Ukraine churches provide shelter to victims of Putin's War

Litany for Ukraine: Holy saints and martyrs, pray for peace.

Echo report published by Karol Wojteczek in Aleteia:  

Families taking cover in our rectory: A priest reports from Ukraine during the unprovoked #PutinWar.

"This is not a war against Ukraine, but a war in the heart of Europe. We are all under attack. It is a war against the whole world."

“This is not a war against Ukraine, but a war in the heart of Europe. We are all under attack. It is a war against the whole world. Pray for us as we wait for good news, news of peace, because God is with us and is our greatest strength. We pray that He will convert hearts and crush them with the power of peace, not weapons,” Fr. Sergiei Palamarchuk, pastor of the Greek Catholic parish in Lisichansk in the Luhansk region, said in an interview with the Italian agency SIR.

The problem is that we know where to flee from, but we don’t know where to go.

According to SIR, the priest — speaking by phone — was on his way from Muratov to Lisichansk. He was bringing with him several families seeking shelter in his rectory. “Right now we are fleeing Muratov because there are too many weapons there. We see military vehicles, we hear the sounds of bombing and mortar shelling. The situation here was already not safe,” the priest said.

Stand With Ukraine: Підтримуйте Україну Pidtrymuyte Ukrayinu

“Many families have fled in cars, and we are the last ones to leave the area. Some, however, have stayed because they don’t know where to go. The problem is that we know where to flee from, but we don’t know where to go. We are getting bad news about Kiev, Kharkiv, so no city is safe at the moment. When we get to my house in Lisichansk, we will have to think about what to do and where to go,” the parish priest reported.

Thank you for your prayers and please pray for us. 

Do not stop praying for us.

Despite the difficulties in continuing the conversation, Fr. Sergei reconnected to deliver an appeal for prayers through the media.

“Thank you for your prayers and please pray for us. Do not stop praying for us. This is the greatest and most important thing. And one more thing. We must understand that this is not a war against Ukraine, but a war in the heart of Europe. We are all under attack. It is a war against the whole world. Pray for us as we wait for the good news to come, the news of peace, because God is with us and God is our greatest strength. We pray that he will convert hearts and humble them with the power of peace and not weapons,” the priest stressed.

According to the information reported by the media and confirmed repeatedly by Ukrainian services, fighting and evacuation of the population are ongoing in the Luhansk district.

Gregorian Calendar - Happy Easter 2015

Easter is the reason we have a Gregorian calendar.

I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, in a family where my mother celebrated Easter with the Roman Catholic traditions on the Gregorian calendar date, while my Greek Catholic father retained the Julian calendar holiday celebration day.  

Greek Catholic's celebrate Holy Days with their Christian Orthodox neighbors, mostly evident in Eastern Europe and Russia.  

My father was a Ukranian.
Huffington Post reports:

By the 16th century, scholars had realized that the Roman Empire’s Julian calendar was out of sync with the solar year -- and that Easter was falling further away from the spring equinox. 

In an effort to close the gap, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar. But because of old religious rivalries, Protestants in Europe were dead set against the change. It wasn’t until 1752 that England adopted the Gregorian calendar. On that day, the country skipped forward 11 days overnight, going from Wednesday, September 2, to Thursday, September 14. The Gregorian calendar is still the most widely used civil calendar today.

Eastern Orthodox churches still use the Julian calendar to calculate religious holidays. As a result, while most of the Western world will celebrate Easter on April 5 this year, Orthodox churches are celebrating on April 12.

Happy Easter continues through next week and until Pentacost!