Our Patriarchate will help towards the joining of Churches
An open discussion “PATRIARCH IOSYP SLIPYY: BE YOURSELF!” was held in Kyiv on February 9, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the birth of Patriarch Iosyp Slipyy. One of the main topics of this discussion was the theme of the Patriarchate of the UGCC.
“If we really wanted to hear the word of Patriarch Iosyp about what we should do today, he would tell us - to build a patriarchate,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
After analyzing the topic of the importance of the Patriarchate for the UGCC, listing the myths and accusations associated with this status, and having expressed the views of the former UGCC heads on the need for the patriarchy, His Beatitude Sviatoslav summed up: “I think it is a great mission for our Church to witness to the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine, and so to the Roman Apostolic See, how our patriarchate will help towards the unification of the Churches.”
We present the speech of the Head of the UGCC during an open discussion on the status of the patriarchy, provided by the Department of Information of the UGCC.
“I know that this topic is very delicate and wide. For more than 50 years of its maturation, understanding in our Church has gained various dimensions: emotional, scientific, and even socio-political. I cannot now analyze all the arguments behind and against, but my task is to get you to the discussion, and therefore to the serious work, so that the patriarchate that we were commanded by Patriarch Iosyp, whom we have a duty to develop and build, could be grasped, as this crown in the head of our Church, of which Patriarch Iosyp wrote,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
The Pontiff presented the text of the Testament of Patriarch Iosyp to the participants of the discussion ... And he drew attention to the four documents that, in his opinion, are extremely important and valuable in relation to the patriarchy of the UGCC. In particular, this is still a letter from Metropolitan Iosyp Slipy to Pope Paul VI, dated August 19, 1963, in which the then Metropolitan asks to grant our Church a patriarchate, and a document of our bishops, members of the Second Vatican Council, who appeal to the pope in the context of the cathedral acts with a request for patriarchy. Also, the Head of the UGCC reminded of His Beatitude Lubomyr Pastoral letter from 2004, which for us today is a bridge from the 60s to ours.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav recalled that Patriarch Iosyp wrote: “And I ask you, my dear children, never to give up the patriarchy of your suffering Church. You are alive existing children of her ...” This letter and further he already signed as “Patriarch Iosyp.” “The next phrase is extremely important, because it expresses the internal ontological content of our Church: Therefore, I command you: pray for the Patriarch of Kyiv-Halych and all Russia, anonymous and still unknown. The time will come when the omnipotent Lord will send him to our Church and declare his name. But we already have our patriarchate ... “And it is on the words that we already have a patriarchate that I would like to proceed discussing documents and letters to the Holy Father ...” added the Primate.
According to the head of the UGCC, Patriarch Iosyp saw the only patriarchate in Ukraine. He understood its ecumenical significance and the ecumenical dimension. “This is a testament. And now we have a task, how to understand it and how to embody it,” says the Pontiff.
“Patriarch Iosyp says that we are already a patriarchal Church. He speaks about various stages of the history of Ukrainian Christianity of the Kyivan Church, mentions various kinds of discussions that were conducted by the Unitarian and Orthodox parts of the Kyivan Church. Consequently, certain competitions, certain thoughts, intentions that emerged in various European capitals, in particular the Vatican, to prove that we are a patriarchal Church. We have all the necessary rights and attributes that the Church, which can be called patriarchal, corresponds to. And so he said: “Therefore, Holy Father, I beg you to grant our church a patriarchate,” said the Primate.
The Head of the Church also noted the absolute relevance of the pastoral letter of His Beatitude Lubomyr (Husar), dated August 2004, about the formation of the structure of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. “His Beatitude Lubomyr says in this letter. Our patriarchy is not an end in itself, our patriarchy is a way. What is the ultimate goal? The ultimate goal is the Church of Kyiv, flourishing and full life. The patriarchate is a state of mind, as the highest manifestation of the essence and calling of the Church. Therefore, the desire of our people in the past and now to establish a patriarchal arrangement should be considered in church, in God, and not as an end in itself,” said the spiritual leader of the Greek Catholics.
According to him, this tint of polemics to instrumentalize the issue of patriarchy for a political purpose can be discerned here ... “In this letter,” says the Head of the Church, “His Beatitude Lubomyr says that the ecumenical dimension is perhaps the most important. Perhaps the most painful. And let's say to ourselves frankly, this is the only reason why we still have no patriarchy today. “His Beatitude Lubomyr cited five reasons, accusations, why we do not recognize patriarchal dignity. And, unfortunately, the opponents of the patriarchy are presented as an axiom and do not provide for any other points of view. The Head of the Church reminded these objections: “First, the patriarchate of the UGCC will weaken the communion with the successor to St. Peter the Apostle. And consequently, it will weaken the connection with the whole Catholic Church. The second accusation – the patriarchy will mean the creation of a nationalist colored Church that will sow hatred against all others. Third, the patriarchate of the UGCC would be a major obstacle to the unification of Christians in Ukraine. Fourth, the creation of the Patriarchate of the UGCC would mean neglecting the rights of the Moscow Patriarchate, which considers Ukraine to be its canonical territory. And the fifth - the patriarchy of the UGCC would have led to the preservation of Uniatism, which was condemned as an inappropriate way to achieve unity among all Christians.”
“I think,” the Head of the UGCC added, “this is an exhaustive analysis of all the accusations that are so relevant today that they can be repeated as an axiom. You can argue against each of these points. And even His Beatitude Lubomir did not want to do that. His Beatitude stressed that nobody even inquired who Greek Catholics were. Nobody liked this Church, which wants to be one. I would like to answer this only in the light of contemporary discussions about the creation of a single Local Church in Ukraine. For then those five points can be reduced to two, which, de facto, are repeated by the hierarchs of the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine.”
The first myth, according to the Head of Church, says, “In principle, look, the Greek-Catholic Church in unity with the Vatican, as well as the UOC with the Moscow Patriarchate. That is, according to such polemics, there is absolute conformity, they say, why do you say we are to be separated from the MP if the Greek Catholics are successful in keeping the Vatican.”
“And here,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav, “an absolute misunderstanding of the role of the Holy Father as the Ecumenical Patriarch is manifested. It is absolutely possible to see the projection, I would say, of a yet not very developed Orthodox ecclesiology for the concept of the Universal Church. There is one clear misunderstanding. Therefore, I think our patriarchy has a great mission to explain to the Orthodox world the essence of the ministry of the successor of the Apostle Peter, absolutely not weakening our communion with him.”
What is this testimony? “By addressing and explaining who we are as the patriarchal Church in communion with the Roman Apostolic See, we must say: Orthodox brethren, we are not part of the Latin Patriarchy. We are building ours. We want to be in communion with the Roman Apostolic See as a full national Church of our own right, which witnesses the unity of the Church of Christ in the first millennium, as in communion with the Roman Apostolic See in the first millennium there was the Antiochian Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Patriarchate of Constantinople and all other local Churches,” stressed the Head of the UGCC.
“The Moscow Patriarchate,” argues His Beatitude Sviatoslav, “does not posess this ecclesial memory, because it took roots and arose after the so-called great schism. Therefore, it is difficult for them to comprehend it. I have never heard that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church competed for its Patriarchy. For no of the present Orthodox patriarchs has ever claimed or claims to be the Ecumenical Hierarch.”
According to him, the next axiological myth is that the only local Church in Ukraine can only be obtained when the Greek Catholics renounce communion with the Roman Apostolic See. And only then can the unity of all the heirs of Kiyvan Christianity take place. “And here, I think, is the great task of our Church to testify to both the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine and the same to the Apostolic See of Rome, as our patriarchate will help the unification of the Churches,” the Head of the UGCC stressed.
