"Re-read Lesia Ukrainka's works several times and enter into a dialogue with the poetess," the Head of the UGCC urged during a conversation about the book Apocrypha. Four Conversations about Lesya Ukrainka,” which took place on February 4, 2021, on Zhyve Television.
The authors of the book - His Beatitude Sviatoslav and Mrs. Oksana Zabuzhko - took part in the discussion. Readers of the book, who joined the communication using the Zoom platform, had the opportunity to ask the authors of the Apocrypha their questions. The conversation was moderated by Fr. Ihor Yatsiv, head of the UGCC Information Department.
According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, their conversations with Oksana Zabuzhko about Lesia Ukrainka's Christian works managed to achieve their goal - to introduce the reader into a dialogue with her.
"Recently, I read Lesia Ukrainka's works again, and they spoke to me in a new way," the UGCC Primate said.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav is convinced that every educated person should read Lesia Ukrainka's works, regardless of whether they believe in God or not. According to him, Lesia Ukrainka deserves that each epoch rediscovers her works, because the poetess truthfully exposes misconceptions about the Christian religion, and even more - exposes the sins of Christians.
"My task was to introduce the reader to the Christian mentality of the famous Ukrainian poetess," said the spiritual leader of the Ukrainians.
“I invite you to read ‘Rufin and Priscilla,’ because, in my opinion, this is the most mature work of Lesia Ukrainka, in which she shows two different paths to God,” encourages His Beatitude Sviatoslav and adds, “Priscilla - a classic Christian woman, a martyr who through the communion of the Church reaches the crown of martyrdom, and Rufin, her husband who is saved through his wife, honestly reveals the truth in his conscience.”
It is interesting that Lesia Ukrainka calls the Church a community, notes the Head of the UGCC, and draws attention to the need of every Christian to be in the community: “Every Christian needs a community, which later generates certain forms and institutions. The church community is the basic layer in which various church institutions [religious denominations. - Ed.] find meaning. A believer needs to be in the community to test his or her experience of communion with God and to authenticate it.”
It is worth noting that the conversation about the book Apocrypha consisted of three parts: in the first - the co-authors of the book shared their impressions of the book, in the second - the publishing house "Komora" presented readers’ questions, and then in the third part those who joined the event through Zoom, had the opportunity to personally ask their questions to the participants of the conversation. Questions were heard from different parts of Ukraine and from abroad.
It should be recalled that the presentation of this book took place in June 2020 on Zhyve Television.