As a Mexican-American and a member of a Byzantine Catholic parish, I have a particular interest in devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe among Byzantine Catholics.

The Ukrainian Catholic monks of Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Redwood Valley, CA have for many years celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. They have composed their own tropar and kondak for use on Dec 12th. They are as follows:

TROPAR (TONE 1)

O Holy Lady, Virgin of Guadalupe, Mystical Rose and Queen of America,/you came to bring the peace of Jesus and to take our cares into your loving Heart./ Therefore we venerate your glorious image/ as a sign from God Himself/ that you protect us and pray for our souls.

KONDAK (TONE 4)

O Virgin Mother, your mantle covers all the Americas/ and your miraculous image proclaims the glory of God./ Make our wintery hearts blossom with roses of repentance and love,/ and allow us to place them in the crossing of your arms/, that you may carry them to Christ our God/ and beseech Him to grant us His great mercy.


God bless you all!,

Griego Catolico (formerly known before the server crash as Byzantino)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Orthodox Catholic:


>>I understand that Bl. Juan Diego will be canonized by the Pope next year, along with Bl. Padre Pio - great news! <<

Dear Alex,
Hi! How are you? I hope you are doing well, my friend.
I just returned a few days ago from a three week stay in Mexico, and I can tell you the Mexican press is reporting that the Vatican will announce on Dec. 20th the acceptance of the miracle required for Blessed Juan Diego's canonization.
According to what I have heard, the miracle occurred on the very day of Juan Diego's beatification when His Holiness, Pope John Paul II was in Mexico for the beatification.
A young man had been suffering from a terrible addiction to drugs and attempted suicide by jumping from a building. He was hospitalized in grave condition with serious trauma. His mother invoked the intercession of Juan Diego to save her son's life. The man not only was healed from his life-threatening injuries, but was also healed of his addiction to drugs! Now, I can't confirm the accuracy of this report, but if it is accurate, then what a miracle!!!
It is hoped that His Holiness will visit Mexico again to canonize Blessed Juan Diego at the basilica in Mexico City. The Mexican people have such an intense love for the Pope, and it would be spectacular for the Pope to visit Mexico again and canonize Juan Diego on Mexican soil.

God bless you,

Griego Catolico (formerly known as Byzantino)

Dear Griego Catolico (formerly Byzantino),

What tremendous news and thank you for sharing the details of that miracle!

I too have a great devotion for Our Lady of Guadalupe. My other two favourites from the South are Our Lady of Prompt Succor and Our Lady of La Leche in St Augustine in Florida.

As an aside, there are a number of western Images of Our Lady that became so popular in the East that they are now listed as official miraculous Icons of the Orthodox Church.

The icon of Horodyschensk is actually Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in a former Carmelite monastery now in Orthodox (good) hands. They call her the "Theotokos of the Scapular" or, in Russian, "Shkapliernaya."

May all Eastern Christians warmly welcome Our Lady of Guadalupe among their favourite devotions to the Mother of God!

Alex

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Remie:

I think that the Orthodox Exarchate of Mexico has a tropar for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I'm surprised and happy to see that byzantine christians as well as some Russian orthodox people are very interested in this advocation of our lady and the icon is revered by both catholics and orthodox.

Dear Remie,
About two years ago, I e-mailed the OCA chancery regarding the devotion of Orthodox Christians to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The response from them was that while there are images of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Orthodox parishes in Mexico and in the United States, the Orthodox Church has made no declaration regarding the apparitions or the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. They do venerate the image as a cultural image of Our Lady.

God bless you,
Griego Catolico

Christ of the Hills Russian Orthodox Monastery(ROCOR) in Blanco, Texas sells an "Orthodox version" icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe, under the title, "Holy Tilma of Tepeyac". This icon can be seen in its catalogue the monastery puts out. The icon comes in two sizes: XL 9"x12" ($35.00) and D 11"x17"($45.00). The cataolgue # is V610. The prices may have changed. For more info contact:
Christ of the Hills Monastery
New Sarov
PO Box 1049
Blanco, Texas 78606-1049
Tel.# 830-833-5363
Fax: 830-833-5813

The fact is that the aparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe can not be seen as a "property" of the roman catholic church, and this is the view of some people (Fortunately not the mayority). The Mexican people were evangilized by the panish Fathers who were catholics but in Alaska the Russians brought the christian faith.
We should celebrate the aparitions as something that confirm the christian faith in America and not the confirmation of the "roman catholic church" in Mexico.
I know the OCA has tried to develop as a church with tides to Moscow and the East but also with our country (we celebrate the "all saints of North America" don't we?).
Regarding the miracle, there have been hundreds of miracles by John Diego (in almost 500 years) and if Rome didn't want to canonize him, it was because they didn't want to have a conflict with the old atheist government and because the Party infiltrated the churches with priests and even bishops who denied the aparitions in order to "destroy the superstitious practices" (don't you remember Mr. Willhem Schulemburg, the former abbey who had tides with he DDR and the USSR, the old mexican government named him abbey). That was very sad.