His Beatitude Sviatoslav: “I Am Grateful for Patriarch Bartholomew’s View on the Role and Place of the UGCC in Our Ecumenical Mission in Europe
During the presentation of the Ukrainian translation of the book “The Ecumenical Mission of the Eastern Catholic Churches of Europe Today,” which took place on August 30 in the Metropolitan Chambers of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, emphasized the pivotal role of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the ecumenical process and promoting the development of the subjectivity of Kyivan Christianity.
“The Apostolic See in Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarchate not only recognized the development of the subjectivity of Kyivan Christianity, but also contributed to it. And what did Moscow do? ‘It waged war against us, depriving us of our right to exist,’ His Beatitude Sviatoslav recalled, ‘but in the third year of this brutal war, the voice of the Kyivan Churches, both the Orthodox and our UGCC, is reverberating powerfully throughout the world.’
Among the important events of 2019, the Head of the UGCC highlighted his meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch, which took place on September 16, 2019, at St. Martha’s House in the Vatican. According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, His All-Holiness “explained on a tete-a-tete basis why he decided to grant the Tomos of Autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox.”
“That meeting was a truly spiritual event for me,” said the Head of the UGCC. At the meeting, he presented the Ecumenical Patriarch with a facsimile edition of the Galician Gospel of 1144, the oldest of the precisely dated Slavic manuscript gospels.
“I express my deep gratitude for Patriarch Bartholomew’s vision of the role and place of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in our ecumenical mission in Europe. Not only does he justify and recognize it, but he rejoices in our Church,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized.
Commenting on the photo on the cover of the book “The Ecumenical Mission of the Eastern Catholic Churches of Europe Today” (the photo shows the Head of the UGCC speaking with Patriarch Bartholomew during his visit to Kyiv in 2023), His Beatitude Sviatoslav explained that it symbolizes the further development of dialogue, “which heals the wounds between the Orthodox in Ukraine, the wounds between the Orthodox and Catholics, the wounds between Christians of different faiths.”
“For true, genuine ecumenism is a real blessing of God, it is the fulfillment of the commandments of Christ,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized.
On August 30, 2024, the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, presented a Ukrainian translation of the book “The Ecumenical Mission of the Eastern Catholic Churches of Europe Today” from the Italian original materials of the Meeting of Eastern Catholic Bishops of Europe, which took place in Rome on September 12–14, 2019.
The UGCC Department for Information
