CLOTHED IN WHITE ROBES
Read Time: 7 Minutes
Twenty-five years ago on June 27, 2001, Pope John Paul II beatified 25 martyrs of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church during his visit to the Ukraine. I recently attended the 25th anniversary celebrations at St. Joseph’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg, where one of these martyrs, Blessed Bishop Vasyl Velychkovsky is enshrined.
The 20th century was the century of martyrs in the Church, where more men and women lost their lives for the faith than all the other centuries combined in the history of the Church. It appears that the 21st century will be no different as in the last quarter of a century Christians are being persecuted more than ever all over the world.
These 25 martyrs represent but a small fraction of those who lost their lives for Christ. Scholars estimate that at least 26 million martyrs were persecuted and died from over 100 different countries around the globe in the 20th century. As Pope John Paul II said, “… many of the nameless ‘unknown soldiers’ as it were of God’s great cause.” He continues on to say, “Remembrance of the martyrs cannot be erased from the memory of the Church or of humanity.”
I decided to go and pay homage to one of these martyrs. It is difficult in our country to grasp or understand the significance of the lives and deaths of these people. We have never experienced what these people went through and thankfully most of us will never have to.
According to Bishop Michael Hrynchyshyn, C.Ss.R. in his series of talks on Appreciating Martyrdom, he describes martyrdom as a unique and praiseworthy phenomenon. “It defies simple human explanation. It is beyond mere human capacity. Rather, it is a miracle of the moral order, a miracle of the life of Christians. Veneration of the martyrs is a spontaneous reaction on the part of believing Christians to help us understand the gift or the charism of martyrdom.”
He goes on to say, “martyrdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit, martyrdom is a sacramental act which is granted like a gift to certain privileged souls. The blessings and riches of the sacramental act are in turn
transferred upon the whole body of the people of God.”
There are certain things that will happen only once in our lives. We are born once, we are baptized once and we will die once. There is however one exception to this law. The lives of the Saints and the Martyrs. They are born again in the Glory of God the Father in Heaven. Blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky is alive and well and exalted and glorified in Heaven. During the weekend celebrations we participated in a Rosary Procession on the streets of Winnipeg. We processed from the church to the bishop’s residence where Blessed Vasyl had resided while he lived in Winnipeg. Then we processed back to the church by a different route all the while being escorted by the police and crossing busy intersections as the police blocked traffic to allow us to pass. It took a good hour and Fr. John Sianchuk C.S.s.R prayed the rosary from his microphone to a loudspeaker mounted on a vehicle behind the 250 or so pilgrims. It was a beautiful and peaceful evening and as we arrived back to the church a light rain shower cooled us off as we arrived. We were then able to venerate the first-class relics of Blessed Vasyl and of Blessed Nicholas Charnetsky and receive an anointing with their Holy oils.
His mission did not end with his death in 1973. Perhaps he was forgotten about for a while, but when he was beatified in 2001, Blessed Vasyl’s mission continues today. He is a Blessed Martyr for the age we live in now. There are many miracles that are being investigated due to his intercession. We should give thanks to God that we have, in our country the opportunity venerate this miracle of the remains of Blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky Bishop and Martyr. What a gift that Jesus has given to the church in Canada.
Blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky Bishop and Martyr pray for us.
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb… then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir you know.” And he said to me. “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night within His temple; and he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 6:9-10;13-17