Patriarch Dymytrii mourned at funeral services in Lviv (03/05/00)

Patriarch Dymytrii mourned at funeral services in Lviv

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

LVIV - The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church buried its second patriarch on February 29 in a modest ceremony in Lviv.

More than 2,000 mourners gathered at Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church on a bright and warm late winter day in this historic city to pay their respects and a final farewell to Patriarch Dymytrii. The patriarch had served as pastor of the Church for more than 20 years before being catapulted to the leadership of the UAOC in 1993 after the death of Patriarch Mstyslav, the first head of the Church who spurred the Church's rebirth in Ukraine in 1989.

Patriarch Dymytrii, 84, died in his sleep on February 25, while visiting his son, who lives in this city. The patriarch had been in declining health and had long suffered from heart problems. Even so, the UAOC Chancery said he had remained active in his last days, and as recently as January had chaired a meeting of the UAOC's Patriarchal Council.

As mourners and onlookers crowded the church grounds and spilled out onto the streets that surround Ss. Peter and Paul Church, more than 100 clergy and hierarchy of the UAOC, as well as leaders of other religious confessions and the patriarch's family, assembled inside for funeral services.

Although the services were long, they were simple and modest. The patriarch's body lay in an unadorned wooden casket, surrounded by scores of wreaths, his face covered. After a procession that circled the Church three times and brief speeches by several official dignitaries from both the spiritual and political worlds, the casket was lowered into a grave on the grounds of the church, where Patriarch Dymytrii had requested that he be buried.

The remains of the Church leader had arrived at Ss. Peter and Paul after three days of viewing at the neighboring Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Church, where during the evening prior to the funeral Bishop Lubomyr Husar of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church had served a panakhyda along with bishops of the UAOC.

Archbishop Vsevolod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America (UOC-U.S.A.) led the funeral services and performed the final anointing of the remains, while UAOC Archbishop Ihor of the Kharkiv-Poltava Eparchy led the divine liturgy in concelebration with the five other bishops who make up the UAOC Patriarchal Council.

Archbishop Vsevolod, who also delivered the eulogy, came as the emissary for Metropolitan Constantine, the leader of the UOC-U.S.A. and the primate of the UAOC in the Diaspora. In his last will and testament, Patriarch Dymytrii had asked that the Church submit to the leadership of Metropolitan Constantine.

"After [my death], I ask that you serve His Excellency Metropolitan Constantine, the leader of the UAOC in the Diaspora and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. and the successor to His Holiness Patriarch Mstyslav, as the leader of our All-Ukrainian Church," stated Patriarch Dymytrii in his testament.

The UAOC will elect its new leader at a sobor scheduled for June 21-22.

President Leonid Kuchma did not attend the funeral services, but sent his advisor Fedir Burchak as his representative. The president issued a statement on February 25 offering his condolences.

"Ukraine has lost a prominent religious figure who left a remarkable mark on its history. After having lived a difficult life, he became one of the leaders of Ukraine's spiritual revival," read the statement.

Other officials present at the funeral service included Viktor Bondarenko, chairman of the State Committee on Religious Affairs, who represented Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko; the chairman of the Lviv Oblast Administration, Stepan Senchuk; and National Deputy Slava Stetsko. Also on hand were representatives of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate and the Vatican.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Lutheran Church sent official condolences.

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