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http://dailyherald.com/article/20101114/news/711159915/

Ukrainian patriarch visits Bloomingdale

By Marco Santana

Chicago Daily Herald
11/14/2010

A $2.5 million renovation and addition to the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Bloomingdale is still months away from completion. But on Sunday, it received a little divine support.

Patriarch Filaret, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, paid a visit to the center and blessed its cornerstone.

Filaret was in town as part of a national tour, during which he has called on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to relinquish control of Ukraine's orthodoxy.

The religious struggle is seeded in political battles that have simmered beneath the surface since Ukraine declared its independence from Russia in 1991, said Taras Konowal, vice president of the St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church parish's council.

"The church has become an important part of keeping Ukraine's independence," Konowal said. "Without our own church, there is no nation."

The visit coincides with the 40th anniversary of the parish, which began in Downers Grove and moved to Lombard before finding its permanent home in Bloomingdale in 1976. Last year, the patriarch, who is the church's equivalent of the Catholic Pope, also visited the parish.

"To have him come builds unity of the people here that still believe the Ukraine will continue to be the Ukraine and not become a part of Russia," Konowal said. "Because of what's going on there, the Ukrainian people depend on people outside of the Ukraine."

Filaret visited Washington D.C., Florida and the east coast in an effort to build support for the Ukraine Orthodox Church. The church has 20 million followers worldwide, Konowal said.

As part of the weekend's festivities, Filaret officiated Sunday's liturgy and spent time with parishioners and officials throughout the weekend.

Konowal said the visit and religious services lend more credence to the church's authority, a credibility he said comes from within the church.

"The legitimacy is all politics," Konowal said. "We don't need legitimacy from somebody else. We have legitimacy from Jesus. We are a church."

[Photo caption:
The leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv, visited St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Bloomingdale Sunday during his three-week visit to bring awareness to the political injustice happening in his country.]

For a moment, I thought he had gone shopping.

While in Chicago, Patriarch Filaret visited Ss V&O UGCC and St Nicholas UGCC Cathedral, as well as the Cathedral's Ukrainian Studies School. In Bloomingdale, he also presided at a panachyda honoring victims of the Holodomor at St. Andrew’s UOC. Clergy from St Joseph UGCC and Ss V&O were present for the latter, as was the Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in L'viv.

Many years,

Neil

Please, let us not allow this thread to degenerate into a polemic or political screed as has been the case on another board. Thanks!

Agreed, David. And I apologize if my post seemed likely or intended to evoke that. I was actually seeking to note the unity of the Ukrainian communities in Chicago in addressing their common interests, both in preservation of their culture and remembering a historical tragedy that affected them as a people, regardless of the temple in which they worship.

Many years,

Neil

Neil

At the risk of prolonging this discussion, I believe the intent of your post was perfectly clear. Given the fragmentation of Ukrainian Christianity and the accompanying hostility among the parties the unity shown in this event is speaks to both the cause for the celebration and the openness of the participants to some forms of unity.

It is beyond me how anyone could interpret your post as negative in anyway, but offense is often in the mind of the offended. I believe the David's appeal was a generic reaction to what he read on another forum and not referencing your post at all.

I pray every thread in these forums avoids polemic and displays of animosity.

JimG is right. There is a discussion(?), if you want to dignify it by calling it so, on another board that has gone down the proverbial rabbit hole on this topic and I was just expressing my hopes that we would not fall into the same sorry place. No offense at all meant to Neil. Thanks!

I was present and I must say what a wonderful event. To see UOC-KP and UOCC serve together in a Panachyda and see His Holiness Patriarch Filaret and Boris Gudziak embrace, it warmed my heart. I am currently working on some youtube videos on the event and will post them as soon as they are available.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been taking some giant steps forward ecumenically speaking. More and more we are relating to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Slava Bohu!!!

As is the case in the US among the Byzantine Catholic Ruthenians and ACROD. I agree, Slavu Bohu!

For a moment, I thought he had gone shopping.

I made the same silly mistake!

Fr. Serge

"You can't defect in Bloomingdales!"

:_)

pictures of Patriarch Filaret's visit to St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Bloomingdale, IL.

http://en.uockp.net/public/sv/gallery.php?ssid=9

Dear Bohdan,

Who is the bishop in the red mitre?

Blessings

I don't know the priest's name, but he is not a Bishop - he is a Mitred Archpriest and likely the pastor, or pastor emeritus of the host parish as he is pictured at the traditional greeting of a Bishop at the front of the Church. It is not uncommon among the Ukrainians for an esteemed priest to be awarded by his Bishop the privilege of wearing a Mitre in recognition of his service to the Church over his career. I am sure that Bohdan can provice the particulars.