Dear Friends,

My in-laws' parish has an icon of Our Lady of Zhirovits and our bishop, Vladyka Cornelius has granted it the status of a Pilgrimage/Vidpust.

The parish wants to move forward and establish a prayer group to promote the veneration of this icon in the parish and around the Eparchy.

I'm working with it to develop this as a concept and then as a reality - and I would like your kind advice.

I thought of perhaps calling it the "Prayer Apostolate of the Zhirovits Mother of God" since members of this association would be praying for our Church, vocations, the Church in need etc.

I don't know if "Confraternity" would be appropriate, but there is no gender-neutral translation of this into Ukrainian - and both men and women are to be involved. Any other ideas for a name?

Would anyone like to share their vision for how such an association could operate?

Alex

SLAVA ISUSU CHRISTU!
SLAVA NA VIKI BOHU!

Hi Alex!

I started a group of ikonographers here and struggled with this for same topic for a while. Here are some ideas that I came up with.

1. Have a "set" time for group prayer. Before Divine Liturgy, after Divine Liturgy, have an evening set aside for Akathist or Divine Liturgy so the group can gather for prayer and maybe coffee and makovnyk afterwards.

2. Plan something for the Feast Day of Ikon. Make your parish the "center" for the groups and have an "odpust" there.

3. Get some nice prints made and mounted to send out to other parishes as they join the "group". Also get some small lamenated ikons for the group members to use for "home" or private devotion.

4. Set some kind of goals for the prayer group. You may want to consider "officers" or at least some kind of group leader.

5. DO NOT FORGET FUND RAISERS EITHER!! My parish mens club is currently helping a seminarian in Rome with his books and other funding. We will also be helping another parish in the "Old Country" to replace their roof and windows.

6. You're on your own for a name, I don't do Ukrainian that well.

Well, just some ideas...

marko

ps

let me know when you get started, there are some people in my parish that might be interested in your prayer group also!

Dear Marko,

What wonderful suggestions!

I'll start doing up a proposal with these in mind immediately.

Would you forgive me if I didn't post here for a while and instead focused on this?

Alex

Alex,

Last night on EWTN Fr. Groeschel (sp?) was talking about his Prayer Apostlate the Oratorium based on St. Catherine of Genoa. It was interesting. Does the Ukrainian Church have an office to oversee lay groups with models & and guide lines? On the show Fr. said something that made a impact on me. He said that because of the recent scandals Priests in general are suffering from a low morale,depression etc. A good prayer Apostlate to start would be one for our Priests,Bishops,Seminarians and other Religious. It could based around the feast of the Annunciation since they said yes as the Theotokos did and not really knowing where it would take them. A card designed to send to a particular Priest or etc to say you are remembering them in your prayers or your group is remembering them in their prayers also to thank them for entering the clergy or religious life.Activites for promoting religious life centered around the feast of Annunciation. Do you have an Akathist for Clergy & Religious?
It would be good way to get the message across that it's not the gold and silver in our Churches that are treasures it is our Clergy and Religious.


Nicky's Baba

Dear Nicky's Baba,

You are just bubbling over with great ideas, aren't you, my lady?

We don't have too many depressed priests, as many are married, but anyone in the Basilian Order certainly deserves some condolences . . .

There is a special Akathist to the Annunciation (not the standard one, another one designed specifically for the feast).

There is also an Akathist to the Icon of Our Lady of Zhirovits that should be translated into English and Ukrainian - and I'll get right on that!

Thank you!

Alex

SLAVA ISUSU CHRISTU!
SLAVA NA VIKI BOHU!

Hi Alex!

For the Feast Day, why not plan a "covered dish" dinner where people sign-up and bring their "speciality"; enough for say 8 people. Oh, make sure you have the list split into meat, veggies, salads & deserts so you don't get 300 deserts and only one tray of kolbass and holubci.

You could also get the "ladies" to make medovniki for the Feast too!

just some other thoughts...

marko

ps
can you send me a jpg or line-drawing of the Ikon...

pps
have you ever been to YEVSHAN Ukrainian store??

Dear Marko,

Great ideas - thanks, Big Guy!

Never been to Yevshan - but have heard great things about it.

Here is the icon:

[URL=http://www.prilutsk.mrezha.ru

Go to the "Zhirovitska Icon."

Alex

My apologies Alex I digress!

Nicky's Baba

Alex,
I don't know if this would work logistically, but the Eparchy of Parma has had a "traveling icon" a few times in past years: one for the Marian year, one prior to an eparchial convocation, and more recently one for vocations. A large icon traveled to each parish of the eparchy (a different parish each month for a year--time to get the icon from one place to the next)and people from the other parishes were invited to come and pray a special moleben for the specific intention.
When you get the Akathist to the Icon of Our Lady of Zhirovits translated, maybe you could do that as a kick-off for your Apostolate. It gave each parish a chance to extend hospitality, and it gave people the opportunity to visit different parishes.

Lory

Dear Lory,

What a wonderful idea!

The travelling icon is also popular in the city of Briansk in Russia.

The grandson of St Michael, Prince of Chernihiv, St Oleh of Briansk, was going blind and he asked the Fathers of the Kyivan Caves Lavra to send him their icon of the Kyivan Caves Mother of God.

They didn't want to send him their original so they made a copy and touched it to the original hoping to be forgiven for all their "MONK-ying" around with the request . . .

When the icon came to Briansk, they touched it to St Oleh's eyes and he had his vision restored.

They take the icon in procession to another house each Sunday there, and they decorate the path the icon will take with ribbons and flowers etc.!

A travelling icon of Zhirovits is a great idea and we have a portable icon that could do for this purpose.

An iconographer is redoing the Church and he will also write an icon of the Zhirovits Mother of God behind the altar.

The parish also has some members who are former residents of the Belarusyan city of Zhirovits itself - and who participated in the Orthodox pilgrimage there!

The association, truth be told, will be open to both Catholics and Orthodox.

Special thanks to the Administrator for reviewing my proposal and making some very good comments.

(Administrator, I guess I'm not as "Eastern" as I like to think I am, eh? )

Nicky's Baba - I thought about your idea about an Akathist for our priests and I hope to write one with your concerns in mind. They are important, definitely not off topic, since the prayer apostolate we are organizing will definitely pray for priests.

What you said shows you carry their sufferings in your own heart.

Alex

Dear Friends,

Thanks be to you all for all your helpful suggestions and comments.

Thanks especially to our revered Administrator for his comments on my draft proposal.

The thing has now gone to the Bishop for his reflection and approval.

I'll let you know what Vladyka says and where we'll be going with this.

God bless,

Alex

Dear Friends,

SUCCESS!!

Yesterday I received a formal letter from Vladyka Cornelius in which he ever so kindly approved this association, blessed it, and encouraged our work with it.

He said I could go ahead with the formation of the statutes, he approved the Akathist work ( ) and again encouraged with everything!!!

I must add that Vladyka Cornelius is of the most revered Basilian Order . . . hey, my nose seems to be growing for some reason . . .

I wanted to publicly thank Vladyka for his kindness, support and encouragement in this respect - I'll get right down to it and start delegating responsibilities like a true parish organizer .

I also wanted to thank our Administrator for his advice - on the association - and for reviewing and revamping the proposed statutes.

I want to thank everyone here for your ideas - I've included them ALL for the bishop and I can assure you we will do our utmost to implement every single last one of them.

Most Holy Mother of God of Zhyrovitsi - save us!

Alex

Dear Dr Roman,

How does one go about joining this Apostlate?

Dear akemner,

"Alex" is my name, Big Guy!

I don't take anyone's pulse - unless they absolutely insist!

I'm working on the statutes right now and we will have open membership.

I'll let you know and, if you wish, you may certainly join with us in devotion to Our Lady of Zhirovitsi!

Alex

Dear Friends,

Our parish has moved one more step closer with respect to our Association!

I'm preparing a general talk on the veneration of the miraculous icons of the Mother of God for the parish, and on the history of the Zhyrovitsi icon in particular.

A large icon of Zhyrovitsi is being written on the wall directly behind the altar in the parish.

It's all so very exciting!

Thanks again to the Administrator, especially since a number of his earlier comments proved very helpful in getting this thing started - and thanks to you all!

Alex the Ecstatic