The meeting of the Permanent Synod in Chevetogne dealt with preparations for the UGCC Synod of Bishops, to be held in 2013 in Kyiv

The basic attention of the members of the Permanent Synod was focused on the preparation of the next UGCC Synod of Bishops, to be held August 11-18, 2013 in Kyiv.  The bishops also reviewed the  reports of the Patriarchal Commission on Matters of  Evangelization, Canonical and Pastoral-Missionary sections, completed the first editing  of the  subsequent  group of canons of the Particular Law and blessed the organization committee’s proposals on marking  “Year of Faith” which the Church Head solemnly announced  in St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Rome on October 14, 2012.

Special attention was devoted to the development of UGCC Maritime Apostolate. This issue is relevant since Ukraine is one of the most important “marine” countries, and many co-patriots serve on civil vessels from many different countries.  UGCC in having a network of services in various corners of the world will continue to provide spiritual care to sailors desiring it on civil ships. From now, this service will be provided by a separate church body, headed by a bishop.  Eventually a pastoral guidebook will be published for all chaplains of UGCC naval apostolate

On Thursday, December 6, on the Feast of St. Nicholas,(according to the Gregorian calendar) UGCC Head his Beatitude Sviatoslav headed the Divine Liturgy that was attended by priests and monks from Chevetogne community.  Concelebrants were Bishop Yaroslav (Pryriz), Sambir-Drohobych Eparch, and Bishop Borys (Gudziak), Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainians in France, Switzerland and countries of Benelux.

During their stay at the Benedictine monastery, members of UGCC Permanent Synod of Bishops had opportunity to join in prayers with the community, to visit the rich library and to learn more about the history and the current development of the monastery.  A special sign of spiritual and historical unity between UGCC and this unique monastic community in the Catholic Church is the altar cloth (a cloth in which is sewn a tiny piece of a relic and which is placed on the altar during services) of  Metropolitan Andrey (Sheptytsky) which the monks caringly preserve in their abbey and on which members of the Permanent Synod celebrated the Divine liturgy.

It is known that the ideas concerning the ecumenical meaning of monasticism, gave inspiration to the founder of the monastery - Rev. Lambert Beauduin.  After the war and the liquidation of UGCC on Ukrainian lands, the monastery in Chevetogne generously took in the refugee Studites.  In the last few years, this community supports students in Ukraine who study at Leuven Catholic University.  Today, among the 26 monks from ten different countries of the world who belong to the Chevetogne community, there is one Ukrainian – deacon Andriy Pavliv.

Note:

Chevetogne is a Catholic Benedictine monastery, founded in 1925 in the town Ame-sur-Mezz in Belgium by Rev. Lambert Beauduin in order to serve the unity of Christians.  In 1939 the monastery moved to Chevetogne.  Rev. Lambert also stood at the circuits of the liturgical movement in the Catholic Church, had numerous contacts with Christians Of the Eastern (Byzantine Slavic) tradition.  He dedicated his life to searching for agreement and adherence among Christians through the immersion of the undivided Church in the depths of liturgical life.

Therefore the main goal of the monastery is to pray fro the unity of Christians.  Two other ways in which the community attempts to enhance the achievement of this goal is the publication of the newspaper Irenikon and the hospitality which they extend especially to Christians of Eastern Churches. More information about the monastery is available on www.monasterechevetogne.com.

UGCC Department of information