This week is a very special week in the Eastern Orthodox religions including Ukrainian Orthodox with it being holy week that leads up to the celebration of Pascha, Orthodox Easter, on Sunday.
The Orthodox Easter Holy week will be filled with services taking place at St George’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Dauphin every day starting Wednesday and running through Paschal Sunday.
The holy week starts off with the Holy Unction service on Wednesday evening at 7 pm and Father Brent Kuzyk explains what the Holy Unction is.
That is a service where the priest will bless holy oil in the church and then all the faithful come forward and are anointed on the forehead with that holy oil to signify that their sins have been remitted.
Then on Thursday evening at 7 pm, the church will host the reading of the 12 passion gospels of Christ.
On Friday evening at 6 pm, there will be the service of the Holy Shroud.
We journey through with Christ and the apostles the taking down of Christ’s body from the cross, wrapping it in a shroud and carrying it to a tomb.
On Saturday Father Brent will be journeying through the district blessing baskets in different parishes around the Parkland.
The holy week will wrap up on Sunday and Father Brent explains the services on Sunday morning.
Sunday morning at 7am we greet the newly risen sun with the words that the son of righteousness has arisen, that Christ has resurrected from the dead. Travelling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing the gift of life. Then of course journeying through the Divine Liturgy at 8am.
Father Brent said that this year’s holy week and Pascha will be an extra special one with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
We are standing with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and throughout the world who are suffering, never to be silenced but to sing loudly with the angels in heaven that Christ has resurrected from the dead. Therefore life, even in in the midst of all chaos, life reigns over everything.
