The following Christmas message was broadcasted on January 5, 1975, over WIBF’s “Voice of the Ukrainian Community”, the Ukrainian Radio Program serving the Greater Philadelphia Area.
“Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all the people: For this day is born to you a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord in the City of David.” (St. Luke, 2, 8-11)
These words, spoken almost two thousand years ago, have since been the source of hope and comfort for millions. They contain the most important message ever delivered to man: the message of his ultimate salvation. In our Ukrainian tradition, this message is most beautifully reiterated in the Christmas greetings: Khrystos Razhdayet’sia — “Christ is born,” and in the traditional response — Slavite Yeho — “Praise Him”. Around this time of the year, these words resound wherever there are Ukrainian people, and they bring joy and comfort to the downtrodden and the persecuted. They resound today over the snow-covered fields of Siberia, where millions of our countrymen spend their lifes in exile; they arewhispered softly in the towns and villages of Ukraine, where the red terror reigns; they ring with joy all over the Ukrainian diaspora whenever the faithful meet during the Christmas season. In these words, the Ukrainian people again and again reaffirm their allegiance to Christianity, and to their Ukrainian identity. But no one is probably more conscious of the real meaning of these words as those Ukrainian Catholics who are members of the Silent Church, the Church of modern-day catacombs. Obviously, those who utter them in the face of persecution and imprisonment, those who live under the diabolical fury of the red regime, know the real meaning and the real value of these words.
To many, however, who live in the luxury and abundance of the free world, these are merely a ritual, a cliche with little or no meaning. They tend to utter them without the ancient reverence and piety of their forbears, or, what is even worse, they do not say them at all. And perhaps the season of Christmas is a good time also for us Ukrainians to reaffirm our committment to tradition, to those spiritual values which have shaped our cultural and national identity. One good way of doing this, is to be more aware of the persecution that our Church suffers at the hands of the Soviet oppressor. The plight of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in our time, parallels closely that of the Early Christian Church. When in the early part of the first millenium, the persecutions fell upon the neophites no violence could make them forsake their faith. They stood proudly in the arenas of death, they defied the howling pagan masses, and they suffered martyrdom. The blood of those early Christian martyrs was trasformed into the life-blood of Christianity. The old world, the worshippers of flesh, power, and idols, was dying. A new world was dawning, based on the principle of love—the love of God and of one’s neighbor. Thus the Catholic Church, which was purchased by the infinite merits of Our Lord, born of Him through the intercessory prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, received this watering from the blood of martyrs. And today, these traditions of selfsacrifice and martyrdom live on in the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Her members are real, authentic Christians, whose suffering may well become the instrument of our redemption.
This Christmas season, threfore, let us cherish and observe our ancient customs and traditions with all the piety and reverence of our forebears. Afterall, these traditions link us with our Ukrainian past and with our suffering brothers, the real Christians, the martyrs behind the Iron Curtain. Their proper observance will help us to sustain and preserve the unity of our people and of our Church, and thus strengthen our spiritual ties with those who know the real meaning of the words:
Slavite Yeho!
