Greek Catholic priest's concert stopped in Odesa

On August 23, on the eve of Independence Day, in Odesa, a concert of a Greek Catholic priest and singer, Fr. Vitold Levytskyi, and a Christian group Quo Vadis was interrupted. The performance of the singers from Ivano-Frankivsk and Busk was held as part of the celebration of the National Flag Day organized by public organizations of Odesa. The program of the event was approved by the City Department of Culture beforehand.

Father Vitold and the group Quo Vadis are staying in the southern region of Ukraine as participants of the School of Evangelization, which is organized by the Patriarchal Committee on Matters of Evangelization of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

According to the head of the committee of the Lviv Archeparchy, Vira Tsenhlevych, after the beginning of Vitold Levytskyi's performance, the organizers of the event were approached by a man wearing civilian clothes, who demanded in a rude manner “to remove” the priest from the stage. When he was told that the priest represents the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the “colonel” called his performance “agitation” and ordered it to stop immediately.

After talking with representatives of the Committee on Evangelization of the UGCC, the “policeman” agreed to allow the program to continue on the condition that the participants “do not preach.” Fr. Vitold concluded his performance with a song “A Chapel Has Burnt” and after that, the group Quo Vadis performed their song, which ended with the reciting of a poem “Hymn of Love” on the basis of a known passage of Scripture (1st Corinthians 13:4-8). The poem provoked another wave of the “colonel’s” indignation and he demanded to “remove everything.”

On the request of the organizers and for the sake of safety of the participants of the School of Evangelization, representatives of the mentioned committee of the UGCC decided to stop the concert. The organizers apologized to the performers and explained that they would not be able to receive the permission from Odesa authorities to hold the planned events.