Vitaly Portnikov. The Returned Cardinal

The Returned Cardinal
Vitaly Portnikov

Publication date: December 18, 2000

who died last week, will be buried in Lviv On Wednesday, the high priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , Cardinal Miroslav-Ivan Lyubachivsky, . He became the second Ukrainian cardinal in history: the first was Lyubachivsky’s predecessor as head of the UGCC, Joseph Slipoy, who spent many years in Stalin’s camps. But Slipoy led a church that survived only in emigration and underground - the “catacomb church,” as it was called in the Western Ukrainian regions. Lyubachivsky returned to Ukraine after decades of absence of the Greek Catholic tradition and revived it in difficult political conditions.

Born in June 1914 in Austria-Hungary, the future cardinal began his religious activities in Poland. This was a difficult time in the history of the UGCC. The political upheavals of the beginning of the century quickly transformed the Greek Catholic Church from a community adhering to Orthodox rituals, but recognizing the supremacy of the pope, into a national institution. One should not lose sight of the Ukrainian-Polish confrontation in Galicia that continued throughout the years of pre-war Poland. Fortunately, the UGCC was lucky with its primate. Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky , one of the most prominent church figures of his time, turned out to be a person capable of reconciling irreconcilables. Condemning terrorist organizations of all kinds, the Metropolitan carefully but consistently defended the interests of the Ukrainian population of Galicia and therefore was always between two fires - the Polish government and Ukrainian radicals. But if only there were only them... In 1939, Soviet troops entered Lviv, and in 1941, German troops...

By that time, Lyubachivsky had already been ordained. Metropolitan Sheptytsky made sure that the Greek Catholic clergy received an excellent European education - that is why the future Cardinal Lyubachivsky spent many years in various Catholic educational institutions, becoming a doctor of theology. Perhaps this circumstance ultimately saves his life: when, after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet government decides to liquidate the UGCC, Lyubachivsky finds himself abroad. From there, for a long fifty-three (!) years, he observed what was happening and, to the best of his ability, participated in the political life of Western Ukraine.

These years included the imprisonment of Slipy, his release after the death of Stalin, his departure to the Vatican... Gradually Lyubachivsky became one of the most influential figures of the emigrant church. His authority was further strengthened by the fact that in 1979 Lyubachivsky became the first Greek Catholic priest ordained directly by the pope (Paul VI) - by this time there was no longer any doubt that he would be Cardinal Slipyj’s successor. in 1985 And by the time John Paul II named his name among the new cardinals , Lyubachivsky was already heading the UGCC .

With the advent of Karol Wojtyla on the papal throne, the position of the UGCC changed noticeably. It is no secret that the attitude towards Greek Catholics in the Vatican has always been somewhat wary. Only the ban on the church by the Soviet regime forced the highest Catholic hierarchs to more actively defend the church, which was experiencing serious problems even in pre-war Poland, which was quite prosperous from a religious point of view. However, for the Polish pope, building a special relationship with the UGCC seemed to be of fundamental importance. That is why in Lviv, where before the Second World War there was a Catholic cardinal and a Greek Catholic bishop, under John Paul II there were a Greek Catholic cardinal and a Catholic bishop - a significant change.

In his new place, Lyubachivsky showed himself to be a very skillful politician. The Greek Catholic flock of Western Ukraine welcomed the return of its clergy. In addition, intra-Orthodox strife - there are at least three Orthodox churches on the territory of Western Ukraine: parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate and hostile clergy and laity of the so-called Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate) - created favorable conditions for church activities of Greek Catholics. However, Lyubachivsky showed all possible delicacy and continued to urgently call for dialogue between Greek Catholics and Orthodox Christians. A significant symbol of his tolerance and openness was the divine service at the gates of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv: the head of the UGCC did not enter the temple, around which the passions of adherents of various faiths continue to rage...

Despite the fact that even during the years of John Paul’s pontificate, relations between the UGCC and the Vatican could not be called ideal, Cardinal Lyubachivsky did everything in his power to organize the pope’s trip to Ukraine, realizing that its very fact would be among other things and indirect recognition of the high authority of the UGCC on the part of one of the most remarkable popes of the outgoing century. In the end, the efforts were crowned with success: the decision to visit the pope was made several months before the death of Lyubachivsky. Alas, by that time it was already clear that the elderly cardinal would hardly wait for the pope to arrive. Several years ago, Cardinal Lyubachivsky became seriously ill. It is not surprising if you remember how many trials befell him, especially over the last fifteen years, when the elderly man had to build a new old church almost brick by brick... Two years before his death, Lyubachivsky renounced part of his powers , seeking to retain only symbolic responsibilities for the leadership of the church. And yet it was he who remained its highest authority - after all, at 87 years old, it was he who seemed to be the living personification of the tradition of Sheptytsky and Slipyj, so dear to the hearts of Greek Catholics around the world.

Ukraine, in which for half a century the very concept of Greek Catholicism was banned, still has not fully appreciated the role played by the leaders of the UGCC in the twentieth century: first of all, Sheptytsky, as well as his successors - Slipy and Lyubachivsky. During the Second World War, Metropolitan Sheptytsky hid Jews in the Cathedral of St. George and consistently condemned all violence. Already in our time, during the years of the restoration of Greek Catholicism, when the confrontation between church communities reached its climax, Cardinal Lyubachivsky called for religious tolerance and respect for the Orthodox Church - the sister church of the Greek Catholics...

The clergy are called to pastoral deeds - this time makes them politicians. Well, perhaps people like Miroslav-Ivan Lyubachivsky, shepherds by vocation, politicians against their will, better than other representatives of the so-called “elites” testify to their country, its choice and the spiritual ideal to which it strives.