SEPT 11 – ANOTHER YEAR PASSES

This week already marks the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 2001. It’s hard to believe all that has happened since then. For many in the United States, an awareness of the experience has long drifted into the halls of history. For some, particularly many New Yorkers, memories continue to be triggered, even as the World Trade Center site is constantly in flux, the reconstruction process bringing our City into a new era with a new purpose.

An often overlooked chapter of the 9-11 story concerns those who hurried to Ground 0 in the aftermath of the attacks and spent weeks, months or more, in rescue and recovery work. These people include firefighters, police officers, construction workers, clergy, emergency personnel, relief agency workers and many others. Having made the effort to respond to the many and varied needs of that unprecedented occasion, many now suffer both physical and emotional disabilities. A great number find themselves without adequate health care, in financial distress and on the fringes of a society that claims gratitude for their effort.

Only in recent times has the public awareness begun to acknowledge and respond to their very critical needs. These members of the 9-11 community need our prayers and our voices, so that the burdens they experience can be lightened justly.

As Ground 0 has changed, so has our world. It is a consequence of life, never to be stagnant, but to be continually on the move towards the future. While we cannot control the passing of time, we do have a choice as to how we spend it. As horrible as were the effects of September 11, 2001, and as concerning as they very much remain, the unity of heart, of purpose and of resolve that characterized this city and country in their aftermath are worth revisiting.

For the sake of the lives lost on that sunny Tuesday morning and in recognition of the many who are still suffering from the aftermath of the attacks, we as survivors should strengthen our will to take action, to fight all that is is wrong in our world and make secure, not only our personal interests, but all that which is right, truthful and just.

+Vladyka Mykhayil

THE THRID SPAS - THE NUT-TREE SALVATION

On the Feast of the Icon of the Savior, "Not Made by Hands," church tradition observes the final "spas" of the harvest season, when nuts are blessed.

Legend tells that when the Lord was spreading his teaching in the world, in the Syrian city of Edessa, there lived and ruled a certain man who "was full of leprosy." When he heard of the great miracles the Lord worked, he immediately believed in him as the Son of God. The man wrote Jesus a letter, asking him to come and heal him. He gave the letter to a painter and sent him to Palestine, so that he would paint a portrait of Christ.

The painter came to Jerusalem and saw the Lord surrounded by people. There were so many of htem that he could not approach Christ. So he climbed on top of a big stone and tried to paint a picture of the Lord from a distance. However, he was unable to do so.

The Savior saw him and after he had finished preaching, Jesus asked the painter to come near him, called the man by name and gave him a letter for the ruler in which he promised to send his disciple to heal the ruler's leprosy and gave him instructions for salvation. Then the Lord asked for some water and a piece of cloth. Jesus washed his face and wiped it clean with the cloth. All were surprised to see his face imprinted on it.

The painter brought the Savior's letter and cloth to Edessa. When leprosy "departed from the ruler." he adorned the "Image not made by Hand" and installed it on top of the city's gates.

In 944 CE, the Savior's image was taken to Constantinople. This day, the "transfer of Salvation," is celebrated on August 16/29.

The Third Salvation is often called the Savior of the Canvas or Canvasses, first of all because of the piece of cloth on which the image of Christ was imprinted and also because on this day peasants traded in canvasses.

It is my prayer that this period of the "Savior" has been one which has brought us closer to mercy and kindness of Jesus, as experienced by the man in the story above.

As we prepare to begin a new church year, let us thank God for his many blessings, especially those of a fruitful harvest. God's harvest blessings pertain not only to actual agricultural crops, but to all of the provisions for life's needs, however they are given to us. God is in all and around all and from him, comes every thing that is good.

Vladyka Mykhayil
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On Apple Salvation Day people pick ripe apples and have them sanctified.

On the First Salvation they stand on the water, on the Second Salvation they eat apples, on the Third Salvation they sell canvasses on green hills.

By the Third Salvation nuts have ripened. The Third Salvation yields good crops.
(Old Ukrainian Proverb)

Traditional harvest season blessings observed at summer's-end holidays

These are scenes from the festal Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord which was followed by the blessing of fruit; and the blessing of herbs and plants on the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. His Eminence, Metropolitan Mykhayil is joined by the Very Rev. Archpriest Samir Alejilat.

Originally reported by uaoc.org

Metropolitan Receives Visitors from Ohio

Here are a selection of pictures from the visit of Evelyn and Sigmund Kobus to Metropolitan Mykhayil in New York. The original article is available at uaoc.org

Director of Yale Center for Faith and Culture sends Conference follow-up letter

NEW HAVEN, CT: Professor Dr. Miroslav Volf, founding director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology, Yale Divinity School, sent a letter of gratitude to all participants in the July 28-31 conference, "Loving God and Neighbor in Word and Deed: Implications for Christians and Muslims."

In his communique, Dr. Volf said in part,

«The most important thing that I have taken away from the conference—from scholarly contributions, from learned panel presentations, from formal and informal discussions, from the exchange of experiences during meals and breaks—is a deepened sense of the immense potential that the Common Word presents for mending relationships between Muslims and Christians. Devotion to the one God (rather than to any worldly cause) and love of all neighbors (rather than the pursuit of our own interests or even our own rights) is the key to peace between those who, while different, inhabit the same space. If this is true, then our most important task is to make the commitment to love God and neighbor as widespread, as deep, and as intelligent as possible in each of our communities. Armed with such a commitment, we can together tackle many difficult issues that beset our mutual relations and our common world. To do this, I believe, is one historic task facing our communities as we seek to live together in one world while remaining faithful witnesses to the faith as we have received it.»

CLICK HERE TO READ REMAINDER OF ARTICLE, INCLUDING VLADYKA MYKHAYIL'S OBSERVATIONS . . .

UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY

Today marks the 17th. Anniversary of the declaration of an independent Ukraine. Many of us in the Diaspora were overjoyed to finally see the day we thought might never come. Our relatives in Ukraine were liberated from decades of totalitarianism and centuries of government by others than ourselves.

17 years later, it is more important than ever, that we pray for Ukraine to be a place of continued independence, furtherance in the struggle for self-reliance, justice and equal opportunities for every person and the preservation of peace.

As Ukraine moves towards the future, we must be proud of the accomplishments of these past years, strong in our prayers and in our voices, to support a Ukraine that is open, able to set its own destiny and dedicated to our rich and unique Ukrainian heritage.

As members of the Ukrainian Church, we say yes to autocephaly and no to subjugation, allowing our Church to take its rightful place among the churches. On behalf of our entire UAOC in the Americas, I congratulate His Beatitude, our Predstoyatel, the Metropolitan of Kyiv & All Ukraine, Mefodiy, all of our God-loving Ukrainian bishops and our beloved clergy and faithful in Ukraine on this important Day of Independence.

Многая і благая літа!

+Mykhayil
Metropolitan of New York
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

TRANSFIGURATION — THE FULL MYSTERY OF CHRIST

10TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
EXPLORING ТHE GOSPEL
MATTHEW 17 :14-23

“After six days” - the words bind the haunting vision of the transfiguration to the preceding event of Peter’s confession and Jesus’ prediction of his fate in Jerusalem. Each of these episodes concentrates of the identity of Jesus and its implication for the disciples.

As Jesus and his disciples descend the mountain, the gloom of opposition & impending death appears. The disciples have been able to absorb this warning of Jesus (v. 13) but their faith remains weak. Their “little faith” (v. 20) once again prevents them from carrying out the mission of life entrusted to them. Earlier, Peter had allowed fear and “little faith” to stifle his power over the chaos of the sea (cf. 14:30). The same things happen again. The “little faith” of the disciples has stopped them from curing a young man seized with the spirit of lunacy. But if a disciple allows the power of God to work through him, “nothing will be impossible” (v. 20).

Jesus gathers his disciples together like a commander rallying his troops before a battle. A second time, he predicts the death and victory that await him in Jerusalem. The transfiguration confronts us with the full mystery of Christ: Jesus en route to his death, but the glory of his triumphant resurrection already putting that death into new perspective. - Donald Senior, CP -