Regarding the cult spread among believers of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church about Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Synod of Bishops of UGCC held in Lviv (Briukhovychi), September 3-12, 2017 established a feast of Mother of Perpetual Help and concluded its celebration on the 1st Sunday of July.
Proclamation of the Feast of Mother of Perpetual Help for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
On December 11, 2017, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Major Archbishop of Kyiv and Halych, officially proclaimed that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church will celebrate the Feast of the Mother of God of Perpetual Help every year on the first Sunday of July.
The decision to include the Feast of the Mother of God of Perpetual Help in the worldwide Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was taken by the Major Archbishop and all the Bishops gathered in Synod in September 2017. It was proclaimed on the official website of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church on December 11, remembering that on this date, Pope Pius IX entrusted the Icon to the care of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
With our Confreres in the Provinces of Lviv and Yorkton, we rejoice in this decision and celebrate with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters as they honour the Mother of God under the title of Perpetual Help. May Our Mother of Perpetual Help continue to accompany and pray for the people of Ukraine, especially during this very difficult time of war.
Here is what we read on the official website:
As it is said in the text of a Decree, December 11, 1865 Pope Pius IX passed an original copy of a miraculous icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help to the congregation of fathers redemptorists. Owing to the righteous metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi and missionary work of redemptorists, who were invited to Ukraine in 1913, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, glorified in a distinctive icon, became popular among our people too.
Since then a lot of cathedral have been built. 1927 was a year when Community of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was founded, scientific publications were released, particularly an iconic work of blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky “A history of a miraculous icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help” was written together with liturgical texts.
Celebrating today the 150th anniversary of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, we can see its icon in cathedrals of different confessions and at numerous believers’ homes.
Patriarchal liturgical commission of the UGCC Synod of Bishops is charged with completing church service texts.
This decree is valid in two months from the day of its electronic publishing on the official web-site of UGCC.
The UGCC Department for Information
