674 Choir Members from Ukraine and Around the World: UGCC Sets a World Record
On October 3, the final round of the All-Church Festival of Parish Choirs of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church took place in the Soborova Svitlytsia (Cathedral Chamber) of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv. This year, the festival brought together more than 50 choirs from Ukraine and abroad. During the finals, the participants set a Ukrainian record for the largest performance of a Christian song.
Zhyve TV has organized the festival for three consecutive years.
The final gathering of parish choirs began with the Divine Liturgy, followed by a concert.
Previously, the festival was held in two stages. During the first, online stage, parish choirs submitted video recordings of their performances, which Zhyve TV broadcast on its media platforms. Choirs from various regions of Ukraine participated in the festival, as did Ukrainian Greek Catholic parishes abroad—in Scotland, France, Spain, and Germany.
As the organizers emphasized, the participation of parish choirs from abroad was particularly significant. Their inclusion in the joint singing underscored the unbreakable ties between Ukrainian Greek Catholic communities outside Ukraine, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, and Ukraine as a whole.
The second stage involved an in-person gathering of participants in Kyiv. At the beginning of the concert, the performers were greeted with a message from the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav: “Sing! We may not always realize the significance of singing in church. Everyone who sings becomes the voice of the whole world. Through your voice, the whole world speaks to God.”
Mark Orlovsky, an expert with the National Register of Records of Ukraine, Honored Artist of Ukraine, Ambassador of Cultural Diplomacy, and recipient of the Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, also addressed the participants. He congratulated the performers and explained the conditions for setting the record.
During the concert, each choir performed two pieces: one patriotic and the other dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
At the end, all the festival’s choir members gathered on stage and performed the Marian hymn “O, Help Us, Virgin Mary” together, in an attempt to set a new Ukrainian record for the largest performance of a Christian hymn by parish choirs.
The event’s host, Halyna Babiy, concluded by emphasizing that the record set cannot fully capture the scope of choral singing in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In her view, the Liturgy—accompanied every Sunday by the singing of parish choirs in all Greek Catholic churches—constitutes a universal choir, “the size of which is impossible to quantify.”
“The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is one of those where everyone sings during the service. In addition to the choirs, our parishioners also sing. And this mass singing in our churches around the world—on holidays and on Sundays—can be recorded every single time,” Ms. Halyna emphasized.
According to her, even the largest festival choir in terms of the number of participants cannot compare with the “universal choir” of the Liturgy, which resounds every Sunday in Greek Catholic churches around the world.
The certificate confirming the record was presented on October 4 after the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ.
Mark Orlovsky, an expert with the National Register of Records of Ukraine, confirmed that 46 parish choirs from Ukraine and seven choirs from Ukrainian Greek Catholic parishes in five countries around the world participated in the festival, which took place both online and in person. A total of 674 choir members took part in the festival.
“The Expert Council of the National Register of Records has made a decision regarding the recognition of a record in this category. And today, October 4, 2026, the National Register of Records certifies the setting of a world record: the largest number of choir members at a festival of parish choirs of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church—674 choir members. The National Register of Records recognizes the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, led by Father and Head His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, as the world record holder,” announced Mark Orlovsky, an expert with the National Register of Records of Ukraine.
The certificate was accepted by Auxiliary Bishop Yosyf Milan of the Kyiv Archeparchy. He emphasized that this is the first record set by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and also expressed his appreciation to Fr. Ihor Yatsiv, Head of the UGCC Information Department and organizer of the festival.
“We must give credit where credit is due: despite this terrible war, the constant explosions in Kyiv, and the uncertainty, we managed to organize the choirs and receive a certificate confirming the record. We thank Father Ihor and all the choir members who participated in the festival in any capacity. May God bless you with healthy voices and the inspiration to continue glorifying His name through church singing,” Bishop Yosyf said.
The UGCC Department for Information
