • witness to our belief through sharing our faith with others and providing for education in faith to our members;
  • respond with compassion to both the spiritual and corporal needs of those around us;
  • care for the many gifts we have been given and seek to use them wisely.

 

April 15, 2011

Copyright © 2022  A Parish of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Nicholas.  - All Rights Reserved.

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