“People are tired of splits and divisions. Sometimes they are more courageous and open than the hierarchs,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav

Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church Head and Father appeals to Ukrainian Christians to follow the course of “the global Orthodox-Catholic dialogue.”  “We have to stop being happy with only ourselves, our intellectual events, activities, we should learn how to be happy because of the presence of others,” stated UGCC Primate His Beatitude Sviatoslav at the round table “Ukraine in the Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue” (held on June 7) with the participation of Cardinal Kurt Koch, who is presently visiting Ukraine. Cardinal Koch is President of the Pontifical Commission for Promoting Christian Unity and the co-chair of the International Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav is convinced that “one who considers oneself a faithful Christian does not have the right not to remember the Commandment that Christ gave to the apostles at the Last Supper, saying:  Father, that all may be one, as You are in Me and I in You, so that they be united in Us, so that the world comes to believe that You sent Me.”  The Church Head believes that evangelization can only be successful when there will be “a deep-felt unity” among Christians.”

“This year together with our Orthodox brethren we will celebrate the 1025^th anniversary of the Baptism of Ukraine-Rus.  If we look into the spiritual mystic memory of the Kyiv Church, then we will find the recollection of an undivided Christianity of the first century.  Therefore, every time that we speak of the necessity of one apostolic Church in Ukraine, a search for unity among us, the Holy Spirit speaks in our hearts and reminds us of this commandment of Christ and that experience which the Kyiv Church had.  Possibly, other Churches - daughter Churches of Kyiv Christianity, which emerged after the big schism, do not possess this church memory that the inheritors of Kyiv Christianity have… And today, we should thank the Holy Spirit, that He reminds us of this shared profound inheritance,” stated UGCC Head.

According to the words of His Beatitude Sviatoslav, when he together with the bishops visited UOC Metropolitan His Beatitude Volodymyr, he said that “the average people find it difficult to talk about ecumenism today.”  “I think that it is difficult exactly because unity as a value no longer exists in the current post-modern world.  Today tolerance and multiplicity are values. Sometimes even the fact itself of the need to seek unity is denied,” noted the Primate.

He considers that Christians in Ukraine and in Central Europe in general, have in the last twenty years “sinned against ecumenism, because they handed over the study of this issue to diplomats and politicians.”  “To a certain degree, this discredited this idea in the eyes of average faithful. Therefore, in my opinion, today we need to speak of ecumenism as a search of unity among Christians in Ukraine.  The topic of unity has to become a topic which spiritual fathers are talking about with their spiritual children; preachers, pastors to their faithful,” argues Head and Father of Greek-Catholics.

Then Cardinal Kurt Koch recalled the words of Popes who stated that there are no alternatives to the ecumenical movement since Christ said that all should be one.  According to the words of the Cardinal, Christian ecumenism should be a spiritual ecumenism. “The foundation of the ecumenical movement is the acknowledgement of Baptism as a real sacrament among all Churches.  And here we have a wonderful opportunity – the celebration of the 1025^th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus.  It is an opportunity to deepen the understanding of the baptismal ecumenism.  New evangelization and ecumenism have to go step-in-step.  Ecumenism of martyrdom…  We have seen this terrible reality of martyrdom in the Church in Ukraine.  This, I believe, can also be one of the greatest foundations of ecumenism,” convinces the President of the Pontifical Commission.

He even quoted the words of Blessed John Paul II who said that after so much persecution the Christians have to unite among themselves.  “Today Christians are also the most persecuted.  I expect that we can deepen the ecumenism of Baptism, ecumenism of evangelization, ecumenism of spirit, ecumenism of martyrdom,” said the Cardinal.

According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, ecumenism on the practical level in Ukraine is already active thanks to simple faithful, simple Christians.  “I meet a lot of people…  I can say that people are tired of splits and divisions.  Sometimes they are more courageous and open than the hierarchs.  And precisely, because the Holy Spirit awakens in the laity, who constitutes 90% of the Church, the desire for ecumenism, I am somewhat optimistic about it.  Today all the confessions in Ukraine are undergoing rejuvenation.  There is a new generation of monasticism, clergy, bishops and even Church Heads.  All Churches without exception have borne the brunt of wounds from the communist totalitarian system, and youth is to a certain degree free of these wounds.  Therefore, I truly am optimistic.  Yet we need to answer the questions of our faithful in a Christian manner,” said the Church Head.

Participating in the round table on “Ukraine in Orthodox-Catholic dialogue” were also: Archbishop Thomas Edward Gallickson, Apostolic Nuncio for Ukraine; Rev. Mykola Danylevych, representative of UOV (MP); Archbishop Petro Herkulian

(Malchuk), Ordinary of Kyiv-Zhytomyr RCC Diocese in Ukraine.

UGCC Department of Information