Father Christopher Zugger

This http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCDqi2LZTPg&feature=g-u&context=G2199e57FUAAAAAAABAA is a 55 minute video of the Divine Liturgy being celebrated by Bishop Milan Sasik, Bishop of Mukachevo, at Saint Anthony the Abbot Church in Rome, at the Russian College (Russicum).

The film was made by the Greek-Catholic television station LOGOS, or Eternal Word, which tapes events for the Mukachevo eparchy. Here they are in one of the poorest districts of Europe, but they have a top-notch production company, along with other top-notch programs in that eparchy. Very cool.

This pilgrimage was in honor of the 75th anniversary of the ordination of Blessed Theodore Romzha, our first bishop martyr, in that very church. Ruthenian students studying in Rome and pilgrims from the Mother Diocese of all  Ruthenian Eparchies and Metropolias attending/ serving/ chanting.

Here is our authentic chant, or Prostopinijie (j is pronounced as ye), sung by clergy and people from the Mother Church. This is a Hierarchical Liturgy. Bishop Sasik, like me, came from a Roman Catholic family but had a deep attraction to the Byzantine Church from an early age. As a young priest, he was sent to assist in the Papal Nunciature (Embassy of the Holy See) in Kiev, capital of newly-independent Ukraine.  There he obtained Byzantine-rite faculties, and was then sent by his Order, the Vincentian Fathers of Slovakia, to serve as a missionary in a Latin-rite church in the small town of Perechyn, Transcarpathia, Ukraine.  Since the Ruthenian Church in Ukraine follows the Old/ Julian Calendar, he was available to help out on holy days, Lent, and the Easter-Pentecost cycle.

As you can read in my book, Finding a Hidden Church, conditions in the Mukachevo eparchy reached a serious crisis in the early 21st century.  The Holy See finally appointed him as Apostolic Administrator, and then finally Eparch/ Bishop. He is a gracious man, always filled with new ideas for apostolate to strengthen the faithful: education, prayer life, social assistance to the poor.

Enjoy the Liturgy – spread it around. It is most definitely authentic chant!