Patriarch Sviatoslav: ‘Metropolitan Volodymyr is a spiritual leader, not a manager’

Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) stated in an interview to Day newspaper that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is not indifferent to the developments “in the family of our brethren,” the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate. “The Primate of a church is very often evaluated according to his effectiveness in governing. These are attributes of secularization: the church is viewed as a human structure. When someone is not able to fulfill the functions of a good manager due to his health condition, he declares that he cannot govern the church. Whereas, really spiritual people view the situation differently. Metropolitan Volodymyr is a spiritual leader and not a manager,” said Patriarch Sviatoslav. The head of the UGCC compared the last months of the life of Pope John Paul II with what Metropolitan Volodymyr is going through now. Especially, as their illness is similar. “In the end of his life, the pope breathed through his tracheostomy but did not leave the seat in the Catholic Church. I remember that it was hard to watch him as every word caused him pain.  But why did he do that? To testify against the general belief that a suffering, feeble person is a burden to the society. Therefore, even today, when His Beatitude Volodymyr is in the hospital, he remains the spiritual leader of his church. And people who consider the church to be the church and not a human structure should respect and help him,” noted Patriarch Sviatoslav. “I had an opportunity to meet with him. I watched his activity as the head of the church and a spiritual person. I think his spirituality will be a subject of study for many years. I am convinced that His Beatitude Volodymyr is a great treasure not only for the UOC but for the whole Christian world,” said the head of the UGCC. He explained that the faithful of the UGCC consider the faithful of the UOC their brothers and sisters and, therefore, Greek Catholics are not indifferent to what happens to them.

UGCC Information Department