Volyn Media: Patriarch Lubomyr Called to Renew the Original Unity of the Church and Ukraine

Monday, 05 July 2010 14:37

LUTSK – (risu.org.ua) In Lutsk the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar) called to renew the original unity of Christ’s Church, reports the Information Department of the UGCC with references to Volyn Truth, Volyn Information Portal, Pepper Kovel Style, and other publications of the Volyn region.

“Returning to the original unity of the church is our duty. Christ’s Church is one church which we, people, divided. And now our task is to fix it,” said Patriarch Lubomyr. According to the head of the UGCC, in Ukraine and abroad, Ukrainians who belong to different Christian denominations are finding a way to one another.

When journalists asked for example of cooperation with other denominations, the head of the UGCC said: “We cooperate in many areas. Maybe not at the level of high theological dialogues, but in the area of social service, daily needs. The cooperation here is very fruitful… We try in a different way to overcome these misunderstanding and divergences,” he added.

“In the opinion of His Beatitude Lubomyr, all these steps are the elements of the path to the future renewal of unity of Christ’s Church,” report the publications of Volyn.

Sharing with the Volyn journalists his impressions about Volyn and comparing it to other regions, the head of the UGCC noted that, despite the regional particularities and different characters of the needs of the faithful, in particular, the UGCC, the residents of the different regions do not differ between each other in their main needs and are the citizens of one indivisible Ukraine, writes the Volyn Truth.

“Certainly, Volyn, Prymorska Ukraine, the Kharkiv region, and Crimea had different historical paths and it created cultural differences. Let’s take Odesa for example – people there are already different from people in Volyn. But all these people are united by two things – devotion to the church and love to the native land. So it does not make sense to talk about the existence of two or more ‘Ukraines.’ Ukraine is one and united,” underlined the hierarch.

Will remind that on June 26-29 Patriarch Lubomyr was on a pastoral visit in Volyn where he participated in the meeting of the Permanent Synod of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Also the head of the UGCC dedicated an award to the holy martyr Omelyan Kovch in Lutsk, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God, and met with the clergy, laity, and local authority of Volyn.