His Beatitude Lubomyr greeted Lina Kostenko on her jubilee

The head of the UGCC sent a greeting to the celebrated Ukrainian woman writer Lina Kostenko on the occasion of the 80^th jubilee. Text of the greeting was read from the stage of the Ukrainian House, where on March 22 the jubilee edition of Lina Kostenko’s novel “Berestechko” was presented. As reported on the internet newspaper “Ukrainian Truth,” the benediction from His Beatitude Lubomyr was a surprise for Ms. Kostenko. In the greeting reads: “I wish you only one thing and that is that you accept with great gratitude the gifts the merciful Lord wants to grant you. I pray for you because the words you express sound prophetical, proclaim God’s truth, and support the soul. I cordially thank you.” The presentation was conducted in a full hall. Other admirers of the prominent representative of “shistdesyatnytstvo” watched the event on screens in the lobby. The poet addressed the public for the first time after many years of silence and refusal to publish her books. “I indeed decided to go back to this literature, to this culture. Because difficult time is always my time. We are presently here for the presentation of a book, and for me it is a presentation of life. And I will tell you: the feeling is heavy – from this side life was taken away from me and take away, in the end, from all of us. We would wish for ourselves something better. We would wish for ourselves independence, a deserving state…Unfortunately, it is as it is…But why worry?! Here were many words about defeat… Why did we lose… Did we lose?! You know this is how history goes, this is its steps. Very close, certainly, is crisis, crash, from a distance of time – so history goes. And now we must gather strength, stay calm, maintain a positive feeling! Laughter burns, and it is possible to drown in the tears. It is not needed!” said the writer. Devoted to the 80^th jubilee of Lina Kostenko the gift re-edition of the historical novel in poems “Berestechko” was publishing by Lybid. Serhiy Yakutovych designed the book.  The edition includes articles by Ivan Dzyuba about the works of Lina Kostenko and by Volodymyr Panchenko about “Berestechko.” An audio version of the novel read by Petro Boyko is also available. The historical novel of Lina Kostenko “Berestechko” is a book about one of the greatest tragedies of Ukrainian history – the Berestechko Battle. Though written back in 1966-67, it was never finished. The novel ends with the words: "Do not ever think that God will not show us grace. The lifetime of a human is short. There is not time for defeat."  Lina Kostenko is the one of three most favorite modern Ukrainian writers among young readers, as was found in a poll conducted this year among the students of Kyiv.

Information Department of the UGCC