The link below is to the Archeparchy which will channel the funds to Ukraine. (Via PayPal) Online Donation to Ukraine
People can mail checks to our church as well. Make the check out to Nativity Church
and in the memo line write Ukraine.
From Father Richard: One type of question I get all the time from people who call and are thinking of donating:
"Where is this money going and how will it be spent?" because they are suspicious about
administration costs and potential misuse of donations. The newsletter link below has tons of
very helpful information (even though some of the videos are only in Ukrainian.)
We hope this will make people feel much
better about their giving, and it will help connect them more with the fruit of
their giving. Link to Newsletter
Today's letter from Patriarch Sviatoslav (courtesy of Paul and Michelle Warila)
From His Beatitude Patriarch Sviatoslav
English translation of His Beatitude, Sviatoslav of Kyiv and Halych,
Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church this morning from Kyiv:
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Today is Saturday, February 26, and the sun is rising over Kyiv, over Ukrainian Kyiv, over Kyiv that is triumphing, over Kyiv that has survived another night, a night blessed by God.
Allow me to address all of you with a word of greeting, a word of blessing, and a word of thanks.
First of all, allow me to pass on to you the words of greeting and support from the Holy Father, Francis, who called me himself yesterday in order to express his support. He said literally the following words: "Farò tutto che é possibile." (I will do everything possible.) Of course, to stop the war, so that innocent people do not die, so that Ukraine has the opportunity to develop freely. I would like every to be thankful to the Holy Father, because the whole global community is mobilizing itself in our support.
I would like to thank everyone today who in the last few days have sent me letters of support and solidarity with Ukraine, with the Ukrainian people, and with our Church.
I would like to thank the Bishops’ Conference of Europe and its president, the archbishop of Vilinius, archbishop Gintaras Grušas, as well as the bishops of Poland, Germany, France, England, Italy, USA, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, but it was particularly pleasant for me to receive a letter from the all the Catholic bishops of Kazakhstan expressing their support for our Ukraine and expressing their unity with our people in prayer.
To all those who are supporting Ukraine in various ways, in the name of our people, in the name of our state, in the name of besieged Kyiv, in whose streets battles are taking place, let me say a sincere “thank you.”
They say that when artillery speaks, muses are silent. Let the muses remain silent, but we Christians, we people, have no right to be silent.
In these moments when blood is being poured out on the land of Ukraine,
when the words of Patriarch Joseph are being repeated, mountains of bodies and rivers of blood, in our cities and all the shores of the Dnipro river, from the borders with Belarus, to the shores of the Black Sea, no one has the right to be silent, because with a word, lives can be saved. But silence can kill.
I ask all those who heard our voice from Kyiv flowing with blood: fight for peace. Intercede for those who require your aid. Do everything so that the aggressor retreat and leave the land of Ukraine. Whoever you may be, whether you are leaders in parliament, politicians, military personnel or church leaders, do you work, say your word to support Ukraine.
I would particularly like to thank His All Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew, who expressed his concern for my personal wellbeing here in Kyiv and shared his brotherly support and prayer. We see that in the face of death, in the face of brutal military force, every church schism and division falls, and we all unite in the name of God and the good of the person.
I want to thank all our bishops, especially those who are in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, all our priests who are in besieged cities and serve the Ukrainian people, who open their homes, who open their churches, their cellars, to all our monastic communities, to our seminaries, who open their buildings and residences to all those in need today.
I also would like to thank all our brothers and sisters, all our faithful, our bishops, our monastics, on the territory of Western and Central Ukraine. Today there are tens of hundreds of thousands of refugees moving in your direction. Accept them in the name of Christ, as emissaries of God. “He who accepts you accepts me,” said the Lord to His Apostles. In the name of God, receive those who knock at the door of your homes.
In this dramatic but heroic time, let us continue to pray.
Today, on this Saturday, we celebrate the Universal Commemoration of the Dead, and we especially pray for our soldiers who gave their lives for Ukraine, especially in these last days. We embrace in prayer the border guards of Snake Island in the Black Sea, our hero who with the price of his own life stopped Russian armies at Kherson by blowing up with himself a bridge across the Dnipro. Today the Ukrainian land and Ukrainian people are giving birth to many such heroes. We pray for all those who gave their lives for Ukraine. We pray for the innocent victims among the civilian population: women, children, the elderly. Today we commend to God’s hands all those who have already departed this world and ask that the Lord receive them in His embrace.
Ukraine is conquering. Ukraine is fighting. But we ask the world today to be in solidarity with us and not to remain silent, because the word saves, the word builds peace. Silence and indifference kill.
From our golden-domed, holy city of Kyiv, the new Jerusalem, with my whole heart, I impart to you my blessing, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Nativity of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church
Nativity Parish is an Eastern Catholic parish which celebrates
the Byzantine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
Fr. Richard Janowicz, Pastor rjano@aol.com
Cantors: Joe Escobar, Jeremy Morton
704 Aspen Street
Springfield, Oregon 97477
541-726-7309
"We believe that the venerable and ancient tradition of the Eastern Churches
is an integral part of the heritage of Christ's Church . . .
the first need for Catholics is to be familiar with that tradition..."
- Pope John Paul II, Orientale Lumen, "Light of the East" (1995)
"That the Eastern Catholic Churches and their
venerable traditions may be known and esteemed as a spiritual treasure for the whole Church."
- Pope Benedict XVI, Prayer Intention for November 2011
"Your meeting, organized under the aegis of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe,
is a sign of the rich ritual variety of the Catholic Church on this continent,
which is not limited to the Latin tradition. Among you, I see many who represent
the different Churches of the Byzantine tradition and many from beloved Ukraine."
- Pope Francis, Address to Eastern Catholic Bishops
of Europe (2019)
Brethren:
Peter said, “Just then three men appeared at the house where we were, who had been sent to me from Caesarea. The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He related to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying, ‘Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, who will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’ As I began to speak, the holy Spirit fell upon them as it had upon us at the beginning, and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?” When they heard this, they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying, “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose because of Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but Jews. There were some Cypriots and Cyrenians among them, however, who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The news about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the holy Spirit and faith. And a large number of people was added to the Lord. Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
So the disciples determined that, according to ability, each should send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea. This they did, sending it to the presbyters in care of Barnabas and Saul.
Gospel: John 4:5-42
Jesus had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the well is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.”
At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?” The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” They went out of the town and came to him. Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”
Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”
