Eparchy of Kolomyia
About
The eparchy of Kolomyia is a Greek Catholic eparchy in the south of Galicia. The eparchy includes the territory of seven districts. They are Ivano-Frankivsk, Kolomyia, Verchovyna, Horodenka, Kosiv, Nadvirna, Sniatyn, Tlumach regions. The total area is 6 095 km2 and embraces 376 settlements.
There are about 240 thousand faithful in the eparchy. They are united into 280 parishes. They own 212 churches of which 118 are built before 1990, 43 are built after 1990, 47 are in the process of construction, 4 are reconstructed, and 25 chapels carry out functions of the parish churches.
68 church buildings were transferred for joint use with Orthodox. Regular services exist in 5 settlements.
There are 18 deaneries in the eparchy to facilitate a fruitful pastoral ministry.
- Berezivka deanery
- Verchovyna deanery
- Horodenka deanery
- Zabolotiv deanery
- Kolomyia deanery
- Kornychi deanery
- Kosiv deanery
- Lanchyn deanery
- Nadvirna deanery
- Obertyn deanery
- Otyniya deanery
- Pechenizhyn deanery
- Pniv deanery
- Sniatyn deanery
- Tysmenychany deanery
- Tlumach deanery
- Chernelytsia deanery
- Yaremche deanery
Coat of arms of the eparchy of Kolomyia
188 priests of whom 40 are unmarried carry out their pastoral ministry in the eparchy. There are 6 emeritus and 8 deacons in the eparchy. Six priests study in Master and Postgraduate programs. Four priests do not serve the parishes. Training of clergy is happening in the High spiritual Institutions of Ukraine (Ivano-Frankivsk Theology Academy, Lviv Spiritual Seminary) and abroad.
There are a few monasteries in the eparchy.
In 1994 with the blessing of the first Bishop Ordinary Pavlo Vasylyk the Deacon’s Catechetical College was established. Training is performed in the specialties of deacon-regent, conductor of the church choir, and catechist. Alumni have an opportunity to proceed with their studies in high educational institutions in Ukraine or abroad.
There are lay and youth communities in the eparchy.
Indeed, in all parishes of the eparchy, Sunday schools and Apostolates of Prayer are organized.
The magazine, Christian Herald is published regularly in the eparchy. Also, at the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Christ in Kolomyia a youth Christian organization, Children of Light publish the weekly magazine Emmaus with a circulation of 1000 pcs (creator is Fr. Ruslan Vavryk). Since February 11, 2007, a parish herald A Tree of Life has been published every week at the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Horodenky (the editor is an eparch Fr. Igor Levytskyi).
Location
Bishop
Since February 13, 2014, the Reverend Bishop Vasyl Ivasyuk has been the ruling Archbishop of the eparchy of Kolomyia. Before that, he served as Patriarchal Administrator of the eparchy (May 22,2013-February 13, 2014).
A cathedral of the eparchy of Kolomyia is the Cathedral of Transfiguration of Christ in Kolomyia. And a Procathedral is the Church of Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nadvirna.
History
On July 12, 1993, Cardinal, Major Archbishop of Lviv and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky with the bull of Holy Father John Paul II decided to separate Kolomyia eparchy from the eparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk. With the blessing of Holy Father John Paul II, bishop Pavlo Vasylyk was appointed as the first ruling Archbishop of the newly created eparchy of Kolomyia-Chernivtsi. Pavlo Vasylyk was a confessor of the faith, a long-term prisoner of Soviet prisons, and the initiator and leader of the UGCC coming out of the underground.
An establishment of the Kolomyia-Chernivtsi eparchy and enthronement of Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk as the Ruling Bishop of this eparchy was held on October 31, 1993. The first cathedral of the eparchy was the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel in Kolomyia (11 Mykhailo Hrushevskyi St).
In 2017 Chernivtsi region, which was part of the eparchy of Kolomyia-Chernivtsi, separated from it and created a new eparchy of Chernivtsi.
Shrines
Among the shrines of the Kolomyia eparchy is the Church of Holy Trinity in Kosmach village (Kosiv district, Ivano-Frankivsk region) where a reliquary with the relics of blessed martyr Оmelyan Kovch is kept. The priest was murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp (Poland).
On October 27, 2019, Blessed Mykolay Charnetsky was proclaimed as a patron of the eparchy of Kolomyia in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Christ.
Contacts
Address: St. I. Franka, 29, Kolomyia 78203, Ukraine
Phone: +380 (68) 911-97-07
Email: [email protected]
Website: kolugcc.org.ua