One of the world’s best known icons of the Blessed Mother is the miraculous 5th century icon of the Mother of Perpetual Help. Surrounded by a nimbus of great antiquity and painted in genuine Byzantine style, this icon was instrumental in the many miracles. Being transported from the East to the West, it has become popular throughout the world and the source of perpetual blessing and consolation for many peoples. Continue reading →

On solemn Holydays, the faithful of the Byzantine Rite are anointed with holy oil and receive a piece of bread blessed for this sacramental on the vigil of the feast. This venerable custom among the Ruthenians is known as ” Mirovanije” or an anointing. It is a remnant of two distinct practices of ancient times, the all-night vigils held in the church and the lighting of the oil lamps in front of the icon of the Feast. In order to better understand this relatively simple ceremony of the anointing, an explanation of the all-night vigil with Litija and that of the lighting of the lamp of oil in front of the icon of the feast is necessary. Continue reading →

The Christian Community, from its inception, was encouraged to assemble “in the morning and in the evening, singing psalms and praying in the house of the Lord” (cf. The Apostolic Constitutions II, 29). These common morning and evening prayers eventually developed into two distinct liturgical services known as Matins and Vespers. In this leaflet we will limit ourselves to the description of Matins, since Vespers has been described previously (cf. Byzantine Leaflet Series, 1983, no. 29). Continue reading →

The Ruthenian people of the Subcarpathian region highly appreciated and loved their Byzantine Rite, and they were always ready to make great sacrifices to have beautifully painted and decorated churches. Their wooden churches are gems of sacred architecture, while their inconostases (icon-screens) are insuperable monuments of artistic wood carving. And their old icons, painted in a popular style, today serve as centuries old witnesses of a deep faith and strong attachment of the Carpatho-Ruthenian people to their Byzantine Rite. Continue reading →

In order to carry on His work of redemption “until the end of the world” (Mt. 28:20), our Lord Jesus Christ established the Church, investing it with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:33) and all the necessary means of salvation. The most important of those means of salvation are the Sacraments. Continue reading →

The Holy Mysteries (Sacraments) are the most important means of our salvation, which were established and entrusted to the Church by Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There are seven such sacramental mysteries administered by the Byzantine Rite Church (ct. Byzantine Leaflet Series, 1989, No. 47). the first being the Holy Mystery of Baptism, by which we become regenerated into the divine life of God’s children in Jesus Christ and become living members of His Church. Continue reading →

Holy Baptism is our mystical participation in Easter, since having “died to sin,” through baptism we rise with Christ to “live in newness of life” (Rom. 6:2-4) as children of God. By Holy Chrismation, which in the Byzantine Rite is administered immediately after baptism, we mystically participate in Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us.

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On the sixth of August we celebrate the solemn feast of the Holy Transfiguration in commemoration of the glorious change in appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ on a “high mountain” (Mt. 17:1), which, since the fourth century, Christian tradition identifies with Mt. Tabor. The Fathers refer to Christ’s transfiguration as to His “second epiphany” or the second manifestation of His divinity. For this reason the Fathers during the Christological disputes adduced the transfiguration of Christ as a certain proof of His divinity. The establishment of the feast then followed. Continue reading →

On October 6, 1974, the bishops of the Byzantine Ruthenian Metropolitan Province of Munhall dedicated a beautiful Byzantine Rite chapel in honor of the Mother of God in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in our nation’s capital. It shall be a lasting memorial, emblematic of the love which the Ruthenian people have for her. On this solemn occasion, witnessed by thousands, Metropolitan Archbishop Stephen J. Kocisko, D.O. read the jointly issued Proclamation dedicating the entire Metropolitan Province to the Mother of God under the title of her Protection-Pokrov, continuing the centuries long tradition of their forefathers in Europe who, from time immemorial, called upon the Mother of God ‘s intercess ion before the throne of her Divine Son. Continue reading →

“Even the bodies of those, who live with God, are not without an honor”- (Apostolic Constitutions VI , 30).

Inspired by the description of the burial of our Lord in the Gospels, Christians from the very beginning buried their dead with proper care and ceremonies. They believed that the body of every Christian was indeed “a temple of God” and, as such, it also was holy (I Cor. 3:16-17). In expectation of the “resurrection of the dead,” Christians believe that their bodies will once again be united with their souls and live forever. Continue reading →