St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church
9201 60th St, Pinellas Park, FL 33782 • Tel: 727-777-4450 • stmichaeltampabay.org
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA · Ecumenical Patriarchate
Victoria Pechenizka, Parish President
June 2026
A Summer with the Apostles
Dear parish family,
The fifty days of Pascha are behind us, and the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon the Church. Now, in the warm Florida summer, the Church gives us a quieter season, what we might call a summer with the Apostles.
It begins on Sunday, June 7, the Sunday of All Saints, when we remember every soul, named and unnamed, who has carried the light of Christ from the day of Pentecost down to our own time. The very next day, Monday, June 8, we begin the Apostles Fast, a gentle summer discipline that walks us through the month and ends at the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on June 29. In between, on Wednesday, June 24, we celebrate the Nativity of the Holy Forerunner and Baptist John, one of only three birthdays the Church keeps each year.
You will notice the theme. The whole month is about the men and women who first carried the Gospel out into the world, and about us, who continue that same work in our own small corners of Pinellas Park. The Apostles did not all preach in grand cathedrals. Most of them spoke to neighbors, fishermen, travelers, families gathered around a table. That is the parish life, too. Our own kindness to a visitor at the door, our own willingness to bring a friend on Sunday, is the same work that Peter and Paul did in their day.
May this summer be a quiet, fruitful one for our parish. Come to the Liturgy. Keep the fast as you are able. Pray for one another.
With love in Christ, Fr. Stephen Siniari
June Schedule of Services
Regular Sunday Schedule
- 9:30 AM, Hours and Confession
- 10:00 AM, Divine Liturgy (Ukrainian and English)
This month:
- Sunday, June 7, 10:00 AM, Divine Liturgy, Sunday of All Saints
- Monday, June 8, Apostles Fast begins
- Sunday, June 14, 10:00 AM, Divine Liturgy, Sunday of All Saints of Rus-Ukraine
- Sunday, June 21, 10:00 AM, Divine Liturgy (Father’s Day)
- Wednesday, June 24, Divine Liturgy, Nativity of St. John the Baptist (service time to be announced, please check our parish Facebook page)
- Sunday, June 28, 10:00 AM, Divine Liturgy, last day of the Apostles Fast
- Monday, June 29, Divine Liturgy, Sts. Peter and Paul (service time to be announced, please check our parish Facebook page)
Sunday of All Saints
On Sunday, June 7, the Church celebrates the Sunday of All Saints, the first Sunday after Pentecost. Having just received the Holy Spirit, the Church looks at the fruit of the Spirit in human lives. The saints are that fruit. They are the proof that the grace given at Pentecost is not theoretical. It changes people. It made fishermen into preachers, tax collectors into evangelists, persecutors into apostles, and ordinary mothers and fathers into people whose icons we now venerate.
The epistle for the day, from Hebrews 11, names the patriarchs, prophets, and martyrs of every age and calls them “so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1). They surround us. They pray for us. They are not figures from a distant past but living members of the same Church we belong to.
One week later, on Sunday, June 14, we keep the Sunday of All Saints of Rus-Ukraine, when we remember in particular the saints of our own ancestral land: Ss. Volodymyr and Olha, the holy passion-bearers Borys and Hlib, the venerable fathers Anthony and Theodosius of the Kyiv Caves, St. Job of Pochaiv, and the new martyrs of Ukraine. These are our spiritual grandparents. Their prayers go before us.
The Apostles Fast: A Gentle Summer Discipline
The Apostles Fast, known in Ukrainian tradition as Petrivka (Петрівка), runs this year from Monday, June 8 through Sunday, June 28. It begins the day after All Saints Sunday and ends at the eve of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. The length of the fast changes from year to year because it is tied to the date of Pascha; in 2026 it runs twenty-one days.
This is a milder fast than the Nativity Fast or Great Lent. Fish is permitted on most days, and the rule lightens further on Saturdays and Sundays, when oil and wine are also allowed. The traditional guideline kept in most American parishes is:
- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: fish, oil, and wine permitted
- Wednesday and Friday: stricter, no fish, no oil, no wine
- Saturday and Sunday: fish, oil, and wine permitted
- Major feasts (such as the Nativity of John the Baptist on Wednesday, June 24) lift the fast for that day
The Ukrainian Orthodox tradition has always carried the Apostles Fast with a light hand. It is not meant to break us; it is meant to slow us down, to make a little quiet space in the heart of summer, to remind us that the Apostles themselves prepared for their work by prayer and fasting. If you are new to fasting, ill, expecting a child, traveling, or simply unsure, please speak with Fr. Stephen. The fast is for our salvation, not our burden.
The Nativity of St. John the Baptist
On Wednesday, June 24, the Church celebrates the Nativity of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John (Різдво Іоана Хрестителя). This is one of only three births the Orthodox Church celebrates liturgically, alongside the Nativity of Christ and the Nativity of the Theotokos. The Forerunner stands at the threshold between the Old Covenant and the New, the last of the prophets and the first to point to Christ at the Jordan and say, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
The Gospel of Luke gives us the tender story of his birth: his elderly parents, Zachariah and Elisabeth, who had waited a lifetime for a child; the angel who promised the impossible; the silence of Zachariah until the child was named John; and the song of praise that broke from his lips when his tongue was loosed at last (Luke 1).
This feast falls on a Wednesday this year, in the middle of the Apostles Fast, and lifts the Wednesday fast for the day. It is also the principal name-day for everyone in our parish named Ivan, Іоан, John, Jovan, or any of the many other forms of this beloved name. Многая літа!
The Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul
On Monday, June 29, the Apostles Fast comes to its joyful end with the feast of the Holy, Glorious, All-Praised Chief Apostles Peter and Paul (Святих первоверховних апостолів Петра і Павла). The Church calls them the первоверховні, the foremost, because of the unique place each holds: Peter, the rock upon whom Christ promised to build His Church; Paul, the persecutor turned apostle to the nations, whose letters still teach us.
The two saints could hardly have been more different. Peter was a Galilean fisherman, married, plainspoken, the one who walked on water and then sank, who denied the Lord and wept bitterly and was forgiven and restored. Paul was a Roman citizen, a Pharisee trained at the feet of Gamaliel, a tireless traveler and writer, who never met Christ in the flesh but was struck down on the road to Damascus and rose a new man. The Church holds them together, side by side in every icon, to show that the Gospel makes room for every kind of soul.
The day after, on Tuesday, June 30, the Church celebrates the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles, a single feast in honor of all twelve who walked with the Lord and were sent to the ends of the earth.
This feast is also the name-day for everyone in our parish named Petro, Pavlo, Peter, or Paul. Многая літа!
The Apostles Fast Begins June 8
A friendly reminder that the Apostles Fast begins on Monday, June 8 and runs through Sunday, June 28. The fast is mild this year, twenty-one days. Fish is permitted on most days, with the stricter rule kept on Wednesdays and Fridays. Please see the article above for the full guideline, and speak with Fr. Stephen if you have any questions about how to keep the fast in your own household.
Help Us Build Our Google Business Profile
Our parish has recently claimed its Google Business Profile, which is the listing many people see when they search for “Ukrainian Orthodox church near me” or look up our parish on Google Maps. We are building it out with photos, service times, and information about who we are. If you have nice photos of the church, our services, or parish events that you would like to share, please email them to Fr. Stephen or speak with him after Liturgy. With your help, the next person searching for a church home will find us.
Hospitality After Liturgy: Volunteers Welcome
The coffee hour and fellowship after Liturgy is one of the warmest parts of our parish life, and it does not happen by itself. We are always grateful for parishioners who can help set up, bring something to share, or stay a few minutes after to clean up. If you would like to join our hospitality rotation, please speak with Fr. Stephen or any council member after Liturgy. Even one Sunday a quarter is a real gift to the parish.
Online Giving Now Available
We accept donations through credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can give online from anywhere, or in person at the church by scanning the QR code with your phone.
Ways to give online:
- General Fund for the ongoing needs of the parish
- Candles to pay for candles you light for prayer, intention, or memorial
- Roof Repair Fund to help cover the cost of recent roof repairs
- AC Fund to help cover the cost of the new altar AC unit
Donate at stmichaeltampabay.org/donate
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St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church | Fr. Stephen Siniari, Parish Priest | 727-777-4450 | 9201 60th St, Pinellas Park, FL 33782