Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018 – Rector Fr. Petro Zhuk of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Kyiv Three Holy Hierarchs Spiritual Seminary presented me with the “Patriarchal Certificate of Recognition” which was initiated by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Patriarch Sviatoslav and signed by him. For two years now, the UNWLA has supported a portion of the expenses of the seminarians from northern, central, eastern and southern Ukraine who entered the seminary with financial challenges. The number of seminarians supported in 2018 is twenty-one. The UNWLA has pledged to continue its support!
Monday, Sept 10, 2018 – The very next day, we had an audience with Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarch. It was my great honor to accept the medal of The Holy Great Martyr Barbara from the Patriarch for the commitment of the UNWLA towards building Ukraine. The “Tomos of Autocephaly” from the Patriarch of Constantinople, granting the Kyiv-led church full clerical independence, (which was officially bestowed on Jan 6, 2019) soon took over the discussion. This conversation was a precursor to the historical synod held on Saturday, December 15, 2018 in Kyiv and the election of Patriarch Epiphanius as the leader of the unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church! It was an honor to receive the medal and be part of this historical moment in Ukraine’s spiritual history!
Kyiv GC seminary o. rektor Zhuk MAZ 09-10-2018
