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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWNews.com - A leading spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church has encouraged public manifestations of faith, drawing criticism from human-rights advocates who see such displays as an infringement on secularism.
"We should have no qualms about making the sign of the cross wherever we like, or hanging an image of the crucifix, where we live and work," wrote Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who heads the public-affairs department of the Moscow patriarchate. Lev Ponomarev, a human-rights advocate, chided the cleric: “Concern yourselves more with prayers and sermons and not with pushing for official displays.”
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Speech of His Beatitude, Patriarch Gregorios III
Of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
During the Meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Held after the consecration of the new Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych of Ukraine,
H. B. Sviatoslav (Shevchuk)
(Kyiv 28 March 2011)
Let us give thanks to the Lord for the new Major Archbishop, Sviatoslav of the Church of Christ in Ukraine. I refer once more to the substance of my speech during the enthronement of the new Head and Father of this Greek Catholic Church.
Thank you for the invitation to join you at this meeting of your Holy Synod.
We shall continue and intensify the relations between our Churches.
To that end I propose the formation of a joint theological and ecumenical commission of our two Churches.
At the next meeting of the Council of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs (which will be held in Iraq from 14 to 18 November, 2011) I undertake to put forward a proposal to formulate a joint motion, requesting the Holy See to raise the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to the rank and title of Patriarchate.
Here and now I invite Your Beatitude, dear brother Sviatoslav, to the inauguration of our big Liqa'a cultural centre at Rabweh in Lebanon on 10 May, 2011.
I hope to organise an international Greek Catholic symposium in this Al-Liqa'a centre, under the auspices of both our Churches and our future joint theological and ecumenical commission.
I place these reflections, remarks and this ecclesial vision at the foot of the Cross that we have just venerated here in your Cathedral of the Resurrection on this Third Sunday of Great and Holy Lent, and under the protection of the Theotokos, Mary, our Mother and Protector of our Churches.
Thank you,
Gregorios III
Patriarch
Translation from French V. Chamberlain
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Visit to Ukraine of H. B. Gregorios III
Lesding a delegation from the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
On the occasion of the consecration of
H. B. Sviatoslav (Shevchuk)
New Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
(26-28 March 2011)
At daybreak on Saturday 26 March 2011, H. B. Gregorios III, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, left Beirut airport for Kiev, via Paris, accompanied by H.E. John Haddad, Metropolitan Emeritus of Tyre and H.E. Michel Abras, titular Archbishop of Myra and Bishop of the Patriarchal Curia and Rev. Fr. Elias Shatawi, the Patriarchate's Economos General and Secretary of the Liturgical Commission. His Beatitude and the accompanying delegation were going to Ukraine for the consecration of the new Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, H.B. Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), successor to H.M.E.B. Cardinal Lubomyr (Husar), who retired in February for health reasons.
Having arrived at Kiev airport at noon on Saturday, His Beatitude and delegation were surprised and deeply touched to be met by H.M.E.B. Cardinal Lubomyr, who, despite his blindness, had wished personally to welcome our Patriarch. Also present were H.E. Mr. Youssef Sadaka, the Lebanese ambassador, Mr. Akram Halabi, member of the Melkite Greek Catholic Upper Council in Lebanon, and Fr. Dn. Volodymyr Malchyn, Vice-Chancellor of the Major Archbishop's Curia, who accompanied us for the duration of our visit.
At the close of the welcome ceremony, the Melkite Greek Catholic delegation was invited to a fraternal dinner at the home of Major Archbishop Emeritus Lubomyr, before being accompanied to their hotel, arranged by Mr. Akram Halabi.
On Saturday evening, our Patriarch and the delegates toured the architectural treasures of Kiev: the wonderful Church of the Divine Wisdom (Aghia Sophia), dating from the eleventh century, and the adjacent metropolitan palace. Then they were invited by H.E. Ambassador Sadaka to dinner at the Coryphea restaurant in honour of His Beatitude. At the dinner, besides the three members of the patriarchal delegation, were the Syrian Ambassador, H. E. Mr. Mohamed Akil, three bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Canada and the United States of America, and Mr. Riad Ibrahim (a Lebanese Greek Orthodox from Koura, the proprietor of the restaurant).
On Sunday, 27 March 2011, the third Sunday of Lent and the Veneration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, was an historic day for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
The ceremony began at 10a.m. with a procession of 350 priests, sixty bishops, and our Patriarch and the Major Archbishop elect following, surrounded by deacons, to the still unfinished Cathedral of the Resurrection, whose five golden cupolas reflected the rays of the sun shining on the two thousand faithful present.
The Divine Liturgy lasted four hours, beginning with the enthronement of the new Major Archbishop, on whom several bishops in turn bestowed the archiepiscopal omophorion (embroidered with crosses and five stripes), the engolpion of the Panaghia, the crown or mitre, the ravdhos (T-shaped pastoral crosier) and the dikirion and trikirion, with which H. B. Sviatoslav blessed the faithful, facing the four compass-points. At the end of the celebration, H. B. Gregorios III gave a speech expressing his joy at the event. This Divine Liturgy, with its Slavonic chants, the strong, deep voice of the Protodeacon and the deep prostrations of the faithful transported us beyond time to the heavenly Divine Liturgy.
We were deeply touched by the great respect which the Ukrainians feel for our Church in general and our Patriarch in particular, as he was treated as guest of honour at this grandiose ceremony. This respect was shown especially by the liturgical commemoration of our Patriarch in the diaconal litanies and by the Major Archbishop himself.
Besides the outgoing Apostolic Nuncio, (recently appointed to the Russian Federation) Archbishop Ivan Jurković, several representatives of other Eastern Catholic Churches and Latin hierarchy, the highly symbolic presence of Orthodox bishops was remarked, including representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate and Patriarch Filaret, of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Patriarchate of Kyiv.
After the Divine Liturgy, our Patriarch and the accompanying delegation were invited to dinner in honour of the new Major Archbishop. H. B. Gregorios III then gave to his Ukrainian counterpart an epitrakhelion and an omophorion embroidered by Sister Photeine, an Orthodox nun from the Convent of the Presentation of Our Lady at Ashrafieh (near Beirut.)
After dinner, we were given a guided tour of the Great Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the Monastery of the Caves, which is the cradle of the spirituality of Rus. We were allowed to venerate the bodies, incorrupt for a thousand years, of the holy monks who were the pioneers of monastic life in this holy land.
Haydn's Oratorio The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross and dinner ended the festivities of this great day.
On Monday, 28 March at 9:30a.m., H.B. Gregorios III and the delegation from the Melkite Greek Catholic Church were the official guests of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, met for its closing session.
Our Patriarch was given the floor and he then gave a moving speech (see the text on our Patriarchate's website) to the Synodal Fathers, who thanked him with a minute's applause. Their Beatitudes then exchanged symbolic presents: an antimension – sign of communion – from our Patriarch, and marvellously decorated Easter eggs from H. B. Sviatoslav.
At the airport, the Lebanese Ambassador, H. E. Mr. Sadaka, bade our Patriarch and the delegation farewell, wishing us a safe return trip. At 12:30p.m., our plane left that land sanctified by the blood of old and new martyrs, and we brought back with us the memory of that holy Church in the hope of brotherly collaboration between our two Churches.
Rev. Fr. Economos Elias Shatawi
His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk)
Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych of Ukraine
Elected on 23 March 2011 by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and confirmed on the next day but one (25 March 2011) by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, the new Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych of Ukraine is H. B. Sviatoslav (Shevchuk).
Born in Stryj (Western Ukraine) on 5 May 1970, he was at first a clandestine seminarian (while the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was proscribed); ordained priest on 26 June 1994 for the Archeparchy of Lviv, he took his doctorate in theology (with a specialisation in anthropology) at the Pontifical University of the Angelicum in Rome, then became in turn prefect, vice-rector and rector of the Major Seminary of Lviv, while being at the same time private secretary to Cardinal Lubomyr Husar.
On January 14 2009, he was designated by the Holy Father Auxiliary Bishop of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Buenos Aires and received episcopal cheirotonia on the following 7 April at the hands of the Ukrainian Archbishop of Lviv, H. E. Ihor Voznyak; on 10 April 2010, following the Eparch's resignation, he was designated Apostolic Administrator of the Buenos Aires Eparchy.
Besides Ukrainian, the new Major Archbishop speaks English, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish.
Translation from French: V. Chamberlain
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CWNews.com - Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, the head of India’s autonomous Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, died in Kochi, India on April 1 of heart disease.
The 84-year-old cardinal, who had cut back on his public activities after surviving a serious heart attack in 2009, suffered another attack soon after celebrating Mass in is private chapel. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but died soon thereafter.
A Redemptorist priest, then-Father Varkey Vithayathil was named apostolic administrator of Ernakulum, the primatial see of the Syro-Malabar Church, in 1996, upon the retirement of Cardinal Antony Padiyara. In 1999 he was formally named as the Major Archbishop of the Ernakulum, the head of the Syro-Malabar Church that traces its origins to St. Thomas the Apostle, who brought the Christian faith to India’s coast. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
The Syro-Malabar Church, geographically centered in India’s southwestern Kerela state, claims about 3.6 million faithful. The Syro-Malabar Church has shown considerable vigor in recent years, producing a large number of vocations to the priesthood and especially to religious life.
Pope Benedict XVI sent a message of condolence to the Church in India on the death of the cardinal, saying: “I recall with gratitude the cardinal's dedication and service to the Syro-Malabars and to the universal Church.”
“In the passing away of Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the entire Catholic Church in India lost a deeply committed and ever courageous spiritual leader,” said the Catholic Bishops Conference of India.
The funeral for Cardinal Vithayathil will be delayed until April 10, because most of the bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church were in Rome at the time of his death, making their ad limina visits. The cardinal had been unable to make the trip because of his precarious health.
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CWNews.com - Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv, the newly elected head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, visited Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on March 30.
At his regular Wednesday audience, the Pope greeted the Ukrainian prelate, promising his prayerful support. Speaking in Ukrainian, the Pontiff praised the Ukrainian Church, “which is a part of the people who over 1,000 years ago received Baptism at Kyiv.” He voiced his confidence that the Ukrainian Church will flourish “in accordance with her own tradition and spirituality, in communion with the See of Peter.”
Archbishop Shevchuk said that when he spoke with the Pope—in the first meeting since his election last week to head the largest Eastern Church in communion with the Holy See—he would renew the appeal for Vatican recognition of a Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate.
The Ukrainian Church has long sought that distinction, and members of the Church routinely refer to their leader as a “patriarch.” Pope John Paul II encouraged the request, but other Vatican officials have resisted the idea, citing the virulent opposition of the Russian Orthodox Church. Pope Benedict XVI has not offered any direct public comment on the idea.
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CWNews.com - Two days after his March 27 enthronement as head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said he would ask Pope Benedict to raise the Eastern Catholic church to the dignity of a patriarchate.
“Today I'm departing with my bishops and all of the metropolitans of our church to Rome, because it's our duty to make a courtesy visit to the Holy Father,” said Archbishop Shevchuk, 40. “We’re really going to tell of how our church is developing and that each developing church [becomes] a patriarchate, because a patriarchate is a period in the completion of the development of a church.”
Archbishop Shevchuk’s predecessor, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, had also pressed for the elevation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to the dignity of a patriarchate. Pope John Paul II had indicated that he was sympathetic to the desire, but felt the time for such a move was not ripe in light of Orthodox opposition.