On Sunday June 4, 2023 Holy Trinity parish in Brooklyn New York had the pleasure and honor of welcoming His Eminence Metropolitan Antony Prime Hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and the Diaspora and His Eminence Archbishop Daniel presiding and ruling Hierarch of the Western Eparchy of the UOC of the USA and President of the Consistory. Their Eminence’s arrived early Sunday morning and were greeted by the children of the parish. Each of the children greeted their Eminence’s and at the end they all together wished them “many years”. Afterwards, Ms. Lyudmyla Gryshchenko greeted their Eminence’s and presented to them a traditional “korovai” which she herself just recently brought back from Kyiv, Ukraine. V. Rev. Victor Wronskyj rector of Holy Trinity parish then greeted the Hierarchs asking for their Archpastoral blessing and to ferverently pray that the Holy Spirit may descend upon all those who have gathered for this special feast day of Holy Pentecost. Upon completion of venerating the hand Cross from Metropolitan Antony the Hierarchs proceeded inside the church where a short time later the Archpastoral Hierarchial Divine Liturgy commenced with Deacon Pavlo Vysotsky and Deacon Sergii Khomitskyj assisting and the following clergy were also present: V. Rev. Wolodymyr Wronskyj and Rev. George Bazylevsky.  

The Archpastoral Hierarchial Divine Liturgy was beautifully sung by the seminarians of St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary. The homily was given by His Eminence Archbishop Daniel who only a few hours earlier retunred from his Holy Land pilgrimage. His Eminence gave an inspiring sermon, which was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, reminiscent of the power of the Holy Spirit that spoke through Apostle Peter on the very first Pentecost, which resulted according to the book of Acts: “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day”. Acts. 2:41. Parishioners later conveyed that as a result of His Eminence’s sermon a change was felt within themselves of being spiritually uplifted and feeling ever closer to Christ than they had ever felt in their lives.

After the prayer before the amvon, Archbishop Daniel led all the faithful in “the kneeling prayers of Pentecost”. After “the kneeling prayers of Pentecost” were concluded the Divine Liturgy ended with the singing of “O Heavenly King”, which was followed by “Bozhe-velykyy” and immediately following, “many years” was sung for their Eminence’s. On this very special feast day, Holy Trinity parish was very honord to have in their presence soldiers from the Armed forces of Ukraine who are currently undergoing rehabilitation after sustaining injuries on the frontlines in the war in Ukraine. These heroes of the Ukrainian nation have arrived to the New York area, more specifically Staten Island, NY, through the organization Kind Deeds, which sponsors injured Ukrainian soldiers to be fitted for prosthetics and assists in their rehabilitation. More information about this very speical and wonderful organization can be found at (https://kinddeeds.org/). His Eminence greeted three of these very speical soldiers of the Armed forces of Ukraine who were present at the Divine Liturgy, by thanking them for being present and for their service to the Ukrainian nation.

Very Rev. Victor Wronskyj in turn greeted His Eminecnce Metropolitan Antony and His Eminence Archbishop Daniel and thanked them for coming to Holy Trinity parish on the great feast day of Pentecost. Afterwards His Eminence Metropolitan Antony and His Eminence Archbishop Daniel bestowed awards on four individual parishioners of Holy Trinity parish. Ivan Skorobogach was awarded the medal of the order of “Sts. Boris and Hlib”, Mekhailo Niagai was awarded the medal of the order of “St. Job of Pochaiv”, Lyudmyla Gryshchenko was awarded the medal of the order of “St. Knyaginya Olha”, and Dobrodiyka Ivanna Wronskyj was as well awarded the medal of the order of “St. Knyaginya Olha”.

Soon afterwards everyone descended to the parish hall where a wonderful luncheon was prepared by the sisterhood of Holy Trinity parish. V. Rev. Victor Wronskyj once again greeted their Eminence’s and thanked them for their presence and archpastoral prayers. A short time after the luncheon began V. Rev.  Victor Wronskyj introduced Mr. Dmytro Chernyakhovsky who is the operations manager for the Kind Deeds organization. Mr. Dmytro Chernyakhovsky spoke to all those in attendance about the mission of the organization and all the work that it is doing to assist wounded frontline soldiers from the Armed forces of Ukraine. Afterwards, V. Rev. Victor Wronskyj presented a check in the amount of $20,000 on behalf of Holy Trinity parish to assist the Kind Deeds organization in their work for injured Ukrainian soldiers. In addition, V. Rev. Wolodymyr Wronskyj personally donated an additonal $9,000 for the Kind Deeds organization. In total, $29,000 was donated for the Kind Deeds organization. V. Rev. Victor Wronskyj asked all those in attendance to rise and show their appreciation for the service of those soldiers present by giving them a standing ovation. After a few remarks, from V. Rev. Wolodymyr Wronskyj, current parishioners of Holy Trinity and guest priest V. Rev. Volodymyr Muzychka, the seminarians entertained all guests by singing beautiful Ukrainian songs.

In the end, the feast day of Pentecost at Holy Trinity parish in Brookly N.Y, with the presence of His Eminence Metropolitan Antony and His Eminence Archbishop Daniel, the soldiers from the Armed forces of Ukraine, and representatives from the Kind Deeds organization, will be rememberd always as a special day by the parishioners of Holy Trinity, as a day that was filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit and the All Holy Trinity, encompassing all gathered with great joy and love.