“Never cease to be a spiritual father,” — Head of the UGCC to Bishop Mykola Semenyshyn during his ordination
Dear Bishop Mykola, today I entrust to your special care our clergy and monastics of this archdiocese. As a good assistant to your gray-haired metropolitan, help us accomplish our ministry and vocation in this life. Whenever it seems that everyone has forgotten and forsaken you, when darkness shrouds you, remember that you are the Candlemas Bishop and have a lamp that no one and nothing can put out. With these words, the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, addressed Bishop Mykola Semenyshyn during his bishop’s ordination.
The rite of episcopal ordination and the Divine Liturgy took place at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Ivano-Frankivsk on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, February 15, 2023.
The Hierarchical Liturgy was presided by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the principal consecrator. Bishop Volodymyr Viytyshyn, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Ivano-Frankivsk, and Bishop Bohdan Dziurakh, Apostolic Exarch in Germany and Scandinavia, were the co-consecrators.
In his sermon, His Beatitude, Sviatoslav revealed the meaning of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, paying particular attention to the light that is God, congratulated the monasticism of the UGCC on the Day of Consecrated Life, and specially addressed the newly ordained bishop, reminding him of the three tasks of a bishop and publicly asking him never to cease to be a spiritual father.
Emphasizing the sacrament of Bishop Mykola’s ordination, which our Church has partaken in today, the Father and Head of the UGCC emphasized the word ‘light,’ repeated many times in the ordination rite.
“Our Liturgy names the bishop a light for those who are in darkness, a teacher of the ignorant; a light for those who seek the sense of their lives and vocation; who seek salvation, who in the darkness seek the light of hope; the light that is certain and will enable us not to roam in darkness but to have the light of life,” said the head of the Church.
He then recalled the three missions of a bishop: to preach God’s word, to bless God’s people, and to lead, which means to show the way.
“The bishop comes to animate the community, and his assistants can do the rest,” said the patriarch.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav drew attention to the fact that today in Ukraine, many people are looking for a sense, the significance even of their pain.
Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, congratulated Bishop Mykola at the end of the Divine Liturgy.
“Our mission and a mission of a newly ordained bishop, Mykola, is a mission of gratitude to Jesus for the gift of faith and redemption. May the Lord inspire and bless all your thoughts and deeds, Reverend Mykola, and may the Mother of God and St. Joseph always protect you,” said Archbishop Visvaldas.
After that, Bishop Mykola Semenyshyn delivered a gratitude speech.
