UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE USA
CONSISTORY OFFICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
PRESS RELEASE

St. Andrew Cathedral in Metropolitan Washington, DC Celebrates Feast Day!

Every year the feast day at St Andrew’s is a source of deep spiritual rejuvenation and unity. Like every year for the past eight years His Eminence Archbishop Antony is at the center of this parish celebration. As cathedral arch-pastor he always cares for the well being of the parish and that is seen and appreciated by the parish. On Sunday morning Fr. Volodymyr Steliac (cathedral pastor), Fr. Protopresbyter Hrehorij Podhurec, Rev. Protodeacon Sviatoslav Nowytski, Fr. Vasyl Kryshtompol from St. Michael parish in Baltimore, with the parish council Val Zabijaka, Parish Sisterhood Nadia Kolesnyk and Sonia Krawec, parish youth, and a full church warmly greeted their spiritual father. Even though just hours before the Liturgy we had a three inches of snow, the church was full and eager to celebrate the feast of St. Andrew the First Called Apostle.

At the beginning of the Divine Liturgy His Eminence ordained Fernando Melnychenko as Subdeacon. As always His Eminence delivered a profound sermon, reflecting upon the spiritual and historical legacy of Ukrainian Orthodoxy in the modern age. The combination of the archpastoral guidance and parish community's efforts to welcome everyone, and the presence of the local clergy with a dozen altar servers, the exceptional choir, led by Greg Oleynik, and the multitude of parishioners and guests from local parishes and the Ukrainian Embassy made one feel as if in heaven.

After the Divine Liturgy we proceeded to the newly remodeled hall where His Eminence prayed and blessed the hall. The abundance of appetizers, dinner entree comprised of fresh salmon stuffed with crab meat, sides and home made tortes were out of this world. This was due to our very active Sisterhood led by energetic Nadia Kolesnyk and Panimatka Marta with the help of many others. During the program, skillfully conducted by Julia Lomatsky, our Cathedral choir sang a couple of religious peaces that were angelically delivered. Jurko Ivanenko and Danylko Steliac played their violins and were beautifully accompanied on the piano by their violin teacher Solomia Gorochivska.

His Eminence presented the “Parishioner of the Year” and “Lifetime Achievement” awards. The “Parishioner of the Year” hramota was presented by Archbishop Antony to Dr. Tamara Woroby. She contributed abundantly during past year, being involved in many parish organizations and especially in the Parish Council, where she has served as secretary for the past eight years. The “Lifetime Achievement” hramota was presented to Mrs. Halyna Petrenko who has been involved in perhaps all our parish organizations and is especially a “go-to” person when it comes to Ukrainian culture and events that have been part of the fabric of the St. Andrew community. Mrs. Petrenko has also served our church on the national level as president of the national Ukrainian Sisterhood and as editor in chief of its famous publications.

As the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA is currently in the building phase of its new museum, and St. Andrew Cathedral wanted to show our moral and financial support to this effort. A fund raising was organized by the parish, and in some twenty minutes the parish handed His Eminence Archbishop Antony approximately $35,000. Fr. Vlodymyr said to His Eminence, “We not only believe in our Ukrainian Orthodoxy, not only believe in our culture, we have collected these funds because we believe in you. Our community wants to thank you for sacrificing so much not only for our church but for our heritage that has always been embedded in culture and culture in our heritage.” St. Andrew continues to collect funds and will continue to be supportive of our Church and her  leaders.