UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE USA
CONSISTORY OFFICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
PRESS RELEASE

Winter at St. Vladimir’s Cathedral!

St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Philadelphia, PA has been extremely busy this winter.  Our winter schedule typically starts with our annual parish Christmas Bazaar.  A mainstay and major financial project of the year, for the first time in decades we made some major shifts to the Bazaar this year.  Two weeks before the Bazaar we held an indoor flea market.  The Bazaar is a neighborhood favorite and the first annual indoor flea market was a success with the neighbors. 
 
Once the Bazaar was cleared out we prepared for St. Nicholas.  Our Sunday School students eagerly waited for the arrival of St. Nicholas.  This year, the children sang beautifully as they waited for St. Nicholas to arrive.  The children have been getting lots of practice singing.  Each Sunday Pani Laura Naumenko leads the children in singing the Communion Hymn.
 
For several years the St. Vladimir UOL chapter has sponsored a family night at Dave and Busters. As part of this family event we dine together in the restaurant and enjoy the arcade games. Both young and not so young attempt the video games. The best aspect of the event is that families attend, so you have multiple generations enjoying the video games.  This year approximately forty people joined in the fun evening.
 
For the first time our Alexander Koshetz Choir sang at a local Philadelphia concert of carols. Over fifteen choirs sang at the concert, and for the first time, our choir under the direction of Karen Ferraro performed.  The choir sang three carols at the concert and sounded beautiful.

Our next event of the season was our annual caroling to visit our shut-ins.  For over a decade the UOL Chapter has visited parishioners who can not attend church.  The director of our Sunday school also brings cards and drawings from our school children.  The parishioners light up when Daria O’Byrne, director of our religious education program shares the cards from the children.

We visited Pani Hordienko who is over 100 years old and was a long time choir member.  We also visited with Mrs. Berezowski - a longtime UOL member.  As part of our visit we bring treats and sing several carols. 
 
On Theophany Eve, January 18th, our UOL Chapter sponsored its 3rdAnnual Theophany Eve Supper – Holodna Kutya. Following Compline Service 40 people joined in the church hall for a lovely Lenten supper. As part of our Holodna Kutya we set one large table so that everyone could enjoy the dinner together. This year we sang carols prior to dinner. After the dinner, everyone joined together in the temple for the first blessing of water.
 
On Sunday our chapter celebrated with a Theophany Brunch.  The whole parish joined for the blessing of the ice cross. The annual event is a great joy! The cross, funded by Mike Fesnak and David Sembrot, is a beautiful ice carving of an Orthodox cross.  Following the blessing of the cross the entire parish came into the hall for warm soup and salad. 
 
Our season ended with a celebration at our Annual Malanka. Philadelphia’s Malanka can not be beat. The event is full of fun, with young and old on the dance floor.  DJ Al Shinn is wonderful and makes each Malanka a great night.  This year the young children learned some line dances prior to the music starting so they were quite a hit during the Macarena and Kolomeyka.  The Malanka is a family event with very young children, parents and grandparents.  We had a delicious meal with chicken, sausage and meatballs.  Following the fantastic dinner we were able to burn calories on the dance floor.  The event chaired by Al and Debbie Shinn is always a huge success.