Fr. Mykola Buryadnyk (2008 – Present)

Mykola Buryadnyk was born November 28, 1977 to +Ivan and Olha Buryadnyk, in the village of Lybokhora, which is located in the Lviv region of Ukraine. Mykola grew up with his younger brother Ivan, in the village of Modrychi, where their father served as a priest.

Fr. Mykola attended the Pedagogical Lyceum, and upon completion in 1995, entered the Lviv Theological Academy and Holy Spirit Seminary. During his studies, he visited the United States on two occasions, once in 1999 and again in 2000, both times as a participant of a student internship program.

The year 2000 brought both sorrow and joy to the Buryadnyk family. In the summer Fr. Ivan Buryadnyk died tragically. That same year, Mykola married Oksana Spylchak and was ordained as a deacon. By the summer of 2002, then Deacon Mykola received his Master of Divinity degree from the Lviv Theological Academy, and was ordained a priest by Bishop Yulian Woronowskyj, in Holy Trinity Cathedral in Drohobych, Ukraine.

Fr. Mykola and his wife, along with his mother and brother, moved to Chicago in 2002, where he was appointed to serve at Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Parish, by Bishop Michael Wiwchar. Since 2002, he has also worked as a part-time chaplain at Resurrection Medical Center. In April 2004, Fr. Mykola’s and his wife Oksana were blessed with the birth of their son, Ivasyk and then in 2012 with the birth of their daughter Sofiyka.

On January 1, 2008, Fr. Mykola was appointed the seventh pastor of St. Joseph the Betrothed parish in Chicago. Since his appointment, he has actively encouraged the formation and growth of the Vyshyvanka dance group, Boyovyj Hopak (Ukrainian martial arts), and Theater group “Homin”.