UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
Brantford, Ontario
UPCOMING EVENTS
7th/DEC
Sunday, 26th after Pentecost; St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan Visit with St. Nicholas and coffee sociaL
9th/DEC
Musical Preparation for Nativity (7:00)
14th/DEC
Sunday, 27th after Pentecost; Holy Forefathers; Sts. Martyrs Tyrsa, Leukia, Philemon, Apollonia, Arian, and Callinicus
21st/DEC
Sunday before Christmas Holy Fathers; Pre-feast of Christmas; St. Martyr Juliana
24th/DEC
Eve of Nativity (10:00 pm); Great Compline with Lytia and Divine Liturgy of Nativity
27th/DEC
Bible Study on the theme of the Holy Prophet Habbekuk
28th/DEC
Sunday after Christmas — Commemoration of St. Joseph the Betrothed, King David, and James, the Lord's brother according to the flesh; St. Martyr Gregory Khomyshyn, one of the twenty thousand martyred in Nicomedia
Preparation for Nativity
Our preparations for the Feast of Nativity traditionally start with Phillips Fast, one of four
fast periods each year on the Church calendar, and which begins on November 15th. In our
contemporary world, we often find we are at odds with what is going on in life outside our
church community, where preparation for Nativity features gift buying, parties and
festivities. While it may be difficult to join in these, we are encouraged to deepen our
spiritual growth during this period of preparation through focussed pray, fasting and
almsgiving.
In keeping with our tradition, we will be celebrating Great Compline with Lytia, followed by
Divine Liturgy, on Christmas Eve, starting at 10:00pm. By attending “midnight Mass”, you
will be fulfilling your obligation for this great Feast Day. Accordingly, we will not be
celebrating Divine Liturgy during the day on December 25th. Anyone wishing to attend
Divine Liturgy on Christmas Day is invited to attend one of our neighbouring parishes, such
as Sacred Heart, in Waterford, ON.
In order to ensure a solemn and joyous celebration, we invite interested parishioners to
attend a series of practices, to (re)learn the music and rubrics for these services. The
practices will take place on Mondays, starting November 18th, at 7:00pm. We will try to
keep the sessions to no more than 90 minutes. No musical training is required and all are
encouraged to participate.
Preparation for Divine Liturgy
In an effort to foster a more prayerful environment for those
arriving at church for Divine Liturgy, we plan to introduce a variety of prayers to be chanted.
We seek volunteers to read or chant these various services, which will include the Third
Hour, the Rosary and the Jesus Prayer. We plan to alternate these in Ukrainian and English,
subject to availability of volunteer readers.
We will ensure you have the materials you need. Please note, no experience is necessary will be happy to coach you through what you need to do.
A signup form is available, please click the link below
Preserve Our Heritage
Assure Our Future Fundraiser
Please consider donating to help us restore our church
Our small Ukrainian Church in Brantford is seeking $85,000 to help us maintain our church and the broader Ukrainian identity in Brantford.
Even though we are a small parish, our plans are ambitious and our needs great.
Sadly, we have had to make substantial repairs to our buildings due to aging infrastructure and vandalism. We funded these through a combination of our own resources, insurance claims and government grants.
We have always tried to be prudent in our expenditures and proactive in seeking out available funding. These repairs inspired new pride in our church and inspired our goal to restore degrading infrastructure and make needed upgrades.
We invite you to register with our Parish
For more information regarding
registration, its benefits as well as the protocols we have in place to secure your information please, contact Fr.Don
Telephone: 519-751-3990
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Feast of Nativity of Our Lord
December 25 (Gregorian Calendar)
January 7 (Julian Calendar)
THE ICON
The Icon of the Nativity of Our Lord is divided into 9 sections. The upper three sections represent the Heavenly realm and included in this section are the angels and the star.
The next three sections represent the earthly players in this drama. We see the Magi from the East who followed the star and who represent those people who believe after much study and journeying.
We see the shepherds who are simple, everyday people who believe the words of the Angel.
Finally, we see Mary, the Mother of God and her newborn Son. Mary is robed in red, the colour of life, the colour of blood. On her veil are the three stars of Virginity. The stars symbolize the belief that Mary was a virgin before the Birth of Christ, during the Birth of Christ and after the Birth of Christ. Mary is reclining, having finished her appointed role by giving birth to Christ. She looks towards Joseph with sympathy because he still struggles to believe that his son is truly the Son of God.
The Animals in the cave represent all of creation present at the Nativity and part of God’s plan of salvation.
The Child is wrapped in swaddling cloths, similar to the burial cloths. This symbolizes Christ’s destiny. Not only did He come to earth and be born as a baby, but He would eventually suffer, die and rise from the dead to complete God’s plan of salvation.
The pure white of Christ’s swaddling cloths stand out against the blackness of the cave. Christ comes into the darkness of the world to bring the Light of God.
In the bottom left-hand corner, Joseph sits looking rather bewildered. An old man is talking to him. Some accounts say this is the devil that is trying to tempt Joseph into believing that Mary was unfaithful. Others say that the old man is a prophet of old teaching Joseph that what has happened is God’s will.
In the bottom right-hand corner, two handmaids are washing Jesus. This signifies that Christ was truly human and truly divine.
The tree in the middle of these two scenes is symbolic of the prophecy that the Messiah will come from the root of Jesse, King David’s father. It is also symbolic of the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden. This new Tree of Life is the Cross that Jesus will die on for our salvation.
Thanks to the eparchy of Saskatoon
ANNOUNCEMENTS
October 25, 2025
“Rosary Unites”: In five years of prayer, Zhyve TV broadcast over 1,500 programs from 40 countries worldwide
October 31, 2025, 07:13 20
For five years, Ukrainians have gathered every evening to pray the rosary as part of the “Rosary Unites” initiative, launched on October 14, 2020, with the blessing of His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. During this time, the daily joint prayer at 8:00 p.m. Kyiv time has united the faithful of the UGCC from all regions of Ukraine and 40 countries around the world.
June 12, 2025
Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada
Our Eparchy is proud to be launching “Road to Emmaus”
Our Eparchy is proud to be launching “Road to Emmaus” together with The Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies which provides a propaedeutic year of preparation for those discerning a vocation to ordained ministry within the Church, as well as a discernment year for those interested in lay-leadership in Church ministries. For more information, speak to your pastor.
