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BY DAVID SINGLETON (STAFF WRITER) Published: March 12, 2014

Olyphant, PA - As he eulogized Monsignor Stephen Hrynuck, Archbishop Stefan Soroka repeatedly used the word "beloved."

The more than 200 parishioners who gathered for a funeral Divine Liturgy at SS. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church to pay their last respects to their retired pastor would no doubt have seconded the description.

With solemn prayer and song and the pealing of bells, SS. Cyril and Methodius on Tuesday bid farewell to the priest who guided the parish for 57 years until his retirement in 2008.

Archbishop Soroka, leader of the Archeparchy for Philadelphia and metropolitan for Ukrainians in the United States, reminded the congregation during his homily that Monsignor Hrynuck's parents wanted him to study to be a physician.

"He honored his parents' request. He became a physician of souls," the archbishop said.

Monsignor Hrynuck, a Philadelphia native who was ordained to the priesthood in 1938, died Thursday at age 102. He spent more than half his life ministering at SS. Cyril and Methodius, where he baptized more than 2,000 babies and married more than 800 couples.

Read the full story at The Times-Tribune.