Concerning the Western Eparchy of the UOC of USA
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Concerning the Western Eparchy of the UOC of USA - 12/29/2007
Category: Upcoming Events
Last updated: 2024-03-22 18:04:21

COUNCIL OF BISHOPS
UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE USA

P. O. Box 495
South Bound Brook, NJ 08880

Dearly Beloved Clergy, Monastics and Faithful of our Holy Church,

GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST!

We have passed through the most difficult and passion filled days of the repose and funeral services of our beloved brother and concelebrant in the Grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, His Eminence ArchbishopVsevolod, Ruling Hierarch of the Western Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA.  Following months of serious illness, suffering and pain, His Eminence now rests eternally as we have prayed fervently, in the loving embrace of our Lord, where there is no more pain, no more suffering and no more sorrow.  We pray that at the second advent of our Lord, He will surely hear the sweet call we all long for:  “Come my beloved, enter into the place prepared for you before the foundation of the world.”  We invite you to participation in memorial services on the 40th day following the Archbishop’s repose, which will take place in parishes all throughout our Holy Church on Thursday, 24 January.  St. Volodymyr Cathedral, Chicago, the cathedral seat of Archbishop Vsevolod, will be the site of the primary memorial service at 10:00 a.m. in Divine Liturgy and then at 7:00 p.m. on this day with His Eminence Archbishop Antony as primary celebrant.

We, your hierarchs, know the sorrow and the emptiness that fills the hearts and souls of those entrusted to Archbishop Vsevolod’s pastoral care and we will not leave you as orphans without the spiritual care and compassion you most certainly need, especially during these difficult days and the initial days and months ahead until a new ruling hierarch is appointed.  During this period, Metropolitan Constantine will serve as Locum Tenens of the Eparchy and respond to your spiritual and administrative needs.  The Metropolitan is very familiar, as you all know, with Chicago and all the Western Eparchy, having served as the Ruling Hierarch there for the first twenty-four years of his episcopacy until the unification of all Ukrainian Orthodox Christians into our Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA in 1996 and thereafter, the appointment by the Council of Bishops of Archbishop Vsevolod as the new Ruling Hierarch in 1997.

We express our most sincere gratitude to the Orthodox hierarchs, the clergy and faithful of our Holy Church and other Orthodox jurisdictions in the USA, to the numerous ecumenical leaders and faithful from around the world, to the representatives of the government of Ukraine and Ukrainian community organizations who participated in the funeral services for Archbishop Vsevolod or sent condolences to our church and the Archbishop’s family during this mournful time.

May the soul of our dear brother, Archbishop Vsevolod, rest eternally in the sweet comfort and compassion of our Lord, following his long and fruitful earthly pilgrimage.  May our Lord bless and strengthen the members of the Archbishop’s family – his sister Ilaria Majdansky-Krejer, her daughters and their families during the period of mourning making them certain in faith and trust in His Will.  May his memory be eternal in God’s Heavenly Kingdom and his prayers in our behalf be answered to our spiritual benefit.

We ask that you keep us in your daily prayers, dearly beloved, for it is through those prayers that we are strengthened and enabled in our priestly service in Christ’s Vineyard. We assure you all of our unceasing prayers in your behalf.

In our Lord’s all-encompassing Love,

+ Constantine, Metropolitan    
+ Antony, Archbishop

Given this 28th day of December in the Year of our Lord 2007
The Feast of  Hiermartyr Eleutherius of Illyria, his Mother Anthia and Martyr Coribus

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Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
P.O. Box 495
South Bound Brook, NJ 08880

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