Shevchuk: Awaiting St. Sophia of Kyiv as Cathedral of a United Church

Shevchuk and Dumenko. Photo: OCU press service

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Sviatoslav Shevchuk, said that his church is anticipating the unification of Ukrainian churches. He made these remarks in Rome, commenting on the transfer to the UGCC’s St. Sophia Cathedral in Rome of the relics of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Volodymyr, gifted by Oleksandr Drabynko.

He recalled that UGCC hierarch Josyf Slipyj foresaw the unification of all churches of Kyivan Christianity.

“He wished to be buried in the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv. Our Patriarch rests in St. George’s Cathedral in Lviv. But the day will come when he will solemnly rest in our mother cathedral of golden-domed Kyiv,” Shevchuk emphasized.

According to him, the very presence of an Orthodox saint’s relics in a Uniate church “is a sign of fidelity and living continuity with Kyivan Christianity.”

“Today Prince Volodymyr himself says that the Church which was born in the waters of the Dnipro through that baptism he gave our people is here (in Rome). We are the heirs of this Kyivan Christianity,” Shevchuk declared.

He said that the UGCC – which he calls the “Kyivan Church” – was preserved through its connection with the Apostolic See “over the centuries.”

“And Holy Prince Volodymyr, by his presence here among us, confirms that all confessors, martyrs, and great saints of Kyivan Christianity are today with us,” Shevchuk assured.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Shevchuk had brought into the UGCC’s cathedral in Rome the relics of Prince Volodymyr, gifted by Drabynko.

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