UGCC formed a new exarchate and the election of a new bishop has been announced

On Thursday, February 14, 2014, the Vatican announced that the Holy Father, considering  the division of the UGCC Odesa-Crimea Exarchate and the appointment of the present Exarch of Odesa-Crimea, Bishop Vasyl (Ivasiuk) as UGCC Eparch of Kolomyia-Chernivtsi, gave his approval for the canonically-elected by the Synod of Bishops, Most Reverend  Mykhailo Bubniy, CSSR, presently the superior of the Monastery of the Redemptorist Fathers in Ivano-Frankivsk and the pastor of the Parish of the Mother of God of Perpetual Help, assigning him the titular seat of Tubursik-Bure.                        

 Radio Vatican site provided this information.

The Crimea Major Archbishopric Exarchate was created by separating it from the present UGCC Odesa-Crimea  Exarchate.  It covers the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea with a seat in Simferopol. According to Church law, the Administrator of both exarchates (Odesa and Crimea) until the enthronization of the newly-selected Odesa Exarch, will be Bishop Vasyl (Ivasiuk).

Biographical Note

Born on 16.09.1970 in the village of Khlivchan, Sokal province of Lviv region.  In 1991 he entered the Province of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists).  He took his first vows on August 19, 1992 and his permanent vows on  April 7, 1996. He was ordained as a priest on  August 19, 1997 in the Church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Lviv (ordained by His Beatitude Lubomyr Husar).

He studied theology and  received his priestly formation in the Higher Spiritual Seminary of the Redemptorist Fathers in Cracow (philosophy) and in Tukhov (theology) in Poland.  In 1998, he completed  the seminary with a Master’s Degree in Theology.

After finishing the seminary, he served as a prefect of the candidates for the Lviv  Redemptorist Province and served as a priest at the parish of the Assumption of the Mother of God in Ternopil. 

During 1999-2001 he was a  advisor of students from the Lviv Redemptorist Province who were studying in Tukhiv.  During 20.01 – 30.06, 2000, he studied at the Salesian University in Rome.

On June 27, 2002, by a decree of His Beatitude Lubomyr, he was placed at UGCC Postulate Center.

In August 2001he was appointed the  Father Superior of the monastery and the  dean  of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Novoyavoriv (Lviv region).

From June 2002 until May 2005, he served as the master of the novices in the Lviv CSSR Province  of  the Monastery of St. Herard in Kokhavyn (near Zhydachiv in Lviv Region).

From May 9, 2005 until September 2007 he was the Father Superior of the Monastery of St. Alfonso and the rector of the Higher Spiritual Institute of  Saint Martyr Mykolay Charnetsky in Lviv.  Simultaneously he led many parochial retreats for various  congregations of faithful in Lviv and  Ternopil areas as well as in USA.

From 2007 until 2010, he studied at the Papal Oriental Institute in Rome and received a licentiate in canonical law.

From 2010, he performed the  duties of  a father superior at the Monastery of St. Joseph and served as a pastor of the Church of the Mother of God of Perpetual help in Ivano-Frankivsk.

On February 13, 2014 the Vatican announced that His Holiness Francis blessed the decision of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church to appoint the high monk Mykhailo Bubniy, CSSR,  as the Exarch of the Odesa. Exarchate.

UGCC Department of Information