VYDUBETSKY MONASTERY’S YOUNG FATHER SUPERIOR IS PROUD TO WEAR THE ROBE
Vydubychy is among Kyiv’s magic spots where traces left by generations of our ancestors are somehow especially noticeable. We met with the Right Rev. Hieromonk Sebastian (Vozniak), Father Superior of the recently restored Vydubychy Monastery of St. Michael. He kindly agreed to an interview.
Q: Father Sebastian, would you tell our readers about how you embarked on the road of spiritual service?
A: I was born 28 years ago in a village in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast. My parents were very religious and there were icons in our home even when the authorities forbade them. From early childhood I and the rest of the village knew that I would take the vows. I prayed constantly, although no one said I should. I think I learned the Lord’s Prayer almost as soon as I learned to talk. I had my own “altar” at home where I spent a lot of time. Every Sunday I woke up early and together with my friends went to church. It was in a nearby village. No one woke us or told us to go. In church we would help the parish priest, and if it was a holiday we would decorate the interior. And of course, we prayed. My two brothers and sisters are also devout believers, but none had the priestly calling.
When I was a small boy there wasn’t a single Greek Catholic church in the region and all believers went to Russian Orthodox churches. Later I would learn that our parish priest was a Greek Catholic adherent, but kept it secret. He performed Greek Catholic rites with his parish, also secretly. I loved and respected the man and at 18 joined what was then the underground Uniate Church (the Ukrainian Greek Catholic, or Uniate Church was banned by the Soviets in 1946 and its primate incarcerated for many years - ed.). When a Greek Catholic church was opened in the village in 1990 my parents and fellow villagers could finally return to their forefathers’ creed. Somehow, I remained an Orthodox priest. And mind you, no one reproached me for this, not my parents or fellow countrymen.
Well, the rest of my life story is simple. I finished school, then a vocational training one. In due time I was drafted and after demobilization, before finding myself a job, I decided to make a little pilgrimage. I wanted to travel to holy places in Ukraine. While at the Pochayiv Lavra Monastery they offered me to become a novice. I agreed and soon afterward took the vows. In 1992, I was ordained a hieromonk (i.e., monk cum parish priest) at St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral. In 1993, I was appointed Vicar of St. Michael’s Church at Vydubychy and eventually became Father Superior of the Monastery.
Q: Father, you are quite a young man, and you obviously haven’t lived as a layman for long. Are you not visited by doubts as to your chosen path? God made this world so variegated. Does it not tempt you to join it and partake of its variety?
A: I have aged ahead of my years. It happened when I was taken to the army. At present, my soul and habits belong to a man aged around 50. I would not think of living outside the Church. I am proud of my priesthood, and I am happy that my parents and relatives feel proud of me in this capacity; this imposes an extra responsibility on them and they behave accordingly. As for doubts and temptations, I am too busy with things I consider of superior importance. We are now rebuilding the monastery, and we had to start from scratch in the truest sense of the word. Our immediate task is to clear the Cathedral of St. George of the Archaeology Institute’s collection. Not an easy one as we will have to technically equip one of our buildings. After that we will have to restore the cathedral, which will take time, money, and much dedicated effort, because we have to finish work by the year 2000. I have many other plans. In particular, we want the monastery to be self-sufficient and not dependent on parishioners’ donations. We will have a farming plot with hothouses, even an apiary. Our friends from a monastery of the Studite Order promised to help. We are also planning a monastery publishing house. Even now we are publishing the journal Chasha (Chalise), which is anything but easy. However, we are constantly assisted by the Board of Trustees chaired by Mykola Kravets.
Most importantly, however, I feel that people need me as a shepherd, a person who will come to them in joy and sorrow with a word of advice and encouragement. At present, I regularly take confessions from almost 200 faithful. I know and remember everyone well. In confession I try not to emphasize their sins. Instead, I calm their fears and tell them how to make things right. All this makes my life very meaningful. And quite varied if you will.
Q: A few words about your cloistered life, please.
A: There are 18 brothers. Different people who joined the cloister for various reasons. Some were led here by their beliefs, like yours truly. Others just couldn’t find their place in the lay world. Some have only an elementary education, and others are college graduates. I count on the latter for help when we open a Sunday school, an icon-painting shop, and start a publishing house as planned.
Our rules are strict. We get up at five in the morning and retire at 10 in the evening. Everything is done according to schedule: prayers, work, and study. As for daily routine, I try to deviate from certain unwritten traditions, something of which brothers at the Kyiv Pechersk Monastery of the Caves do not approve. I take special care of hygiene and see to it that the brothers keep themselves clean and properly dressed. They regularly go to the baths and have their hair cut. Everybody must look tidy, especially when going to church. People visiting us must see them as an example.
Our living conditions, however, are not easy. A far cry from what I saw at a Catholic monastery in Belgium. They live as though in a hotel there, and yet they strictly adhere to every canon. The menu is varied as they have long developed special monastic dishes in the West. Lean but tasting good and nutritious enough. That Belgian monastery even had a sports school for teenagers where they trained and studied the Scriptures. A clever idea!
Q: Does the Father Superior have any hobbies, things that are not directly connected with monastic life?
A: You mean layman’s preferences? I like to work the land and I am especially fond of planting trees. I like quietude, so I can think without being disturbed. Over the years of priesthood I have grown accustomed to listening rather than speaking, and carefully weighing every word of my own, lest I hurt somebody’s feelings, even though inadvertently. I have collected a good library with many classics, domestic and foreign, but there is very little time left for reading. The monastery must be fully restored, so first things first.
Q: Father, how do you feel about the possibility of uniting the Ukrainian churches?
A: Many other clergymen I know consider that the complexity of this problem is overstated. I agree with them. Many also dream of involving the Greek Catholics in the reunification process. You see, all three our churches - Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate), Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church - have the same goal and the same belief that Ukraine badly needs a single undivided and independent Local Church. So we must gather at an All-Ukrainian Church Council, settle all our differences, and elect a Patriarch. I also think that after such unity is achieved the existing churches should retain their identity and structures; they should be allowed to pray and to live as they have always done, and coexist peacefully.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate has no future in Ukraine, so they rely on the idea of reuniting with Russia. Their divine services are conducted mostly in Russian, their instruction is in Russian, and all their publications are in Russian. Many a young clergyman there is dissatisfied with this situation. They want to serve the Ukrainian Church...
The spiritual path taken by Hieromonk Sebastian can serve as a good example of how ecumenical ideas are translated into life. This Orthodox monk was the spiritual son of a catacomb Greek Orthodox priest. He still remembers him with affection and gratitude. His parents returned to the Greek Catholic Church, their forefathers’ creed, yet they are proud of their son, an Orthodox priest. Remarkably, the Rev. Sebastian’s fellow villagers who went back Greek Catholicism after 1990, recite many prayers in Church Slavonic. Moreover, they want Orthodox monk Sebastian to be their parish priest in their Greek Catholic Church, because he had grown before their eyes; they all know and respect him. All this makes interfaith differences unimportant.
As Father Superior, the Rev. Sebastian maintains friendly ties with his fellow countrymen, their creed notwithstanding. His monastery and that of the Greek Catholic Studite Order are good friends. They will mark their centennial this summer and all festive services will be celebrated at the Vydubychy Monastery, along with a theological conference, etc.
Writing about such religious developments gladdens one’s heart. One is tempted to believe that the existing rift is not as tragic as it seems and that it can be repaired without waiting for divine intervention, proving the old truth that God helps those who help themselves.
Photo by Oleksy Stasenko, The Day:
Vydubetsky Monastery in Kyiv
