“We thank God for the gift of the resurrection of the Churches-martyrs of the 20th century , who through their martyrdom bore witness to unity with the successor of Apostle Peter” – Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna

Thursday, 06 December 2012, 10:29

In Vienna on December 3rd in St. Stephansdom, the faithful and clergy of the Ordinate for Byzantine Rite Catholics of Austria celebrated their parish feast. On the occasion of the celebration Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna and Ordinary for faithful of the Byzantine Rite in Austria, participated in the celebratory Divine Liturgy, headed by Archpriest Yuriy Kolasa, the protosynkel of Byzantine Rite faithful in Austria, concelebrated by the Ordinate clergy. The Liturgy was sung by the choir of the central parish of St. Varvara and the parish of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church.

Present at the Liturgy was also the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Austria, Andriy Berezny with his wife.

During the sermon , Cardinal Schönborn highlighted the unique role of Greek-Catholic Churches in the life of the Universal Church: “We thank God for the gift of the resurrection of the Churches-martyrs of the 20^th century, who through their martyrdom bore witness to unity with the successor of Apostle Peter. The new role and the development of service by the Greek-Catholic Churches that are the embodiment of Christ’s teachings about the unity of Churches, is a special gift to the life of the Universal Church.”

In the first half of the day, Archbishop Christoph Schönborn met with the clergy of the Ordinate who are pastors in Austria. During this meeting he emphasized the extraordinary significance of the participation of the laity in the life of the Church. He also highlighted the importance of providing pastoral care to young people. “Today we should be reaching out to youth, in order to teach them the evangelical truths, explaining to them the truths of faith. In the current secularized world, we should help a young person to learn the truth about God and thereby to get to know God Himself. We should create a school of faith in which the young people group around the Person of the living Christ!” emphasized the Vienna Archbishop.

After the Divine Liturgy, Cardinal Schönborn invited the priests and their families to a festive reception at the Archbishop’s Palace. During the reception the Ordinary for Byzantine Rite faithful expressed special gratitude to the wives of priests for their zealous dedication and participation in the life of the Church.

Presently the Ordinate of Byzantine Rite faithful in Austria includes faithful of: Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church, Hungarian Greek-Catholic Church, Romanian Greek-Catholic Church, Belarus Greek-Catholic Church, Russian Greek-Catholic Church, Bulgarian Greek-Catholic Church, Melkite Greek-Catholic Church. The overall number of these faithful, residing in various federal lands of Austria, totals some 20,000 people. The Ordinate has 32 priests. Pastoral care is provided in the following cities: Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck.

Photo: © kathbild.at / Rupprecht

UGCC Department of Information