On March 27, 2021, the UGCC will celebrate the tenth anniversary of His Beatitude Sviatoslav as the Primate of the UGCC. Victor Yelensky, Doctor of Philosophy, theologian and politician, spoke about these ten years in the life of the UGCC and Ukraine in general in the program "Good Conversation" with Halyna Babiy.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav became the Head of the UGCC at a very difficult time," Mr. Victor recalls. “In 2010-2011, the Yanukovych’s administration tried to suppress the UGCC, to close UCU... There were many actions and movements aimed at marginalizing our Church… The then presidential administration wanted the new Head of the UGCC to be much more accommodating and less principled than his predecessor, Lubomyr Husar. But, as we can see, this never happened - on the contrary, during these ten years, the social role and significance of the UGCC has greatly increased."
Victor Yelensky noted the continuation of the traditions and values of the UGCC; he observed that His Beatitude Sviatoslav's predecessor was not only His Beatitude Lubomyr Husar, but also such titans of the Church as Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky and Josyf Slipyj.
"Why Sviatoslav? In 2011, I was among those who asked themselves this question,” Mr. Viktor Yelensky admits and adds, “Similarly, in 1991, when Myroslav Ivan Cardinal Liubachivsky returned to Ukraine, we asked him, why, in his opinion, Andrei Sheptytsky had chosen Josyf Slipyj as his successor. Liubachivsky then answered: Sheptytsky was sure that Josyf Slipyj could not be broken. At that time, it was the most important thing for the Church. I think that His Beatitude Lubomyr and the bishops who gathered for the Electoral Synod in 2011, also saw in Bishop Sviatoslav something that should be very important in the coming years. And I don't think they were wrong."
For the full recording of the conversation, click on this link.