On July 23, 2011, it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI accepted the canonical choice of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) to appoint Fr. Dmytro Hryhorak, Apostolic Administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Buchach Eparchy of the UGCC, as the bishop of Buchach.
According to the Information Department of the UGCC, Fr. Dmytro Hryhorak was born on January 1, 1956, in Ivano-Frankivsk. From 1963 to 1973 he earned a high school education in Ivano-Frankivsk. In 1973 he joined the Ivano-Frankovsk Institute of Oil and Gas. He graduated in 1978 with a degree in engineering. He worked at various factories in Ivano-Frankivsk as a design engineer.
On October 14, 1989, he officially entered the Order of St. Basil the Great. He was a novitiate in Hoshevi and Krekhiv in 1990-1991, and in 1997 he made ??vows for life.
From 1991 to 1996 he studied at the Basilian Fathers Seminary and graduated from the Ivano-Frankivsk Theological and Spiritual Catechetical Institute. He completed his theological studies with a master’s in ecclesiology from the Lublin Catholic University in Poland.
He was ordained a deacon on September 21, 1992, and a priest on October 25 of the same year.
Starting from 1992, he performed a variety of pastoral services in Ivano-Frankivsk and the Volyn region.
Subsequently he was appointed abbot of the monastery and parish church of St. Basil the Great in Lutsk. He initiated the construction of a monastery and church. At the same time he served as spiritual director of the organization UMH. He organized ecumenical interfaith prayer. He was the spiritual inspiration of the NGO Movement for Life. He built up the spiritual life and ministry of the UGCC in Volyn.
On July 28, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Fr. Dmytro Hryhorak as Apostolic Administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Buchach Eparchy.
On July 23, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI confirmed the choice of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to appointment of Fr. Dmitry Hryhorak as bishop of the Buchach Eparchy.
In addition to Ukrainian, Bishop Dmitro speaks Russian and Polish, as well as Italian, English, German, Old Slavonic and Greek.