Nine New Saints, Including Charbel, Mother Teresa, and John Paul II, Added to Approved UGCC Menologion
At the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC in 2023, the bishops adopted the UGCC Menologion with amendments and supplements. The list of persons liturgically venerated in the UGCC includes the names of nine saints of the Catholic Church. The Synod also changed the celebration of the feasts of the Holy Eucharist, Christ, Lover of Mankind, and All Saints of the Ukrainian people. It is stated in 29–32 resolutions of the Synod, published on September 16 on the official website of the UGCC.
Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta
The UGCC Menologion is a list of fixed feasts and days of remembrance of saints venerated in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church during the liturgical (church) year, which begins on September 1.
At this year’s Synod, several saints of the Catholic Church were added to the UGCC Menologion of its law: Blessed Martyr Pavlo Hoydych (his feast day will be celebrated in the UGCC on July 17), Blessed Martyr Vasyl Hopko (July 23), St. Charbel (July 24), St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta (September 5), St. John Paul II, Pope (October 22), St. John Bosco (January 31), St. Anthony of Padua (June 13), St. Alphonsus Liguori (August 1), as well as the blessed Edigna (February 26).
“The adding of saints’ names from other Churches of the Catholic communion to our Menologion underscores our openness and respect for the traditions of sanctity in both the Western Church and other Eastern Catholic Churches,” explains Bishop Hryhoriy Komar, head of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission of the UGCC.
According to him, some of the new saints in the UGCC Menologion are directly related to monastic orders or congregations in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Others are pretty common among the faithful of the UGCC: people build churches and monasteries in their honor, name streets, erect monuments, venerate saints’ relics, and practice various devotions.
In the future, these saints will have their own services according to the rite and UGCC charter requirements.
Furthermore, the Synod decreed to celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and the Feast of the Sweetest Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, Lover of Mankind, as one-day Lord’s Feasts, without pre-feast day and post-feast. The feast of All Saints of the Ukrainian people was moved to the second Sunday after the Descent of the Holy Spirit.
The UGCC Department for Information
