On January 17, the book Dialogue Heals Wounds by the Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church His Beatitude Sviatoslav was presented in Kyiv. The book is essentially a conversation between Primate of the UGCC and the Editor of the Polish Catholic News Agency, Krzysztof Tomashik, the Department of Information of the UGCC reports.
On January 17, the book Dialogue Heals Wounds by the Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church His Beatitude Sviatoslav was presented in Kyiv. The book is essentially a conversation between Primate of the UGCC and the Editor of the Polish Catholic News Agency, Krzysztof Tomashik, the Department of Information of the UGCC reports.
“This communication stems from one important need. In the last two or three years, Ukrainian-Polish relations have been experiencing hard times. At a certain moment, at the level of historians, diplomats, this dialogue seems to have come to a standstill. We seem to have ceased to hear each other. Still we consider our Polish brothers to be strategic partners in building up our European home. And here comes the initiative from the Polish side to start a dialogue at the level of believing hearts,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
The head of the UGCC is confident that despite the fact that the book was intended for the Polish reader it will be interesting to the Ukrainian audience, as it also discusses the importance of dialogue in the construction of an independent Ukraine.
According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, without a dialogue there is no real human. “We, Christians, believe that the Lord God created man in the context of dialogue with Him. Man can be true only when he enters a dialogue. First of all with God, their creator. We call such a dialogue a prayer. However, the dialogue with another person is also required,” he stressed.
The head of the UGCC noted that it was the year 2019 that should be the year of dialogue.
The presentation was attended by the Head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, MPs of Ukraine, current and former government representatives, foreign diplomats, public figures, as well as President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.
“Dialogue not only heals wounds. I think that there will be a second book, which takes the dialogue further. I'm not going to impose my point of view, but it does help build the dialogue. To my deep conviction, it builds the Ukrainian Church and the state ... I have read your book already in Lviv. And I agree with most of these events,” said the Head of State.