UGCC Head in Poland took part in the celebrations on the occasion of presentation of the awards of the Kapitula of the Polish- Ukrainian unification

 The Winners of this year's awards were : The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Poland , headed by Metropolitan of Przemysl Juzef Michalik , who was awarded for activities for reconciliation , including the signing of a joint declaration of forgiveness and reconciliation ;the director of the Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences , Professor Sylvester Porovskyi for organizing the Polish- Ukrainian scientific actions;the Catholic information Agency ( CIA ) for accurate and objective reflection of the Polish- Ukrainian themes ; the National University  "Kyiv -Mohyla Academy" for the implementation of joint projects involving Ukrainian and Polish students and teachers ; Professor Ivan Vasyunyk for organizing social events aimed at understanding and involvement in the organization of meetings of Polish and Ukrainian youth in Majdanek .

According to the Head of the Church , the Ukrainian idea of ​​European nation is now in the spotlight of the world. And the slogan under which the Polish people came to their independence: "For your freedom and ours !" - now it sounds in a special way to Ukrainians .

"We understand that without your freedom there is no ours and vice versa. I found a friend on the other side of the border, who gave me his hand,so that we  - Christians, as children of the single Church of Christ , give evidence of reconciliation and call to build Christian Europe together in its eastern part , "- said the head of the UGCC , addressing to the Head of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Poland.

According to him, Bishop Juzeph  is a courageous prophet who can say things that are  not acceptable by everyone , he is an honest pastor , who can now tell the truth about Christ's commandments and principles of Christian morality , even when people don’t want to listen to . "His voice is the voice of true Polish patriot who respects Ukrainian patriotism " - said  His Beatitude Svyatoslav at last .

We want to add that The Kapitula includes 30 prominent figures from  Ukraine and Poland. Among them - Archbishop Emeritus of the UGCC His Beatitude Lyubomyr (Gusar ) ; an American political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski(of Polish origin);a  philosopher  Myroslav Popovych and a journalist Marek Tsynkar . The symbol of unification is a figurine in the form of two flowers - cornflower and poppy, created by Professor Mariya Guretska .The flowers symbolize the Ukrainian and Polish nations.

The Kapitula of the Polish- Ukrainian unification was created to form a new relationship between the Polish and Ukrainian . The idea of ​​ the award for unification belongs to the Polish journalist Marek Tsynkar , now the director of the foundation programms "Partnership for Democracy." The first award was presented by John Paul II during his staying in Lviv.

UGCC  Department of Information