On the first working day of the V session of the UGCC Patriarchal Sobor

The first day of the V session of the UGCC Patriarchal Sobor on religious life, which is being held in Prudentopolis, Brazil, started with Matins celebrated by Rev. Makariy Leniv, OSBM. Afterwards Rev. Taras Barshchevskyi shared his reflections on the Gospel passage on two commandments of love. In his conviction, religious life stems from hearing God’s Word.   “God’s vocation” is the theme of the first day of the Sobor. In the first presentation, His Excellency Venedykt (Aleksiychuk), Auxiliary Bishop of Lviv Archeparchy, talked about “Why God calls to religious life?” The Bishop stressed out that God’s call “always remains a mystery”, because God chooses and guides a person in order to make him/her His icon. And consecrated communities are “a place where God’s kingdom is actualized and where occurs Theophany”.   In the first co-presentation “Traditional monastic life,” hieromonk Leonid (Tumovskyi), a studite monk, said that the restoration of a traditional monastic life in the UGCC concentrated within monasteries of the Studite Order. Deacon Bohdan Piatnochko, OSBM, delivered a second co-presentation entitled “Monastic life in the history and tradition of the UGCC”. He noted that in the after war period, monks were “the only strength which resisted all kinds of liquidation processes.”   Sister Natalia Melnyk, from the Congregation of Sisters of the Holy Family, opened afternoon working session with a presentation “Identity of religious people in the UGCC”. The Sister underlined that a “deep unity with God is a cornerstone of identity of religious people”, reminding that a monk/nun is a Christ’s disciple, a witness of His presence in the world. Afterwards, the delegates listened to the co-presentations of Sister Dia Stasiuk, OSBM, Rev. Luis Hlynka and Filomena Protsyk on different male and female religious communities, monastic orders, congregations and communities of consecrated lay people.   The first working day of the V session of the Patriarchal Sobor concluded with a joint prayer in the church of St. Josaphat at the Basilian monastery. After the prayer, there took place a presentation of the UGCC Catechism “Christ is our Easter”.  

Secretariat of the V session of the Patriarchal Sobor