At the hierarchical liturgy in St. Yur’s Cathedral in Lviv, on 29 November, the establishment of the Lviv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) was proclaimed and Archbishop Ihor (Vozniak) of Lviv was enthroned as Metropolitan of Lviv. The ruling bishop of Lviv will now bear the title “Archbishop and Metropolitan of Lviv.” St. Yur’s Cathedral was proclaimed to be the cathedral of the Lviv Metropolitanate of UGCC.

The Administrator of the Patriarchal Curia, Secretary of the Synod of Bishops of UGCC, Bishop Bohdan (Dziurakh) read out a letter about the establishment of the Lviv Metropolitanate of UGCC. The document deals with the whole history of UGCC, its difficult path towards the establishment and then, restoration of the structures of the Kyiv-Halych Metropolitanate, legalization of UGCC after the totalitarian regime and return of UGCC to Kyiv.

According to the letter, the Lviv Metropolitanate includes the archeparchies of Lviv, Stryi, Sambir-Drohobych and Sokal-Zhovkva. The Ivano-Frankivsk Metropolitanate includes Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia-Chernivtsi eparchies. The Ternopil-Buchach Metropolitanate includes Ternopil-Zboriv and Buchach Eparchies.

Artchbishop Ihor (Vozniak) of Lviv, Eparch of Ivano-Frankivsk, Bishop Volodymyr (Viityshyn) and Eparch of Ternopil and Zboriv, Bishop Vasyl (Semeniuk) have been proclaimed the first metropolitans of the new metropolitanates.

Another existing metropolitanate of UGCC, the Kyiv-Halych Metropolitanate led by Patriarch Sviatoslav has been proclaimed the heir of all the property of UGCC.

The ceremony of the enthronement of Metropolitan of Lviv, Archbishop Ihor (Vozniak) was conducted by the head of UGCC, Patriarch Sviatoslav.

In his address, Patriarch Sviatoslav called the Lviv Metropolitanate the second most important one after the Kyiv-Halych Metropolitanate of UGCC and stressed that the will of all the previous heads of UGCC, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi, Patriarch Josef Slipyj, cardinal myroslav-Ivan Lubachivskyi and Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar) has been fulfilled.

The liturgy was attended by all the bishops of UGCC led by Patriarch Sviatoslav, the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Thomas Edward Gullickson, Apostolic Administrator of Mukachiv of the Greek Catholic Church, Bishop Milan (Shashik).

The metropolitanate in Ivano-Frankisvk will be proclaimed on 13 December. The metropolitanate in Ternopil will be proclaimed on 22 December.

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Під час Архиєрейської Літургії  в архикатедральному соборі св. Юрія у Львові 29 листопада урочисто проголошено про створення Львівської митрополії Української Греко-Католицької Церкви та інтронізовано Митрополита Львівського. Ним став архиєпископ Львівський Ігор (Возьняк). Відсьогодні титул правлячого Львівського архиєрея буде «Львівський  архиєпископ і митрополит». Архиєпископство Львова піднесене до гідності Митрополії, а собор святого Юра у Львові оголошено архикатедральним собором Львівської митрополії УГКЦ.

Владика Богдан (Дзюрах) Адміністратор Патріаршої курії, секретар Синоду єпископів УГКЦ зачитав грамоту про створення Львівської митрополії УГКЦ. У ній йшлося про всю історію УГКЦ, про її важкий шлях до створення, а потім відновлення структур Києво-Галицької Митрополії, про легалізацію УГКЦ  після тоталітарного режиму, про повернення УГКЦ до Києва.

«Боже повеління виявило справедливість, і наша Церква повернулася до первопрестольного граду Києва. УГКЦ прямує до утвердження патріаршого устрою,  і ці старання визнають у Римі. Синод вирішив створити на землях Києво-Галицької Церкви три нових митрополії. Ці наші рішення поблагословив і схвалив Папа Бенедикт XVI», – оголошено у грамоті.

Також оголошено, що до складу Львівської митрополії входить Львівська архиєпархія, Стрийська, Самбірсько-Дрогобицька та Сокальсько-Жовківська єпархії.

До Івано-Франківської митрополії – Івано-Франківська та Коломийсько-Чернівецька єпархії.

До Тернопільсько-Зборівської – Тернопільсько-Зборівська та Бучацька єпархії.

Першими митрополитами новостворених митрополій проголошено владику Ігоря (Возьняка), Архиєпископа Львівського, владику Володимира (Війтишина), єпарха Івано-Франківського та владику Василя (Семенюка), єпарха Тернопільсько-Зборівського.

Крім новостворених, ще однією митрополією УГКЦ в Україні є Києво-Галицька митрополія, яку очолює Блаженніший Святослав. До її складу входять Київська архиєпархія, Донецько-Харківський, Одесько-Кримський та Луцький екзархати.

Оголошено, що Києво-Галицька Митрополія є спадкоємницею усього майна УГКЦ. Місто Галич, яке відноситься до Івано-Франківської області, підлягає безпосередньо в розпорядження Києво-Галицького Верховеного архиєпископа, а в майбутньому Патріарха.

Церемонію возведення на престол Митрополита Львівського архиєпископа Ігоря (Возьняка) здійснив Глава УГКЦ Патріарх Святослав.

“Подібної події мабуть давно не було у Львові. Ми можемо сказати, що подібною подією двісті років тому тішився Львів, коли тут створювалася Галицька Митрополія, але радше з відчуттям смутку, оскільки наші єпископи, наші єпархії були від’єднані від свого отця і глави у стольному граді Києві. Але сьогоднішня подія є особливою, оскільки новостворена Львівська Митрополія у своїй природі і своїй структурі продовжує традицію, спадкоємство і правонаступництво цього славного княжого града”, – сказав Глава УГКЦ.

У промові Патріарх Святослав назвав Львівську митрополію другою за важливістю після Києво-Галицької Митрополії  УГКЦ і наголосив, що здійснилася воля усіх попередніх Глав УГКЦ: Митрополита Андрея ( Шептицького), Патріарха Йосифа (Сліпого), кардинала Мирослава-Івана Любачівського, Патріарха Любомира (Гузара), які впродовж своїх служінь йшли до цієї мети.

Участь у Літургії  взяли усі владики УГКЦ на чолі з Патріархом Святославом (Шевчуком), Апостольський нунцій в Україні архиєпископ Томас Едвард Галліксон, Апостольський адміністратор Мукачівський ГКЦ владика Мілан (Шашік), єпископи РКЦ в Україні Маркіян Трофим’як та Леон Малий, екзарх Грецької Католицької Церкви Димитріос Салахас. На Літургії також був присутній Митрополит Львівсько-Сокальський УПЦ КП владика Димитрій (Рудюк).

Митрополія в Івано-Франківську буде проголошена 13 грудня. Митрополія у Тернополі – 22 грудня.

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Довідка

До Львівської митрополії відтепер будуть належати, окрім Львівської архиєпархії, єпископські престоли Сокальсько-Жовківської, Самбірсько-Дрогобицької і Стрийської єпархій. Катедральним собором цієї митрополії залишається храм Святого Юра у Львові, а її Архиєпископом і Митрополитом призначений Владика Ігор (Возьняк).

До Івано-Франківської митрополії входитимуть престоли Івано-Франківської архиєпархії та Коломийської-Чернівецької єпархії. Катедральним собором цієї митрополії стає собор Святого Воскресіння Христового в Івано-Франківську, а її Архиєпископом і Митрополитом призначений Владика Володимир (Війтишин).

До Тернопільсько-Зборівської митрополії належатимуть престоли Тернопільсько-Зборівської архиєпархії та Бучацької єпархії. Катедральним собором цієї митрополії стає собор Непорочного Зачаття Пресвятої Богородиці в Тернополі, а її Архиєпископом і Митрополитом призначений Владика Василь (Семенюк).

Як досі, до складу Києво-Галицької митрополії залишаються прилученими престоли Київської архиєпархії, Донецько-Харківського, Одесько-Кримського та Луцького екзархатів.

Source: http://risu.org.ua

His Beatitude Sviatoslav on November 20, 2011, received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities (Honoris Causa) at the Fordham University in the USA. On the same day in the University Church the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, Major Archbishop Emeritus, was unveiled and blessed. The blessing was read by the UGCC primate and Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“This honorary doctorate is a reward not for me but for my church of martyrs,” said the head of the UGCC at the ceremony. “It is a service I borrowed from my predecessors and carry out as head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Despite all the hatred and humiliation it encountered, it remained a true Church of the Risen Christ. It is this church that sent me to you today, and especially for it, for its Christian wisdom and intellectual life, this award is being conferred.”

At the ceremony, the following words were said about the primate: “Cherishing the dream of his glorious predecessors and being elected to implement his own vision of the church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav is responsible for the pastoral care of the souls of the faithful of the church, which has more than 5.5 million believers worldwide. This dynamic young leader has made extremely important steps to strengthen his flock in the world. He continues to use pastoral visits, social media and sermons to spread his message of unity in faith. The vision of His Beatitude truly inspires.”

Founded in 1841, Fordham is a Jesuit University in New York that offers education, typical of the Jesuit tradition, to about 14,700 students. Many famous figures have received honorary doctorates from the university, such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, American diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello who died in Iraq, and Tom Brokaw, former host of NBS Nightly News.

UGCC Information Department

This year’s meeting of bishops of Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, which is held annually under the auspices of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, is being held November 3-6, in Oradea, Romania. Representatives from fourteen Eastern Catholic Churches, including fourteen bishops from Ukraine, will speak about the new evangelization in Eastern Rite Catholic Churches of Europe, said Bishop Bohdan (Dziurakh), Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, who is taking part in this meeting.

Fr. Borys Gudziak, Ph.D., rector of UCU, will report on the state of the Eastern Catholic Churches after the fall of communism. The meeting will be attended by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the president of the Pontifical Council to promote the new evangelization, who will present the main topic of discussion, Cardinal Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, who heads the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, and Archbishop Cyril Vasil, Secretary of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. It is also likely that Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) will give a speech.

“The theme of the meeting, ‘You Will Be My Witnesses: Evangelization in the Catholic Eastern Rite Churches in Europe,’  is a kind of an appeal to the new evangelization, which the pope spoke about a few years ago. This poses before the bishops two tasks: on the one hand, to cure, with the grace of God , the spiritual emptiness that was left behind the Communist regime, and, on the other, to mitigate the distortion of spiritual values​​, caused by a wave of secularism, which is coming from the secular environment of Western Europe,” said Bishop Bohdan.

According to the bishop, reflections on this topic should help the Catholic bishops of Europe to respond to the call of the Holy Father and to contribute to the evangelization of the European continent.

Source: http://www.ugcc.org.ua

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), Patriarch Kirill spoke about the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church in his address to the hearers of courses of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, reported the web site of ROC.

The Patriarch of Moscow said that in Ukraine, “as the result of the violent actions of Greek Catholics in 1980-s-1990-s, the Orthodox believers lost their church buildings and still feel that their rights have been infringed” and that this question was discussed in the course of the contacts with the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, he stressed: “The conflict remains unsettled but at the same time, one should note that the relations between the Orthodox and Greek Catholics in Ukraine have improved.”

As he commented on the Orthodox-Catholic relations, on the whole, Patriarch Kirill pointed to the positive dynamic of the relations during the last five years.

According to him, both Churches can see the necessity to join efforts to face the challenges of the modern social life, namely, the processes of liberal secularization, globalization, crisis of family values, undermining of the traditional morality. Joint defending of the tradition al Christian values allows to develop the bilateral cooperation.

Patriarch Kirill stressed that of a great potential in the work of joining efforts on social questions are the Orthodox-Catholic forums which were established on the initiative of ROC and are conducted every two years thanks to the cooperation with the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe.

Source: http://risu.org.ua/en/

14th meeting of the Bishops of the Eastern Catholic Bishops
Oradea, Romania, 3-6 November 2011

This time, the annual meeting of the Eastern Catholic bishops in Europe has gathered in Oradea (Romania) about 70 participants, including bishops and experts, at the invitation of the Bishop of Oradea-Mare, H. Ex. Rev. Virgil Bercea. The theme of the meeting was the contribution of the Eastern Catholic Churches in Europe to the new evangelization. The meeting was a moment of community discernment aimed at identifying the adequate elements to meet the challenge of proclaiming Christ in the current socio-cultural context. Its results will be summarized in a report that will be delivered to the Secretary of the Synod of Bishops in view of the 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (Rome, 7-28 October 2012).

The meeting was also attended by the bishops of Latin rite of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Romania. During the works, the bishops have thanked the Holy Father for his initiative to include the Eastern Catholic Churches in the general intention for the apostolate of prayer, “so that their venerable tradition be known and respected as a spiritual treasure for the whole Church.”

In his opening remarks, Cardinal Péter Erdő, President of the Council of European Catholic Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), the continental organism of Catholic bishops which has sponsored the meeting, stressed the importance of the meetings of the Eastern and Roman Catholic bishops and reaffirmed that the new evangelization is an opportunity through which “we are all called to awaken our faith and build a Christian community rooted in the Lord and with an intense missionary enthusiasm.” For his part, the President of the Synod of the Greek-Catholic Church and of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Romania, His Beatitude Lucian Mureşan, Archbishop Major of Fagaras and Alba Julia of the Romanians, has contextualized the meeting by stressing that, twenty years after the fall of totalitarian regimes, “also the Eastern Catholic Churches are facing a rapidly changing society in which secularization, relativism, and migration have changed paradigms and methods not only in matter of belonging to the Church and religious practice, but also as far as the transmission and proclamation of the Gospel is concerned.”

The Eastern Catholic Churches of Europe share a common history, made of marginalization, suffering and martyrdom, especially under the totalitarian regimes during which they were legally banned and suppressed. “There is no other Church in Romania that might be called “Church of martyrdom, except the Greek-catholic Church,” said Mgr. Francisco Javier Lozano, Apostolic Nuncio in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

This function of having preserved the faith at the cost of one’s life, was then widely remembered by the various political authorities of the region and the city, who have highlighted the role of the Greek-catholic Church in Romania, in particular the role of the Exarchate of Oradea, in the  “reconstruction of the social and moral fabric of the population, in being a point of reference and a sign of hope and understanding for many. During the meeting, the participants had the opportunity to visit some of the places that bear witness to the love of those two local Catholic churches.

In his address, Mr. Adrian Lemeni, Secretary of State for the Religious Affairs of the Romanian Government, welcomed the initiative and encouraged the work of the Church in Europe for the defense of the values ​​ which Christianity brought in it.

The New Evangelization and the Eastern Catholic Churches

On the issue of new evangelization, two orders of reflections have been the focus of our work. On the one hand, the fact that the Eastern Catholic Churches in Europe have a specific and unique contribution to make to the current debate in the Catholic Church and to the whole process, already underway, of the new evangelization. On the other hand, we have seen that they must also be aware of the challenges that the modern world brings to our mission. The crisis the world is living today is essentially anthropological in its nature, partly as a result of secularism, which led to the unjustified exclusion of God, both in the public and in the private sphere, thereby leading to a serious confusion in terms of personal identity, so that modern man often becomes unable to justify himself and find an orientation to his existence. In addition, the Eastern Catholic Churches feel confronted with these problems and, after having demonstrated the vitality of a newfound freedom, about two decades ago, now they feel challenged by these global phenomena, especially as they affect many of their faithful migrants, thus placing their respective Churches in front of new pastoral problems that require original and appropriate solutions.

In his address, Mgr. Salvatore Fischella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, has highlighted some of the tasks facing the new evangelization: strengthening the sense of belonging which generates a strong identity; having attention to our terminology and have a special care for “what is beautiful”, for the liturgy, but also for catechesis and permanent formation. Finally, in the face of different forms of selfishness that now seem to have the upper hand, the new evangelization should encourage witnesses of solidarity and generosity, i.e. charity, through which we can express God’s love for all.

The new evangelization is not made up only of words, but it implies the creation of visible signs that be able to testify and put into practice in a tangible way the presence and mission of the Church in history. An example of this dynamic mediation of the Christian message was offered by Fr. Borys Gudziak, Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University (ucu.edu.ua/eng/), who explained to the participants the very original project of the construction of the new Catholic University. The basic idea is to create a campus where theology is translated into architecture, spirituality is lived out in the community and evangelization is implemented as in a pilgrimage.

Jesuit Fr. Marko Rupnik, a world-famous artist and Director of the Aletti Center, presented the contribution of Byzantine art in the context of the new evangelization. For this Slovenian artist, it is very important to understand the reality in which the art inserts and the function it has assumed. Unfortunately, “The art has migrated from the shrine to the palace ending up in the art galleries; it does not generate devotion but only admiration of the artist. At the same time, the art has lost its function as a symbol, putting forward the idea of concept but totally disconnected from the reality of daily life.” According to the Jesuit, also the art should be able to transmit the faith, life and love. In short, what happened to the art reflects what happened to the Christian faithful, who do not know how to live their baptism in everyday life, how to live their being regenerated as sons and daughters of God, how to show a humanity inhabited by God, in short, how to show what it means to be redeemed.

Prof. Cesare Alzati, a professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, in the light of the history and nature of the Eastern Catholic Churches, has identified some aspects that could be a stimulus to the rest of the Christian world. First, going beyond one’s confessional frontiers, not losing one’s identity, but open a dialogue with the other denominations that share the same challenges of secularization, i.e. the separation between the supernatural and present life.

A particularly important aspect is the liturgy of the Eastern Catholic Churches. In this sense, the new evangelization of Europe “has as its inevitable stage the reaffirmation of the centrality of the experience of mystery, through which man can live in history his encounter with God.” In this way, even witness has a sort of “cultic teaching” as its point of departure, which gives rise to “a specific anthropology, constitutionally religious and rooted in the mystery of Christ.” It has its origin in the living experience of worship and brings with it a specific way of being Christian in history: being witnesses of the mystery.

Faced with a growing secularism and consumerism in Eastern European societies, the task of the Church is, according to Mgr. Cyril Vasil, Secretary of the Congregation of Eastern Churches, to offer to civil society, to limit the disastrous effects of a wild capitalism, the experience of the Social Doctrine of the Church “as an antidote to the poisonous effects of market economy.” He also recalled that many faithful of the Eastern Catholic Churches have migrated for economic reasons, and this leads to the need to review our pastoral action in a missionary key and in the light of the current social context. In short, the pastoral contact with the faithful immigrants “should not be limited only to the service of divine worship”, but should cover their living conditions. They should not feel abandoned by their own Church.

Another challenge is the “practical atheism” which is spreading out. Those to whom the Church is called to bring the Good News are people who are basically ignorant from a religious point of view, and lack of solid points of cultural reference. The question then is: how to arouse their interest in things that exceed their limited material and utilitarian horizon? Like other speakers, also the Secretary of the Congregation of Eastern Churches has stressed the human research of joy, beauty, decorum and solemnity. For this very reason, “the deep and mystical beauty of our liturgical celebrations can be a boost to the profound search for truth.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, Fr. Alexandru Buzalic, Professor of Theology at the University of Cluj-Napoca, focused on the presence of lay realities in the Eastern Catholic Churches. This presence is not new, but in the dark years of communism, these realities have suffered the same fate of their pastors. Today, however, along with the revival of old associations as ASTRU (the local Catholic Action), other associations have been created. All of them want to be actively involved in the field of pastoral care, and integrate the work carried out by the clergy in various areas, particularly in the teaching of religion and in the area of diaconate.

The works were carried out in an atmosphere of cordiality and friendship, and have been enriched by some moments of prayer and the daily celebration of the Eucharist together with the local community, including the faithful of Greek-catholic rite and those of Latin rite. The liturgical celebrations, always very well cared for and intensely participated, have shown that the words exchanged in the meeting were also an expression of a lived experience. Particularly appreciated was the presence and contribution of the bishops of Latin rite of the Romanian Bishops’ Conference, and the hospitality of the Latin rite Bishop of Oradea, Mgr. Laszlo Bocskei.

The 2012 meeting will be held in Zagreb from the 8th to the 11th of November, to mark the fourth centenary of the union of the Croatian Catholic Church of byzantine rite with the Church of Rome, at the invitation of Mgr. Nikola Kekić, Bishop of Križevci.

Thierry Bonaventura, CCEE Media Officer

Source: http://www.ugcc.org.ua

On November 29 in Lviv, December 13 in Ivano-Frankivsk, December 22 in Ternopil Hierarchical Liturgies will be held, during which the  decrees on the establishment of the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil-Zboriv metropolitanates of the UGCC. Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said this on November 8, during a web conference on tochka.net.

The Synod of Bishops decided to create three new metropolitans. The Lviv Metropolitanate will include the Lviv Archeparchy and the Stryi, Sambir-Drohobych, and Sokal-Zhovkva eparchies; the Ivano-Frankivsk Metropolitanate, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia-Chernivtsi eparchies; Ternopil-Zboriv, Ternopil-Zboriv and Buchach eparchies. The first metropolitans of the newly established metropolitanates will be Archbishop Ihor (Voznyak), Archbishop of Lviv, Bishop Volodymyr (Viytyshyn), Eparch of Ivano-Frankivsk, and Bishop Vasyl (Semeniuk) Eparch of Ternopil-Zborowski.

According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the establishment of new metropolitanates is a very important step in the natural development of the UGCC toward patriarchy. “Today in Ukraine there is a single metropolitanate of Kyiv and Halych based in Kyiv. With such a structure, our metropolitanate reflects the state of church that we had at the time of Kyivan Rus’. There was one metropolitan, the de facto head of the national church, who had, respectively, authority over the bishops on his territory. For more than a thousand years our church has developed, particularly in Ukraine. Today this natural state of development of the church structure needs to be improved. Therefore, in order to provide better pastoral care for our faithful, according to the decision of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC and with the blessing of the Apostolic See, we created three new metropolitanates,” the head of the UGCC.

In addition, the primate of the UGCC said that every metropolitan will have the right to convene a Metropolitanate’s Synod, but for the decisions of synod to be valid, they need approval from the Major Archbishop.

It should be noted that now the UGCC will have seven metropolitanates. In addition to the newly created ones, another metropolitanate in Ukraine is the Kyiv and Halych Metropolitanate, headed by His Beatitude Sviatoslav. It consists of Kyiv Archeparchy, Donetsk-Kharkiv, Odesa-Crimea and Lutsk exarchates. In addition, the UGCC has the Przemysl and Warsaw Metropolitanate in Poland, the Philadelphia Metropolitanate in the United States, and the Winnipeg Metropolitanate in Canada.

Historical Background

UGCC structures are constantly changing. Undoubtedly, some changes were caused by political reasons. But what is important, a constant succession always remained.

Since the union with Rome was signed in compliance with all provisions of the law, and the Kyiv Metropolitan and the bishops had the right and authority to sign, these hierarchs remained the only legitimate heirs of the previous church.

Restoration of the Orthodox hierarchy (1620) was legally a new creation – it introduced a new church structure, which may claim to be a historical or spiritual continuity, but not a succession. The successor of the ancient Kyivan Church is the Kyiv and Halych Metropolitanate.

After the Union of Brest, the Kyiv Metropolitan had all the rights he had before. These rights were recognized in two papa bulls of Pope Clement VIII: Magnus Dominus (December 23, 1595) and Decet Romanum Pontificem (February 23, 1596).

In the bull restoring the Halych Metropolitanate, In universalis Ecclesiae regimini of 1807, the Halych metropolitan was given the same rights, prerogatives and privileges that the metropolitans of Kyiv had; the metropolitans of Kyiv also retained their powers. Thus, through the Halych metropolitan comes the legal continuity of the UGCC from the times of Kyivan Rus’.

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29 листопада у Львові, 13 грудня в Івано-Франківську, 22 грудня у Тернополі відбудуться Архиєрейські Літургії, під час яких буде зачитано декрети про створення Львівської, Івано-Франківської та Тернопільсько-Зборівської митрополій УГКЦ відповідно. Про це сьогодні, 8 листопада, під час веб-конференції на tochka.net повідомив Блаженніший Святослав (Шевчук), Глава Української Греко-Католицької Церкви.

Створити три нові митрополії вирішив Синод Єпископів УГКЦ. До складу Львівської митрополії увійдуть Львівська архиєпархія, Стрийська, Самбірсько-Дрогобицька та Сокальсько-Жовківська єпархії; до Івано-дФранківської митрополії – Івано-Франківська та Коломийсько-Чернівецька єпархії; о Тернопільсько-Зборівської – Тернопільсько-Зборівська та Бучацька єпархії. Першими митрополитами новостворених митрополій стануть Владика Ігор (Возьняк), Архиєпископ Львівський, Владика Володимир (Війтишин), Єпарх Івано-Франківський, та Владика Василь (Семенюк), Єпарх Тернопільсько-Зборівський.

За словами Блаженнішого Святослава, створення нових митрополій є дуже важливим кроком у природному розвитку Церкви у напрямку до патріархату. «Сьогодні в Україні існує єдина Києво-Галицька митрополія з осідком у Києві. Такою структурою наша митрополія віддзеркалює той стан Церкви, який у нас був за часів Київської Русі. Був єдиний митрополит, де-факто глава помісної Церкви, який мав, відповідно, владу над єпископами своєї території. Очевидно, що більше як за тисячу років наша Церква розвинулася, зокрема і в Україні. Сьогодні такий природний стан розвитку церковної структури потребує вдосконалення. Отож, для того щоб краще надати душпастирську опіку нашим вірним, рішенням Синоду Єпископів УГКЦ і з благословення Апостольської Столиці ми створили три нові митрополії», – наголосив Глава УГКЦ.

Крім того, Предстоятель УГКЦ повідомив, що кожний митрополит матиме право скликати Митрополичий Синод, але для того щоб рішення цього Синоду були дійсними, вони потребують схвалення Верховного Архиєпископа.

Слід відзначити, що тепер в УГКЦ буде сім митрополій. Крім новостворених, ще однією митрополією УГКЦ в Україні є Києво-Галицька митрополія, яку очолює Блаженніший Святослав. До її складу входять Київська архиєпархія, Донецько-Харківський, Одесько-Кримський та Луцький екзархати. Крім того, до УГКЦ належать Перемишльсько-Варшавська митрополія у Польщі, Філадельфійська митрополія у США та Вінніпезька митрополія у Канаді.

Департамент інформації УГКЦ