Head of UGCC and new President of World Congress of Ukrainians discuss cooperation

The Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav, met with the newly elected President of the World Congress of Ukrainians, Mr. Pavlo Grod, and the newly elected administration of the Congress.

According to the Department of Information of the UGCC, during the meeting the parties discussed ways of cooperation between the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the World Congress of Ukrainians.

In the conversation, it was emphasized that the UGCC is actually the basis of the Ukrainian world, that is, the basis of the unity of Ukrainians living in different countries of the world, but cultivating their identity as a national, cultural, and religious one. The parties agreed that both the UGCC and the UWC should go along with the Ukrainians and render them proper pastoral care, also helping them to preserve their cultural and national identities.

The head of the UGCC jointly with the leaders of the UWC discussed how best to coordinate the secular movement, which could embody the traditional slogan of the patriarchal movement “For the unity of the Church and the people.” “In the circumstances Ukraine lives in, and the Ukrainians live all over the world, this slogan gains a new deep meaning and is a kind of prophetic task left to us by Patriarch Iosyp,” said the head of the UGCC.

At the end of the meeting, His Beatitude Sviatoslav presented to Mr Pavlo Grod a jubilee medal on the occasion of the Millennium of St. Sophia of Kyiv. The wisdom of the Kyivan Church, which formed the basis of our statehood and our national and ecclesiastical identity, makes today the foundation upon which we can build our future,” said the head of the UGCC. All participants were also presented a commemorative medal on the occasion of the consecration of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, “for this very Cathedral is today the unique basis of the Ukrainian world.”

UWC's governing bodies include Stefan Romaniw, UWC President's First Vice President, Anna Kisil, UWC Second Vice President, Andriy Futey, Third Vice-President of UWC, Pavlo Sadokha, UWC Regional Representative in Western Europe, Vira Konyk, UWC Regional Representative in Eastern Europe and Serhiy Kasyanchuk, director of UWC representation in Ukraine.