UGCC begins year of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj

During the Synod of Bishops, held from February 8–9, 2012, in retreat center of the Lviv Archeparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Bryukhovychi (near Lviv), began the Year of Remembrance of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj in honor of the 120th anniversary of his birth, which is celebrated on February 17. This is stated in the message of the Synod of Bishops to the faithful on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, which was passed to UNIAN new agency. In the message the bishops recall Patriarch Slipyj is a “live embodiment of the fate of the Ukrainian Church and our people in the twentieth century – he, like many others, were unlawfully deprived of liberty (18 years imprisonment). He, like millions of Ukrainians, was doomed to torture in the dungeons of the NKVD/KGB and martyrdom in the Gulag. Even if in prison he was a ‘silent witness of the Church,’ later, in the settlements (outside Ukraine), he became the voice of the ‘silent Church’ and its spiritual support, never forgetting his countrymen, who were still being punished in captivity.” The bishops of the UGCC believe that these words are also spoken to us today. “To those who have to live in conditions of selective justice, increasingly more restrictions on the right to assembly and demonstration, to receive and disseminate accurate information, in a time when the national language and culture is being forced out from public life. In Ukraine, unfortunately, there is no stop to the troublesome tradition of abuse of power and disregard for human dignity, violation of national, cultural and religious rights, neglect by ones own, accompanied by pursuit of honors and thirst for power,” states the document of the Synod. According to the Synod, Patriarch Slipyj’s views on national unity today “are a guiding light,” since now there is still a lack of unity and it becomes “our national disaster when people are artificially divided by regional, historical, linguistic and cultural characteristics.” In their message, the bishops stress that thanks to Patriarch Slipyj the Church in the diaspora not only survived but has become a world Church, without which today it is difficult to imagine the landscape of the Catholic Church in the world. “Today normative for us are the two fundamental principles with which Patriarch Slipyj described the UGCC’s church identity: the first, communion with the Bishop of Rome, and the second, allegiance to the Eastern Byzantine tradition,” said Synod. Therefore, the bishops encourage the faithful of the Church to pray for the glory of Patriarch Slipyj and participate in festivities planned by the UGCC and the state in this anniversary year, but they say the best way to honor him is “to make Patriarch Slipyj’s ideals ours.”  

UGCC Information Department