On Good Friday morning, April 15, 2022 ACS students along with the parishioners of Ukrainian Assumption Catholic Church in Perth Amboy, NJ participated at the moving service called solemn Vespers with the burial procession bearing the Holy Shroud or Plashchanitsa. The “plashchanitsa” is a winding sheet with the picture of Christ’s body lying dead in the tomb. After the procession inside the Church, the shroud was laid out for veneration on a replica of the sepulcher. Fr. Ivan in his homily remarked that the world is haunted by Calvaries. Today, Calvary is found in Ukraine, where the innocent blood is poured from the bodies of men, women, and children who are defending their homeland. He invited everyone to enter into the mystery of the Calvary and the tomb of Christ, putting our hopes and prayers into the great news that the Lord has Risen.  

This year, the service was also attended by members of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Perth Amboy, NJ. The Rev. E. F. Michael Morgan, Ph.D., Interim Priest of the congregation, offered brief remarks about the tender love of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who through his death on the cross invites us to walk in the way of his suffering, and share in his Resurrection.