Seminar of the Ukrainian Christian Academic Society "Models of Unity of the Kyivan Church: Towards a Restoration of Communion"

During the 12th Ecumenical Social Week "Responsibility vs Populism," also an international seminar of the Ukrainian Christian Academic Society "Models of Unity of the Kyivan Church: Towards a Restoration of Communion" was held.Theologians and journalists discussed the issues of unity of Ukrainian Orthodoxy after Tomos, the problems faced by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, analyzed the text of the document itself, including the recognition of the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the conflict on primacy in Orthodoxy, and sought new models of unity, evaluating attempts made in the past.

Open panel discussion on the “Causes and Consequences of Populism,”

On Thursday, October 3, an open panel discussion on the “Causes and Consequences of Populism” moderated by political analyst Taras Semeniuk was held at the Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi Center. Everyone was welcome to join the discussion (and ask questions to the speakers).

In the discussion participated:

- Fr. Pavlo Khud, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Ukrainian Catholic University.

-         Pavlo Smytsniuk, Doctor of Philosophy, Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University.

-         Roman Solovii, Ukrainian historian, theologian, Doctor of Philosophy, Director of the Eastern European Institute of Theology.

-         Taras Baziuk, editor of the political section at the radio “UA: Ukrainian Radio Lviv”.

“Now we have the phenomenon of "sacralization of power": when a political leader is positioned as a "messiah" and given 'messianic' qualities. Like, he is the only one who can lead us from "darkness" to "light."

Discussion with best experts on populizm issues

An open discussion on "Responsibility VS Populism" began, with experts in various fields:

-         Olha Aivazovska, public figure, chairman of the board of the All-Ukrainian public organization "Public Network “Opora”"

-         Fr. Roman Ostrovskyi, Doctor of Biblical Theology, Vice-Rector of the Kyiv Three-Saints Theological Seminary of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

-         Andrii Saichuk, journalist, TV presenter

-         Taras Semeniuk, political analyst

-         Bishop Olexandr (Drabynko), Metropolitan of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi and Vyshnevskyi, Orthodox Church of Ukraine

-         Joseph Zisels, Executive Vice President of the National Communities Congress of Ukraine, Head of the General Council of the Eurasian Jewish Congress

-         Yurii Pidlisnyi, Head of the Department of Political Sciences, Head of the Ethics-Politics-Economics Program, Doctor of Philosophy

-         Mykhailo Perun, Doctor of Social Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Theology, UCU

-         The discussion was moderated by Iryna Kiyanka, Doctor of Political Sciences, Associate Professor at the Lviv Regional Institute of Public Administration of the National Academy under the President of Ukraine.

The participants of the discussion are convinced that populism (as well as corruption) cannot be completely destroyed, it can only be reduced. But this requires developing state institutions, encouraging people to get quality education, nurturing moral values, and "bringing up" their own elite.

"We do not yet understand: what is the Ukraine project in the world? Speaking of strategic planning measures, we need to think: what is Ukraine's mission? What goals does Ukraine set, and not for the sake of the European Union, but herself? Because we did not have this vision, this is probably why every five years we were "thrown," either toward Russia or the EU, and every president took advantage of it.

And this uncertainty provided the ground for the identity crisis, to which we are approaching," – says political analyst, Taras Semeniuk. He adds, because we do not have our own development model, other countries are imposing models at us. In this way appears a basis for the raising of populism.

Common prayer during ESW was held

On October 2, the event was traditionally opened with a common prayer of representatives of various denominations and Forum’s participants at the Church of St. Sophia – Wisdom of God. The Divine Liturgy was led by His Excellency Ihor Vozniak, Metropolitan of Lviv of UGCC, in concelebration with the Council of Priests. Shortly after the Liturfy at the Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi's Center (in the Park Auditorium) were delivered the welcome words from the co-organizers. In particular, the opening of the Week was attended by: Oksana Stelmakh – Temporary Acting Head of the Department of Culture at Lviv City Council, Lesia Kornat – Head of Department for Nationalities, Religions and Financial Planning of the Lviv Regional State Administration, Nazarii Brezitskyi – Entrepreneur, founder of NGO "Idea of ​​the City," Archbishop Ihor Vozniak – Metropolitan of Lviv UGCC, and Fr. Dr. Bohdan Prakh – Rector of UCU. Each speaker emphasized that the topic of populism and responsibility is extremely relevant in the modern world, so they support this event, which is addressing the important issues that are of concern to modern society.

"Populism is when politicians promise something that they cannot do democratically and thus act irresponsibly. There is a challenge here for us not to fall victim to this populism. The second part of our Social Week is strictly ecumenical - a work for the unity of the churches. And our particular challenge for Ukrainians – both Catholics and Orthodox – is the issue of so-called simultaneous communion so that we could be one.

And that is a challenge that we will discuss,” – said the President of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies, Fr. Dr. Iwan Dacko.

Briefing in Lviv city council

On October 1, to open the ESWon the premises of the Lviv City Council a briefing was held. In the briefing participated Fr. Dr. Iwan Dacko, President of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at UCU, Lesia Kornat, Head of Department for Nationalities, Religions and Financial Planning

of the Lviv Regional State Administration, Petro Zaluha, Head of the Department of Internal Policy of the Lviv City Council and Oksana Ilenkiv, Coordinator of the ESW.

During the briefing, Fr. Dr. Iwan Dacko, President of the UCU's Institute of Ecumenical Studies, emphasized: “We are now living in an era where populism and demagogy are coming up. Populism exists when politicians promise what they cannot do (in fact) democratically and thus act irresponsibly. After all, when a populist receives votes in elections, then his populism becomes legal, but still remains irresponsible. That is why it is a challenge for us not to fall victim to such populism. Let us demand from our leaders not to tell us things that are pleasing to us, but to take responsibility for their words and to do in a democratic way all that they promise.”

“As this project has been taking place for 12 years already, it only shows that the topics raised during this Week are extremely relevant. Moreover, these are the topics that society does not always dare to talk about,” – Lesya Kornat, Head of the Department for Nationalities, Religions and Financial Planning of the Lviv Regional State Administration is convinced.