The following is a translation of a homily His Beatitude Patriarch Sviatoslav delivered on Wednesday, February 12th during the 10th anniversary celebration of the Three Holy Hierarchs seminary near Kyiv. His Beatitude's message struck a deeply anti-consumerist, distinctly communitarian, and perhaps harshly critical tone for our liberal world order. To an American ear, the Ukrainian politics of federalization ring true with the partisan ideal of state’s rights and republicanis

A few weeks ago, those of us who compose our mission group in Chicago, St Mary of Egypt Social Justice Fellowship , were talking about sainthood.  I'm not perfect enough to be a saint , one of us said, and our leader, the inimitable Julian Hayda , replied,  Well, that's why we are named after St Mary of Egypt . The point of sainthood, he reminded us, is that we are not perfect. Anyone who ever became holy has come out of a life of sin, of having the passions completely overwh

St. Mary of Egypt exemplifies our vision of social justice for many reasons. Not only did she overcome profane human desire in search of spiritual fulfillment, she did so through acts of generosity and humility. She was born in Egypt, and at the age of twelve began to live a life of debauchery in Alexandria, where she spent seventeen years in this perverted way of life. Driven by the adulterous flame of the flesh, she one day boarded a boat which was sailing for Jerusalem. Ar

The following is an excerpt from the homily delivered by His Beatitude Patriarch Sviatoslav at the Enthronement of Bishop Benedict as the Fifth Bishop of Chicago on the Feast of St. Peter and Paul, June 29th, 2018 "But at the same moment, at the same time, Apostle Paul was saying to us that [our Church] has a specific characteristic because it unites people not only of Ukrainian background or origins. We pray and celebrate the Divine Liturgy both in English and in Ukrainian.