Meeting of Eastern Catholic Bishops of Europe Concludes in Greece
On September 21, 2023, the Meeting of the Eastern Catholic Bishops of Europe, organized by the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) in cooperation with the Apostolic Exarchate in Greece, ended in Nea Makri, near Athens.
As with the previous three days, the fourth day of the Meeting began with a common Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. The prayer was led by the Apostolic Exarch in Greece, Bishop Manuel Nin, who was concelebrated by Bishop Cyril Vasil, Eparch of Košice of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church, and Bishop Bohdan Dziurakh, Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainians of the Byzantine Rite in Germany and Scandinavia.
During the meeting Bishop Bohdan presented a report on the topic “Response of the Catholic Church in Europe to the tragedy of the Russian war against Ukraine.”
Also, eight participants from the Eastern Catholic Churches at the next Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church, dedicated to synodality, which will be held in October this year, had the opportunity to discuss and identify the key common themes of their future speeches. It should be noted that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church will be represented at the Synod of Bishops by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Bishop Teodor Martyniuk, Auxiliary Bishop of the Ternopil-Zboriv Archeparchy of the UGCC, and Bishop Bohdan Dziurakh, Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainians of the Byzantine Rite in Germany and Scandinavia.
In the end, the Apostolic Exarch in Greece thanked all present for their active participation in the discussions and frank sharing of views. The bishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches from Europe exchanged their wishes and set a date for the next meeting of the Eastern Catholic bishops, which will take place in September 2024.
Press service of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC
