On Sunday, January 25, our community held a general parish meeting, where they summarized the past year, talked about the activities of the parish, and shared plans for the future.
We began with the prayer "To the Heavenly King," sung by the church choir. Next, the treasurer, Mr. Oleksandr, presented the financial report for 2025, talked about how you can join in supporting the church offline and online, about the parish's liabilities and assets, how the community joined in supporting Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and finally thanked all the donors.
During the meeting, the importance of all new parishioners registering as parishioners was also emphasized. Unlike in Ukraine, this is a common practice in the United States, which allows for better distribution of responsibilities in the community and even to indicate one's donations when filing taxes.
Brotherhood
P. Yevhen and Mr. Markiyan spoke about the activities of the parish brotherhood, which includes ritual and everyday work: organizing a temple holiday, a cross procession, pilgrimages, cleaning and decorating the temple and the territory, ensuring organized parking around the temple, working together with the sisterhood and the media group during festive events, fairs, etc. In addition, the brotherhood carries out repair work in the temple and the rector, manufactures church paraphernalia and generally deals with resolving all issues regarding the proper functioning of the temple building. Among the plans for the coming year is to update the elevator for the elderly and people with special needs. Also, the men of the brotherhood gather on the last Friday of every month for prayer and reflection.
Sisterhood of St. Olga
About the Sisterhood of St. Olga, which operates at the church, its new head, Mrs. Nadiya, spoke about three main areas of activity: rotating cleaning of the church; holding parish holidays, lunches and snacks, preparing food for voluntary donations (varenyky, pelmeni, chebureks and other dishes) and conducting children's programs: catechetical classes and a Ukrainian-language school. All funds received for preparing food go to the maintenance of the church and helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Among the holidays organized last year: Valentine's Day for married couples, a theatrical Stations of the Cross, gaivka, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Independence Day of Ukraine, a church holiday, and a Thanksgiving holiday for volunteers. In addition, Mrs. Nadiya spoke about the parish's participation in the Ukrainian festival in Bellevue, where the community had the opportunity to sell the prepared food and gain good experience. And also about the parish nativity scene, which won the US nativity scene competition. The Sisterhood has also organized an online prayer group that you can join regardless of your location.
In general, any willing parishioner can join the brotherhood and sisterhood and thus be an active participant in the community.
Book Store "Dzherelo"
Since April, the church has had a shop called "Dzherelo" where you can buy Christian books, icons, rosaries, everything you need for baptism, and other little things. Mrs. Victoria told us about it and also encouraged parishioners to write their wishes about what else they would like to see in the shop, where things are provided for voluntary donations, and there will be an opportunity to order it.
Catechetical projects
The parish holds classes for five catechetical groups: spin-and-turn (4 to 8 years old), preparation for first confession (9-12 years old), after first confession (10-13 years old), teenagers (14-18 years old), senior group. The age groups are approximate and the participation of each child is discussed with the catechists, noted Ms. Oresta, who presented the catechetical direction and the Bible camp. Starting this year, they plan to register using online registration to facilitate communication with children and parents. This year's summer Bible camp will be an out-of-town camp, with overnight stays, and it is planned to be held together with seminarians, like last year.
Parish choir
The choir provides prayer support for worship services, and each parishioner can show their singing talent and join the choir. P. Yuriy spoke about the choir's extracurricular activities, including participation in the Ukrainian Culture Festival at the Seattle Christmas Market, where "we preached with our carols and glorified God with singing." In addition, the choristers visited the elderly at Providence Mount St. Vincent in Seattle and gave them the opportunity to experience the holiday of Christmas and were able to glorify Ukraine. The church carol, which was also organized by the choristers, was visited by about 30 families of the parish. As for plans for the future, they will hold more active choir rehearsals.
Technical group
Divine services from the temple are regularly broadcast on YouTube thanks to the technical group of the temple, which Mr. Andriy told about. Thanks to this, people who are unable to come to the temple can take part in it online. In addition, the group is engaged in sound recording in the temple, broadcasts divine services for families with children in the common room, conducts video support during holidays and monitors safety around the temple. It also provides zoom broadcast for online evenings, which our parish organizes every month with various guests. Mr. Andriy invited to join the group.
Also on the Facebook page there is a Google form "Prayer intentions" where all parishioners have the opportunity to ask the parish priest of the church, Father Andriy Oliynyk, for prayer.
Media group
Our parish is present on social networks Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. There is a website and a newsletter where you can find out about the main news of the parish, view photo reports, the schedule of services and the skills of our parishioners. Mr. Nazar invited people to join the media group, and Fr. Andriy spoke about plans to synchronize the media group and improve the parish newsletter.
Ukrainian School named after Patriarch Lubomyr Husar
The school has been operating for the 3rd year on the initiative of Fr. Andriy. The director, Ms. Oksana, told more about the school. Currently, there are 2 classes: the first and the third. There are 12 children aged 6 to 13. The school program is developed in accordance with the age and needs of the children, educational materials and books are approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. The goal of the school is to instill a love for the Ukrainian word, teach Ukrainian spelling and grammar, and develop oral writing. Extracurricular activities include participation in parish holidays: Shevchenko Days, Mother's Day, St. Nicholas' Day, Independence Day of Ukraine, etc. Ms. Oksana thanked the parents for their support, trust, and talented children. Plans for this year are to completely switch to the electronic format of registration and payment.
Bible circle
This year, Father Andriy announced that during Great Lent, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts will be held every Friday at 7 p.m., followed by a Bible Circle, a time where all who wish can study the Bible in the "Lectio divina" format, that is, together in community, listen to what the Lord wants to speak to us through the Holy Scriptures.
"It is important that we remain in the Word of God, especially in times of such unstable news. The more we are rooted in the Word of God, we read, study, meditate, and strive to let it penetrate our heart, soul, and being, the less we worry and the more we grow in faith and trust in the Lord God," emphasized Fr. Andriy.
The general parish meeting ended with the prayer "It is worthy," which was sung together with the church choir.
