The UGCC is the Church of Volodymyr’s Baptism, which is in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch and is the Church of her own right, His Beatitude Sviatoslav

This was stated by the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Zhovkva, Lviv region, during the Rite of Bishop Nomination of Petrо (Lozа) on July 11, 2018.

According to the Primate of the UGCC, the Rite of Episcopal Nomination - its three elements (confession of faith, the oath of allegiance and obedience to the Pope, and  the oath of allegiance and obedience to the Father and Head of the UGCC) - teaches us what the UGCC is: this is the Church of Volodymyr’s Baptism; it is in communion (unity) with the Ecumenical Patriarch and it is the Church of her own right, that is, the local one.

Speaking about what the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church means for the Ukrainian people and how it was formed, the Head of the UGCC noted that we have seen today how the newly-appointed Bishop declared the confession of his faith. "We felt that the Bishop spoke the Symbol of Faith not only in his name, as a private person, but at that moment he became the voice of his people. Moreover, he confessed the same faith, with the same words as Prince Volodymyr did 1030 years ago at the walls of Chersonesus in the Ukrainian Crimea. He made the same confession of the apostolic faith of the One Holy Universal Church, which was expressed over the Dnieper in the waters of Baptism, the anniversary of which we celebrate this year. And our Church is the successor of the Church of Volodymyr’s Baptism," summed up the Head of the UGCC.

We heard the Bishop made an oath of allegiance to the Holy Father, the Pope. "For the belief in the fact that the successor of the Apostle Peter is the core, the key to the unity of the Church of Christ, belongs to the identity of the Church of Kyiv. Perhaps the other Churches created after the schisms do not have that memory, but we do!" said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

The hierarch emphasized that our unity with the Holy Father is not based on political gain or geopolitical situation. This is part of the faith of the Church of Prince Vоlоdуmуr which we have managed to preserve and testify with the blood of our martyrs.

"Here, in Zhovkva," the Head of the UGCC said, "on our Galician lands people were asking where the True Church was. I remember how our grandparents and mothers taught us, small children, such a short confession of faith. My grandmother often said to me, "There, where there is the Pope, there is the true Church." This brief testimony of faith last week I personally passed to Pope Francis during a personal meeting. I said to him, "Holy Father, I was taught from a young child that there, where the Pope is, there is the true Church of Christ." Pope Francis embraced me and asked me to thank our people, our grandparents for the testimony of the unity of the Church of Christ. "

Speaking about the oath of allegiance to the Head of the Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav said: "We, as members of the UGCC, do not belong to other patriarchates. We are in unity with the successor to the Apostle Peter, as in the first millennium, he was in unity with Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandrian Patriarchs. We are not members of the Latin Patriarchate, as some say, we are building our own as a local Church of her own right," explained the Primate.

In conclusion, the Head of the UGCC noted that the servant of the unity of the Church of Christ is not a patriarch or a certain earthly ruler. "The basis, rock, and a visible sign of unity in the Church of Christ, according to the will of our Savior, is His Holiness the Pope of Rome," said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

Department of Information of the UGCC