Shevchuk brings relics of Prince Volodymyr into UGCC Cathedral in Rome

Shevchuk bringing the relics of Prince Volodymyr into the Uniate cathedral in Rome. Photo: UGCC press service

On July 6, 2025, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Sviatoslav Shevchuk, placed in the UGCC’s St. Sophia Cathedral in Rome the relics of St. Prince Volodymyr, which had been gifted to him by Oleksandr Drabynko in January. The event was reported on the official UGCC website.

According to Shevchuk, the Orthodox Prince Volodymyr had been “stolen” from the Uniates by Moscow occupiers, and was now “returning to his Church.”

“Today, in the context of the acts of the Synod of Bishops of our Church in Rome, we solemnly brought into this holy temple the relics of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Prince Volodymyr. This is the Volodymyr whom Moscow invaders stole from Ukraine, and today he returns to his Church,” Shevchuk declared.

According to him, the presence of the Orthodox prince’s relics in a Catholic cathedral is “deeply symbolic,” since this church was built in Rome by Josyf Slipyj “as a sign of unbreakable connection with St. Sophia of Kyiv.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Drabynko had given to the “fullness of the UGCC” the relics of Andrew the First-Called and Prince Volodymyr. Drabynko justified handing over the relics of an Orthodox saint to Catholics by saying that “His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr and Patriarch Lubomyr Husar were acquainted and had very good relations.” He did not clarify where he obtained the relics or by what right he was gifting them to representatives of another confession.

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