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#380793 - 05/31/12 02:29 AM How Patriarch Sviatoslav Learned About the Church
Two Lungs Offline
Member

Registered: 01/21/02
Posts: 1934
Loc: Takoma Park, MD
Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk was recently interviewed about his early experience in the underground Church during Soviet times.

http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=119523

Quote:
Q: Were you not afraid of being discovered by the secret police?

Archbishop Schevchuk: As a teenager, at that time I was not aware of the dangers because it was completely a secret and every teenager had his own secret. Neither my mother nor my father were aware of this and this was my personal secret.


Quote:
Q: We have heard or read about the secret masses under Communism. What was your experience?

Archbishop Schevchuk: Without the Eucharist, the Church would not exist. The holy Eucharist was the central point of our life. I remember once a priest I met. He never talked at great length about the sufferings, persecutions and tortures, but he mentioned that even in prison, all the priests would celebrate the liturgy. We were amazed; how could this be possible? Where did you get a Chalice and a Paten? He took off his glasses and said: 'This is what we used; one lens served as the chalice with a drop of wine and on the other a piece of bread was placed, which served as the paten. This is how they celebrated the liturgy in the prison or around the premises of the concentration camps.

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#380794 - 05/31/12 03:11 AM Re: How Patriarch Sviatoslav Learned About the Church [Re: Two Lungs]
Paul B Offline
Member

Registered: 11/11/01
Posts: 1587
Loc: PA
I don't want to give away any secrets, but imprisoned Greek Catholic priests would find ways to make wine so that they could celebrate Divine Liturgy.

One finds proper rubrics to be an unaffordable luxury when hard pressed. Regardless of past or future persecution, the Church will continue. We unwittingly magnify our current problems, making mountains out of molehills when we should be thanking God for our blessings.

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