Conyers Ukrainian Parish To Hold Abortion Vigil

Published: September 23, 2004

CONYERS—On Oct. 1, Mother of God Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church will celebrate an all-night vigil to pray for an end to the national disgrace and public scourge of abortion. The vigil will begin with the celebration of vespers, extend into the night office of compline, the midnight office, matins (morning prayer) and conclude with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

The schedule for the vigil is as follows: 7 p.m., vespers; 9 p.m., first reading of the psalter; 10:30 p.m., compline; 12 a.m., midnight office; 1 a.m., second reading of the psalter; 2:30 a.m., chanting of the lamentations of the prophet Jeremias; 3:30 a.m., third reading of the psalter; 5 a.m., matins; and 8 a.m., Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

One of the 21 Eastern Christian churches in communion with the Roman Catholic Church, the Ukrainian church is one of the many Eastern churches with the liturgical tradition and theology of the Church of Constantinople, or New Rome, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The custom of having all-night vigils is a practice deeply ingrained in the Ukrainian church. This type of vigil has always been a consolation for parishioners in times of national crisis and calamity.

Father Matthew Schroeder, the pastor, provided a historical setting for this particular all-night vigil, which coincides with the parish’s feast day, the Feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God. According to this history, this day commemorates a particular event in 866, in which the Mother of God directly intervened in order to save the Christian people from destruction at the hands of foreign enemies. In 866, the city of Constantinople was attacked by a fleet assembled by Prince Oleg of Kiev. The people of the city, in desperation, cried out to the Mother of God for help. The Patriarch of Constantinople assembled the whole populace of the city and they carried the holy icons in procession around the walls. After the procession was completed, all of the available men went to the walls to assist with the defense, while the women, the clergy, and the monks held an all-night vigil in the church of the Mother of God in the Vlachernae Palace. There, they prayed and wept throughout the night in sorrow for their sins, the sins of the city, and in supplication to God to save Constantinople through the intercession of the Holy Mother of God. At the beginning of the matins, during the singing of “God is Lord and He has appeared to us, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” the people in the church saw the doors fly open and the Holy Mother of God enter escorted by an army of innumerable angels. She walked down the center of the church and entered the sanctuary. There she turned to the people, and, in a mystical vision, they saw her spread out her cloak over those in the church and over the church itself, and, finally, over the whole city. They knew in that instant that relief had come to the city and that they would be saved. The people would later learn, at that very moment, a great storm arose out of nowhere and utterly destroyed the Slavic fleet.

At this vigil, the focus of the prayers will be on the destruction of abortion today in the world. Each one of the services in this vigil has special significance for those who attend, reflecting the story of salvation. In the vespers service the people reflect upon and relive all of the wonderful things that God has given in Creation. In the night services, the people watch with Jesus, like he asked his disciples to do during his agony in the garden of Gethsemane. At the beginning of the matins service, the Lord is contemplated as he enters into his redeeming suffering and death. The services, held at various points throughout the night, are separated by periods of intense and quiet prayer during which the Psalter (the psalms of David) is read aloud.

All are invited to join with the parishioners of Mother of God Church, to watch together on this occasion and to stand in vigil together in prayer and supplication to God.

The church is located at 2880 Ga. Hwy 138, NE, Conyers. For more information, call (770) 760-1111.