After three decades abroad, the longtime "star" hierarch of the US' largest Eastern Catholic fold has come home to the nation's top non-Roman post.
Born in Syracuse, a Harvard Ph.D., until now the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic church's leader in Western Europe – and for most of his priesthood, the lead architect of his people's intellectual rebuilding on its native turf as the persecuted church emerged from the Communist-era catacombs – this morning sees the enthronement of Borys Gudziak, 59, as metropolitan of Philadelphia and head of the nation's 65,000 members of the global church's largest Oriental branch.
With the de facto Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk on hand to preside, the choir flown in from the Motherland, and some 3,000 of the faithful overflowing into tents on the archeparchy's sprawling campus – now prime real-estate in a gentrified neighborhood – here's a livefeed of the 11am rites in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception...
...and even more importantly than usual, the full liturgy-book with side-by-side translations.
SVILUPPO: Due to a technical flub, the livefeed above began just before the three-hour liturgy's midpoint, well after the rite of enthronement at its start.
Ergo, here's delayed video of the seating of the new metropolitan, punctuated as ever by the threefold chant of "Axios!" ("Worthy!"):
As Shevchuk remained the liturgy's principal celebrant throughout given his role as "Father and Head" of the Ukrainian church, he likewise kept the preaching duties, so Gudziak didn't get to give an inaugural homily per se.
At the morning's close, however, the prodigal hierarch repeatedly turned emotional while giving an unscripted post-Communion talk, roaming around the main aisle of his new cathedral and notably focusing on the women of the metropolia:
-30-