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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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royalexaminer.com - On Sunday, June 4, Front Royal is going to be honored by a visit from the Most Reverend Borys Gudziak, the Metropolitan-Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy (archdiocese) of Philadelphia. The Archbishop will be in town to consecrate the Ukrainian Catholic Church of Saints Joachim and Anna, located at 1396 Linden Street in Front Royal.
Saints Joachim and Anna began in 2015 as a mission of the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington, D.C., and acquired the Linden Street property in November 2021.
The parish, which currently has 41 registered households, is served by Administrator Fr. Robert Hitchens, originally of Pennsylvania, and parochial vicar Fr. Andrii Chornopyskyi, originally of Ukraine, who take turns driving out from D. C. Divine Liturgy is Sunday at 10:30 a.m., preceded by Confession.
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On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the historic meeting of their predecessors, Pope Saint Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III, 11.05.2023
vatican.va - This morning, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis received in audience His Holiness Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the historic meeting of their predecessors, Pope Saint Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III (1973-2023). After the private meeting and the presentation of the delegations, before the exchange of gifts, both delivered an address. At the end, the Holy Father and the Patriarch Tawadros proceeded to the Redemptoris Mater Chapel for a moment of joint prayer.
The following is the address delivered by the Pope during the meeting:
Address of the Holy Father
Your Holiness! Dear brothers in Christ!
“This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it!”. It was with this Paschal acclamation, fifty years ago, that Pope Saint Paul VI welcomed your venerable predecessor, Pope Shenouda III, to Saint Peter’s Basilica. It is with the same acclamation that I welcome you today, beloved brother and dear friend Tawadros. I thank you from my heart for accepting my invitation to commemorate together the jubilee of this historic event in 1973, as well as the tenth anniversary of our first meeting in 2013.
In the ecumenical journey, it is important always to look ahead. Cultivating in the heart a healthy impatience and an ardent desire for unity, we must be, like the apostle Paul, "straining forward to what lies ahead” (cf. Phil 3:13), and continually asking ourselves, “Quanta est nobis via?” – How far do we still have to go? However, it is also necessary to remember, especially in times of discouragement, to rejoice in the path already travelled and to draw on the fervour of the pioneers who have gone before us. Looking ahead and remembering. Yet, it is undoubtedly all the more incumbent on us to look up, to thank the Lord for the steps we have taken and to beseech Him to give us the gift of the longed-for unity.
To thank and to supplicate. This is the purpose of our commemoration today. The meeting of our Predecessors, which took place in Rome from 9 to 13 May 1973, marked a historic milestone in relations between the See of Saint Peter and the See of Saint Mark. It was the first meeting between a Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church and a Bishop of Rome. It also marked the end of a theological dispute dating back to the Council of Chalcedon, thanks to the signing on 10 May 1973 of a memorable joint Christological declaration, which later served as an inspiration for similar agreements with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches.
The meeting led to the creation of the joint international commission between the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church, which in 1979 adopted the pioneering Principles to guide the search for unity between the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church, signed by Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Shenouda III, which stated in prophetic words that “the unity we envision does not mean the absorption of one by the other or the domination of one over the other. It is at the service of each one to help him or her better live out the specific gifts he or she has received from the Spirit of God”.
This joint Commission then opened the way to the birth of a fruitful dialogue between the Catholic Church and the entire family of eastern Orthodox Churches, which held its first meeting in 2004 in Cairo, hosted by His Holiness Shenouda. I thank the Coptic Orthodox Church for its commitment to this theological dialogue. I am also grateful to His Holiness for the fraternal attention he continues to pay to the Coptic Catholic Church, proximity that found praiseworthy expression in the creation of the National Council of Christian Churches in Egypt.
As can be seen, the meeting of our distinguished Predecessors has never ceased to fear fruit in the journey of our Churches towards full communion. It is also in remembrance of the 1973 meeting that Your Holiness came to me for the first time on 10 May 2013, a few months after your enthronement and a few weeks after the beginning of my pontificate. On that occasion, you proposed to celebrate every 10 May as the “Day of friendship between Copts and Catholics”, which since then is punctually celebrated by our Churches.
When speaking of friendship, I am reminded of the famous eighth-century Coptic icon depicting the Lord resting his hand on the shoulder of his friend, the holy monk Mena of Egypt. This icon is sometimes called the “icon of friendship” because the Lord seems to want to accompany his friend and walk with him. Similarly, the bonds of friendship between our Churches are rooted in the friendship of Jesus Christ Himself with all His disciples whom He calls "friends" (cf. Jn 15:15), and whom He accompanies on their journey, as He did with the pilgrims of Emmaus.
In this journey of friendship we are also accompanied by the martyrs, who testify that "no one has greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends" (Jn 15:13). I have no words to express my gratitude for the precious gift of a relic of the Coptic martyrs killed in Libya on 15 February 2015. These martyrs were baptized not only in water and the Spirit, but also in blood, with a blood that is a seed of unity for all followers of Christ. I am pleased to announce today that, with Your Holiness' consent, these twenty-one martyrs will be included in the Roman Martyrology as a sign of the spiritual communion uniting our two Churches.
May the prayers of the Coptic martyrs, united with those of the Theotokos, continue to make our Churches grow in friendship, until the blessed day when we will be able to celebrate together at the same altar and commune with the same Body and Blood of the Saviour, “that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21)!
Thank you.
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Newly-consecrated Bishop François Beyrouti, the head of the Melkite Greek Eparchy of Newton, USA, talks with Vatican News about the Eastern Catholic Churches and about his own particular Church in the United States.
vaticannews.va - By Christopher Wells
With more than 1.5 million faithful, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church is one of the largest Eastern Churches in union with Rome. The Melkite Church traces its roots back to the ancient See of Antioch, where the followers of Christ were first called Christians.
“We’re proud to say that we sent Peter over to Rome,” says Bishop François Beyrouti, the newly-consecrated bishop of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton, USA, referring to the tradition that St Peter was Bishop of Antioch for seven years before going to the Eternal City.
Bishop Beyrouti was speaking in an interview with Vatican News during his own visit to Rome earlier this month, where he met with Pope Francis.
He described the shared Petrine foundation as “a great witness to the ties between the city of Rome and the city of Antioch, but also a celebration of our Apostolic Faith that, although started in Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome [is] now spread throughout the entire world, which is kind of our mission in the United States,” serving the “new world.”
Click here to read full story with photos at vaticannews.va.
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From the Protection of the Mother of God Greek Catholic church, in Budapest, Hungary, Pope Francis’ visit to the Greek Catholic community:
YouTube Video LInk: https://youtu.be/3XLD5ckekCM
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vaticannews.va - In an Apostolic Letter issued in the form of a 'Motu proprio', Pope Francis amends the Canon Law of the Oriental Churches by providing that the bishops emeritus who have reached the age of 80 will no longer be able to vote in the Episcopal Synods of which they are members, though the rule does not apply to those who are already in office.
With a new Motu Proprio published on Monday, Pope Francis has modified the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches to exclude bishops who are members of the their respective Synods of Bishops from voting decisions after they have reached the age of eighty.
The Pope’s decision meets a longstanding request made by "some Patriarchs, Major Archbishops and Bishops", as reads the title of the Motu proprio “Iam pridem” ("For some time now", in Latin)
The Apostolic Letter, explains that the change was needed because of "the difficulties that have emerged in the Synods of Bishops of the Patriarchal Churches and Major Archiepiscopal Churches, due to the number of Bishops Emeritus who participate in them with an active voice, especially in the election of the Bishops and of the Heads and Fathers of their respective sui iuris (autonomous, ed.) Churches”.
These difficulties have prompted the heads of these Churches to ask for a new regulation which Pope Francis ordered in the Motu Proprio he signed on Sunday, April 16, which modifies Canons 66, § 1, 102, 149 and 183 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
The text specifies that the new legislation, which will come into force in a month's time, "will not apply" to the "Patriarchs, Major Archbishops, Eparchial Bishops and Exarchs” currently in office "despite them having reached the age of eighty".
17 April 2023, 17:15 By Vatican news staff writer
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vatican.va - The Holy Father has erected the apostolic administration for faithful of Byzantine rite in Belarus, appointing the Reverend Archimandrite Jan Sergiusz Gajek, M.I.C., until now apostolic visitator for the same faithful, as apostolic administrator without episcopal rank of the same ecclesiastical circumscription.
Curriculum vitae
The Reverend Archimandrite Jan Sergiusz Gajek, M.I.C., was born on 8 February 1949 in Łyszkowice, Poland. In 1963 he received his middle school diploma in Łyszkowice, and four years later, he graduated from high school in Łowicz. He subsequently entered the Congregation of Marian Clerics, assuming the monastic name Sergiusz.
From 1967 to 1974 he studied at the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Lublin and later at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, where he was awarded a doctorate in 1983. On 15 August 1973 he gave his religious vows in the Congregation of Marian Clerics, and was ordained a priest on 23 June the following year.
After ordination he provided pastoral service in the Latin parish of Głuchołazy, and collaborated with the Byzantine parish of Kostomłoty. From 1983 to 1999 he taught theology of the Eastern Churches at the Ecumenical Institute of the Catholic University of Lublin. In 1993, Pope John Paul II appointed him apostolic visitator for the Greek-Catholic faithful in Belarus. In 1996, he was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite.
Historical background on the Catholic communities of the Byzantine rite in Belarus
The Catholic community of the Byzantine rite in Belarus is heir to the union of Brest, dating back to 1596.
In 1798, the eparchy of Minsk (of the Ruthenians) was erected, which, in 1839, was impeded, but was never suppressed. The Pontifical Yearbook mentioned it until 1924. In 1939 the Belarusian Exarchate was erected by Metropolitan Andriy Sheptysky, archbishop of Lviv, who was confirmed as apostolic administrator by Pope Pius XII in 1941. This office remained vacant in 1943. In 1988, the faithful began to reorganize, continuing with the civil registration of parishes. Since 1993 they have been entrusted to the pastoral care of the Most Reverend Archimandrite Sergiusz Gajek, M.IC., as apostolic visitator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis.
There are currently about 5,000 faithful, organized in 16 parishes and assisted by 16 priests and 3 deacons. There are 4 seminarians.
30.03.2023