In the Spiritual Seminary of Ivano-Frankivsk took place the Festive Academia on the occasion of the Day of God the Creator

Friday, 28 September 2012, 00:42

On the 14th of September, in the building of Saint Josaphat Spiritual Seminary of Ivano-Frankivsk there was held the Festive Academia, devoted to the Day of God the Creator, which Christians of various denominations from all around the globe celebrate as a day of prayer and the responsibility for the natural environment. It was reported by the press-service of the Ecological Bureau of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The celebration started with the Prayer to God the Creator. After that, within the program of a conference, the topic of which was “Christian Responsibility for the Nature”, the speeches, in front of all the people who were present, were given by the representatives of the Church Hierarchy and the Ecological Structures. Having welcomed all those who were present, Dr. Volodymyr Sheremeta, who is the Head of the Ecological Bureau of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, recalled briefly the history of emergence of this all-Christian ecological holiday, the celebration of which, according to the initiative of Ecological Bureau and according to the decisions of the Synod of Bishops, was joined by the UGCC.

In his speech, the Chairman of the Ecological Bureau deliberated over the purpose of the celebration of the Day of God the Creator, which consists in helping Christians to reconsider their faith and better understand and carry out the responsibility for the entrusted by the God world of nature in the everyday life. Father Oleksandr Levytskyi, who is the professor, doctor and the rector of the Ivano-Frankivsk Spiritual Seminary delivered a speech on the topic “The Day of the Creator and the upbringing of the responsibility for the creations in the process of priest formation”. The speaker stressed the significance of the integrity of the formation of future priests so as to more effectively help people overcome the sin, especially the ecological one or the one of destroying the nature that was created by God; the sin with which the man threatens to the whole creation as well as to one’s own salvation.

Father Ihor Onyshchuk, who is the Chairman of the Commission for the Archeparchial Ecumenical Commission, was talking on the “Significance of the Day of the Creator in the process of the convergence of Christian Churches” and stressed that ecological problems are the common challenge for the Christian Churches and only through the combined efforts to respond to this challenge it is possible to intensify the dialogue between churches, that is determined by the Catholic as well as Orthodox Churches within the Ecumenical Charter, which was signed in 2001 in Strasbourg by the World Council of Churches and the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe.

After the thematic concert program, which was prepared by the brothers-seminarians, all of the participants received the priest blessing to become the real witnesses of the love of God the Creator and the Savior of the World for each other, as well as, for the God’s cration-nature.

References

According to the instructions of the Patriarchal Synod of Bishops, in the first day of the church year, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church celebrates the Day of God the Creator (1/14 of September), paying particular attention to the issue of the responsibility for the God’s creation- nature.

UGCC Department of Information