Message of Bishop Benedict on the Celebration of the Eparchial Jubilee
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
With deep gratitude to God and sincere thanks to each of you, I address you at this special time for our Saint Nicholas Eparchy. It is together in faith, service, and love that we build our eparchy. This year, on July 14, we mark the 65th anniversary of its founding an occasion not only for celebration, but above all for shared thanksgiving, spiritual reflection on the path we have traveled, and renewal.
In my many conversations with various groups within our eparchy, I have heard different thoughts regarding possible ways of celebrating this beautiful jubilee. In particular, our priests have expressed the conviction that we should not limit ourselves to formal ceremonies alone, but rather make the celebration vibrant, interactive, and spiritually fruitful-both for the eparchy as a whole and for each individual parish.
With warmth, the fathers recalled the celebration of the 50th anniversary of our eparchy. A particularly profound spiritual experience at that time was the pilgrimage with the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, which visited the majority of our parishes and left a lasting spiritual memory in the hearts of our faithful. Today, this icon is kept in the sanctuary of the St Nicholas Cathedral, above the Bishop’s throne. That past experience has inspired us once again to turn to this form of eparchial celebration and unity.
I am pleased to inform you that, on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of St. Nicholas Eparchy, the jubilee icon of the Most Holy Mother of God will once again journey to all the parishes of our eparchy as a sign of unity, common prayer, and the living presence of the Church.
The organizational aspects of this pilgrimage will be overseen by Protodeacon Marko Krutyak, Chairman of the Liturgical Commission, and Deacon Rostyslaw Smyk, Chairman of the Catechetical Commission, in cooperation with the eparchial curia and our pastors.
I believe that the time the icon spends in each parish will become a special opportunity for spiritual renewal-both for individual faithful and for the entire parish community. During this time, we will be able together to recall the history of the establishment and development of the St. Nicholas Eparchy, as well as the history of each parish in particular
Naturally, I sincerely desire to celebrate this jubilee together with each parish community throughout the year. Therefore, in coordination with your pastors and administrators, I will strive to arrange an appropriate schedule of visits. We have also preliminarily invited His Beatitude Sviatoslav to take part in the celebrations of this jubilee. Aware of his very full schedule, we nonetheless hope that, if it is God’s will, he will be able not only to attend the main celebrations, but perhaps also to visit some of our parishes.
I ask all of you for your prayers for the successful celebration of the 65th anniversary of the St. Nicholas Eparchy. Through the intercession of Saint Nicholas, the patron of our eparchy, may this event become for us not only a remembrance of the past, but also a source of deeper spiritual life, unity, and missionary zeal.
With prayer and archpastoral blessing.
† Benedict
Bishop of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy
Instruction for Icon pilgrimage
