A man of exalted spirit and encyclopedic knowledge

For the umpteenth consecutive year His Beatitude Liubomyr (Huzar) has gathered followers of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for the Christmas Host Meeting in Kyiv. This event, at which the Patriarch shares the Christmas bread with those present, symbolizes spiritual unity. It is not by chance that this year it was held on Unity Day. “Our meeting is a way of giving thanks to those who by all means supported the completion of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Re­sur­rection,” says the UGCC Pontiff. “And in a way it becomes a parochial, family holiday. For it is nice that we are together as a family, as a community, as a Church! I sincerely wish that, sharing these gifts of God in the guise of bread and honey, we feel to be of one body and one soul!”

On the eve of the event His Beatitude Liubomyr presented his final audio book The Road to God from the Three Roads trilogy. The first one, The Road to Yourself, saw the light in January 2009; the second one, The Road to Your Neighbor, appeared in April last year. The latter, in particular, was worked on by the well-known publicist and human rights defender Yevhen Sverstiuk. “For me it is a great pleasure to listen to the outlined questions and answers, to get absorbed in them,” he narrates. “I would not accept a proposal of coopera­tion from anybody else: that would certainly be some kind of sophistication, scholastics... All around is a cult of wonders and relics, and such other spi­ritual things that already are of a half-business nature. This ‘eats up’ our society from inside, and dulls its spiritual vitality. Instead, the Pontiff of Greek Catholics goes to the root and speaks sincerely of real things. A Christian, the Church, fatalism, vocation, Lent, censorship — these are the basic premises of the new audio book. As are the capacious titles, which are worth thinking about, although, at the first glance, they may seem superficial. Indeed, have you reflected much on [what it means to be] a Christian? In our understanding, everybody who goes to church and observes the rites can call himself so. However, this is not the issue. What matters is what is behind the superficial notions, which have become banalities of our life.”

This Christmas Host Meeting was special in that it coincided with the ce­le­bration of a decade of the Patriarchal service of His Beatitude Liubomyr, the Supreme Archbishop of Kyiv and Halych. Immediately after the passing of his predecessor, His Beatitude Myroslav Ivan (Liubachivsky), an extra­ordinary Synod of bishops of the UGCC was convened, and on January 26, 2001, the name of the successor was announced. The ceremony was held on January 28 in St. George’s Archdiocesan Cathedral in Lviv. On the same day Pope John Paul II entitled His Beatitude Liubomyr a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. This is, so to speak, the official version. And here is unofficial one, “extracted” from opinions of many people who have communicated with him, as well as from personal conversations. His Beatitude Liubomyr is respected even by those who do not like Greek Catholics. The scale of his personality is clearly apparent, and so is his charisma of love. There is also a social need for an intellectual spiritual Father.

The UGCC Pontiff speaks of the decade of his patriarchate very modest­ly: “As it usually is, there were great plans, in particular, to give a certain direction to our Church. Having discussed this issue for quite a while, the Synod of bishops decided on the following formula: ‘Holiness of the united people.’ It is the summary and the program. I believe that in our circumstances, in the times in which we live, holiness and unity are of paramount importance for the spiritual life and growth of Ukrainians. A second thing, which required much effort, was that after those years of persecutions and attempts to destroy our Church, it should be given a good, ‘sound’ and transpa-rent structure in order to go ahead. I will sincerely say that ten years are certainly not enough to implement such plans. Together with my brethren-bi­shops, the clergy and the laity, we have tried, and I believe that we have achieved something. But much more work is still to be done.”

The Day asked attendants of the event about their opinions on the Greek Catholic Pontiff. “His Beatitude Liu­bomyr is a heaven-born patriarch,” remarks Arsenii Yatseniuk, the leader of the Front of Changes party. “He is always with his people, especially in times of ordeals. An extraordinarily modest person; when he was proposed to change his Volkswagen for a more imposing car (like those used by pontiffs of other churches), he refused. That means a great deal.” “Communicating with His Beatitude in matters of participation of the laity in the development of the Church throughout six years, I am constantly learning,” admits Olena Hantsiak-Kaskiv, an expert on foreign investments and head of the Patriarchal Pilgrimage Center of the UGCC. “Everybody who communicates with him is learning. During meetings with the laity he behaves modestly, listens to his interlocutors attentively, aptly comments on their statements from time to time, and patiently bears our zealous and often long discussions about various lay to­pics. The Patriarch constantly invites professionals to see him: he keeps track of interesting personalities from different areas of social life (business, law, ecology, culture...) and is glad to make their acquaintance. I cannot recall that after a meeting with him a person would not go out inspired and filled with peace. The Patriarch is a live example of being a Man.” (By the way, a collection of quotations under the same title was put out the other day). “No matter how doubtful it is for somebody, our society has ‘advanced’ in intellectual terms,” adds Halyna Babii, a host at the Ukrainian Radio’s First Channel. “And currently we (especially the younger generation) need an intellectual priest. I am convinced that such a personification of profound spirituality and intellectualism is Cardinal Huzar, a man of exalted spirit, encyclopedic know­ledge and world-level education. Had he stayed abroad, he could certainly become a prominent academic. It is such clergymen who are currently in demand.” Myroslav Marynovych, a public fi­gure, sums up: “In times when Ukraine was irresistibly sinking into a carnival of lust for power and profit, when a man of lucre had entered the arena, the Lord sent us a man of prayer — homo orans — to be our leader. So that sin should not become an irrefutable law of our life. So that the number of those who would pray for this good but unlucky people should be multiplied. So that there should be those Biblical fifty, or at least ten righteous men collected in it for the Lord to have mercy upon the entire land. And, indeed, the Patriarch prays for his land and for everybody who lives in it. He has gratefully given praise to God for the ‘real miracle’ — the renaissance of our Church. And he has contritely apologized that ‘...some sons and daughters of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, to our deep regret, caused harm consciously and volunta­ri­ly to their neighbors from the ranks of their native people or other peoples.’ And he raises his voice in the defense of those harmed and socially vulnerable, remembering Volodymyr Monomakh’s testament: ‘Do not let the strong destroy a man...’ Since then, when this modest monk comes into an assembly hall, the high and the mighty respectfully stand up from their seats; when this man of prayer takes the floor, renowned intellectuals fall into silence. The peace of wisdom is flowing from the personality of our Patriarch, and nothing emphasizes the paltriness of mo­dern baronial whims as much as this high majesty of spirit... Finally, not only Greek Catholics, but many other Christians of Ukraine are grateful to Patriarch Liu­bomyr for being faithful to St. Andrew’s prophecy and for believing that ‘the new light of the glory of God... can and should radiate from the united Kyivan Church.’ We are grateful to His Beatitude for having proposed to Ukrainian Christians of Kyivan tradition such a way to unity that does not ruin the specific features of their worship and transforms historically induced differences into a treasure of the common spiritual experience. So may the Lord bless ‘one God’s people in the land on the Kyivan hills!’” 

At one of the receptions where I had to be present, His Beatitude Liubomyr gave a toast to say that some day the death will come to everyone, and you have to be ready for this. He went to wish all those present, including himself, to be buried in coffins made of centennial oaks. “And I will plant this oak tomorrow!”, he fi­nished with his inherent sense of humor.

The Day sincerely wishes the UGCC Pontiff good health for many, many years to come!