Great Blessing of Water Ceremony by the Ottawa River
Gatineau, Quebec, January 4, 2005 — All are welcome to celebrate the Feast of the Theophany in traditional Ukrainian Catholic style on Wednesday, January 19, 2005 at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. At 3:00 p.m., the local Ukrainian community will gather in the Museum’s St. Onuphrius Church for a brief prayer service. In procession, participants will then go outside by the Ottawa River, where — under a three-metre cross of ice — local clergy will celebrate a Great Blessing of Water service at 3:30 p.m. They will be led by Reverend Andrew T. Onuferko, Acting Director of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Saint Paul University, Ottawa. This is the fourth celebration of this feast at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
In the Ukrainian Catholic Church, as well as in other churches of the Byzantine tradition, a Great Blessing of Water service is celebrated annually on the Feast of the Theophany, January 6 (January 19 in the Old Calendar). At the conclusion of the service, the blessed water is distributed among the faithful, who drink it and take it to their homes. The Theophany of Our Lord commemorates Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. The Feast is called the Theophany (meaning “the manifestation of God”) because this is the first time that the Holy Trinity is revealed, and that Jesus’ divinity is confirmed by the Father and the Holy Spirit. This feast is also popularly referred to as the Feast of Jordan.
The Canadian Museum of Civilization houses St. Onuphrius Church, the former home of the Ukrainian Catholic parish in Smoky Lake, Alberta. In regular use from 1915 until 1963, the twelve by seven metre building was maintained by the parish until the 1990s, when members of the community disassembled it piece by piece and helped in its meticulous reconstruction inside the Museum’s Canada Hall. Over the years, the St. Onuphrius parish community celebrated Theophany many times.
For more information, the public can call (819) 776-7000 or 1 800 555-5621.
Members of the media are invited to cover this event and to take photographs.
Media Information:
Chief, Media Relations
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7167
Media Relations Officer
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7169
Fax: (819) 776-7187
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