Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

Welcome, Readers and Surfers, of whatever persuasion! 
 
This website intends to be a doorway into the treasury of Christian insights and achievements afforded by that Garden of the eternal Church of Christ, sown and nurtured, as we believe, by our Lord Himself which is called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. 
 
Its title does not intend to imply any official connection with any Ukrainian Orthodox communion.  Indeed it has been enriched by folks who love this Garden, who find themselves in various Ukrainian Orthodox - as well as Ukrainian Catholic communities. About Us. We welcome the feedback, input and comments, laudatory or critical as well as analytical - and especially inquisitive! - of our readers and friends across the globe.

Discussion Forum

Icons of the Mother of God

Answers to Visitors' Questions

Recent questions:

It is about July 28.   Is it customary, for a man or woman, to give each other a cross on this day, as a symbol of thier being together? Have you heard of this custom on this day of the birth of Christianity in the Ukraine?

Could you please explain the differences between the three bar cross with a diagonal slant and the three bar cross with all parallel bars?  Is one more “correct” or “Ukrainian” then the other?  (I do realize all crosses are God’s crosses).

Please tell me who is St. Makovij?

A question and answer regarding Ukrainian Orthodox Catholic concepts.

What are issues that need to be discussed before a  marriage should take place between a Roman Catholic and a Ukranian Orthodox Catholic?  Is the Eucharist believed in the same way? See Answer

I was browsing through a Baptist book regarding their faith, and I noticed that one of the issues that the Baptists are proud of is the fact that they have always been for the separation of Church and State.  One benefit of this position is that the State is kept out of the affairs of the Church, thus removing a corrupting force within the Church.  What is the position of the Orthodox Church regarding this issue of separation.  There are obviously negative implications when the State moves further and further away from a position of faith, but is this necessarily so when the two entities are fully separated from each other? See Answer

Previous Questions

The Glorious Beauty of the Liturgical Calendar

Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost: (August 29)
What is the Purpose of Painful Emtions?

The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary This Feast, which falls on August 28 (corresponds to August 15 on the Julian Calendar) is of such great significance that it is preceded by a Fast which lasts for thirteen days. It is called the Dormition Fast. In Ukrainian it is commonly called “Spasivka” since the Feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration (“Spasa”) falls during this time.

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (August 22) In today’s Epistle (I Corinthians 16:13-24) our Teacher, the Apostle Paul, tells us to do everything in love. Good advice, no? But we might want to ask whether Paul himself is acting in love when we read him saying in this same section: "Whoever does not love the Lord - a curse on him!" Did not Jesus say that we should bless those who curse us? How is this acting in love?

Today (August 19 – which is August 6 on the Julian Calendar) is a great Feast Day of the Lord, the “Second Feast of the Saviour” – the Feast of His glorious Transfiguration before His disciples Peter, James and John on Mount Tabor.

The Radiant Beauty of the Saints

On August 21 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is August 8 on the Julian) we celebrate the memory of a Bishop who upheld and defended the Church’s veneration of Icons before the iconoclast (“icon-smashing”) emperor Leo V the Armenian. It is St. Emilian, Bishop of Cyzicus.

On August 15 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is August 2 on the Julian) we celebrate the memory of one of those unusual Orthodox Saints who are called “Fools-for-Christ”. It is St. Basil, who is popularly known as “Vasyliy Blazhennyy” (literally “Basil the Blessed”). So profoundly has he been venerated that the renowned Cathedral which is one of Moscow’s most familiar sights, the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Theotokos on the Moat, is rarely known by that name but rather as “St. Basil’s Cathedral” simply because his body is buried in one of its eleven sanctuaries.

On August 10 on the Gregorian Calendar (which is July 29 on the Julian) we celebrate the memory of a female Martyr of the second century who seems to be the first among the Saints of the Church whose name is linked with the celestial beings called the Seraphim, who, according to the Prophet Isaiah surround the Throne of God. It is St. Seraphima, a maiden of Antioch who bore witness to the power of Christ during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (Publius Aelius Hadrianus, 117-138).