Ukrainian Churches can find a common language

“An important achievement of the Renovabis Congress is that our colleagues in Western Europe are opening up more and more to Ukraine as a competent partner in ecumenical dialogues. They see that Ukrainian Churches can find a common language, work together on general projects and operate jointly for the good of society in different areas of public life. These positive findings came not only from the Greek Catholic Church but also from the Orthodox one, which gives them greater weight and significance,” explained Bishop Bohdan (Dzyurakh), Secretary of Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, speaking about the work of the present congress of the charitable organization of Renovabis. The XIII International Congress of Renovabis took place in the town of Friezing (Germany) from September 3^rd to the 5^th. Its theme was “The search for unity while maintaining diversity.” The forum gathered over 300 participants. The working group “Ukraine in focus - Kyivan Church” was very active during the congress. Bishop Bohdan (Dzyurakh), Fr. PhD Boris Gudzyak, rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, and Myroslav Marynovych, vice-rector of UCU, represented the UGCC at the meeting. The Roman Catholics of Ukraine were represented by the Chairman of the Conference of Roman-Catholic Bishops of Ukraine Archbishop-metropolitan of Lviv, Mechyslav Mokshyts’kyj, Bishop of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhya Maryan Buchek, auxiliary bishop of Kyiv and Zhytomyr diocese Stanislav Shyrokoradyuk. From the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the participants of the conference included the head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church archimandrite Cyril Govorun and head of the Ecumenical Society of Saint Clement, co-director of the publishing houses Dukh i Litera, Dr. Constantine Sigov, PhD.  On September 4, the working group “Ukraine in focus - Kyivan Church” mentioned earlier included archimandrite Cyril (Hovorun), Fr. PhD Boris Gudzyak, Myroslav Marynovych, and Constantine Sigov. During the working group meeting, the participants discussed the value of idea of a Kyivan Church to consolidate Ukrainian society and overcoming dissidence in Ukrainian Church traditions. On the last day of the congress gathering, the theme of pluralism and challenges of pluralism for Churches in modern Europe was analyzed. Speakers included three bishops – representatives of three Churches: Bishop Bobruy Seraphim reported on behalf of the Orthodox Church; Bishop from Regensburg Muller for the Roman Catholic Church; and from the UGCC Bishop Bohdan. In his speech Bishop Bohdan talked about various aspects of pluralism: views and ideas of pluralism in modern society and how the Church’s reactions to it; religious pluralism, which shows up in a variety of religious cultures as well as different methods of prayers; pluralism in inter-confessional setting (e.g. division of the original Kyivan Church) which needs to be resolved.

Information Department of the UGCC