Lenten Workshops in the Parishes of the Archeparchy

On April 5, 2025, at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, parishioners decorated willow branches that would be blessed on Palm Sunday. Everyone was welcome to adorn their branch, pray, socialize, and prepare their hearts for Holy Week.

At the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 2025, the 39th annual pysanka workshop was held, led by Mr. Yuriy Dobczansky. The event, a longstanding tradition, brought together children and adults around this ancient art, where every color and pattern carries deep symbolism. The workshop served as a source of inspiration and a way to experience Lent through creativity.

On April 6, 2025, Branch 65 of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America organized another excellent pysanka workshop at the Nativity Nativity-Blessed Virgin Mary Church - in New Brunswick, NJ. Valentyna Oplakanets led the workshop. Participants could follow a sample or express their creativity through unique styles. It was a day filled with warmth, inspiration, and community bonding.

The first-ever pysanka workshop was held at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Hillsborough, New Jersey, on April 6, 2025. It was a great success. All participants enthusiastically immersed themselves in the process and created true masterpieces.

On April 6, 2025, at Ss. Joachim and Anna Ukrainian Catholic Church in Front Royal, Virginia, an Akathist to the Blessed Virgin Mary, was followed by an inspiring pysanky workshop. Participants joyfully immersed themselves in Ukrainian Easter traditions, learning the art of creating beautiful Easter eggs. It was a day filled with prayer, creativity, and community spirit.

At St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg) workshops gathered many enthusiastic participants. Guided by the talented artist Dana Samulyak, they created true masterpieces.

If you haven’t had a chance to join a workshop yet, you’ll have the opportunity on April 12 at the Ukrainian Catholic Mission in Richmond, Henrico, Virginia.

We thank everyone who organized or participated in the various workshops across our parishes. These Lenten workshops are much more than simply learning a traditional art form. They are a way of preserving and passing on the living heritage of our people, of being together and creating with love. In such creativity, a profound theological truth is revealed: the human person is made in the image of the Creator and is thus called to freedom, beauty, and creativity. Each pysanka, every embroidered cloth, and every decorated basket is not merely a craft — a silent prayer, an act of co-creation and love that draws us closer to others and the Creator.