NEWS AND VIEWS: CIUS program focuses on Brest Union (10/20/96)

NEWS AND VIEWS

CIUS program focuses on Brest Union

EDMONTON - This year Ukrainian Churches and Ukrainians throughout the world are marking two important occasions: the 400th anniversary of the Union of Brest and the 400th anniversary of the birth of Metropolitan Peter Mohyla. The Church Studies Program at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, is taking an active part in these commemorations.

In May and June, program director Dr. Serhii Plokhy and the director of the Peter Jacyk Center for Ukrainian Historical Research, Dr. Frank Sysyn, took part in the fifth Brest Conference organized by the Institute of Church History at the Lviv Theological Academy, and in a symposium on the Union of Brest organized by the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Brotherhood and the Eastern Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.

The fifth Brest Conference, which was devoted to questions of national identity and theology, took place in May in Peremyshl, Poland, Lviv and Kyiv. Papers were presented by the director of the Insti-tute of Church History, Dr. Borys Gudziak (Ukraine, U.S.), Dr. Henadz Sahanovich (Belarus), Dr. Plokhy and Dr. Sysyn.

Dr. Plokhy read a paper on "The Union of Brest and New Concepts of Rus," in which he described the crisis in Ukrainian religious and national consciousness at the time of the Union of Brest. He offered a detailed analysis of efforts by churchmen of this period to resolve the crisis and develop new forms of ethnic and religious consciousness.

Dr. Sysyn discussed attitudes toward the union in Ukrainian society during the first half of the 17th century and its influence on the formation of modern Ukrainian consciousness.

Dr. Plokhy and Dr. Sysyn were also discussants at the sixth Brest Conference, which took place in May in Lviv, Kyiv and Uzhhorod, and was devoted to problems of ecclesiology. Their papers and contributions to discussions will be published by the end of this year.

The materials of the first Brest Conference, containing Dr. Sysyn's contribution to a discussion, have already been published in Lviv, as have the materials of the second conference, which include the text of Dr. Plokhy's paper on the Union of Brest and the Khmelnytsky uprising.

The symposium on the Union of Brest that was held in June in Toronto featured papers by Dr. Vasyl Marochkin, the Rev. Iaroslav Butsiora, Dr. Plokhy and Dr. Sysyn. Dr. Plokhy spoke on Vatican policy on the eve of the Union of Brest. He presented a detailed analysis of the attitude of the Roman Curia to the "points of union" brought to Rome by Ukrainian bishops and concluded that the bishops extracted significant concessions with regard to the Eastern rite, but were obliged to accept Rome's conditions on dogmatics and ecclesiology.

Dr. Sysyn presented a survey of the influence of the Union of Brest on Ukrainian national consciousness. The papers presented at this symposium will also appear in print.

Later this year, associates of the Church Studies Program will present papers at conferences devoted to the 400th anniversary of the birth of Metropolitan Petro Mohyla that will take place in Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton.