Episcopal ordination of the monk-priest Joseph Milyan

At 9:00am on June 18, 2009, in the Patriarchal cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (5 Mykil'sko-Slobids’ka St. in Kyiv), the Episcopal ordination of monk-priest Joseph Milyan will take place. The Hierarchical ordination will begin the day before, on June 17 at 6:00pm, with the hierarchical nomination, where the candidate will publicly express his consent, accept the Synod and take an Oath. In an interview with the newspaper “Cathedral” about his appointment, the future Bishop explained that, “the proclamation itself did not cause either satisfaction or inspiration. I accepted it very calmly. However, deep in my soul there was a worry... Using the experience of the Church, I prepared the Episcopal coat and placed the “kitva” (“anchor” – editor) on it as a symbol of hope, because I hope very much for God’s help. Often in hard times, I was helped by a hope and faith that the Lord is with me. Therefore, a slogan on the coat reads God is with us.” It should be noted that in the most recent history of the UGCC, this will be the first Hierarchical ordination in Kyiv. The main Bishop who will ordain, in the presence of His Beatitude Lubomyr, will be High Reverend Bishop Ivan (Martynyak), Metropolitan of Peremyshel and Warsaw, and co-serving with him will be Reverend Bishop Julian (Voronovskyj), Eparch of Sambir-Drohobych, and Reverend Bishop Petro (Stasyuk), Eparch for the Ukrainians-Catholics in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. Joseph Milyan will carry out his Episcopal ministering at the Kyivan Archeparchy as the auxiliary Bishop. On this arrangement, Milyan commented that, “I think that I will not be a stranger here. My own monastic and priestly ministering I built on the experience gained by the Church over its long history, which for me is a very valuable ‘stone.’ That is why I hope that I will not differ from the Kyivan clergy, being similar in tradition and spirit. I will try to set right the relations between the representatives of all traditional Churches that serve here on theological, cultural and artistic soil, particularly through personal dialog, because praise God, I have not been disappointed in people and strongly believe in their kindness.”

Information Department of the UGCC