Ukrainian Catholic ChurchAustralia, New Zealand and Oceania
“It is very important for us to restore the meaning of Sunday.” Bishop Mykola Bychok
April 1, 2024
On Sunday, March 31, the Feast of the Bright Resurrection of Christ, Bishop Mykola Bychok, Eparch of Melbourne, headed the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in the Melbourne Cathedral.
The service began with the Easter Matins, and then Bishop Mykola, in the co-service of the clergy of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, Fr. Peter Struk, Fr. Myroslav Vons, Protodeacon Edward Kostraby, Deacon Michael Zylan, and Deacon Vasyl Motrichenko, performed the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy.
During the Liturgy, the clergy present read the Gospel in five languages: Greek, Latin, Church Slavonic, Ukrainian, and English, which, as Bishop Mykola later emphasised in his homily, “Is evidence that the rumour about Christ’s Resurrection has spread throughout the world, and today all nations have access to this divine message. The message that God wanted to convey through Jesus Christ, through his death, and on the third day of the Resurrection was to show that a person in this world is not alone; he is not abandoned because God is with him.”
Bishop Mykola explained to the faithful the meaning of each day of the week for Christians, focusing special attention on the meaning of Sunday. “Christ is Risen on Sunday, and that is why for Christians, after the Resurrection of Christ, Holy Sunday is a very important day. Often, for us, Sunday is like the last day of the week, which we use in order to do all the things that we did not have time to do on other days. Often, this Sunday day loses its original meaning. But for Christians, Sunday is the first day, and the week begins on Sunday. So today it is very important for us to restore the meaning of Sunday, because every Sunday, and there are more than 50 of them during the year, we remember Christ’s Resurrection. We give honour and praise to Christ, who came into this world and redeemed the human race from sin. This is why we, as Christians, must understand the meaning of Sunday. On Sunday, a bloodless sacrifice takes place; on Sunday, during the Liturgy, we seem to cross the entire path of Jesus Christ.”
At the end of his homily, the Bishop called on all those present to pray for Ukraine and for the entire Ukrainian people. “Today we unite in prayer with Ukraine. On this day of Christ’s Resurrection, we pray to the Risen Christ to help Ukraine, to bring this just peace as soon as possible, where the enemy will be punished and Ukraine will be justified.”
After the Liturgy, children and adults had a wonderful opportunity to lead traditional Ukrainian Easter games, Haivky, which were organised by the sisters of the Order of Saint Basil the Great in the courtyard of the church.
