«Go for a Walk.» 10 Advent Tips from Philadelpia’s Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop

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During the pre-Christmas fast, the Church leader recommends preparing Christmas cards, visiting a church you’ve never been to, and saying ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’–»the language of the heart.»
Photo: Slovo.Today

Photo: Slovo.Today

Borys Gudziak, Metropolitan-Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Philadelphia, USA, shares unusual advice for every day of «Lent before Christmas,» which Greek Catholics in communion with Rome and Orthodox Christians observe until their Christmas Day on the pre-1582 Julian calendar, 7 January. 

Lviv is the world’s largest majority Greek Catholic city, and Philadelphia is home to a large Ukrainian diaspora population (see end of story for a history of Greek Catholicism). Borys, the archeparch, or metropolitan-archbishop, of Philadelphia, was born in Syracuse, New York, to parents from western Ukraine. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1992. Archbishop Borys is president of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.

Here is a selection of his 10 tips for the faithful, prepared by the Christian media «Spiritual Greatness of Lviv.» 

Read also: «Avoid quarrels, pray, and do not hold a grudge.» Eastern rite Christians start the Christmas fast

Prepare Christmas cards

I like to receive original Christmas cards. Some of my friends, for example, print Christmas cards on a regular home printer. If you find some time, I encourage you to write a personal Christmas card with words inspired by others and yourself. 

Go for a walk

Choose a day when you go for a walk. In our pilgrimage to Christmas, let’s exercise our legs, look at the landscape around us, and give ourselves a wonderful walk.

Read a few lines of Scripture about Christmas

I want to invite you to read a few verses from the Gospel of Luke about the events that preceded the birth of the Savior. As you read the Scriptures, you will feel the warmth in your heart and understand that these events described in the Scriptures are very real, relevant to each of us today.

Drink water

Water is the best gift and a deep symbol. Our body mostly consists of water, it is natural and symbolic. And water is very important for maintaining our health, especially in winter.

Visit a church you have never been to

Go inside a temple previously seen only from the outside. There are many wonderful churches, communities, people united by the Christian faith, who are also waiting for the birth of the Savior, which we will soon experience at Christmas. Come and see a church you have never attended. Make sure there are so many people around who are also experiencing God’s presence in their lives and are Christians.

Do a good deed

Do a good deed: not for display, not for Facebook, just what God sees.

Learn to say «thank you» and «sorry»

During the Christmas holidays, we are together with our loved ones. When I taught at the university, I said that perhaps the most we can learn in our lives is to say the words «thank you» and «sorry.» There are these words in any language, because it is the language of the heart.

Celebrate your life in Christ

I want to focus on the importance of celebrating your life in Christ. It is important to remember when we were baptised. We can’t remember how it was, but we can remember the day it happened. I suggest you always remember the two most important days in life: when we were born and when we were baptized.

Cultivate ability to be grateful

Make a list of 25 items you can be thankful for in your life. For your life, for your parents, for the school period, students, certain experiences, your children. And you will see how rich you really are. After all, what we are grateful for in our lives is our wealth.

Read also: Eight years on from the Euromaidan revolution’s beginning, spiritual leader urges Ukrainians to «learn to be free»

Proceed to Confession

My suggestion for you is to start Confession. Take the opportunity to look at yourself in the mirror, try to think about what is in your soul, in your heart. I try to start Confession regularly, this is one of the most important moments in my spiritual life.

For reference:

Greek Catholicism is a Christian confession which acknowledges Catholic doctrine and is in communion with the Pope, but maintains Eastern rites and rituals, including married priests. It emerged in 1596, when a part of the Orthodox Church recognised the supremacy of the Pope. Later, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) became mostly localised in the Western Ukraine, becoming one of the markers of the national identity for the region’s population during Austrian, Polish and Soviet rule. 

Currently, Kyiv is the center of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, under the jurisdiction of His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia, and it is present in many regions of the country, though Galicia, where Lviv is, still remains its bulwark. It also has a strong presence among the Ukrainian diaspora, especially in parts of Canada, the United States, and Australia. 

By Vitalii Holich

You can read a Ukrainian language version of this story here.

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Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.

 



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