On Friday, January 27, a presentation was held at the Stauropegium of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine of the first liturgical Aprakos Gospel, translated from Greek into Ukrainian.
The Aprakos Gospel is a type of liturgical books of the Holy Scriptures, the text of which is arranged not in sequential order, but by the annual calendar schedule of liturgical readings, starting from Easter Sunday. This is the first Aprakos Gospel in Ukrainian in several centuries, a new, improved translation from Greek, published in the Orthodox circles for liturgical use, by the example of the Greek liturgical tradition, reports the Stauropegium of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine.
The presentation was attended by representatives of Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdictions, in particular, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was represented by Metropolitan Oleksandr Drabynko of Pereyaslav and Vishneve and Candidate of Theology Protodeacon Vasyl Didora, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – by the first vice-rector of the Kyiv Academy and Seminary of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Archpriest Serhiy Yushchyk, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church – by Father Ihor Shaban, head of the UGCC Commission for promoting unity among Christians.
According to the exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Ukraine, Bishop Michael of Koman, the Aprakos Gospel is currently used in Greek-speaking Local Churches, therefore the publication of the Aprakos in Ukrainian is intended to introduce Orthodox Ukrainians to this structure of the liturgical text.
There is no one authoritative translation for all Churches, the “synodal” type. Therefore, the release of this translation from Greek gives two opportunities at the same time: to try a new translation in worship and home reading, and a structure of the Gospel text in liturgical use that is new to Ukraine. In addition, the appearance of another Ukrainian translation can become an impetus for the joint work of all Christian jurisdictions to create a single version of the Holy Scriptures translated into Ukrainian, which would become equally authoritative for all.
The Ukrainian evangelical text for this edition was chosen to be a translation that was first implemented by an initiative group during the time of the bright memory of Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan of Kyiv from 2012 to 2015. At the time of the group’s work, all its members belonged to the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, while later a large part of them joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Part of the first edition has already been reserved as charitable assistance for the chaplains of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and will be handed over to the head of the military chaplaincy service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Oleksiy Tereshchuk
A total of 1,000 copies of the publication were printed for free distribution, with the financial support of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA (Ecumenical Patriarchate).
“We express our heartfelt thanks to the Primate of the UOC of the USA, Bishop Metropolitan Anthony, who yesterday celebrated the tenth anniversary of his enthronement to the position of Primate, and Bishop Daniel Zelinsky, with the care of which this project was implemented,” noted Bishop Mykhail.
“This Gospel, published thanks to our cooperation, will allow for conveying the word of God not only to soldiers on the front lines, but also to people of good will, Ukrainians, be it in Ukraine or abroad. We bear joint responsibility for how we take care of our people,” Bishop Daniel emphasized in a video address to the participants of the event.
Due to the fact that the volume of the first edition is not able to cover everyone’s needs, Bishop Michael also presented a free electronic version of the book in EPUB format. The electronic variant of the Aprakos Gospel has interactive content and interactive links in the text. In electronic format, the book can be read on all types of gadgets once software for reading ebooks is installed.
