Patriach Lubomyr met with Knesset deputies

On June 30, 2010, at the office of the Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC in Kyiv, His Beatitude Lubomyr held a meeting with the deputies Shae Germesh and Faina Kirshenbaum of Knesset (Parliament) of the State of Israel. During the meeting a series of questions were discussed regarding the cooperation of the Ukrainian and Israel nations in international affairs and counteracting manifestations of extremism, in particular, religious fundamentalism. Patriarch Lubomyr told the venerable guests about the selfless life and activity of the priest of the UGCC Omelyan Kovch, who by his deeds showed his loyalty to the high ideals of humanity by looking passed national belonging. The members of the delegation were pleased to hear that Aaron Weiss, the academic adviser of the Tkuma Center for Holocaust Studies and manager of the Joint communal programs in the CIS, was awarded with the blessed Omelyan Kovch distinction. Sharing with the public and religious institutions of Ukraine the experience of the State of Israel in repatriating former citizens or the representatives of the native ethnic groups and their descendants was also discussed at the meeting. The Commission on Matters of Immigrants of the UGCC is addressing these questions and the question of migration is the main theme of the next Synod of Bishops of the UGCC. The members of Jewish delegation highly evaluated the UGCC’s conduction of Social Weeks, which help unify and bring peace to the individual members of the society, peoples, and religions. In addition to the above mentioned people, from the Jewish society also took part: Jaacob Dov Bleich, the chief rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine and chairman of Association of Jewish Organizations of Ukraine; Alexander Dukhovny, chief rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, the spiritual leader of the Religious Union for Progressive Jewish Congregations of Ukraine; Oleksandr Galkin, the director of the programs of Eurasian Jewish congress; and David Godofsky, head of department of the party Israel is Our Home. From the UGCC participated archpriest Oleksa Petriv, the head of the Secretariat of the Major Archbishopric.

Information Department of the UGCC