Visit to
Ukraine of H. B. Gregorios III
Leading 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 10 a.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
No comments:
Post a Comment