30th anniversary of UGCC's coming out from underground marked in Lviv
On June 22-23, celebrations on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s coming out from the underground were held in Lviv, in the Church of St. Michael the Archangel.
According to the official website of the UGCC, the active struggle for the revival of the Church began in 1987 with a statement by the group of the clergy (23 people) and faithful led by Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk. At the end of that year, active Greek Catholics set the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Ukrainian Catholic Church led by former political prisoner Ivan Hel. He launched collection of signatures under a statement regarding the official recognition of the UGCC. During 1988-1989, about 120,000 signatures were collected.
In May 1989, Greek Catholic priests started serving a liturgy every Sunday near the closed Church of St. Michael the Archangel of Lviv.
On November 28, 1989, the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR issued a statement according to which the Greek Catholics received the right to establish and register communities, using “all the rights enshrined in the law for religious associations in the Ukrainian SSR”.
As the Syncellus on monastic affairs in the Archdiocese of Lviv of the UGCC, Fr Iustyn Boyko said in a commentary to Tvoemisto.tv, presenting historical photographs, one of these photos shows the Liturgies in June 1989. Fr Mykhailo Voloshyn, CSSR, served the Liturgy.
