Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2010
Inaugurated in 1908 at the initiative of Rev. Paul Wattson, an Episcopalian priest of the United States who would later join the Catholic Church, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is celebrated all around the world.
The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in collaboration with the World Council of Churches, has offered a resource for celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that includes readings and prayers for each of the eight days of the week inspired by the theme, "You are witnesses of these things" (Luke 24:48).
This year’s theme was chosen by the Churches of Scotland to mark the hundredth anniversary of the 1910 Edinburgh Mission Conference on the theme "Witnessing to Christ Today," an event largely hailed as the origin of modern ecumenism. "Divisions between Christians," the gathered missionaries had noted, "not only weaken missionary effectiveness, but the Church and body of Christ and its mission."
During the 2010 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the faithful of the Universal Church are instructed by the resource guide to revisit the Mission Conference’s theme and to reflect on the "appreciation of the resurrection of Christ as the source of ecclesial communion, of being sent out in mission, of the intrinsic link between mission and unity and, therefore, of the continual need to renew our commitment to Christian unity."
The faithful are also invited to pray for unity among Christians during the course of the Week and year round.
We had an opportunity to join the Saint Paul University community at a special ecumenical prayer service held on January 20 in the Saint Paul University chapel in Lamframboise Hall. Our rector represented the Ukrainian Catholic community, while Rev. Fr. Lieutenant-Colonel Terry Cherwick, a Ukrainian Catholic priest of the Archeparchy of Winnipeg, represented the Canadian Military.
Fr. Michael Winn (Ukrainian Catholic rep.), Fr. John Jillions (OCA rep.)
and Fr. Terry Cherwick (Canadian Military rep.)
Christmas and Theophany 2010
Below are some images of the recent feasts of the Nativity of Lord and the Theophany of our Lord.
On Christmas Eve, after we as a community celebrated the Vespers-Liturgy of St Basil the Great, just over 60 guests joined us for the Christmas Eve Sviat Vechir (Holy Meal) in our seminary hall. We have usually been blessed with the presence of the recent Papal Nuncio, Most Rev. Luigi Ventura. However, he had been called by the Holy Father to take up new responsibilities as the Papal Nuncio in France. The Nuncio's charges d'affaires, Msgr. Luca Lorusso, was able to aptly stand in his place and take a spoonful of the kutia and fling it to the ceiling. After the Holy Meal, we moved to the seminary chapel for the celebration of Great Complines - we were happy to welcome Most Rev. Terrence Prendergast, Archbishop of Ottawa, who was able to join us for this prayer. Finally, we travelled to St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Shrine for the midnight Divine Liturgy. In the days that followed, the seminarians went Christmas carolling to the homes of friends and local parishioners.
Denise Jillions, Fr. Andreas, Spatafora, Rev. Fr. John Jillions, Msgr. Lorusso at the Holy Meal.
The traditional didukh, icon and kolach.
Ivanka Galadza with Eva, Natalya and Alex Kwiatkowski who helped make the Holy Meal run smoothly.
The seminarians carolling at the home of Fr. Roman Rytsar.
For the Feast of the Theophany, we joined the celebrations at St. John the Baptist Shrine. Afterwards, we helped to build the 13-foot tall ice cross at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec, in anticpation of the Great Blessing of the Water the next day. Unfortunately, a museum employee knocked down the ice cross in the morning thinking we had already had the celebration. Nevertheless, the Blessing happened on a beautiful winter day. You can see a video of highlights produced by the Metropolitan Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies.
Alex Laschuk and Andrew Bennett
Ilie Babota and Stefan Pankiw
Placing the top portion of the ice cross.
Fr. Andrew Onfuerko and the ice cross building team 2010.
