UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE USA
CONSISTORY OFFICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
PRESS RELEASE

Ukrainian Independence Day Observance At Ukrainian Cultural Center in South Bound Brook/Somerset, NJ!

Over two hundred people gathered at the Ukrainian Cultural Center of the Metropolia Center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA in South Bound Brook/Somerset, NJ on August 24th, 2012 for the observance of the 21st anniversary of Ukrainian Independence.

Representatives of Ukrainian Government: Permanent Representation of Ukraine at the UN; Consulate General of Ukraine in NY as well as representatives of Franklin Township, NJ; members of the national board of the Ukrainian National Credit Union joined the visitors of the Church’s Cultural Center for the observance of Ukrainian Independence Day.

Both hierarchs of the Church, His Eminence Archbishop Antony and His Grace Bishop Daniel, accompanied by the local clergy and seminarians were in attendance of the concert program.

Prior to the beginning of the presentation, His Eminence Archbishop Antony, President of the Consistory and Locum Tenens of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA opened the evening program with a prayer for Ukrainian nation.

Mrs. Natalia Honchrenko, a director of the Ukrainian Historical and Educational Center of New Jersey opened the official ceremony with the greeting to the community with the 21st celebration of Ukrainian Independence Day and presented the performers of the two hour concert: Iskra Ukrainian Dance Ensemble of Whippany, NJ and musical quartet GERDAN of Washington, DC.

The concert program was organized and sponsored by the Ukrainian Historical and Educational Center of New Jersey.

As the community shared in the evening performance, celebrating 21 years of achievements and freedom of Ukrainian nation, the early morning hours in Ukraine welcomed the citizens of the ancestral homeland with the first hours of the 22nd year of their independent national journey as a free nation, equal with other nations of the world in its pursuit of liberty and justice.

Earlier in the morning of August 24th of 2012, the Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA issued a pastoral letter on the observance of the 21st Anniversary of Ukrainian Independence.