Catholic Bishops of Ukraine commemorate Patriarch Josyf Slipyj in the Cathedral of St. George in Lviv (+ audio)

“This year, on February 17, we commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj. Today with this common prayer at the Liturgy we begin the year of remembrance of a great son of our Church,” Lubomyr Husar, Archbishop Emeritus of the UGCC, said February 8, 2012, in the Cathedral of St. George, in Lviv ( listen). In this service, which was led by Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the UGCC, was attended by bishops of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and the UGCC, who earlier held a traditional joint meeting. According to the previous head of the UGCC, honoring Patriarch Slipyj on February 8 is due to two reasons. First, on this day started the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC and was a meeting between the bishops of the UGCC and the RCC. Second, 49 years ago Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj, recently released from prison, arrived by train in Rome from Moscow. “Then we seminarians were very happy to learn that the patriarch was alive, for we had heard he died. In those terrible years, among the terrible darkness that was cast by the Soviet Union, a ray of hope shone – news of the release of the metropolitan,” said the patriarch. In the end, Patriarch Sviatoslav thanked all bishops of the RCC and the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC for the joint prayer, His Beatitude Lubomyr for his fatherly word, the rectorate of the Lviv Theological Seminary of the Holy Spirit, which honored the memory of former rector, and especially the Lviv community, which proclaimed 2012 the year of the servant of God, Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj. After the Divine Liturgy all the bishops held a memorial service in the crypt of St. George Cathedral, where Patriarch Slipyj is buried.  

UGCC Information Department