Patriarch Lubomyr to Russian religious portal: “I did not come to Kyiv, I have returned"
Monday, 13 December 2010, 22:16 "Five years ago, in 2005, I did not come to Kyiv, I returned. After two hundred years," said the head of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Patriarch Lubomyr in an interview to the Russian online religious resource Portal-Credo.Ru. The head of the Church noted that when western Ukraine came under the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the Partition of Poland in the 18th century, the Greek Catholic Church was able to develop freely, while the church on the territory that came under the control of the Russia Empire was slowly liquidated...
"Five years ago, in 2005, I did not come to Kyiv, I returned. After two hundred years," said the head of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Patriarch Lubomyr in an interview to the Russian online religious resource Portal-Credo.Ru.
The head of the Church noted that when western Ukraine came under the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the Partition of Poland in the 18th century, the Greek Catholic Church was able to develop freely, while the church on the territory that came under the control of the Russia Empire was slowly liquidated: “Since it was forbidden to choose a Greek Catholic Metropolitan at the beginning of 19th century, his residence was moved to Lviv," said Patriarch Lubomyr.
When asked where Greek Catholics in eastern and southern Ukraine come from, the head of the UGCC said that in Soviet times the people from Galicia who were exiled to Siberia were forbidden to return to Galicia so they settled in the east. According to the patriarch, "people went there to work because incomes were good, mainly in Donbas, and they entered universities because in they were not admitted into those of Galicia. People escaped from Galicia, from the control. Also, they married here. So many Greek Catholics came to different parts of Ukraine that we don’t even know exactly how many, but we continue to find more and are surprised by their number," said the patriarch.
Another reason for the presence of Greek Catholics in eastern and southern regions, the head of the UGCC attributes to the deportation of villages. As an example, he described how in the 1950s a few dozen villages were moved from the Ivano-Frankivsk region to the Mykolayiv region to make room for a military site.
The publication also asked the head of the church whether there are plans to construct new churches in the capital of Ukraine in addition to the Patriarchal Cathedral. Patriarch Lubomyr said that churches would be built where there are communities, but likely not another one such as the Patriarchal Cathedral.
"The church here on the Left Bank of the Dnipro is special,” the head of the church stressed. “It is not only a church for Kyiv. This church is the symbol of unity of our Church. We are all over Ukraine, in every region, but we are also in western Europe, Canada, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, and Australia. Many of our people are now in Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Spain.”
The patriarch added that Ukrainian Greek Catholics from around the world collect money for the construction of the church and as such the church is for all them.
Information Department of the UGCC
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