dimanche 30 octobre 2022

Bienheureux OLEKSIY ZARYTSKYI, prêtre et martyr

 


Bienheureux Alexis Zaryckyj

Prêtre et martyr (+ 1963)

Oleksa Zaryckyj, né à Bilch en Octobre 1912, prêtre de Lvov et martyr, il fut déporté, sous le régime soviétique athée, et mourut pour la foi au camp de travail de Dolinka près de Karaganda dans le Kazakhstan le 30 octobre 1963.

Béatifié en Ukraine le 26 juin 2001 (en italien).

Au camp de travail de Dolinka près de Karaganda dans le Kazakhstan, en 1963, le bienheureux Alexis Zaryckyj, prêtre de Lwow et martyr, qui fut déporté, sous le régime soviétique athée, et mourut pour la foi.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/10557/Bienheureux-Alexis-Zaryckyj.html

Bienheureux Alexis ZARYTSKY

Nom: ZARYTSKY (ZARYCKYJ)

Prénom: Alexis (Oleksa)

Pays: Ukraine

Naissance:   .  .1912  à Bilche (Lviv)

Mort: 30.10.1963  à Dolynka (Karaganda - Kazakhstan)

Etat: Prêtre - Martyr du Groupe des 25 martyrs d'Ukraine  2

Note: Prêtre en 1936. Déporté à Karaganda de 1948 à 1957. Visiteur Apostolique du Kazakhstan et de Sibérie, mais peu de temps après il est à nouveau déporté et meurt au camp de concentration de Dolynka, près de Karaganda.

Béatification: 27.06.2001  à  Lviv (Ukraine)  par Jean Paul II

Canonisation:

Fête: 27 juin

Réf. dans l’Osservatore Romano: 2001 n.26 p.1-5  -  n.27 p.9-10  -  n.28 p.12  -  n.29 p.2.5

Réf. dans la Documentation Catholique: 2001 n.15 p.747-749

Notice

Oleska ZARYCKYJ (ZARYTSKY) naît en 1912 au village de Bilche dans la région de Lviv. En 1931 il entre au séminaire de Lviv et en 1936 il est ordonné prêtre par le métropolite André Sheptytsky. En 1948 il est emprisonné pour 10 ans et déporté à Karaganda au Kazakhstan. Après sa libération anticipée en 1957, il est nommé Administrateur Apostolique du Kazakhstan et de Sibérie, mais peu de temps après il est de nouveau emprisonné pour une peine de 3 ans. Il meurt en martyr de la foi le 30 octobre 1963 au camp de concentration de Dolynka près de Karaganda (Kazakhstan).

SOURCE : https://www.bibliotheque-monastique.ch/bibliotheque/bibliotheque/saints/hagiographie/fiches/f0561.htm

(13-15 SEPTEMBRE 2022)

DISCOURS DU SAINT-PÈRE

Cathédrale Mère de Dieu du Perpétuel Secours, Noursoultan
Jeudi 15 septembre 2022


Chers frères Évêques, chers prêtres et diacres, chers consacrés, séminaristes et agents pastoraux, bonjour !

Je suis heureux d'être ici parmi vous, de saluer la Conférence des évêques d'Asie centrale et de rencontrer une Église composée de tant de visages, d'histoires et de traditions différentes, tous unis par l'unique foi en Jésus-Christ. Monseigneur Mumbiela Sierra, que je remercie pour ses mots de salutation, a dit : « La plupart d'entre nous sont des étrangers » ; c'est vrai, car vous venez de lieux et de pays différents, mais c’est cela la beauté de l’Église : nous sommes une seule famille, dans laquelle personne n'est étranger. Je le répète : personne n'est étranger dans l'Église, nous sommes un seul Peuple saint de Dieu enrichi par de nombreux peuples ! Et la force de notre peuple sacerdotal et saint réside vraiment dans le fait de faire de la diversité une richesse en partageant ce que nous sommes et ce que nous avons : notre petitesse est multipliée si nous la partageons.

Le passage de la Parole de Dieu que nous venons d'entendre l'affirme précisément : le mystère de Dieu – dit saint Paul – a été révélé à tous les peuples. Pas seulement au peuple élu ou à une élite religieuse, mais à tous. Tout homme a accès à Dieu, car – explique l'Apôtre – toutes les nations « sont associées au même héritage, au même corps, au partage de la même promesse, dans le Christ Jésus, par l’annonce de l’Évangile » (Ep 3, 6).

Je voudrais insister sur deux mots utilisés par Paul : héritage et promesse. D'une part, une Église hérite toujours d'une histoire, elle est toujours fille d'une première annonce de l'Évangile, d'un événement qui la précède, d'autres apôtres et évangélisateurs qui l'ont fondée sur la parole vivante de Jésus ; d'autre part, elle est aussi la communauté de ceux qui ont vu la promesse de Dieu s'accomplir en Jésus et qui, en tant que fils de la résurrection, vivent dans l'espérance de l'accomplissement futur. Oui, nous sommes les destinataires de la gloire promise, qui guide notre chemin dans l’attente. Héritage et promesse : l'héritage du passé est notre mémoire, la promesse de l'Évangile est l'avenir de Dieu qui vient à notre rencontre. C'est sur cela que je voudrais m'attarder avec vous : une Église qui chemine dans l'histoire entre mémoire et avenir.

Tout d'abord, la mémoire. Si aujourd'hui, dans ce vaste pays multiculturel et multi-religieux, on peut voir des communautés chrétiennes dynamiques et un sens religieux qui traverse la vie de la population, c'est avant tout grâce à la riche histoire qui a précédé. Je pense à la diffusion du christianisme en Asie centrale, qui a eu lieu dès les premiers siècles, aux nombreux évangélisateurs et missionnaires qui se sont dépensés pour répandre la lumière de l'Évangile, fondant des communautés, des sanctuaires, des monastères et des lieux de culte. Il y a donc un héritage chrétien, œcuménique, qu'il faut honorer, et préserver, une transmission de la foi qui a eu pour protagonistes tant de gens simples, tant de grands-pères et de grands-mères, de pères et de mères. Sur le chemin spirituel et ecclésial nous ne devons pas perdre le souvenir de ceux qui nous ont annoncé la foi, car faire mémoire nous aide à développer l'esprit de contemplation pour les merveilles que Dieu a accomplies dans l'histoire, même au milieu des difficultés de la vie et des fragilités personnelles et communautaires.

Mais faisons attention : il ne s'agit pas de regarder en arrière avec nostalgie, en restant bloqué sur les choses du passé et en se laissant paralyser dans l'immobilisme : c'est la tentation du retour en arrière. Le regard chrétien, lorsqu'il se retourne pour faire mémoire, veut nous ouvrir à l'émerveillement devant le mystère de Dieu, pour remplir notre cœur de louange et de gratitude pour ce que le Seigneur a accompli. Un cœur reconnaissant, qui déborde de louanges, ne nourrit pas de regrets, mais accueille l'aujourd'hui qu'il vit comme une grâce. Et il veut se mettre en route, aller de l'avant, communiquer Jésus, comme les femmes et les disciples d'Emmaüs le jour de Pâques !

C'est cette mémoire vivante de Jésus, qui nous émerveille et que nous puisons surtout dans le Mémorial eucharistique, la force de l'amour qui nous pousse à avancer. C'est notre trésor. Parce que sans mémoire, il n'y a pas d’émerveillement. Si nous perdons la mémoire vivante, la foi, les dévotions et les activités pastorales risquent de faiblir, d'être comme des feux de paille, qui brûlent rapidement mais s'éteignent vite. Lorsque nous perdons la mémoire, la joie s'épuise. Nous perdons aussi la gratitude envers Dieu et nos frères, car nous tombons dans la tentation de penser que tout dépend de nous. Le Père Ruslan nous a rappelé une belle chose : être prêtre, c'est déjà beaucoup, car dans la vie sacerdotale on se rend compte que ce qui arrive n'est pas de notre fait, mais c’est un don de Dieu. Et Sœur Clara, parlant de sa vocation, a voulu tout d'abord remercier ceux qui lui ont annoncé l'Évangile. Merci pour ces témoignages, qui nous invitent à faire mémoire reconnaissante de l'héritage reçu.

Si nous regardons à l'intérieur de cet héritage, que voyons-nous ? Cette foi n'a pas été transmise de génération en génération comme un ensemble de choses à comprendre et à faire, comme un code fixé une fois pour toutes. Non, la foi a été transmise par la vie, par le témoignage qui a apporté le feu de l'Évangile au cœur des situations pour illuminer, purifier et répandre la chaleur consolante de Jésus, la joie de son amour qui sauve, l'espérance de sa promesse. En faisant mémoire, nous apprenons alors que la foi grandit avec le témoignage. Le reste vient après. C'est un appel pour tous, et je voudrais le répéter à tous, fidèles laïcs, évêques, prêtres, diacres, hommes et femmes consacrés qui œuvrent de diverses manières à la vie pastorale des communautés : ne nous lassons pas de témoigner du cœur du salut, de la nouveauté de Jésus, de la nouveauté qu’est Jésus ! La foi n'est pas un bel étalage de choses du passé – cela serait un musée –, mais un événement toujours actuel, la rencontre avec le Christ qui se produit ici et maintenant dans la vie ! C’est pourquoi elle ne se communique pas seulement en répétant les choses de toujours, mais en transmettant la nouveauté de l'Évangile. Ainsi, la foi reste vivante et a un avenir. C’est pourquoi j’aime dire que la foi doit être transmise "en dialecte".

Voici donc le deuxième mot, l’avenir. La mémoire du passé ne nous enferme pas sur nous-mêmes, mais nous ouvre à la promesse de l'Évangile. Jésus nous a assurés qu’il sera avec nous pour toujours : il ne s'agit donc pas d'une promesse adressée uniquement à un avenir lointain, nous sommes appelés à accueillir aujourd'hui le renouveau que le Ressuscité apporte à la vie. Malgré nos faiblesses, il ne se lasse pas d'être avec nous, de construire avec nous l'avenir de son Église qui est la nôtre.

Bien sûr, face aux nombreux défis de la foi – en particulier ceux concernant la participation des jeunes générations –, ainsi que face aux problèmes et aux épreuves de la vie, et en regardant son nombre, dans l'immensité d'un pays comme celui-ci, on peut se sentir "petit" et insuffisant. Et pourtant, si nous adoptons le regard plein d'espérance de Jésus, nous faisons une découverte surprenante : l'Évangile dit qu'être petit, pauvre en esprit, est une béatitude, la première béatitude (cf. Mt 5,3), parce que la petitesse nous livre humblement à la puissance de Dieu et nous conduit à ne pas fonder notre agir ecclésial sur nos propres capacités. Et c’est une grâce ! Je le répète : il y a une grâce cachée en étant une petite Église, un petit troupeau ; au lieu de faire étalage de notre force, de notre nombre, de nos structures et de toute autre forme d’importance humaine, nous nous laissons conduire par le Seigneur et nous nous tenons humblement aux côtés des personnes. Riches en rien et pauvres en tout, nous marchons avec simplicité, proches des sœurs et des frères de notre peuple, apportant la joie de l'Évangile dans les situations de la vie. Comme le levain dans la pâte et comme la plus petite des graines jetées en terre (cf. Mt 13, 31-33), nous habitons les événements heureux et tristes de la société dans laquelle nous vivons, pour la servir de l'intérieur.

Être petit nous rappelle que nous ne sommes pas autosuffisants : que nous avons besoin de Dieu, mais aussi des autres, de tous les autres : des sœurs et des frères des autres confessions, de ceux qui professent d'autres croyances religieuses que les nôtres, de tous les hommes et femmes de bonne volonté. Nous sommes conscients, dans un esprit d'humilité, que ce n'est qu'ensemble, dans le dialogue et l'acceptation mutuelle, que nous pouvons vraiment réaliser quelque chose de bon pour tous. C’est le devoir particulier de l'Église dans ce pays : ne pas être un groupe qui s’éternise dans les mêmes vieilles choses ou qui s’enferme dans sa coquille parce qu'il se sent petit, mais une communauté ouverte à l'avenir de Dieu, enflammée par le feu de l'Esprit : vivante, pleine d'espérance, ouverte à ses nouveautés et aux signes des temps, habitée par la logique évangélique de la semence qui porte du fruit dans un amour humble et fécond. De cette manière, la promesse de vie et de bénédiction, que Dieu le Père déverse sur nous par l'intermédiaire de Jésus, s'accomplit non seulement pour nous, mais aussi pour les autres.

Et elle se réalise chaque fois que nous vivons la fraternité entre nous, lorsque nous prenons en charge les pauvres et les blessés de la vie, lorsque dans les relations humaines et sociales nous témoignons de la justice et de la vérité, en disant "non" à la corruption et au mensonge. Les communautés chrétiennes, et en particulier le séminaire, devraient être des "écoles de sincérité" : pas des milieux rigides et formels, mais des gymnases de vérité, d'ouverture et de partage. Et dans nos communautés – rappelons-nous – nous sommes tous disciples du Seigneur : tous disciples, tous essentiels, tous d'égale dignité. Non seulement les évêques, les prêtres et les consacrés, mais toute personne baptisée a été immergée dans la vie du Christ et en Lui – comme nous l'a rappelé saint Paul – elle est appelée à recevoir l'héritage et à accueillir la promesse de l'Évangile. Il faut donc donner de l'espace aux laïcs : cela vous fera du bien, afin que les communautés ne deviennent pas rigides et cléricalisées. Une Église synodale, en route vers l’avenir de l'Esprit, est une Église participative et coresponsable. C'est une Église capable d'aller à la rencontre du monde parce qu'elle est formée dans la communion. Une chose m'a frappé dans tous les témoignages : non seulement le Père Ruslan et les sœurs, mais aussi Kirill le père de famille nous ont rappelé que dans l'Église, au contact de l'Évangile, nous apprenons à passer de l'égoïsme à l'amour inconditionnel. C'est une sortie de soi dont tout disciple a constamment besoin : c'est le besoin de nourrir le don reçu au Baptême, qui nous pousse partout, dans nos rassemblements ecclésiaux, dans les familles, au travail, dans la société, à devenir des hommes et femmes de communion et de paix, qui sèment le bien là où ils se trouvent. L'ouverture, la joie et le partage sont les signes de l'Église primitive: et ils sont aussi les signes de l'Église de l’avenir. Rêvons et, avec la grâce de Dieu, construisons une Église davantage habitée par la joie du Ressuscité, qui rejette les peurs et les plaintes, qui ne se laisse pas raidir par des dogmatismes et des moralismes.

Chers frères et sœurs, demandons tout cela aux grands témoins de la foi dans ce pays. Je voudrais rappeler en particulier le bienheureux Bukowiński, un prêtre qui a passé sa vie à s'occuper des malades, des nécessiteux et des marginaux, payant de sa vie sa fidélité à l'Évangile par la prison et les travaux forcés. On m'a dit que même avant sa béatification, il y avait toujours des fleurs fraîches et une bougie allumée sur sa tombe. C'est une confirmation que le peuple de Dieu sait reconnaitre là où il y a de la sainteté, là où il y a un pasteur amoureux de l'Évangile. Je tiens particulièrement à le dire aux évêques et aux prêtres, ainsi qu’aux séminaristes : telle est notre mission : ne pas être des administrateurs du sacré ou des gendarmes chargés de faire respecter les normes religieuses, mais des pasteurs proches des gens, des icônes vivantes du cœur compatissant du Christ. Je me souviens aussi des bienheureux martyrs grecs catholiques, l'évêque Mgr Budka, le prêtre P. Zaryczkyj et Gertrude Detzel, dont le procès de béatification est maintenant ouvert. Comme nous l'a dit Mme Miroslava : ils ont apporté l'amour du Christ dans le monde. Vous êtes leur héritage : soyez la promesse d'une nouvelle sainteté !

Je suis proche de vous et je vous encourage ! vivez de cet héritage avec joie et témoignez-en généreusement, afin que ceux que vous rencontrez puissent percevoir qu'il existe une promesse d'espérance qui leur est adressée à eux aussi. Je vous accompagne dans la prière et maintenant nous nous confions de manière particulière au cœur de Marie Très Sainte, que vous vénérez de manière particulière comme Reine de la Paix. J'ai lu un beau signe maternel qui s'est produit en des temps difficiles : alors que tant de personnes étaient déportées et étaient forcées de mourir de faim et de froid, elle, une Mère tendre et attentionnée, écoutait les prières que ses enfants lui adressaient. Au cours de l'un des hivers les plus froids, la neige a rapidement fondu, donnant naissance à un lac riche en poissons, qui a nourri tant de personnes affamées. Que la Vierge fasse fondre la froideur des cœurs, insuffle à nos communautés une chaleur fraternelle renouvelée, nous donne une nouvelle espérance et un nouvel enthousiasme pour l'Évangile ! Avec affection, je vous bénis et vous remercie. Et je vous demande, s'il vous plaît, de prier pour moi.

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vatican

SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/fr/speeches/2022/september/documents/20220915-kazakhstan-clero.html

Les vingt-sept martyrs d'Ukraine, 

Церква святого Йосифа та Воздвиження Чесного Хреста (Église Saint-Joseph et Exaltation de la Sainte-Croix)


Blessed Oleksa Zarytsky

Also known as

Oleksa Zaritskiy

Oleksa Zaryckyj

Oleksa Zaryts’kyi

Aleksey…

Alessio…

Alexis…

Memorial

30 October

Profile

Greek Catholic. Entered the seminary in Lviv in 1931Ordained in 1936Pastor of the Archeparchy of Lviv for the Ukrainians. Imprisoned for his faith in 1948, he was sentenced to ten years in the forced labour camps, and sent to Karahanda. Released in 1957, he was soon arrested again for his faith, and senteneced to three more years. Died in prisonmartyr.

Born

17 October 1912 at Bilche, Lviv District, Ukraine

Died

30 October 1963 of gastritis and complications from high blood pressure at the forced labour camp at Qaraghandy (Karaganda), Kazakhstan

Venerated

24 April 2001 by Pope John Paul II (decree of martyrdom)

Beatified

27 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II in Ukraine

Additional Information

other sites in english

Catholic Online

Hagiography Circle

sitios en español

Martirologio Romano2001 edición

fonti in italiano

Martirologio Romano2005 edition

Santi e Beati

nettsteder i norsk

Den katolske kirke

MLA Citation

“Blessed Oleksa Zarytsky“. CatholicSaints.Info. 31 August 2021. Web. 30 October 2022. <https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-oleksa-zarytsky/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-oleksa-zarytsky/

OCTOBER 31, 2016

The Witness of Chains: Of Apostolicity and Confinement

RICHARD BECKER

Next year, perhaps, God willing, we will again go to jail.
Dorothy Day

Oleksa Zarytsky, a Greek-Catholic priest, died in a Kazakhstan prison 53 years ago. It was his second go-around behind bars on account of his dogged faith, and he’d already survived years of forced labor at the hands of the Bolsheviks. Still, the human body can only take so much, even when it’s a saint’s body, and Zarytsky succumbed to the beatings and mistreatment, earning a martyr’s crown on October 30, 1963.

I was doing a bit of research on Fr. Oleksa, beatified by John Paul II in 2001, and I printed out some materials I found online. When I went to retrieve them from the shared printer at work, a colleague met me in the hall and handed them over. “I figured these were yours,” she said (I’m the token Catholic at our evangelical college), “and I hope you don’t mind my reading them. What an edifying story – he kept witnessing to the Gospel even at the risk of being returned to prison.”

The hallway was lined with students studying for their A&P lab, and you could tell they were listening in. I thanked my friend for delivering the documents, agreed with her assessment of Zarytsky’s story, and, mindful of the undergraduates listening in, I added, “Going to jail is certainly a mark of distinction for Christians.”

A different colleague, listening from his office, hastily added a qualifier (perhaps for the students): “If it’s for the right reasons!” – and who can argue with that? Nevertheless, it’s important to remember that Christianity and imprisonment have a long and noble shared history. Religious liberty is rightly on our radar these days, both here at home and abroad, but there’s little question that Christians belong in jail.

At the very least, we belong there as visitors – it’s one of the corporal Works of Mercy that Jesus himself enumerated in Matthew 25 – although we seem to belong there as occupants as well. Just this past Thursday, for example, we heard St. Paul in the first reading ask the Ephesians for their prayers, that he’d continue “to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains….” Those chains weren’t a metaphor, and the New Testament attests to Paul’s repeated imprisonments for refusing to compromise on the Gospel, not to mention the persecution of all Christians in those earliest years of The Way.

It’s a historical reality that was brought home for me when I had a chance to visit Rome long ago with my parents and sister. They were primarily interested in ancient Rome, but happily they were willing to indulge my penchant for the more Catholic side of the Eternal City.

Occasionally, our interests overlapped – as when we toured the Colosseum, so closely identified with Roman persecutions of the early church. Another site of mutual interest, and a highlight of the entire trip for all of us, was the little out-of-the-way 5th-century basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli. In English, that’s “St. Peter in Chains,” but my mother preferred the fluidity of the Italian and she delighted in affecting an accent when enunciating it. I can still hear her voice – San Pietro in Vincoli – and see her satisfied grin as the words tumbled from her tongue.

Our family visit to San Pietro occurred long before the advent of GPS and cell phones, so it took us a while to wind our way through the back streets of the Esquiline and track it down. When we finally did so, we were hot and tired, and it was a relief to enter the dark, cool church. Fodor’s immediately directed us to Michelangelo’s Moses off to the right. The imposing sculpture, intended for a Vatican monument in honor of Pope Julius II, was waylaid at San Pietro’s for a variety of reasons, and now it’s a permanent fixture there.

However, it wasn’t Moses that captured our attention when we visited, but rather the chains. According to tradition, the Basilica’s high altar houses the fetters that held bound the Apostle Peter when he was arrested in Jerusalem – the very chains that “fell off his hands” when an angel appeared to effect his release (Acts 12.7). After receiving them as a gift, Pope Leo the Great sought to compare the Jerusalem relics to a second set of chains associated with St. Peter’s Mamertine confinement in Rome. When the Pontiff brought the separate shackles together, they miraculously fused, almost as if to ratify their historicity.

Regardless of their provenance, those chains in the impressive glass-encased reliquary at San Pietro make very concrete the biblical tales of saints being locked up for their faith and for spreading his Good News of salvation in Christ. For my mom, a devout evangelical, seeing those actual restrains was a confirming touchstone of belief – a Roman apostolic equivalent to visiting the Holy Land and walking where Jesus walked.

Of course, that kind of radical Christian witness didn’t cease with the apostolic age, which brings us back to Fr. Zarytsky, a very modern example of absolute abandonment to the Lord. Born in 1912, Oleksa had his sights set on becoming a priest from a very young age, and the triumph of Stalinist atheism in his native Ukraine didn’t dissuade him. He attended seminary in Lviv, received ordination in 1936, and set about his priestly duties with relish – catechizing, baptizing, hearing confessions, and, above all, celebrating Mass and giving the people their Eucharistic savior. Not surprisingly, the Communists caught up with him in time, and he was deported to a Kazakhstan labor camp in 1948.

After his release in 1957, Fr. Oleksa rebuffed Soviet pressure to denounce the Pope and he redoubled his priestly efforts on behalf of the land’s beleaguered Catholic minority. Eventually he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Kazakhstan and Siberia, and he became known as “The Tramp of God” on account of his tireless travels to bring the Gospel and the sacraments to his vast pastoral territory.

Arrested again in 1961, Zarytsky was returned to the prison where he’d meet his demise two years later. But even in jail, this dedicated priest would not abandon his apostolate. Aside from the comfort he brought to his fellow prisoners, he kept up a lively correspondence with those on the outside. “Who has God in his soul has it all,” Zarytsky wrote his brother by way of explanation. “This is my ray of light, the highest thought of my life.”

So that’s all inspiring, I know, but how relevant is it to those of us who’ll probably never face incarceration? Plenty, and it makes me think of my mother again. Confinement can take many forms, and, in her case, it was a physical confinement – a debilitating neurological illness that ultimately took her life. Even so, she bravely faced each day and sought to glorify her savior despite her significant limitations and ill health. She desperately prayed for healing, and she was honest with God about her anger when it wasn’t forthcoming, but she also never let up praying for her family, for her friends and acquaintances, and for the church at large – particularly for those Christians facing persecution in the far-flung corners of the world.

Hence the full meaning of St. Paul’s reference to his ambassadorship in chains: That, regardless of circumstances, regardless of whatever might hamper our human mobility or psychological freedom or even physical existence, we can nonetheless be conduits of grace and envoys of Christ wherever we find ourselves. “Have no anxiety about anything,” wrote the imprisoned St. Paul, “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Fr. Zayrtsky could only concur. “Every day and every hour we have to offer everything to the suffering Jesus who carried his cross on Calvary to show us how to come to eternal life,” he advised from inside the labor camp. “Pray a lot. Prayer is our greatest strength.”

No manner of chain can keep us from that.

image: nomadFra / Shutterstock.com

By Richard Becker

Rick Becker is a husband, father of seven, nursing instructor, and religious educator. He serves on the nursing faculty at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana. You can find more of Rick’s writing on his blog, God-Haunted Lunatic, and his Facebook page.

SOURCE : https://catholicexchange.com/witness-chains-apostolicity-confinement/

Biographies of twenty five 

Greek-Catholic Servants of God

The Servant of God Bishop Mykola Charnetsky was born on 14 December 1884 in the village of Semakivtsi, Horodenka District. Upon his graduation from the seminary, he was ordained to the priesthood on 2 October 1909. He obtained his doctorate in dogmatic theology from Rome and became a spiritual director and professor at the seminary in Stanislaviv (now called Ivano-Frankivsk). In 1919, he entered the noviciate of the Redemptorist Fathers in Zboiska, near Lviv. In 1926, Pope Pius XI, upon the request of Metropolitan Andriy, appointed Fr Mykola as the Apostolic Visitor to Greek Catholics in Volyn and Polissia. The ceremony of his ordination to the episcopacy took place on 2 February 1931, in Rome. During the first Bolshevik occupation, Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky appointed him as the Apostolic Exarch of Volyn and Pidlassia. On 11 April 1945 he was arrested by the NKVD and sentenced to six years of forced labour in Siberia. On 2 April 1959 he died in Lviv.

The Servant of God Sr Laurentia Herasymiv was born on 31 September 1911 in the village of Rudnyky, Lviv District. In 1931 she entered the Sisters of St Joseph, and in 1933 she made her first vows. In 1951, she was arrested by the agents of the NKVD (KGB) and sent to Borislav. Thereafter, she was exiled to Tomsk, Siberia. She was in very poor health and therefore on 30 June 1950, she was relocated to the village of Harsk, Tomsk, and made to share a room with and attend to a paralysed man because nobody else would share a room with a tuberculosis-infected tenant. She continued to pray much and did much demanding manual labour. She patiently endured sub-human conditions. She finally died on 28 August 1952 in the village of Kharsk in the Tomsk Region of Siberia.

The Servant of God Sr Tarsykia Matskiv was born on 23 March 1919 in the village of Khodoriv, Lviv District. On 3 May 1938 she entered the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate. After professing her first vows on 5 November 1940, she worked in her convent. Even prior to the Bolshevik arrival in Lviv, Sr Tarsykia made a private oath to her spiritual director, Fr Volodymyr Kovalyk O.S.B.M., that she would sacrifice her life for the conversion of Russia and for the good of the Catholic Church. The Bolsheviks were determined to destroy the monastery. On the morning of 17 July 1944 at 8 a.m., a Russian soldier rang the convent door. When Sr Taryskia answered the door she was shot without warning and died.

The Servant of God Sr Olympia Bida was born in 1903 in the village of Tsebliv, Lviv District. She entered the Sisters of St Joseph and served In various towns and villages as a teacher of catechism, director of novices, attendant to the aged and infirm. She had a special charism for youth and personally attended to the education of a number of young women. She was appointed superior of the convent in the town of Kheriv, and did her best to see to the spiritual and social needs of the people in spite of the Communist pressure surrounding their work. In 1951, she was arrested with two other sisters, imprisoned for a while, then exiled to the Tomsk region of Siberia.

Under conditions of heavy forced labour, Sr Olympia tried to perform her duties as superior and organized her sisters and other sisters in other camps to come together and to pray and support each other. Succumbing to a serious illness, she died on 28 January 1952.

The Servant of God Volodymyr Pryjma was born on 17 July 1906 in the village of Stradch, Yavoriv District. After graduating from a school for cantors, which was under the care of Metropolitan Sheptytsky, he became the cantor and choir director in the village church of Stradch. On 26 June 1941 agents of the NKVD mercilessly tortured and murdered him along with Fr Nicholas Conrad, in the forest near their village as they were returning from the home of a sick woman, who had requested the sacrament of reconciliation.

The Servant of God Bishop Nicetas Budka was born on 7 June 1877 in the village of Dobromirka, Zbarazh District. In 1905, after graduating from theology in Vienna and Innsbruck, he was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky. He was consecrated Bishop in Lviv on 14 October 1912. That same year he was appointed by the Holy See as the Apostolic Exarch in Canada. In 1928, he became Vicar General of the Metropolitan Chapter of Lviv.
On 11 April 1945 the Soviet government imprisoned him with a sentence of eight years. He died a martyr on 1 October 1949 in a concentration camp in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

The Servant of God Bishop Hryhory Lakota was born on 31 January 1883 in the village of Holodivka, in Lemko Region. He studied theology in Lviv and was ordained to the priesthood in 1908 in the city of Przemysl. In Vienna, in 1911, he received his Ph.D. in theology. In 1913, he became a professor at the Greek Catholic seminary in Przemysl, later becoming its rector. On 16 May 1926, he was ordained to the episcopacy and was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Przemysl. On 9 June 1946, he was arrested and imprisoned for 10 years in Vorkuta, Russia. He died as a martyr for the faith on 12 November 1950, in the village of Abez, near Vorkuta.

The Servant of God Bishop Hryhory Khomyshyn was born on 25 March 1867 in the village of Hadynkivtsi, Ternopil District. After graduating from the seminary he was ordained to the priesthood on 18 November 1893. His theological education was enriched during further studies in Vienna from 1894-1899. In 1902, Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky appointed Fr Gregory as Rector of the seminary in Lviv. Fr Gregory was ordained bishop for Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk) in St George Cathedral in 1904. In 1939, he was arrested for the first time by the NKVD (KGB). His second arrest was in April 1945, after which he was deported to Kyiv. He died in Kyiv's NKVD prison on 17 January 1947.

The Servant of God Bishop Josaphat Kotsylovsky was born on 3 March 1876 in the village of Pakoshivka, Lemko Region. He graduated with a degree in theology in Rome in 1907, and later in that same year on October 9 he was ordained to the priesthood. Not long after that he was appointed to be vice-rector and professor of theology at the Greek-Catholic seminary in Stanislaviv ( now Ivano-Frankivsk). On 2 October 1911 he entered the noviciate of the Basilian order. He was ordained to the episcopacy on 23 September 1917 in Przemysl. In September 1945 the Communist regime in Poland arrested him for the 1st time, then released him and in 1946 for the second time, handing him over again to the Soviet Union. He died a martyr for the faith on 17 November 1947 in the Kyiv prison.

The Servant of God Bishop Simeon Lukach was born on 7 July 1893 in the village of Starunia, Stanislaviv Region. His parents were simple villagers who worked the land. In 1913, he entered the seminary. His studies were interrupted for two years during World War I but he was able to complete his studies in 1919. That same year he was ordained a priest by Bishop Hryhory Khomyshyn. He taught moral theology at the seminary in Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk) until April 1945, when it is suspected that Bishop Hryhory secretly ordained him a bishop. On 26 October 1949 he was arrested by the NKVD and was released on 11 February 1955. He functioned as an underground member of the clergy, but in July 1962 he was arrested for a second time and appeared in court with Bishop Ivan Sleziuk, who too was an underground bishop. While in prison, he was stricken with tuberculosis, which hastened his death on 22 August 1964.

The Servant of God Bishop Ivan Sleziuk was born on 14 January 1896 in the village of Zhyvachiv, Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk) Region. After graduating from the seminary in 1923, he was ordained to the priesthood. In April 1945 Bishop Hryhory Khomyshyn ordained him as his Co-adjutor with the right of succession as a precaution in case Bishop Khomyshyn should be arrested. However, shortly thereafter on 2 June 1945, Bishop Ivan was arrested and deported for ten years to the labour camps in Vorkuta, Russia. In 1950 he was transferred to the labour camps in Mordovia, Russia. After his release on 15 November 1954, he returned to Ivano-Frankivsk. In 1962, he was arrested for the second time and imprisoned for five years in a camp of strict regiment. After his release on 30 November 1968, he had to often go to the KGB for regular "talks." The last visit was two weeks before his death, which was on 2 December 1973 in Ivano-Frankivsk.

The Servant of God Fr Leonid Feodorov was born to a Russian Orthodox family on 4 November 1879 in St Petersburg, Russia. In 1902, he left his Orthodox seminary and traveled to Rome, where he became Catholic. He studied in Anonia, Rome and Friburg. On 25 March 1911, he was ordained to the priesthood in the Eastern-rite in Bosnia. Also in Bosnia in 1913, he became a monk of the Studite monastery. Afterwards, he returned to St Petersburg and was subsequently arrested and sent to Siberia. In 1917, he was released and appointed to be the head of the Russian Catholic Church of the Eastern-rite, with the title of Exarch. His second arrest came in 1923; he was sent to Solovky Islands on the White Sea and to Vladka for ten years. He died a martyr for the faith on 7 March 1935. In 1937, with the help of the Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky, the process for his beatification was undertaken.

The Servant of God Fr Petro Verhun was born on 18 November 1890 in Horodok, Lviv Region. On 30 October 1927 he was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky at St George's Cathedral in Liviv, and was appointed pastor of the Greek Catholics in Berlin, Germany. Sometime later, he became the Apostolic Visitor to Germany. In June 1945, he was arrested and sent to Siberia. He died a martyr of the faith on 7 February 1957 in the village of Angarskiy, in the territory of Krasnoiarsk, Russia.

The Servant of God Archimandrite Clement Sheptytsky, the younger brother of the Servant of God Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky, was born on 17 November 1869 in the village of Prylbychi, Lviv Region. In 1911, at the age of 40, he entered the monastery of St Theodore the Studite; by so doing he renounced a promising secular career. He received his theological education in Innsbruck. On 28 August 1915 he was ordained to the priesthood. For a long time he was the Hegumenos (Prior) of the Studite monastery at Univ, and in 1944 he became the Archimandrite (Abbot). During World War II, he gave refuge to persecuted Jews. On 5 June 1947, he was arrested by the NKVD (KGB) agents and sentenced to eight years of hard labour. He died a martyr for the faith on 1 May 1951 in the Vladimir prison.

The Servant of God Fr Severian Baranyk was born on 18 July 1889. On 24 September 1904 he entered the Krekhiv Monastery of the Order of St Basil the Great in Krekhiv, and made his final vows on 21 September 1910. He was ordained to the priesthood on 14 February 1915. In 1932 he became the Hegumenos (Prior) of the Basilian monastery in Drohobych. On 26 June 1941, the NKVD (KGB) took him to prison, after which he was never seen alive again. After the Bolsheviks withdrew, the people searching the prison found his body, mutilated by tortures.

The Servant of God Fr Zenobius Kovalyk was born on 18 August 1903 in the village of Ivachev, not far from Ternopil. He entered the Congregation of the Redemptorists, where on 28 August 1926, he made his religious vows. His philosophical and theological education was completed in Belgium. After returning to Ukraine he was ordained to the priesthood on 4 September 1932. He was assigned to serve in Volyn. On 20 December 1940, he was arrested in a church while preaching a sermon in honour of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Theotokos (Mother of God). In 1941, he was martyred by the Communists in a mock crucifixion against a wall in the Bryhidky prison (formerly a convent of the Sisters of St Bridgette), Lviv.

The Servant of God Fr Roman Lysko was born on 14 August 1914 in Horodok, Lviv Region. He graduated from the Lviv Theological Academy. He and his wife worked very gladly with the youth. On 28 August 1941 he was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky. On 9 September 1949, he was arrested by the NKVD (KGB) and put into a prison on Lontskoho St in Lviv. The people of Liviv reported to one another that after being tortured, the young Fr Roman sang Psalms at the top of his voice. It was then reported that they had immured him alive in the prison walls. His death is officially dated on 14 October 1949.

The Servant of God Bishop Vasyl Velychkovsky was born 1 June 1903 in Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk). In 1920, he entered the Greek Catholic seminary in Lviv. In 1925 he took his first religious vows in Holosko, near Lviv, and was ordained to the priesthood on 9 October 1925. Fr Basil became a teacher and missionary in Volyn. In 1942, he became the Hegumenos (prior) of the monastery in Ternopil, where he was later arrested in 1945 and taken away to Kyiv. While there, his death sentence was commuted to ten years of forced labour. He returned to Lviv in 1955 and in 1963, he was consecrated bishop in Moscow. His second imprisonment occurred in 1969 when he was given a three-year sentence. This confessor of the faith, already near death, was released to travel to Rome and then to Winnipeg, Canada, where he died within a year on 30 June 1973.

The Servant of God Fr Mykola Tsehelskyi was born on 17 December 1896 in the village of Strusiv, Ternopil District. In 1923, he completed the course in the theological faculty at Lviv University. On 5 April 1925, Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky ordained him to the priesthood. He was a zealous priest who took care of the spirituality, education and welfare of his parishioners. He was the parish priest in the village of Soroko, where he built a new church. After World War II the era of total repressions began. Fr Mykola personally experienced intimidation, threats and beatings. On 28 October 1946, he was arrested. On 27 January 1947, he was sentenced to ten years in prison. Although he had a wife, two sons and two daughters, he was deported to labour camps in Mordovia. He lived in extremely horrid conditions, in a camp that was notoriously strict and cruel. He suffered from severe pain and died on 25 May 1951 as a martyr for the faith. He is buried in the camp cemetery.

The Servant of God Fr Oleksiy Zarytskyi was born in 1913 in the village of Biche, in the Lviv Region. In 1931, he entered the seminary in Lviv. He received his ordination to the priesthood from Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky in 1936. In 1948, he was imprisoned for ten years and deported to Karaganda. After his early release in 1957, he was named Apostlic Administrator of Kazakhstan and Siberia, but was shortly thereafter imprisoned again for a three-year term. He died as a martyr for the faith on 30 October 1963 in the Dolynka cocentration camp near Karaganda.

The Servant of God Fr Andriy Ishchak was born on 23 September 1887 in Mykolayiv, in the Lviv Region. He completed his theological education at the universities in Lviv and Innsbruck. In 1914, he received his doctorate in theology from the University of Innsbruck and was ordained to the priesthood. Beginning in 1928, he taught at the Lviv Theological Academy. He was able to combine his professorial duties with his pastoral work in the village of Sykhiv, near Lviv where he died on 26 June 1941, thus becoming a martyr for the faith at the hands of soldiers of the retreating Soviet Army.

The Servant of God Fr Ivan Ziatyk was born on 26 December 1899 in the village of Odrekhova, near Sanok (in present day Poland). After graduating in theology in 1923, he was ordained to the priesthood. In 1935 he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists). During the Nazis occupation, he was appointed to be Hegumenos (Prior) of the monastery in Ternopil. On 5 January 1950 he was arrested. At first he was staying in Zolochiv prison, but afterwards was sent away to Ozerlag, Irkutsk, Russia.

On Good Friday in 1952 he was severely tortured and he died shortly after on 17 May.

The Servant of God Fr Vitaliy Bairak was born on 24 February 1907 in the village of Shvaikivtsi, Ternopil Region. On 4 September 1924, he entered the Basilian monastery and was ordained a priest on 13 August 1933. In 1941 he was appointed Hegumenos of the Drohobych Monastery. On 17 September 1945, the NKVD (KGB) arrested Fr Vitaliy and on 13 November his property was confiscated and he was sentenced to eight years in a labour camp. Just prior to Easter of 1946, Fr Vitaliy died after having been severely beaten in the Drohobych prison near Liviv.

The Servant of God Fr Joachim Senkivskyi was born on 2 May 1896 in the village of Hayi Velykyi, Ternopil District. After graduating from theology in Lviv, he was ordained a priest on 4 December 1921. He earned a doctorate in theology from Innsbruck. In 1923 he became a novice in the Basilian order in Krekhiv. After professing his first vows he was transferred to the village of Krasnopushcha, and later to the village of Lavriv. From 1931 to 1938 he held various posts in the St Onuphrius Monastery in Lviv. Later, in 1939, he was appointed to be Proto-hegumenos of the monastery in Drohobych. On 26 June 1941 he was arrested by the Communist authorities and on June 29 he was martyred by being boiled to death in a cauldron in the Drohobych prison.

The Servant of God Fr Mykola Conrad was born on 16 May 1876 in the village of Strusiv, Ternopil District. He did his philosophical and theological studies in Rome, where he received his doctorate. In 1899, he was ordained to the priesthood. He initially taught in a high school in Berezhany and Terebovlia. In 1930, Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky invited him to teach at the Lviv Theological Academy and later appointed him to be a parish priest in the village of Stradch, near Yakiv, where he was martyred, murdered by the Bolsheviks, on 26 June 1941.

SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20010627_carneckyj_en.html

(13 - 15 SEPTEMBER 2022)

MEETING WITH BISHOPS, PRIESTS, DEACONS, CONSECRATED PERSONS,
SEMINARIANS AND PASTORAL WORKERS

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS 

Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Cathedral (Nur-Sultan)

Thursday, 15 September 2022

Dear brother bishops, priests and deacons, consecrated men and women, seminarians and pastoral workers, good morning!

I am pleased to be with you, to greet the Bishops’ Conference of Central Asia and to encounter a Church of so many different faces, histories and traditions, all united by our one faith in Christ Jesus. I thank Bishop Mumbiela Sierra for his kind words of greeting, in which he stated that “most of us are foreigners”. That is true, since you come from various places and countries. Yet the beauty of the Church comes from the fact that we are one family, in which no one is a stranger. Let me repeat: in the Church, no one is a stranger! We are the one holy People of God, enriched by a multitude of peoples! The strength of this priestly and holy people lies precisely in its ability to draw richness from this diversity, by sharing with one another who we are and what we have. Indeed, our “littleness” is magnified when it is shared.

The biblical passage we just heard makes this very clear. Saint Paul tells us that the mystery of God has been revealed to all peoples. Not merely to the chosen people, or to a religious elite, but to everyone. Indeed, as the Apostle explains, each of us can now approach God, for all peoples “have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel” (Eph 3:6).

I would like to emphasize two words used by Paul: heirs and promise. On the one hand, each particular Church is heir to a prior history. It is always born of an initial proclamation of the Gospel, of a prior event, of the apostles and evangelizers who established it upon the living word of Jesus. On the other hand, every Church is also the community of those who have seen God’s promise fulfilled in Jesus and who, as children of the resurrection, live in the hope of future fulfilment. We are destined for the promised glory that even now suffuses our journey with hope and expectation. Heirs and promise. The past we have inherited is our memory, and the promise of the Gospel is the future of God, who comes to meet us. This is what I would like to reflect on together with you: a Church that journeys through history between memory and future.

First, memory. If in this vast, multicultural and multi-religious country, we today see vibrant Christian communities and a religious sense coursing through the lives of its people, this is due above all to the rich history that preceded you. I think of the spread of Christianity in Central Asia, which had already begun in the first centuries, of the many evangelizers and missionaries who spent their lives spreading the light of the Gospel, founding communities, shrines, monasteries and places of worship. We need to honour and preserve this Christian and ecumenical heritage, this passing on of the faith, that took place thanks to many ordinary people, to so many grandparents, fathers and mothers. On our own spiritual and ecclesial journey, we should always remember those who first proclaimed the faith to us. Indeed, this act of remembrance inspires us to contemplate the wonders that God has worked in history, even amid life’s hardships and our own personal and communal limitations.

Yet we need to be attentive. It is not about looking back with nostalgia, getting stuck in the past and letting ourselves be paralyzed and immobile. When we do that, we are tempted to take a step backwards. Instead, when Christians look back and remember the past, they marvel all the more at the mystery of God, their hearts filled with praise and gratitude for what the Lord has accomplished. Indeed, grateful hearts overflowing with praise harbour no regrets, but welcome each day as a grace. They are eager to set out, to move forwards, to spread the word about Jesus, like the women and the disciples of Emmaus on Easter day!

The living and awe-inspiring memory of Jesus, that we draw upon above all in the Eucharist, is the power of a love that impels us. It is our treasure. Without memory, we lack wonder. When we lose that living memory, our faith, our devotions and our pastoral activities risk dying slowly, disappearing like a flash in the pan, which burns bright but then quickly fades. When we lose our memory, joy disappears. Our gratitude to God and to our brothers and sisters also fades, because we fall into the temptation of thinking that everything depends on us. Father Ruslan reminded us of something important: that being a priest is already something great, because in the priestly life we realize that what takes place is not our work, but comes as a gift from God. And Sister Clara, speaking about her vocation, first of all wanted to thank those who shared the Gospel with her. Thank you for these testimonies, which invite us to remember with gratitude what we have inherited.

If we look more closely at this inheritance, what do we see? That the faith was not passed down from generation to generation as a set of ideas to be understood and followed, as a fixed and timeless code. No, our faith was passed on through life, though witnesses who shed the light of the Gospel on different situations in order to illumine and purify them, and to spread the consoling warmth of Jesus, the joy of his saving love and the hope of his promise. By remembering, then, we learn that faith grows through witness. Everything else comes later. This is a call that is addressed to everyone. I want to repeat this: to everyone, to the lay faithful, bishops, priests, deacons, and the consecrated men and women working in various ways in the pastoral life of our communities. May we never grow weary of bearing witness to the very heart of salvation, to the newness of Jesus, to the newness that is Jesus! Faith is not a lovely exhibition of artefacts from a distant past or a museum, but an ever-present event, an encounter with Christ that takes place in the here and now of our lives. So we cannot pass it on by simply repeating the same old things, but by communicating the newness of the Gospel. In this way, faith remains alive and has a future. As I like to say, faith is transmitted through the “mother tongue”.

We thus come to the second word: future. Remembering the past does not make us close in on ourselves; it opens us up to the promise of the Gospel. Jesus assured us that he would remain with us always, so his is not merely a promise about the future. We are called today to embrace the renewal that the risen Jesus is bringing about in our lives. Despite our weaknesses, he never tires of being with us, of building together with us the future of his and our Church.

Naturally, in facing the many challenges to the faith – I think especially of those involving the participation of young people in the life of the Church, the problems and difficulties of life, and the limited numbers of those practising their faith in a vast country like this –, we may well feel “little” and inadequate. Yet, if we see things with the hope-filled gaze of Jesus, we make a surprising discovery: the Gospel says that being “little”, poor in spirit, is a blessing, a beatitude, and indeed the first of the beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3). For once we acknowledge our littleness, we can humbly hand ourselves over to the power of God, who teaches us not to base our ecclesial activity on our own abilities. This is a grace! I repeat: there is a hidden grace in being a small Church, a little flock, for instead of showing off our strengths, our numbers, our structures and other things that are humanly important, we can let ourselves be guided by the Lord and humbly draw close to others. Rich in nothing and poor in everything, let us walk with simplicity alongside our sisters and brothers, bringing the joy of the Gospel into the situations of everyday life. Like the leaven in the dough and like the smallest of seeds sown in the earth (cf. Mt 13:31-33), may we immerse ourselves in the joyful and sorrowful events of the society in which we live, in order to serve it from within.

Being little also reminds us that we are not self-sufficient: we need God. We also need others, all others: our Christian sisters and brothers of other confessions, those who hold other religious beliefs than our own, all men and women of good will. May we realize, in a spirit of humility, that only together, in dialogue and mutual acceptance, can we truly achieve something good for the benefit of all. That is the special task of the Church in this country: not to be a group bogged down in the same old way of doing things, or withdrawn into its shell since it feels small, but a community open to God’s future, afire with his Spirit. A community that is alive, filled with hope, open to the newness of the Spirit and to the signs of the times, inspired by the Gospel’s example of the little seed that grows and bears fruit in humble and creative love. For in this way, the promise of life and blessing that God the Father pours out on us through Jesus not only grows in our lives, but also comes to fulfilment in the lives of others.

This happens whenever we live in fraternity with one another, whenever we care for the poor and those who suffer, whenever we bear witness to justice and truth in our individual and social relationships, rejecting corruption and falsehood. Christian communities, and seminaries in particular, should be “schools of sincerity”, not places of rigidity and formality, but training grounds in truth, openness and sharing. Let us remember that in our communities we are all disciples of the Lord. We are all disciples: each of us is essential, and all of equal dignity. Not just bishops, priests and consecrated persons, but each of the baptized. We have been immersed in the life of Christ and, as Saint Paul reminded us, each is called to inherit and embrace the promise of the Gospel. We must make room for the laity, then, and this is a good thing, lest our communities become rigid or clerical. A synodal Church, journeying towards the future of the Spirit, is a Church that embraces participation and shared responsibility. A Church that, formed in communion, can go forth to encounter the world. I was struck by a recurring theme in all the testimonies we heard. Kirill, the father of a family, as well as Father Ruslan and the Sisters reminded us that, in the Church, shaped by the Gospel, we learn to pass from selfishness to unconditional love. This means going out of ourselves. Each of us constantly needs to do that. All of us need to nurture the gift we received at our Baptism. That gift inspires us, wherever we are – in our ecclesial meetings, in families, at work, in society – to become men and women of communion and of peace, sowing seeds of goodness wherever we go. Openness, joy and sharing are signs of the nascent Church, and of the Church of tomorrow. Let us dream and, with God’s grace, work for a Church increasingly filled with the joy of the risen Lord, fearless and uncomplaining, rejecting rigidity, dogmatism and moralizing.

Dear brothers and sisters, may all this come about through the intercession of this country’s great witnesses to the faith. Here, I think of Blessed Bukowiński, a priest who spent his life caring for the sick, the outcast and those in need, and paid for fidelity to the Gospel with imprisonment and hard labour. I am told that even before his beatification there were always fresh flowers and a lighted candle on his tomb. This is a confirmation that the People of God can recognize holiness, and a pastor in love with the Gospel. Here, I would say a special word to bishops, priests and seminarians: our mission is not to be administrators of the sacred or enforcers of religious rules, but pastors close to our people, living icons of the compassionate heart of Christ. I would recall too the blessed Greek-Catholic martyrs – Bishop Budka, Father Zaryczkyj, and Gertrude Detzel – whose beatification process has now begun. As Miroslava told us, they brought the love of Christ to the world. You are their heirs, so be the promise of a new flowering of sanctity!

Please know that I am close to you. I encourage you to embrace your spiritual inheritance with joy and to bear generous witness to it, so that all whom you meet may realize that there is a promise of hope meant for them as well. I accompany all of you with my prayers. And now, let us commend ourselves in a particular way to the Heart of Mary Most Holy, whom you greatly venerate as Queen of Peace. I have learned of a beautiful sign of her maternal love that took place at a time of hardship when many people were deported and others forced to starve and to freeze. As a tender and caring Mother, she listened to the prayers that her children offered to her. In the midst of a bitterly cold winter, the snow quickly melted to reveal a lake full of fish, which fed many famished people. May Our Lady similarly melt cold hearts, fill our communities with a renewed fraternal warmth, and grant us new hope and enthusiasm for the Gospel! I thank each of you and with great affection I give you my blessing. And I ask you, please, to pray for me.

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2022/september/documents/20220915-kazakhstan-clero.html

Beato Alessio Zaryckyj Sacerdote e martire

30 ottobre

>>> Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene

Bilch, Ucraina, 17 ottobre 1912 – Dolynska, Kazakistan, 30 ottobre 1963

Oleksa Zaryckyj nacque il 17 ottobre 1912 nel villaggio di Bilch, nella regione ucraina di Lviv (Leopoli). Nel 1931 entrò nel seminario di Lviv e cinque anni dopo ricevette l’ordinazione presbiterale dal metropolita Sheptytsky, quale sacerdote diocesano dell’Arcieparchia di Lviv degli Ucraini. Nel 1948 fu catturato dai bolscevichi, condannato a dieci anni di carcere e deportato a Karagandà in Kazakistan. Liberato in anticipo nel 1957, Oleksa Zaryckyj fu nominato Amministratore Apostolico del Kazakistan e della Siberia, ma non fece in tempo a ricevere la consacrazione episcopale. Poco dopo venne infatti nuovamente internato nel campo di concentramento di Dolinka, presso Karagandà, ove morì martire della fede il 30 ottobre 1963. Fu beatificato da Giovanni Paolo II il 27 giugno 2001, insieme con altre 24 vittime del regime sovietico di nazionalità ucraina.

Etimologia: Alessio = protettore, difensore, dal greco

Martirologio Romano: Nella cittadina di Dolinka vicino a Karaganda nel Kazakistan, beato Alessio Zaryckyj, sacerdote e martire, che, deportato sotto un regime ostile a Dio in un campo di prigionia, nel combattimento per la fede conquistò la vita eterna.

Nacque a Leopoli (Ucraina occidentale) nel 1912, figlio di cattolica famiglia. Ha un solo desiderio in cuore, il giovanissimo Alessio: farsi sacerdote. Cresce e studia, puntando deciso alla meta: il santo altare. Nella cattedrale della sua città, nel 1936, a 24 anni, è ordinato sacerdote.

È un tempo terribile: Stalin sta facendo della Russia e dell’Europa orientale fino alla Siberia un’immensa prigione, dove i cattolici sono i primi a essere perseguitati, e i preti, considerati pericolosi per il regime comunista, devono essere i primi a sparire.

Non tradite la Fede!

P. Alessio è un vero innamorato di Gesù e per amore a Lui alimenta un dirompente spirito di apostolato, uno zelo instancabile per le anime, una dedizione senza limiti al suo ministero. È sempre disponibile, senza mai pensare a se stesso, con un’indole mite che avvicina tutti, una singolare comprensione per le persone: il vero stile del buon pastore.

Nella sua diocesi gli sono affidate alcune comunità: perseguitati sì, ma mai abbattute, animate nella fede in Gesù Crocifisso e Vivo, dall’esempio dei loro pastori e dei loro martiri. P. Alessio si preoccupa di donare una catechesi essenziale, attingendo al Vangelo e al Magistero della Chiesa: Gesù al centro di tutto, la fedeltà a Lui, la fuga dal peccato e la vita in grazia di Dio, lo spirito di fortezza per testimoniare Gesù anche davanti alla morte, l’attesa del Paradiso.

Grazie a lui, i suoi fedeli si confessano almeno ogni mese e, moltissimi di loro, ricevono Gesù Eucaristico ogni giorno. La sua prima preoccupazione, pur sapendo di rischiare il carcere e la vita, è che tutti possano confessarsi e ricevere spesso l’Eucaristia. Per undici anni, così: tenuto d’occhio e braccato, quasi fosse un brigante, dalla polizia del regime comunista ateo e omicida!

Nel 1948, parroco in Ucraina, viene arrestato, a causa della sua fedeltà alla Chiesa Cattolica. Le autorità comuniste gli propongono di diventare vescovo ortodosso, separandosi dal Papa di Roma e così avrebbe avuto vita più facile. P. Alessio rifiuta in modo aspro: "Separarmi dal Papa – dichiara – è tradire il Vangelo di Cristo!". Ai suoi parrocchiani, prima di avviarsi al carcere, raccomanda: "Non tradite mai la fede dei nostri padri".

Tutti sentono il grande vuoto da lui lasciato; come sacerdote greco-cattolico non si era limitato al rito orientale, ma per amore dei suoi fedeli cattolici-romani, aveva imparato con naturalezza anche la celebrazione della santa Messa nel rito latino. Dal carcere scrive lettere ai suoi cari e ai suoi fedeli. Al padre anziano: "Ogni giorno e ogni ora dobbiamo offrire tutto a Gesù sofferente che portò la sua croce sul Calvario per mostrarci come si arriva alla vita eterna. Prega molto. La preghiera è la nostra più grande forza". A un suo fratello sposato con figli: "Confessatevi più volte l’anno, amate il S. Sacrificio della Messa e allora avrete Dio nella vostra anima. Chi ha Dio nell’anima, ha tutto. Chi non ha Dio nella sua anima, non possiede nulla, anche se fosse padrone del mondo. Questo è il mio raggio di luce, il pensiero più alto della mia vita".

Quel che soffre in carcere, nella mani di quei mostri, solo Dio lo sa: prega e soffre anche per i suoi persecutori. Un’unica certezza: "Gesù, il mio Gesù c’è, mi è vicino e mi ama". Alla morte di Stalin, nel marzo 1953, e poi nel 1956, in seguito al XX congresso del PCUS, sembra allentarsi (sembra soltanto, perché in realtà non è neppure così con Krusciov) la ferrea morsa della dittatura comunista che pretende’ di annientare la Chiesa Cattolica. P. Alessio esce di carcere e subito riprende il suo apostolato, sempre tenuto d’occhio però dalla polizia, con suo rischio enorme.

Il vangelo di Dio

Prima della fine del 1956, mentre Krusciov (così democratico!) fa invadere con i carri armati e schiaccia nel sangue l’Ungheria, P. Alessio Zarytsky è costretto all’esilio a Karaganda nel Kazakistan. Da tutti è accolto come Gesù in persona e i fedeli lo chiamano presto "il vagabondo di Dio". Intraprende infatti viaggi pastorali di migliaia di chilometri attraverso il Kazakistan, grande nove volte più dell’Italia. Per far visita ai cattolici, si spinge fino in Siberia; nessuno lo ferma, né il clima micidiale né il controllo della polizia: è rotto a tutte le fatiche, a tutti i rischi, per amore del suo Gesù: "Ma mi vuoi dire, che cosa non si fa per Gesù?.

In segreto, nel 1957, è nominato amministratore apostolico per Kazakistan e l’Asia centrale dall’Arcivescovo metropolita ucraino Josyf Slipyi (1984), futuro Cardinale, che per 20 anni ha sofferto l’indicibile nei gulag della Siberia. Nei suoi lunghi viaggi, P. Alessio si ferma dove sa che ci sono comunità di cattolici per amministrare i Sacramenti a diverse famiglie fino nei villaggi più sperduti. Nei medesimi anni, si reca più volte presso quei cattolici tedeschi che dalle terre del Volga e del mar Nero erano stati deportati da Stalin tra gli Urali e internati in povere baracche. Ricorda Maria Schneider, madre dell’attuale Vescvovo di Karaganda, Mons. Athanasius Schneider: "Nel gennaio 1958, nella città di Krasnokamsk vicino a Perm nei monti Urali, all’improvviso arrivò P. Alessio, proveniente dal suo esilio in Kazakistan. Si adoperava affinché il maggior numero possibile di fedeli fosse preparato per ricevere Gesù Eucarisico nella S. Comunione. Perciò si disponeva ad ascoltare le confessioni dei fedeli di giorno e di notte, senza dormine e senza mangiare. I fedeli lo sollecitavano dicendogli: "Padre, deve mangiare e dormire!". Lui rispondeva: "Non posso perché la polizia mi può arrestare da un momento all’altro, e tante persone resterebbero senza confessione, quindi senza Comunione Eucaristica". Dopo che tutti si furono confessati, P. Alessio cominciò la S. Messa. Improvvisamente risuonò la voce: "La polizia è vicina". Quella volta, poté sfuggire alla polizia grazie, all’aiuto di Maria Schneider, la quale continua a narrare: "Dopo un anno, ritornò a Krasnokamsk. Questa volta, poté celebrare la S. Messa e dare la Comunione ai fedeli" (da Athanasius Schneider, Dominus est, Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2008, bellissimo libro da leggere e diffondere!).

Sacerdote davvero eucaristico

Ancora una volta, riprende il suo apostolato di prete itinerante, senza fissa dimora, rivolgendosi soprattutto al Kazakistan. Ricorda suor Anastasia Bium: "Nel 1961, avevo 21 anni e incontrai per la prima volta P. Alessio: il primo giovane prete che vedevo e mi impressionò per il suo aspetto gioioso, la sua indole gaia e il suo sorriso sereno. Tutto questo era nuovo per me, perché i sacerdoti che avevo conosciuto fino a allora, erano segnati dalla persecuzione e dalle sofferenze. P. Alessio confessava fino a tarda notte e a volte, dopo la S. Messa, mia madre lo invitava a casa e noi ci confessavamo da lui nell’unica stanza che era tutta la nostra abitazione. Poi celebrava la la Messa, tutto assorto in Dio, spesso alle 4 del mattino. Riusciva a dire Verità e fatti molto seri in un modo amabile. Non parlava mai di sé, dei terribili anni passati in prigione e delle torture subite. Non si sarebbe detto che avesse subito tante sofferenze fisiche e morali e che patisse allora forti dolori allo stomaco. Era sempre spiato e perseguitato. Donava tutto ciò al Signore e incoraggiava anche noi a soffrire e unire la nostra povertà e le nostre prove alle sofferenze di Gesù. Nei suoi spostamenti, portava sempre con sé il SS.mo Sacramento per poter dare la S. Comunione ai malati e agli agonizzanti, dopo averli confessati".

P. Alessio era in tutto un vero sacerdote, figli di Maria SS.ma, e con gioia predicava la vita purissima della Vergine Madre di Dio, come modello per la vita di ogni credente. Era solito dire: "Come Maria, dobbiamo essere dei gigli di amore e di purezza per Gesù. Sì, dobbiamo fiorire davanti a Gesù come dei candidi gigli, in un luminoso candore".

"Ho impressa nella mia mente – conclude suor Anastasia – l’ultima sua visita, durante cui egli ci disse con aspetto serio: "Oggi è l’ultima volta che sono con voi, poi mi porteranno di nuovo in prigione". Dopo la S. Messa, ricevemmo la sua benedizione, e le sue parole di addio furono come un testamento per la nostra famiglia: "Regolate la vostra vita in modo che in futuro potremo ritrovarci tutti nel Cuore di Gesù per glorificare Dio per tutta l’eternità".

Martire con Maria

Nel mese aprile 1962, P. Alessio viene arrestato a tradimento dalla polizia segreta e messo nel campo di concentramento di Dolinka presso Karaganda, dove tra terribili sofferenze si avvia alla fine. Una volta, alcune donne di grande fede e coraggio, avvicinatesi al filo spinato del campo, riescono a vederlo in una scena atroce. Le guardie, dopo averlo picchiato brutalmente, lo calano in una buca profonda… per tirarlo fuori con delle corde, grondante di sangue. Le donne piangono, impotenti a aiutarlo, ma lui, vedendole, esclama: "Non piangete. Questa è la via della croce, la passione di Gesù!". Un giorno può far uscire dal carcere una breve lettera su cui ha scritto ai suoi fedeli: "La Madonna mi ha fatto visita e mi ha detto: caro figlio mio, ancora un po’ di sofferenza. Verrò presto a prenderti con me".

Dopo tanti maltrattamenti e umiliazioni, P. Alessio ottiene la palma del martirio "ex aerumnis carceris" (= per le torture del carcere), il 13 ottobre 1963. L’indomani, vigilia della festa dei Santi, quando il becchino sta per dargli sepoltura in totale solitudine, sente dei canti bellissimi e, voltandosi, vede una "giovane donna", vestita di bianco, che segue il povero carretto su cui sta la salma martoriata, e canta inni di ineffabile dolcezza e solennità. Il becchino si domanda tra sé come abbia fatto a entrare nel campo, vorrebbe chiederglielo, ma non osa. Quando tutto è compiuto, la donna non c’è più e egli comprende: Maria SS. ma era venuta a prendere il suo figlio sacerdote e martire della fede, martire per l’Eucaristia.

Il 27 maggio 2001, Papa Giovanni Paolo II, a Leopoli ha beatificato P. Alessio Zarytsky. Nel 2007, Mons. Schneider ha consacrato a Karanganda la prima chiesa in onore del beato Alessio, indossando anche la cotta a lui appartenuta e regalatagli da suo fratello Ivan Zarytsky, tuttora vivente. "Davvero un santo eucaristico – afferma nel libro citato, Mons. Schneider – che poté educare anime eucaristiche, fiori cresciuti nel buio e nel deserto della clandestinità, rendendo la Chiesa veramente viva". Ci servono dei preti della stessa razza.

Autore: Paolo Risso

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92939

(13 - 15 SETTEMBRE 2022)

INCONTRO CON I VESCOVI, I SACERDOTI, I DIACONI, I CONSACRATI,
I SEMINARISTI E GLI OPERATORI PASTORALI

DISCORSO DEL SANTO PADRE

Cattedrale Madre di Dio del Perpetuo Soccorso (Nur-Sultan)
Giovedì, 15 settembre 2022


Cari fratelli Vescovi, sacerdoti e diaconi, cari consacrati e consacrate, seminaristi e operatori pastorali, buongiorno!

Sono felice di essere qui in mezzo a voi, di salutare la Conferenza Episcopale dell’Asia Centrale e di incontrare una Chiesa fatta di tanti volti, storie e tradizioni diverse, tutte unite dall’unica fede in Cristo Gesù. Monsignor Mumbiela Sierra, che ringrazio per le parole di saluto, ha detto: «La maggior parte di noi sono stranieri»; è vero, perché provenite da luoghi e Paesi differenti, ma la bellezza della Chiesa è questa: siamo un’unica famiglia, nella quale nessuno è straniero. Lo ripeto: nessuno è straniero nella Chiesa, siamo un solo Popolo santo di Dio arricchito da tanti popoli! E la forza del nostro popolo sacerdotale e santo sta proprio nel fare della diversità una ricchezza attraverso la condivisione di ciò che siamo e di ciò che abbiamo: la nostra piccolezza si moltiplica se la condividiamo.

Il brano della Parola di Dio che abbiamo ascoltato afferma proprio questo: il mistero di Dio – dice san Paolo – è stato rivelato a tutti i popoli. Non solo al popolo eletto o a una élite di persone religiose, ma a tutti. Ogni uomo può accedere a Dio, perché – spiega l’Apostolo – tutte le genti «sono chiamate, in Cristo Gesù, a condividere la stessa eredità, a formare lo stesso corpo e ad essere partecipi della stessa promessa per mezzo del Vangelo» (Ef 3,6).

Vorrei sottolineare due parole usate da Paolo: eredità e promessa. Da una parte, una Chiesa eredita sempre una storia, è sempre figlia di un primo annuncio del Vangelo, di un evento che la precede, di altri apostoli ed evangelizzatori che l’hanno stabilita sulla parola viva di Gesù; dall’altra parte, essa è anche la comunità di coloro che hanno visto compiersi in Gesù la promessa di Dio e, da figli della risurrezione, vivono nella speranza del compimento futuro. Sì, siamo destinatari della gloria promessa, che anima di attesa il nostro cammino. Eredità e promessa: l’eredità del passato è la nostra memoria, la promessa del Vangelo è il futuro di Dio che ci viene incontro. Su questo vorrei soffermarmi con voi: una Chiesa che cammina nella storia tra memoria e futuro.

Anzitutto, la memoria. Se oggi in questo vasto Paese, multiculturale e multireligioso, possiamo vedere comunità cristiane vivaci e un senso religioso che attraversa la vita della popolazione, è soprattutto grazie alla ricca storia che vi ha preceduto. Penso alla diffusione del cristianesimo nell’Asia centrale, avvenuta già nei primissimi secoli, a tanti evangelizzatori e missionari che si sono spesi per diffondere la luce del Vangelo, fondando comunità, santuari, monasteri e luoghi di culto. C’è dunque un’eredità cristiana, ecumenica, che va onorata e custodita, una trasmissione della fede che ha visto protagoniste anche tante persone semplici, tanti nonni e nonne, padri e madri. Nel cammino spirituale ed ecclesiale non dobbiamo smarrire il ricordo di quanti ci hanno annunciato la fede, perché fare memoria ci aiuta a sviluppare lo spirito di contemplazione per le meraviglie che Dio ha operato nella storia, pur in mezzo alle fatiche della vita e alle fragilità personali e comunitarie.

Facciamo però attenzione: non si tratta di guardare indietro con nostalgia, restando bloccati sulle cose del passato e lasciandoci paralizzare nell’immobilismo: questa è la tentazione dell’indietrismo. Lo sguardo cristiano, quando si volge per fare memoria, vuole aprirci allo stupore dinanzi al mistero di Dio, per riempire il nostro cuore di lode e di gratitudine per quanto il Signore ha compiuto. Un cuore grato, che trabocca di lode, non nutre rimpianti, accoglie invece l’oggi che vive come grazia. E vuole mettersi in cammino, andare avanti, comunicare Gesù, come le donne e i discepoli di Emmaus nel giorno di Pasqua!

È questa memoria viva di Gesù, che ci riempie di stupore e che attingiamo soprattutto dal Memoriale eucaristico, la forza d’amore che ci sospinge. È il nostro tesoro. Perciò senza memoria non c’è stupore. Se perdiamo la memoria viva, allora la fede, le devozioni e le attività pastorali rischiano di affievolirsi, di essere come dei fuochi di paglia, che bruciano subito ma si spengono presto. Quando smarriamo la memoria, si esaurisce la gioia. Viene meno anche la riconoscenza a Dio e ai fratelli, perché si cade nella tentazione di pensare che tutto dipenda da noi. Padre Ruslan ci ha ricordato una bella cosa: che essere prete è già molto, perché nella vita sacerdotale ci si accorge che quanto accade non è opera nostra, ma è dono di Dio. E suor Clara, parlando della sua vocazione, ha voluto anzitutto ringraziare coloro che le hanno annunciato il Vangelo. Grazie per queste testimonianze, che ci invitano a fare memoria grata dell’eredità ricevuta.

Se guardiamo dentro a questa eredità, che cosa vediamo? Che la fede non è stata trasmessa di generazione in generazione come un insieme di cose da capire e da fare, come un codice fissato una volta per tutte. No, la fede è passata con la vita, con la testimonianza che ha portato il fuoco del Vangelo nel cuore delle situazioni per illuminare, purificare e diffondere il calore consolante di Gesù, la gioia del suo amore che salva, la speranza della sua promessa. Facendo memoria, allora, impariamo che la fede cresce con la testimonianza. Il resto viene dopo. Questa è una chiamata per tutti e vorrei ribadirlo a tutti, fedeli laici, vescovi, sacerdoti, diaconi, consacrati e consacrate che operano in vario modo nella vita pastorale delle comunità: non stanchiamoci di testimoniare il cuore della salvezza, la novità di Gesù, la novità che è Gesù! La fede non è una bella mostra di cose del passato – questo sarebbe un museo –, ma un evento sempre attuale, l’incontro con Cristo che accade qui e ora nella vita! Perciò non si comunica solo con la ripetizione delle cose di sempre, ma trasmettendo la novità del Vangelo. Così la fede rimane viva e ha futuro. Per questo a me piace dire che la fede va trasmessa “in dialetto”.

Ecco allora la seconda parola, futuro. La memoria del passato non ci chiude in noi stessi, ma ci apre alla promessa del Vangelo. Gesù ci ha assicurato che sarà sempre con noi: non si tratta dunque di una promessa rivolta solo a un futuro lontano, siamo chiamati ad accogliere oggi il rinnovamento che il Risorto porta avanti nella vita. Nonostante le nostre debolezze, Egli non si stanca di stare con noi, di costruire l’avvenire della sua e nostra Chiesa insieme a noi.

Certo, davanti alle tante sfide della fede – specialmente quelle che riguardano la partecipazione delle giovani generazioni –, così come dinanzi ai problemi e alle fatiche della vita e guardando ai propri numeri, nella vastità di un Paese come questo, ci si potrebbe sentire “piccoli” e inadeguati. Eppure, se adottiamo lo sguardo speranzoso di Gesù, facciamo una scoperta sorprendente: il Vangelo dice che essere piccoli, poveri in spirito, è una beatitudine, la prima beatitudine (cfr Mt 5,3), perché la piccolezza ci consegna umilmente alla potenza di Dio e ci porta a non fondare l’agire ecclesiale sulle nostre capacità. E questa è una grazia! Lo ripeto: c’è una grazia nascosta nell’essere una Chiesa piccola, un piccolo gregge; invece che esibire le nostre forze, i nostri numeri, le nostre strutture e ogni altra forma di rilevanza umana, ci lasciamo guidare dal Signore e ci poniamo con umiltà accanto alle persone. Ricchi di niente, poveri di tutto, camminiamo con semplicità, vicini alle sorelle e ai fratelli del nostro popolo, portando nelle situazioni della vita la gioia del Vangelo. Come lievito nella pasta e come il più piccolo dei semi gettato nella terra (cfr Mt 13,31-33), abitiamo le vicende liete e tristi della società in cui viviamo, per servirla dal di dentro.

Essere piccoli ci ricorda che non siamo autosufficienti: che abbiamo bisogno di Dio, ma anche degli altri, di tutti gli altri: delle sorelle e dei fratelli di altre confessioni, di chi confessa credo religiosi diversi dal nostro, di tutti gli uomini e le donne animati da buona volontà. Ci accorgiamo, in spirito di umiltà, che solo insieme, nel dialogo e nell’accoglienza reciproca, possiamo davvero realizzare qualcosa di buono per tutti. È il compito peculiare della Chiesa in questo Paese: non essere un gruppo che si trascina nelle cose di sempre o si chiude nel suo guscio perché si sente piccolo, ma una comunità aperta al futuro di Dio, accesa dal fuoco dello Spirito: viva, speranzosa, disponibile alle sue novità e ai segni dei tempi, animata dalla logica evangelica del seme che porta frutto nell’amore umile e fecondo. In questo modo, la promessa di vita e di benedizione, che Dio Padre riversa su di noi per mezzo di Gesù, si fa strada non solo per noi, ma si realizza anche per gli altri.

E si realizza ogni volta che viviamo la fraternità tra di noi, che ci facciamo carico dei poveri e di chi è ferito dalla vita, ogni volta che nei rapporti umani e sociali testimoniamo la giustizia e la verità, dicendo “no” alla corruzione e alla falsità. Le comunità cristiane, in particolare il seminario, siano “scuole di sincerità”: non ambienti rigidi e formali, ma palestre di verità, di apertura e di condivisione. E nelle nostre comunità – ricordiamoci – siamo tutti discepoli del Signore: tutti discepoli, tutti essenziali, tutti di pari dignità. Non solo i Vescovi, i preti e i consacrati, ma ogni battezzato è stato immerso nella vita di Cristo e in Lui – come ci ricordava san Paolo – è chiamato per ricevere l’eredità e accogliere la promessa del Vangelo. Va dato dunque spazio ai laici: vi farà bene, perché le comunità non si irrigidiscano e non si clericalizzino. Una Chiesa sinodale, in cammino verso il futuro dello Spirito, è una Chiesa partecipativa, corresponsabile. È una Chiesa capace di uscire incontro al mondo perché allenata nella comunione. Mi ha colpito che in tutte le testimonianze ritornava una cosa: non solo padre Ruslan e le suore, ma anche Kirill, il papà di famiglia ci ha ricordato che nella Chiesa, a contatto con il Vangelo, impariamo a passare dall’egoismo all’amore incondizionato. È un’uscita da sé di cui ogni discepolo ha costante bisogno: è il bisogno di alimentare il dono ricevuto nel Battesimo, che ci spinge ovunque, nei nostri incontri ecclesiali, nelle famiglie, al lavoro, nella società, a diventare uomini e donne di comunione e di pace, che seminano il bene ovunque si trovano. L’apertura, la gioia e la condivisione sono i segni della Chiesa delle origini: e sono anche i segni della Chiesa del futuro. Sogniamo e, con la grazia di Dio, edifichiamo una Chiesa più abitata dalla letizia del Risorto, che respinga paure e lamentele, che non si lasci irrigidire da dogmatismi e moralismi.

Cari fratelli e sorelle, chiediamo tutto questo ai grandi testimoni della fede di questo Paese. Vorrei ricordare in particolare il beato Bukowiński, un sacerdote che spese l’esistenza per curare gli ammalati, i bisognosi e gli emarginati, pagando sulla propria pelle la fedeltà al Vangelo con la prigione e i lavori forzati. Mi hanno detto che, ancora prima della beatificazione, sulla sua tomba c’erano sempre fiori freschi e una candela accesa. È la conferma che il Popolo di Dio sa riconoscere dove c’è la santità, dove c’è un pastore innamorato del Vangelo. Vorrei dirlo in particolare ai Vescovi e ai sacerdoti, e anche ai seminaristi: questa è la nostra missione: non essere amministratori del sacro o gendarmi preoccupati di far rispettare le norme religiose, ma pastori vicini alla gente, icone vive del cuore compassionevole di Cristo. Ricordo anche i martiri greco-cattolici, il Vescovo Mons. Budka, il sacerdote don Zarizky e Gertrude Detzel, di cui si è aperto il processo di beatificazione. Come ci ha detto la signora Miroslava: hanno portato l’amore di Cristo nel mondo. Voi siete la loro eredità: siate promessa di nuova santità!

Vi sono vicino e vi incoraggio: vivete con gioia questa eredità e testimoniatela con generosità, perché quanti incontrate possano percepire che c’è una promessa di speranza rivolta anche a loro. Vi accompagno con la preghiera; e ora ci affidiamo in modo particolare al cuore di Maria Santissima, che qui venerate in modo speciale come Regina della pace. Ho letto di un bel segno materno accaduto in tempi difficili: mentre tante persone venivano deportate ed erano costrette alla fame e al freddo, ella, Madre tenera e premurosa, ascoltò la preghiera che i suoi figli le rivolgevano. In uno degli inverni più rigidi, rapidamente la neve si sciolse, facendo emergere un lago con molti pesci, che sfamarono tante persone affamate. Che la Madonna sciolga il freddo dei cuori, infonda nelle nostre comunità un rinnovato calore fraterno, ci doni speranza ed entusiasmo nuovi per il Vangelo! Io con affetto vi benedico e vi ringrazio. E vi chiedo, per favore, di pregare per me.

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2022/september/documents/20220915-kazakhstan-clero.html

Den salige Oleksa Zaryckyj (1912-1963)

Minnedag: 2. aprilDen salige Oleksa Zaryckyj [Zarytsky] (Oleksiy) ble født i 1912 i landsbyen Bilche i oblast (distriktet) Lviv i Vest-Ukraina. Han tilhørte den gresk-katolske «unerte» Kirken i landet. I 1931 begynte han på seminaret i Lviv, og han studerte der til 1934. Han ble presteviet i 1936 av metropolitt Andreas Septyckyj [Sheptytsky] (Andrij), som ledet den ukrainsk-katolske Kirke fra 1901 til sin død i 1944.

Han gjorde tjeneste i landsbyen Strutyna nær Zolochiv. I 1948 ble han fengslet og dømt til ti års fengsel i arbeidsleirene i Sibir og Kasakhstan fordi han nektet å konvertere til den ortodokse kirke, og han ble deportert til Karaganda. Han ble løslatt før tiden i 1957 og vendte tilbake til Vest-Ukraina flere ganger, men vendte tilbake til øst igjen. Blant de umenneskelige forholdene i leiren gjorde han tjeneste ikke bare for ukrainere, men også for polakker, tyskere, russere – greske og romerske katolikker. Han besøkte metropolitt Josef Slipyj i eksil.

Han ble utnevnt til apostolisk administrator for Kasakhstan og Sibir, men kort etter ble han arrestert igjen og dømt en gang til, denne gang til to år for «løsgjengeri». Han døde som martyr for sin tros skyld den 30. oktober 1963 i en arbeidsleir i landsbyen Dolynka i Karaganda. Hans jordiske rester fikk en ny begravelse i 1990 i landsbyen Riasna-Ruska nær Lviv.

Den 24. april 2001 ble dekretet som anerkjente hans og andre ukraineres martyrium (gruppen den salige Nikolas Carneckyj og hans 24 ledsagere) promulgert i Vatikanet av Helligkåringskongregasjonen i nærvær av pave Johannes Paul II (1978-2005). Dermed fikk de tittelen Venerabilis, «Ærverdige», og veien til saligkåring var åpnet. Gruppen består av åtte biskoper, seks sekularprester, syv ordensprester, tre ordenssøstre og en legmann.

De ble saligkåret den 27. juni 2001 av pave Johannes Paul II under hans besøk i Ukraina. Deres minnedag er 2. april, Nikolas Carneckyjs dødsdag. Samtidig ble to andre gresk-katolske ukrainere, en rutensk biskop og to latinske katolikker også saligkåret.

Kilder: Patron Saints SQPN, papalvisit.org.ua, vatican.va, EWTN/OR - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden - Sist oppdatert: 2005-07-04 23:45

SOURCE : https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/ozarycky

(13 - 15 SEPTEMBER 2022)

ВЫСТУПЛЕНИЕ СВЯТЕЙШЕГО ОТЦА

Встреча с епископами, священниками, дьяконами,
монашествующими, семинаристами и теми, кто
занимается пастырской деятельностью

Кафедральный Собор в Нур-Султане, 15 сентября 2022


Дорогие братья Епископы, священники и дьяконы, дорогие монашествующие, семинаристы и те, кто занимается пастырской деятельностью, здравствуйте!

Я счастлив быть здесь среди вас, приветствовать Конференцию Епископов Центральной Азии и встретиться с Церковью, состоящей их множества лиц, историй и различных традиций, объединенных одной верой во Христа Иисуса. Монсеньор Мумбьела Сьерра, которому я очень благодарен за слова приветствия, сказал: «Большинство из нас иностранцы». Это верно, потому что вы из разных мест и стран, но красота Церкви состоит в том, что мы представляем собой одну семью, в которой нет иностранцев. Повторяю: никто в Церкви не является иностранцем, мы все один святой Народ Божий, обогащённый множеством племён! Сила нашего священнического и святого народа – именно в том, что различие становится богатством благодаря делению тем, что у нас есть и кем мы являемся. Наша мизерность преумножается, когда мы ею делимся.

Отрывок из Слова Божия, который мы только что слушали, утверждает именно это: тайна Бога – по словам святого Павла – открылась всем народам. Не только избранному народу или религиозной элите, но всем. Каждый человек может приступить к Богу, потому что, как объясняет Апостол, и язычники — сонаследники и члены того же тела и сопричастники обетования во Христе Иисусе через Евангелие. (см. Еф 3,6).

Мне хотелось бы обратить внимание на два слова, которые употребляет Павел: наследие и обетование. С одной стороны, Церковь получает в наследство историю, она дочь - первого провозглашения Евангелия, события, что ей предшествует, других апостолов и евангелизаторов, что учредили ее на живом слове Иисуса; с другой стороны, она еще и община тех, кто видел как в Иисусе исполнилось обетование Бога, и которые, будучи сынами воскресения, живут в надежде на будущее свершение. Действительно, обещанная слава обращена к нам, она оживляет ожиданием наш путь. Наследие и обетование: наследие прошлого – наша память, обетование Евангелия – будущее Бога, Который идет к нам навстречу. На этом мне хотелось бы задержаться подольше: Церковь, которая совершает путь в истории между памятью и будущим.

В первую очередь, память. Если сегодня в этой большой стране, мультикультурной и многоконфессиональной, мы видим действующие христианские общины, равно как то, что жизнь людей наполнена религиозным смыслом: то всё это существует, в первую очередь, благодаря богатой истории, которая вам предшествовала. Думаю о распространении христианства в центральной Азии, происходившем уже в первые века его истории, о множестве евангелизаторов и миссионеров, пожертвовавших себя ради распространения света Евангелия, основавших общины, святилища, монастыри и места культа. Поэтому христианское, экуменическое наследие здесь присутствует, его следует почитать и сохранять. Вера передается, и передавалась она также многими простыми людьми, бабушками и дедушками, отцами и матерями. Совершая наш духовный и церковный путь, мы не должны забывать о тех, кто провозглашал нам веру, потому что память помогает нам развивать дух созерцательности, с помощью которого мы видим чудеса, совершенные Богом в истории, даже среди жизненных невзгод, несмотря на личные и общинные недостатки.

Однако стоит быть внимательными: это отнюдь не означает смотреть назад с ностальгией, замкнувшись в прошлом, лишив себя свободы действия из-за косности – это искушение «индьетризма» (отставания). Взгляд христианина, когда обращается к воспоминаниям, хочет открыть нас для удивления перед тайной Бога, чтобы сердце наполнилось хвалением и благодарностью за дела, что совершил Господь. Благодарное сердце, преисполненное хвалы, не сожалеет, но принимает сегодняшний день как благодать. Оно желает отправиться в путь, идти вперед, провозглашать Христа, подобно женщинам и ученикам в Эммаусе в день Пасхи!

Это и есть живая память Иисуса, которая наполняет нас изумлением, и которую мы черпаем, в первую очередь, из евхаристического Воспоминания, это сила любви, которая движет нами. Это наше сокровище. Таким образом без памяти нет изумления. Если мы утратим живую память, то потеряем и веру, благочестивые практики, пастырская деятельность могут ослабнуть, уподобятся соломе, которая моментально вспыхивает и быстро гаснет. Если мы утратим память, угаснет и наша радость. Не будет уже такой сильной благодарности Богу и братьям, ибо мы впадем в искушение – думать, что все зависит от нас. Отец Руслан сделал прекрасное напоминание нам: быть священником – это уже много, потому что в священнической жизни замечаешь, что все что происходит не является нашей заслугой, а даром Бога. А сестра Клара, когда рассказывала о своем призвании, хотела, прежде всего, поблагодарить тех, кто ей провозгласил Евангелие. Благодарю вас за эти свидетельства, которые призывают нас к тому, чтобы мы с благодарностью помнили о полученном нами наследии.

Что мы увидим, если заглянем внутрь этого наследия? Вера не передавалась из поколения в поколение как совокупность истин, которые нужно понять и исполнять, как некий свод правил, определенных один раз для всех. Нет, вера передавалась посредством жизни, в свидетельстве, которое зажгло пламя Евангелия в самом сердце истории, освещая и очищая ее, распространяя вокруг себя умиротворяющее тепло Иисуса, радость Его спасающей любви, надежду Его обетования. Когда мы храним память, узнаем, что вера умножается свидетельством. Остальное приходит потом. Это призыв ко всем, настоятельно повторяю – ко всем: верующим мирянам, епископам, священникам, дьяконам, монашествующим, которые каждый своим способом исполняет пастырское служение в общине. Неустанно свидетельствуйте о сердце спасения, новизне Иисуса, новизне, которая и есть Иисус! Вера – это не красивая выставка того, что было в прошлом - это был бы музей -, но всегда актуальное событие, встреча со Христом, которая происходит здесь и сейчас в нашей жизни! Она не передается только повторением одного и того же, но свидетельствует о новизне Евангелия. Так вера сохраняется живой и обретает будущее.Вот почему я люблю говорить, что вера должна передаваться «на диалекте».

Второе слово – будущее. Память о прошлом не запирает нас в самих себе, но открывает нас обетованию Евангелия. Иисус обещал нам, что никогда нас не оставит: это не обещание, которое относится лишь к далекому будущему, мы должны сегодня согласиться, чтобы Воскресший обновил нашу жизнь. Несмотря на наши недостатки, Он неустанно пребывает с нами, строит будущее Своей и нашей Церкви вместе с нами.

Конечно, перед лицом множества трудностей в вере – особенно тех, что касаются участия молодых поколений – равно как перед лицом жизненных проблем и трудностей, и видя, как нас немного в такой огромной стране, можно ощущать себя «незначительным» и малоспособным. Но если мы посмотрим с надеждой на Иисуса, нам откроется поразительная тайна: Евангелие утверждает, что быть малым, нищим духом, — это блаженство, первостепенное блаженство (см. Мф 5,3): потому что наша незначительность, смиренно отдаетнас Божьей всемогущести, благодаря чему мы понимаем, что нельзя основывать деятельность в Церкви только на наших способностях. И это благодать! Повторяю: в маленькой Церкви, малом стаде кроется благодать: вместо того, чтобы хвастаться своими способностями, числом, структурами и любой другой формой человеческой значимости, лучше позволить, чтобы нами руководил Господь и смиренно посвятить себя служению людям. Богаты ни в чем и бедные во всем, давайте идти вперёд с простотой, рядом с сестрами и братьями своего народа, наполняя жизненные ситуации радостью Евангелия. Подобно закваске в тесте и самому малому зерну, брошенному в землю (см. Мф 13, 31-33), мы пребываем в радостях и горестях общества, в котором живем, чтобы служить ему.

Именно наша незначительность напоминает нам, что мы не самодостаточны: мы нуждаемся в Боге, равно как и в других, во многих других. Мы нуждаемся в сестрах и братьях из других конфессий, которые исповедуют веру, отличную от нашей, в каждом человеке, в котором живет добрая воля. Мы осознаем, в духе смирения, что только сообща, в диалоге и взаимном приятии, мы можем по-настоящему сделать что-то хорошее для всех. Это особая задача Церкви в этой стране – быть не группой, которая держится за одно и то же, и запирается в своем панцире только потому, что ощущает себя незначительной, но общиной, открытой будущему Бога, пылающей огнем Святого Духа: Живой, полной надежды, открытой новизне и знакам времени, воодушевляемой евангельской логикой семени, что приносит плод в смиренной и плодотворной любви. Так, обетование жизни и благословения, которое Бог Отец излил на нас через Христа, исполнится не только для нас, но и для других.

Оно исполняется всякий раз, когда мы живем как братья между собой, когда заботимся о бедных и тех, кому не повезло в жизни, всякий раз, когда свидетельствуем о справедливости и истине в человеческих и общественных отношениях, протестуя против коррупции и фальши. Христианские общины, в частности семинария, должны быть «школой искренности». Не местом, где царит скованность и формализм, но таким местом, в котором учатся истине, открытости и умению делиться. В своих общинах, - мы не должны забывать об этом - мы все ученики Господа. Все ученики, важные и с равным достоинством. Не только Епископы, священники и монашествующие, но каждый крещенный был погружен в жизнь Христа и в Нем – как утверждал святой Павел – призван получить наследие и принять обетование Евангелия. Необходимо определить место мирянам: только так можно избежать клерикализации и закоснелости в общине. Синодальная Церковь, идущая к будущему Святого Духа – является такой Церковью, где пребывает совместная ответственность и всеобщее участие. Такая Церковь способна идти навстречу миру, потому что умеет общаться. Меня тронуло, что во всех свидетельствах звучало одно и то же: не только отец Руслан и сестры, но и Кирилл, отец семейства, вспомнили, что в Церкви, когда мы соприкасаемся с Евангелием, учимся переходить от эгоизма к безусловной любви. Избавиться от эгоизма – в этом нуждается каждый ученик. Каждый нуждается в том, чтобы совершенствовать дар, полученный в Крещении, благодаря которому везде, где бы мы не находились – на церковных встречах, в семье, на работе, в обществе – мы становимся людьми общения и мира, которые повсюду сеют добро. Открытость, радость, деление – знаки ранней Церкви, равно как и Церкви будущего. Давайте будем мечтать, но и с благодатью Божией, созидать Церковь, в которой живет радость Воскресшего, которая изгоняет страх и роптание, и не дает нам закоснеть в догматизме и морализме.

Дорогие братья и сестры, давайте будем просить обо всем этом у великих свидетелей веры этой страны. Мне хотелось бы особенно вспомнить о блаженном Буковинским, священнике, который всю свою жизнь посвятил служению больным, нуждающимся и отверженным, заплативший за преданность Евангелию тюремным заключением и принудительными работами. Мне говорили, что еще до его беатификации, на его могиле всегда были свежие цветы и зажженная свеча. Это свидетельствует, что Народ Божий хорошо распознает святость, пастыря, влюбленного в Евангелие. Мне хотелось бы сказать это особенно Епископам и священникам, а также семинаристам – это и есть наша миссия: не быть распорядителями священного или жандармами, что заботятся лишь о том, чтобы соблюдались религиозные нормы, а пастырями, близкими людям, живыми образами сострадающего сердца Христа. Следует вспомнить также и мучеников греко-католической Церкви: Епископа Будку, священника Зарицкого, а также Гертруду Детцель, процесс беатификации которой уже начался. Как сказала госпожа Мирослава: они несли любовь Христа в мир. Вы их наследие: будьте обетованием новой святости!

Я вместе с вами и призываю вас: воплощайте с радостью в жизни это наследие и свидетельствуйте о нем с великодушием, чтобы те, кого вы встретите поняли, что это обетование надежды обращено и к ним. Я с вами в молитве. А теперь особенным образом вверим себя сердцу Пресвятой Марии, которую вы здесь почитаете как Царицу мира. Я прочитал, что в тяжелые времена было одно знамение. Это было во время депортаций, когда многие страдали от голода и холода: Она, милостивая и заботливая Мать, услышала молитвы, обращенные к ней ее детьми. Однажды в одну из суровых зим, снег вдруг растаял, и образовалось озеро, кишевшее рыбой, благодаря чему многие люди смогли спастись от голода. Пусть Богоматерь растопит холод сердец, наполнит наши общины обновленным братским теплом, пошлет нам новую надежду и энтузиазм на благо Евангелия! А я сердечно благословляю вас и благодарю. И прошу вас, пожалуйста, молитесь обо мне.

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/ru/speeches/2022/september/documents/20220915-kazakhstan-clero.html