On September 1, 2019, anniversary celebrations will be held in Rome on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the consecration of St. Sophia Cathedral. On this occasion, His Beatitude Sviatoslav had a video message filmed calling on Ukrainians from the homeland and Diaspora to take part in the celebration of the “Golden anniversary of the Church, which became the heart of the Ukrainian world, the herald of freedom of the Church and people.” It is reported by the Information Department of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
On September 1, 2019, anniversary celebrations will be held in Rome on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the consecration of St. Sophia Cathedral. On this occasion, His Beatitude Sviatoslav had a video message filmed calling on Ukrainians from the homeland and Diaspora to take part in the celebration of the “Golden anniversary of the Church, which became the heart of the Ukrainian world, the herald of freedom of the Church and people.” It is reported by the Information Department of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
“This year I want to invite all of you to come to the eternal city of Rome to celebrate this golden anniversary together. I am confident that today this Sobor has a special mission for our Ukrainian world both in Ukraine and abroad: it is and will be a herald of the freedom of the Church and people in their native lands and around the world,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav in his video message.
The central event of the celebrations will be the episcopal divine Liturgy, which on September 1 will be led by His Beatitude Svyatoslav in concelebration with the bishops of the Synod of the UGCC. After the Liturgy, the jubilee cross will be consecrated, which will be installed next to the temple.
A broader program of pilgrimage to the Ukrainian shrine in Rome also provides for the participation of pilgrims in the general pontifical audience in the Vatican (entrance by pre-ordered tickets); the Divine Liturgy on the tomb of St. Joshaphat at St. Peter's in the Vatican and the divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of St. Clement the Pope. In addition, on Saturday, August 31, pilgrims will be able to visit the Memorial Museum - the premises of Patriarch Iosyp Slipyj to participate in the presentation of the Ukrainian-language book by Maurice West "Fisher Shoes" – abook by an Australian author which is based on the facts about the life of Patriarch Iosyp Slipyj, as well as watch a documentary about him "Reefs Case". In addition to the worship, a festive concert of choirs from Ukraine is scheduled for the main day of the celebration.
It should be noted that after returning from the Siberian exile to Rome in 1963, Patriarch Iosyp Slipyj immediately set to raise funds for the construction of St Sophia in Rome. In June 1967, the construction work began, and on September 27-28, 1969, the church was solemnly consecrated in the presence of Pope Paul VI, who put the relics of the Holy Martyr Pope Clement on the throne.
Building the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Rome on the model of St. Sophia in Kyiv, Patriarch Iosyp entrusted it with a special mission – to be “a sign and a symbol of the destroyed and desecrated Ukrainian churches of God, between them our most important witnesses – cathedrals, witnesses of our great-grandfather Christianity, St. Sophia in Kyiv and St. George in Lviv!” (From the Testament of Patriarch Iosyp Slipyj).
For half a century of its existence, the temple has become an important center of spiritual, cultural and national life of the Ukrainian people.