Conference on the 70th anniversary of the Centralization of the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great

The opening speech was addressed by General Superior M. Marcela Runcan, OSBM who declared the importance of the conference: “The celebration gives us the opportunity to remember our predecessors and the incredible obstacles they overcame. Centralization encourages us to enrich each other with the gifts, culture, and experience of our Provinces”. His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Head and Father of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, also addressed the participants with a welcoming speech. His Beatitude emphasized the connection between the unification of the Basilian Sisters and the 75th anniversary of the liquidation of the UGCC, as well as the 425th anniversary of the Union of Brest, which is also celebrated this year.

In the main portion of the conference, which was moderated by Fr. Robert Lisseiko, OSBM, the first speaker was Sr. Daria Turkiv, OSBM (PhD in Church History) who gave an excellent overview of the Basilian Sisters’ path to Centralization. Sr. Mahdalyna Vytvytska, OSBM (Doctor of Canon Law) contributed to the conference with the topic “Canonical aspects of centralization of Administration of a Religious Institute on the example of the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great”. The main points raised addressed the processes that preceded the Centralization: the reform of the Basilian Sisters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the foundation of Basilian convents around the world in the first part of 20^th century and their new pastoral activities, the reviewing of the cloister and the monastic administration. The third speaker, a doctoral student in Church History at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Fr. Jeronim Grim, OSBM focused on the contribution of the Basilian Fathers to the centralization of Basilian Sisters, emphasizing the role of Archimandrite Fr. Theodosiy Halushchinski OSBM and Protoarchimandrite Fr. Pavlo Myskiv, OSBM, as well as Sr. Sofronia Erdeli OSBM, who were the promoters of the process. 

In the closing remarks, the General Councilor Sr. Emanujila Vishka OSBM emphasized that the Order is a living organism that lives, breathes and develops, and the centralization has become one of the stages of its development. The administrative and law changes took place in 1951-1953, but processes of uniting are still ongoing at the level of cultures and consciousness. “A look at centralization 70 years back gives us the opportunity to ask questions, not only scientific but also existential, questions that can transform, change, renew us and our communities," – said Sr. Emanujils.

The Apostolic See proclaimed the centralization of the monasteries of the Basilian sisters by the Decree of the Congregation for the Oriental Church on June 2, 1951. Pope Pius XII united all the monasteries of the Basilian Sisters into one Order, elevating it to a Papal Order. The Second Decree of July 19, 1951 established four Provinces: two American - Galician (Jesus, Lover of Humanity Province with it’s center in Philadelphia) and Ruthenian (Our Lady of Perpetual Help Province with it’s center in Uniontown), Argentinian (Christ the King Province with it’s center in Berisso), European Province with a temporary center in Osijek, Croatia (former Yugoslavia). Today the Order of Saint Basil the Great has about 400 Sisters in 10 countries.