The Ukrainian Bible Society is a Christian non-denominational Union established in 1991 that translates and distributes the Bible and its individual books in Ukraine. The society is a member of the United Bible Societies International Association. Today, UBS celebrates 30 years of activity. On this occasion, celebrations were held with the participation of representatives of Churches and religious organizations.
On behalf of the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, head of the Department of Religion, ensuring the right of citizens to freedom of worldview and religion of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Andriy Yurash congratulated the UBS.
He addressed words of congratulations to the leadership of the UBS: President Grigory Komendant, vice-president of the mitred protopresbyter Vasyl Lutsyshyn, General Secretary Oleksandr Babiychuk, deputy general secretary Anatoly Raichinets.
Andriy Yurash listed the achievements of UBS:
"Over the years, exceptional things have been achieved and are being achieved:
- more than 13 million copies of the Bible have been printed and distributed;
- a house was built, where the society was able to successfully carry out its own projects;
- together, a new modern translation of the Holy Scriptures was carried out, the full version of which was published last summer;
-an unprecedented project of continuous Bible reading on Sofia Square for more than 3 days was carried out;
- another idea was initiated and successfully implemented - a handwritten Bible, which was joined by more than 31 thousand people…
- UBS in Ukraine became the first interfaith organization, modeled on which other structures later emerged, in particular, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and religious organizations;
- UBS was an organization that was two months ahead of the rise of the independent Ukrainian state.
All of the abovementioned is only a small part of what has been achieved. There are even more plans and prospects ahead."
Patriarch Sviatoslav, the head of the UGCC, who chairs the AUCCRO, took part in the celebrations.
"Today we have heard about several significant aspects of the Ukrainian Bible Society – printing, dissemination of God's word, popularization and translation. When it comes to translating the Holy Scriptures, by such high standards of society – translating only from the original language – we feel how troublesome and demanding this work is, requiring not only knowledge but also the heart. We are proud of the Bible Society, because just as parents feel involved in the fate of their children and rejoice in their success and growth, so we rejoice in the development and activities of the Ukrainian Bible Society. I would like to recall my St. Myroslav Ivan Lyubachevsky, who, as soon as he returned from exile, joined the Ukrainian Bible Society as one of the first acts. I would like to recall the glorious translators of the Bible of our church who gave our people the word of God in Ukrainian: father Khomenko, hieromonk Raphael Turkonyak, who brought everything possible to Ukraine, in particular his knowledge, and undertook to translate God's word in Ukrainian together with other specialists. Today we see that a lot has been done in those 30 years. Today, we enjoy these achievements and express our gratitude to the Lord God and all those who work in our Bible Society. We all really want the Bible to be the most widely read book in Ukraine, but I would also like it to be the most widely read book in Ukraine," the UGCC Primate said.