St. Nicholas came to the children of our Archeparchy (updated)

On Sunday December 5th, 2021, the St. Nicholas parish in Great Meadows was honored with a visit from our patron Saint, St. Nicholas, who came to greet the parishioners and to hand out gifts to the children.  The parishioners anticipated his arrival and had prepared a buffet dinner with a magnificent stage show.  Father Wasyl Kharuk first greeted the parishioners with kind words and provided a brief background on St. Nicholas before leading everyone in prayer.  The children sang songs and recited poetry and sang the traditional “Oy Khto, Khto, Mykolaya Lyubyt” to encourage St. Nicholas to enter the hall.  St. Nicholas joyously welcomed everyone and gladly presented the children with their well-deserved gifts.  The event was well attended with plenty of scrumptious food, great conversations, and impromptu singing! — St. Nicholas, please pray for us!

The day’s festivities started with a wonderful performance by the Junior Drama group, directed by Mrs. Lawrence.  At the play’s conclusion, the students welcomed St. Nicholas to ACS by singing the traditional St. Nicholas Song.  After being welcomed by the school’s principal, St, Nicholas greeted students and staff with gifts.  As St. Nicholas was departing for his next destination, the students returned to their classrooms thankful for their gifts.

More than fifty children and their families met at Assumption Church in Perth Amboy for a special visit from St. Nicholas. The children recited poems and sang songs to greet him. Eventually they were all rewarded with gifts. Profound gratitude must be expressed to the Holy Name Society for sponsoring the event. Thank you all for being part of this celebration which brought us together to honor the saint of our childhood!

Last Sunday more than one hundred parishioners and guests of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church in Swarthmore participated in the annual St. Nicholas celebration. A sumptuous dinner of traditional Ukrainian food was served including kielbasa, sauerkraut, pyrohy, ham, halushky, and halupky. Following dinner, guest speaker Brother Dominic Whetzel from the Order of the BVM of Mercy talked about his experience with Christmas and how it differs from today. When Brother Dominic finished his speech, St. Nicholas arrived to greet everyone and distribute gifts to the children. The raffling of gift baskets is the highlight of the annual event, and this year’s selection did not disappoint. There were twenty different baskets filled with gifts of many kinds. Closing the day’s festivities, Archpriest Fr. Daniel Troyan led the crowd in singing the traditional Ukrainian carol “Those Who Love St. Nicholas” in both English and Ukrainian. (Report and photos by Walter Wolansky)

On his Facebook page, Rev. Daniel Troyan said: “A wonderful St. Nicholas Dinner with 114 guests to celebrate the joy of this season. Special thanks to all who attended, prepared the food, decorated the social hall and prepared the gifts for the children! A very special and joy filled way to honor our Lord through his beloved St Nicolas!”

St Stephen UCC in Toms River, NJ celebrated St Nicholas Day with children of the parish on Sunday, December 12, 2021. The Rev. Volodymyr Popyk so thankful to children of parish for their visit of church and study the Ukrainian language at parish Ukrainian School.

For 110 years St. Nicholas Church in Passaic has celebrated the feast of its patron saint. This year the faithful were delighted to come together for Divine Liturgy to give thanks for the many blessings received. Fr. Taras Svirchuk, CSsR from St. John the Baptist parish in Newark was the guest homilist. The faithful were joined by the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate (SSMI).

All were invited to the church hall at the conclusion of the service to savor a delicious dinner prepared by Mish Mash Caterers.

With special joy and gifts St. Nicholas visited the children and faithful of Washington’s Holy Family Parish.

Children from Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Melrose Park were also visited by St. Nicholas. To them he gave gifts and to the audience a lot of joy and love.

On Sunday, December 5 the children of St. Michael’s in Pottstown received a special visitation from St. Nicholas! They would like to thank Rev. Ihor Royik and everyone else who made this a very special day.

On Monday, Dec. 6th, St. Nicholas made a very special visit to the students of St. Nicholas School in Minersville, PA.  He arrived as the students, teachers, staff and Fr. Mark Fesniak gathered in the hallway of the school singing, “О хто, хто” to welcome him. St. Nicholas walked through the hall, greeting the students and then met each student, taking pictures with them and giving each an orange and a chocolate coin.

Once again this year, the students of St. Nicholas School, Minersville, PA, donated toys for those less fortunate. Following the example of St. Nicholas, students collected more than 9 bags of new toys that were donated to the Toys for Tots Program.  The students have been participating in the Toys for Tots Program for a number of years. Every year our students and their families have been very generous in their giving.

The St Nicholas visit at SS Joachim and Anna Ukrainian Catholic Church in Front Royal, Virginia, on Saturday, Dec 11, following the Divine Liturgy of the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers

During the Christmas fast Metropolitan Borys Gudziak has been sharing videos on Facebook. One of the tasks he suggests is to find out who St. Nicholas and Santa Claus are. If you missed this we suggest you continue reading.

St. Nicholas of Myra was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor. In one of the earliest attested and most famous incidents from his life, he is said to have rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution. St. Nicholas dropped three sacks of gold coins through the window of their house on three consecutive nights so their father could afford a dowry for each. Other early stories describe him calming a storm at sea, saving three innocent soldiers from wrongful execution, and chopping down a tree possessed by a demon. St. Nicholas Day was banned in Ukraine along with Christmas during Soviet rule. It was only revived at the time of independence.

Santa Claus is a legendary character based on several traditions. These include the historical St. Nicholas, the English figure of Father Christmas, and the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas. The Santa we know today became popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century. This was largely due to the 1823 poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas. The caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast also played a role in the creation of Santa’s image. This image has been maintained and reinforced through songs, radio, television, children’s books, family Christmas traditions, films, and advertising.

Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white-bearded man. He is often bespectacled and wears a red coat with a white fur collar and cuffs along with a black leather belt and boots. He carries a bag full of gifts and is commonly portrayed as laughing in a way that sounds like “ho ho ho.” Santa is said to bring gifts on Christmas Eve to well-behaved children and coal to naughty children. He is assisted by elves who make toys in his workshop at the North Pole as well as flying reindeer that pull his sleigh through the air.