About Us
Formation
Our Divine Liturgy
Our Divine Liturgy
This community was formed in 2016 and is growing in Fort Mill South Carolina. Fort Mill is minutes from North Carolina and 25 minutes from Downtown Charlotte.
Our Divine Liturgy
Our Divine Liturgy
Our Divine Liturgy
We Celebrate The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom - Byzantine (Ruthenian) Rite.
Divine Liturgy Celebrated Weekly on Saturdays since January 2018
During the Great Fast we will celebrate the Divine Liturgy of St Basil.
Upcoming Services
Our Divine Liturgy
Upcoming Services
- Sat Jun 18 Divine Liturgy @ 4 PM @ St. Philip Neri Ministry Center (building across from the main church).
- Sat Jun 25 Divine Liturgy @ 4 PM @ St. Philip Neri Ministry Center.
- Sat Jul 2 Divine Liturgy @ 4 PM @ St. Philip Neri Ministry Center.
Sunday AFTER PENTECOST
Synaxis of All Saints
The Sunday following Pentecost is dedicated to All Saints, both those who are known to us, and those who are known only to God. The Descent of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to rise above our fallen state and to attain sainthood, thereby fulfilling God’s directive to “be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16, etc.). Therefore, it is fitting to commemorate All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost. This feast may have originated at an early date, perhaps as a celebration of all martyrs, then it was broadened to include all men and women who had borne witness to Christ by their virtuous lives, even if they did not shed their blood for Him. The feast of All Saints achieved great prominence in the ninth century, in the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-911). His wife, the Holy Empress Theophano (December 16) lived in the world, but was not attached to worldly things. She was a great benefactor to the poor, and was generous to the monasteries. She was a true mother to her subjects, caring for widows and orphans, and consoling the sorrowful. Even before the death of Saint Theophano in 893 or 894, her husband started to build a church, intending to dedicate it to Theophano, but she forbade him to do so. It was this emperor who decreed that the Sunday after Pentecost be dedicated to All Saints. Believing that his wife was one of the righteous, he knew that she would also be honored whenever the Feast of All Saints was celebrated.
50 Days after Pascha
Pentecost: The Descent of the Holy Spirit
In the Old Testament Pentecost was the feast which occurred fifty days after Passover. As the passover feast celebrated the exodus of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt, so Pentecost celebrated God’s gift of the ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai.
In the new covenant of the Messiah, the passover event takes on its new meaning as the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection, the “exodus” of men from this sinful world to the Kingdom of God. And in the New Testament as well, the pentecostal feast is fulfilled and made new by the coming of the “new law,” the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ.
When the day of Pentecost had come they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed as resting upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit . . . (Acts 2.1–4).
The Holy Spirit that Christ had promised to his disciples came on the day of Pentecost (Jn 14.26, 15.26; Lk 24.49; Acts 1.5). The apostles received “the power from on high,” and they began to preach and bear witness to Jesus as the risen Christ, the King and the Lord. This moment has traditionally been called the birthday of the Church.
40 Days After Pascha
Ascension of Our Lord
Jesus did not live with His disciples after His resurrection as He had before His death. Filled with the glory of His divinity, He appeared at different times and places to His people, assuring them that it was He, truly alive in His risen and glorified body.
To them He presented Himself alive after His passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the Kingdom of God (Acts 1.3).
On the fortieth day after His passover, Jesus ascended into heaven to be glorified on the right hand of God (Acts 1.9–11; Mk 16.19; Lk 24.51). The ascension of Christ is His final physical departure from this world after the resurrection. It is the formal completion of His mission in this world as the Messianic Saviour. It is His glorious return to the Father Who had sent Him into the world to accomplish the work that He had given him to do (Jn 17.4–5).
. . . and lifting His hands He blessed them. While blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy (Lk 24.51–52)
Pascha
Easter Sunday: The Holy Pascha
The feast of Easter is officially called Pascha, the word which means the Passover. It is the new Passover of the new and everlasting covenant foretold by the prophets of old. It is the eternal Passover from death to life and from earth to heaven. It is the Day of the Lord proclaimed by God’s holy prophets, “the day which the Lord has made” for His judgment over all creation, the day of His final and everlasting victory. It is the Day of the Kingdom of God, the day “which has no night” for “its light is the Lamb” (Rev 21.22–25).
More Details about Us
Our Eparchy
This community is forming with the blessing of Bishop Kurt Burnette of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, New Jersey
Clergy
Our Celebrant is Fr. Vasyl Sokolovych, Adminstrator of SS Cyril and Methodious church in Cary (Raleigh) North Carolina.
About the Byzantine Catholic Church
The Byzantine Catholic Church is an Eastern Church in union with Rome; Carpatho-Rusyn in background and is an American Eastern Church. Our Liturgy blends the colors of our many icons with congregational chant and our fragrant incense in prayer.
The big news
Check out the Eparchial Newsletter. Available online, or in print for only $15 per year.
Come Join Us
We invite you to come and see who we are and what we are all about as part of the Eastern half of the Universal Church.