March 12, 2017
Second Sunday of the Great Fast: St. Gregory of Palamas; Octoechos Tone 2; Venerable Father and Confessor Theophanes of Sigriana; Holy Father Gregory the Dialogist, Pope of Rome

The Second Sunday of Lent is kept as a feast of Saint Gregory Palamas, the Archbishop of Thessaloniki in the fourteenth century. Like the restoration of the holy icons, this memorial of Saint Gregory has to do with historical events, but also relates to our understanding of the Christian vocation, and the possibility for every Christian to achieve genuine holiness. Saint Gregory taught that all Christians are called to union with God, which is the object of the Christian life. Continue reading March 12, 2017 Second Sunday of the Great Fast: St. Gregory of Palamas; Octoechos Tone 2; Venerable Father and Confessor Theophanes of Sigriana; Holy Father Gregory the Dialogist, Pope of Rome

March 5, 2017
First Sunday of the Great Fast; Sunday of Orthodoxy; Octoechos Tone 1; Holy Martyr Conon (249-251)

The First Sunday of Great Lent is kept as the anniversary of the restoration of the Holy Icons to veneration and honour after the final defeat of the iconoclast heresy. The Seventh Ecumenical Council in the year 787 condemned the iconoclast heresy, but the final restoration of the Holy Icons did not take place until 843, with a solemn procession on the first Sunday of Lent in that year. Ever since then, all the churches of the Byzantine tradition, including our Ukrainian Catholic Church, remember that event joyfully. Continue reading March 5, 2017 First Sunday of the Great Fast; Sunday of Orthodoxy; Octoechos Tone 1; Holy Martyr Conon (249-251)