The Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi met with the Head and Father of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, today in Lviv City Hall. The meeting was also attended by: Bishop Volodymyr, Assistant Bishop of the Lviv Archdiocese of the UGCC, Fr. Dr. Roman Shafran, Secretary of the Seventh Session of the Patriarchal Council, Fr. Pavlo Drozdyak, Chaplain of Lviv City Council, Fr. Oleh Oleksa, personal secretary of the Head of the UGCC, and Yevhen Boyko, director of the Mayor Administration Department.
The topic of the meeting is to discuss the preparation for the 7th session of the Patriarchal (All-Church) Council of the UGCC on “Emigration, Settlement and Global Unity of the UGCC,” which will be held from 26 to 29 August 2020 in Lviv. This session of the Patriarchal Council, according to His Beatitude Svyatoslav, will be a tool that will help formulate the strategy of the UGCC for the next decade.
“It is a great honor for us that you, the Head of the Church and the honorary citizen of Lviv, are paying a visit to Lviv. And we know that you have brought us good news about the Church’s plans for next year. And we would like to join in so that everything can be done at the highest level,” said the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi.
“I am very pleased that I came to Lviv before our holidays. Next year, at the end of August, our all-Church forum – the Patriarchal Council – will be held here in Lviv. This is an event that takes place every 5 years. Last time, in 2015, it took place in Ivano-Frankivsk, and this time we chose the city of Lviv.
The theme of this Patriarchal Council will be the issue of the emigration and the global unity of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. We expect 4 delegates from each of our eparchies. We also expect a large number of people from all over the world who do not have our offices yet like Africa and the Far East.
The whole Ukrainian world will come to Lviv to think about how we can move forward on a global scale. We chose Lviv because it is a city that is important not only for Halychyna. It is a great cultural center for the whole Ukrainian world!” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
On the occasion of the Council, according to the mayor of Lviv, a very interesting public area will be equipped – it will be possible to walk from the UCU on the Kozelnytska street to the Theological Seminary on the Hutorivka street. “It will be a gift to all participants of the Council and residents of Lviv,” added the mayor of Lviv.
Reference
On August 26-29, 2020, the 7th Session of the Patriarchal (All-Church) Council of the UGCC will take place in Lviv. Therefore, this year’s Synod of Bishops of the UGCC in Rome discussed the process of preparing for this important event in the life of the UGCC.
In particular, theey approved the staff of the Council’s secretariat and organizing committee, as well as the charter, coat of arms, and motto. The motto is “The Church is always and everywhere with you.”
Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, representatives of the clergy, rectors of spiritual seminaries, laymen of eparchies and exarchates from Ukraine and abroad are invited to participate in the Council.
Text and photo by velychlviv.com