Patriarch Sviatoslav Opens All-Ukrainian Conference of Charismatic Communities

On 11 July, the leaders and members of the Charismatic communities, organizations and schools gathered in the town of Chortkiv of Ternopil Region in order to present their activity, exchange experience of their ministry and hear the official opinion of the Church regarding the movement “Renewal in the Holy Spirit.”  

The conference was held in the Department of the Buchach Eparchy with the participation of the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) and Eparch Dmytro (Hryhorak) of Buchach of the Order of Saint Basil the Great.

According to the web site of the Buchach Eparchy, the meeting was attended by representatives of nearly 40 charismatic communities and organizations from Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk, Kolomyia, Chortkiv and other towns including eastern Ukrainian ones. They are clergymen, monastics and lay people not only of the Greek Catholic denomination but also other traditional Christian Churches.

The conference began with an Akathist to the Holy Spirit. After the service, the activity of the charismatic communities and organizations was presented in the presence of Patriarch Sviatoslav and bishop Dmytro.  Today, these groups of lay people carry out extensive evangelization activities, organize schools of Christian life and evangelization, leadership courses, spiritual and art festivals and flashmobs and days of spiritual renewal. A great role in their lives is played by the prayer of intercession, deliverance and praise as well as regular reading of the Bible. The charismatics also conduct charitable ministry on the voluntary basis, prison ministry, work with addicts, catechisation of children, pupils and students, promotion of the Christian ideals in the mass media space.

As a rule, the activity of charismatic organizations is guided by a mentor priest. However, as it turned out, several communities have no such pastor. Their representatives expressed hope that the Church will appoint priests for them.