On Sunday, December 6, 2009, the Roman Catholic parish of St. Nicholas in Kyiv celebrated its centenary anniversary. The solemn Holy Mass was led by Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine Archbishop Ivan Yurkovych with the ordinary of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr region Bishop Jan Purvinski and the general vicar of the Kyievo-Zhytomyrska region Bishop Vitalij Skomarovskim.

A large celebration took place this day. Parishioners celebrated their church’s birthday, which was built by their ancestors’ own money, and today they have to pay for the lease of the building so they may come and pray. The church was full of people and was extensively decorated. Even from the street one could feel something solemn. The most impressive part of the celebration was to see pilgrims from different regions of Ukraine, who said “we arrived for the anniversary of this church, but we are sorry that it still hasn’t been give to the people.”

At the beginning of the Holy Mass the abbot of the parish Father Pavlo Tomys OMI happily greeted all those present and later presented a short history of the church and the parish.

Bishop Jan Purvinskiy noted in his sermon that a church is a great gift where the faith of every parishioner grows. And there are thousands of people in this church who received plenty of Divine sacraments.

In conclusion of the Holy Liturgy Bishop Vitalij Skomarovskiy read the appeal of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, in which the head of the country congratulated everyone on the church’s birthday. The president stressed that the temple was robbed and desecrated in the days of the godless communist regime, and now again became the center of spiritual life for Roman Catholics in independent Ukraine. The president is convinced that due to the parishioners’ prayers, which have already for hundred of years held up the temple, the Lord will bless our country. Also, Yurij Reshetnikov, the head of the Committee on Religions and Nationalities, read out the greeting from the prime minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, who also congratulated all those present on the momentous event.

Also an address was sent by the vice provincial Father Jozef Nieslony OMI of the Community of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate from Poland. He noted that together with the history of the Church in Ukraine, the Pain, the Death, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ are hidden in the temple’s walls. Jesus Christ’s life was a time of conviction, a time of suffering, a time of Death, and a time of Resurrection. And we have the same in the history of this sacred place where the Divine Word was proclaimed, which was followed by a time of trial and its closing, and now comes the time for the Resurrection. At the end of the speech he wished that in this sacred temple God and the Holy Trinity will be always glorified and honored.

A prayer service to Saint Nicholas took place after solemn benediction, and the relics of saint were honored by all people in the church.

Just as centuries ago St. Nicholas distributed gifts for poor people, this day everybody went out with a spiritual gift in their heart, having a great expectation that soon, the next gift will be the giving of this temple to the parishioners.

Information from Rev. Pavlo Vyshkovsky