Slava Isusu Christu!     Glory To Jesus Christ!

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks;

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  I Thessalonians 5:16-18

As this is my final letter to you before stepping down as pastor, allow me to make a few  comments.  I have often been told that I write lengthy letters and never shy away from difficult topics but I always have a lot to say.  In all my letters, I always strive for clarity.  So please allow me one final message to you, my dear parishioners. Be grateful that I’m not reading it in church.

On December 31, 2023, I will be stepping down as pastor of our St. Vladimir Cathedral – a position I have held for 36 years. As I write on this topic, please keep in mind that a priest never retires. When a doctor retires, he does not continue to see patients, a teacher leaves the classroom, a Ford worker does not continue to go to the factory. But a priest is a priest forever, although his administrative responsibilities and duties to a parish will change.

How does a priest stop caring for the spiritual needs of individuals who were so dear to him throughout his years of ministry? That connection never ends. Sacred Scripture tells us “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Psalm 110:4 & Hebrews 7:17 So please don’t look at this change in our parish as my retirement. Fr. Stephen Hankavich never retired but faithfully served our parish as Emeritus for 10 years until his unexpected death on June 27, 1997. He served Liturgy every Sunday.

Making the decision to come to Parma was my most difficult decision as a priest. After 14 beautiful years at Holy Ascension, three requests from Parma, and because of the increase in crime around the rectory, we left for the safety and wellbeing of our children, aged 6 and 9 at the time. The rectory was robbed shortly after we left. My final Liturgy and banquet in Maplewood were filled with tears – both mine and parishioners. If you’re interested, I can show you the DVD.

Transferring to St. Vladimir took over 7 months – not so much between the parish and me but with Metropolitan Mstyslav and the Consistory. Everything had to be in writing and signed by the clergy and Executive Board. I joked that the only signatures missing were those of the two Pani Matkas. To my knowledge, never has such a transfer been done in the past and, I believe, it was never done again. Metropolitan Mstyslav was very concerned that Fr. Steve should be treated properly as Pastor Emeritus. He therefore demanded that the agreement be in writing.

For my part, I never told the Board in Parma what I personally wanted. I only informed the Board of the salary and benefits that I was receiving in Maplewood.

The parish requested that the transfer take place on December 1, 1986 but there were always new requests coming from the Consistory. Subsequently, my family and I moved to Parma in the middle of February 1987.

The reason I was asked to move to Parma was to bring new ideas, challenges and opportunities to the largest parish in the Diocese. Aside from having held very successful U.O.L. Conventions in Parma, very little was known about our parish.

It didn’t take long before the criticism began regarding my new ideas – the first being dissatisfaction that, at the end of every Liturgy, I would greet visitors in both Ukrainian and English. Then came complaints that I had sermons for the children, on their level, in front of the first pew. Some felt that it was going against the teachings of the Church.

While being a priest in New Jersey, I was expected to be involved in the entire Ukrainian community. Here, with only a few exceptions, our parish was isolated. I was advised by a man that I visited in the old Deaconess Hospital not to attend the dedication of St. Josaphat Cathedral. When I told him that I had to attend because they gave me free banquet tickets, he looked at me with a blank expression and said nothing. Joining and being active in the Greater Cleveland Council of Orthodox Clergy, to which I was elected treasurer, created its own challenges. Attending the 100th anniversary of St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland was a bigger hurdle to overcome. I prepared the parish with special sermons before the event. It was just my luck that a picture of Fr. Stephen and me serving at that Liturgy appeared in the Plain Dealer. I received only one negative complaint. It was from a non-parishioner and she was Catholic. Today I am very close to her and her family. That was progress!

You know that I love our choirs. We are blessed with two beautiful choirs, led by a dedicated director, that sing every Sunday. I also enjoy when the entire parish sings, especially carols. That really angered certain individuals. Going to visit the Pyrohy workers on Friday morning was always very interesting and challenging but I always went because Mrs. Mary Wagera had a bowl full of cabbage pyrohy, covered with onions, waiting for me on the stove. It was made abundantly clear to me that the faithful did not want to sing. Today you see how much the people enjoy singing. I often feel like I’m in my grandmother’s village in Ivano-Frankivsk. I was blessed to visit Ukraine 6 times so I know what it’s like when the entire congregation sings.

Another bone of contention occurred when parishioners started receiving Holy Communion every Sunday, with Confession once a month. I’m sure many of you remember when only children under the age of 8 received Holy Communion at Sunday Liturgies. What a joy it is that we have to use 4 chalices to distribute Communion on Christmas and Pascha! The Church encourages receiving Communion at each Liturgy. Why? The answer is in the prayer – “for the healing of soul and body, the remission of sins and for eternal life.”

Almost everything that I had done with ease in Maplewood was so difficult to initiate in Parma. But I never backed down from the challenges and new opportunities to improve the parish. In time it got easier. Greeting one another before the Creed during Liturgy is now accepted and even encouraged by Archbishop Daniel. Singing “God Bless America” and the Ukrainian prayer “Bozhe Velykyj” at the end of both Liturgies is normal. Reciting the Creed and the Prayer before Communion together is truly beautiful. We saw spiritual growth in our Liturgies.

To celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., all parishes received a letter from our Bishops to select one or two dedicated parishioners to get special medals of recognition. The letter also mentioned that institutions could be nominated. Knowing that there was no way that we could nominate only one or two individuals, on July 9, 2018 I presented a letter to the Board to nominate our St. Vladimir Parish. I listed all the accomplishments that we had achieved on international, national and local levels. What we – the laity and clergy – have achieved together for the Glory of God and His Holy Church is truly amazing! If you would like to read that list, please contact me. It lists 4 pages of accomplishments.

One of the major changes to the parish facilities that I did not write about in my letter of 2018 was the installation of the beautiful mosaic of the Millennium of the Baptism of Ukraine in 1988. We begin all tours of the church in front of that mosaic, explaining its significance in the life of our Holy Church, including the fact that we had a special service to mix water from the Dnipro River and soil from Kyiv into the cement that holds the tiles together. This is a very real connection to Ukraine. (Please don’t tell anyone who works in U.S. Customs). Regarding the mosaic – my main task, all alone, was to convince a gentleman to allow us to remove the blue tiled mosaic that his family had donated. He refused to come to my office in the rectory and we met in the school building. If you want to know the details of that meeting, just ask me. That individual became president of the Board the next year and served for 3 years. He even helped me paint rooms in the rectory. Also not mentioned in the letter is the beautification of the interior of the church. Everyone is very impressed when they look at the interior of the church from the balcony. One person even commented that the interior of our church is the hidden jewel in Parma. When I visited Constantinople, I obtained fragments from the world renown Hagia Sofia. The iconographer painted them into the garment of the Icon of the Mother of God over the Iconastas. Shortly after the completion of the iconography project, our parish was designated as Metropolitan Constantine’s Cathedral for the central eparchy.

Of all the changes since arriving in Parma, there are two that I take great joy in. The first is the idea and creation of Ukrainian Village on State Road. How can we not take pride in seeing the Ukrainian and American flags and the beautiful Ukrainian banners flying for one mile on State Road? Marioncliff Drive has also been named St. Vladimir Drive. The August parade announces to all residents the strength of our Ukrainian community. As I always mention, Parma is truly the capital of Ukrainians in America. We have developed excellent relations with our city leaders.

The second and most important is the fact that our entire parish can pray together, when needed, at one bilingual Liturgy with our choirs singing in both Ukrainian and English. The language issue was the most difficult. Parishioners who attend the English and Ukrainian Liturgies had absolutely no interaction. Even on Christmas Day there were two Liturgies. When we had a parish dinner, those who attended the first Liturgy went home and came back two hours later for the dinner. Some waited in the hall and had coffee. Two Liturgies were served on the day when we had our annual meeting. Today we go back and forth in both languages with such ease. It is just beautiful!

Following Archbishop Daniel’s consecration in our parish, countless individuals commented how everything flowed so smoothly from one language to another. Visitors from the East Coast told us that they had wondered why the consecration was not held in Bound Brook. After the beautiful consecration and banquet, they said that they now understood why it was in Parma. You can watch the DVD.

“This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:23

Sadly, over the last 36 years, we have all witnessed the tremendous decrease in the religious life and commitment of the citizens in the United States. Our National Motto is “In God we trust” but we do not live those words. I once heard someone say that many Christians live their lives like atheists but atheists never live a Christian life. Church attendance is down everywhere. For the first time in the history of our country, less than 50% attend worship services on a regular basis. It is reported that thousands of churches across the country are closing, including 5 churches in Parma. The Orthodox parish in North Royalton closed and the building is now a mosque. Our youth are lost and suffering the most. In many families, sports have replaced God on Sunday mornings. Drug overdoses and suicides of our youth are a national epidemic. Only the power of God can fill that void in their souls. We must pray for a spiritual rebirth of the Nation. Parents: bring your children to church every Sunday and teach them how to pray. Lead by example. This is the greatest gift that you can give them.

Throughout our Country we have seen a tremendous increase of young Ukrainian families relocating. We see this change in all the Ukrainian churches in Parma, including our parish. We rejoice in welcoming new faces every Sunday. I personally make it a priority to see that the newcomers are not sitting alone at coffee hours. I encourage you to do the same. At the same time, let us not repeat the same mistakes made when the immigrants arrived after World War II. In many cities, including Cleveland, the old immigration and the new couldn’t live together and new parishes were formed. In cities like Chicago, New York City and Detroit, the founding pioneers of those parishes and their children left the parishes they founded. We must be very careful not to alienate any segment of our membership. We are a diverse parish with a distinct membership. Mutual respect and understanding of one another must always be our goal. Always remember that, through the Holy Sacraments, we are all members of the same Body of Christ – the Church. Besides being instructed to love one another, we must always be ready to forgive one another. Also, let us carve into our hearts the words of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, 5:11 - “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up.” Pray that the
Lord will direct us in this challenging task that lies before us as we begin our parish’s 100th anniversary of its founding.

The Holy Priesthood is not a profession or a job but a vocation – a calling from Almighty God to serve His Holy Church and its people. “You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.” St. John 15:16 What a joy and blessing it has been to serve so many by administering the Holy Sacraments of Baptism, Chrismation, Marriage, Confession and Communion, bringing the faithful to Christ. A priest also touches the lives of the faithful in sad moments, counselling prior to a divorce and in times of illness and death of a dear family member or friends. I have always strived to be compassionate, caring and knowing how to comfort in those moments of great sadness. I’m sorry if I didn’t live up to your expectations. I only ask that you remember me in prayer after my earthly life comes to an end, that the Lord will forgive my sins and find me worthy to enter into His Heavenly Kingdom.

In the 100 years of its existence, there have been 8 pastors at St. Vladimir’s. Fr. Stephen served the parish as pastor for 27 years and I have served here for 36 years, which account for 63 years of its history. My ministry mainly focused on the youth and ministering to the sick and elderly, as well as serving all Liturgical services with love, devotion and dignity. I have always strived to be a caring pastor / spiritual father, accessible to everyone’s needs. Other areas of parish administration can and should be handled by the laity.

People wonder what I will do with all the extra time I will have when I won’t be attending meetings. Well, I am thinking of taking up some hobbies – perhaps woodworking, painting, beekeeping or fly fishing. It is also possible that I’ll have the opportunity to go skydiving. The late President George Bush went skydiving on his 90th birthday.

Over the last year, I have been preparing Fr. Michael to take over as pastor by stepping aside from my traditional administrative responsibilities. Every aspect went very smoothly. Now, all that is needed is the green light to be pastor from Archbishop Daniel, which he will receive on Sunday, December 31st. I pray for his success in these most difficult and challenging times. I believe that you will support him as you have supported me. I thank you for everything. The decision to move to Parma was the right one for my family and me and I hope that you believe that it was also the right move for our St. Vladimir parish family.

May God Bless You All!

~ Fr. John