Zhulynskyi addresses students of Lviv Theological Academy (04/01/01)

Zhulynskyi addresses students of Lviv Theological Academy

by Oksana Petrovych

LVIV - In the wake of student protests in Lviv on March 12 and 13, Mykola Zhulynskyi, vice prime minister for humanitarian affairs, met with all the rectors of higher educational establishments in Lviv at a closed meeting on March 15 and the next day with students of the Lviv Theological Academy (LTA).

Over 3,000 students from various Lviv educational establishments, including Lviv National University, the LTA, the Institute of Physical Education and Lviv Polytechnic University, had gathered on March 12-13 to protest mass arrests and other illegal repressions against participants in the March 9 demonstration in Kyiv.

Students of the Lviv Theological Academy had demonstrated a significant level of activity during the student strike in Lviv. They began the strike in prayer and returned to the academy each day to take part in prayer services. The column from the LTA looked so organized that certain journalists present speculated that the rector of the LTA himself organized them, which was not the case.

The academy's students also distributed the pastoral letter of Major Archbishop Lubomyr Husar of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church regarding the critical situation in Ukraine to other participants in the strike. In that letter Cardinal Husar addresses not only the faithful of his Church, but all citizens of Ukraine, cautioning them to look at recent events "soberly and objectively."

"In order to find the appropriate solution," he wrote, "it is necessary to gain control over one's emotions, to have the courage to cold-bloodedly look truth in the eye. We should ask ourselves: What can I do, or what can we do, to free our common asset - our state - from the quagmire of unprincipled and greed-motivated machinations?"

On March 16 Dr. Zhulynskyi met with LTA students to discuss the strike and to hear their concerns about the lack of accreditation for theology as an academic discipline in Ukraine.

During the meeting, which took place before the cameras of the TV channel 1 + 1, Dr. Zhulynskyi assured the audience that he will do everything possible so that theology, and therefore the diplomas of the academy, are accredited by the Ukrainian government.

Dr. Zhulynskyi also expressed his concern that political forces are taking advantage of the activity of the students; nonetheless, a number of times he mentioned "the constitutional right of the students to express their political positions through participation in strikes." The minister himself encouraged all the students present at the meeting at the academy to continue to be concerned with the situation in the country and to actively express their opinions.

During the question period, a journalist provocatively gave the minister a bandana bearing the emblem of the opposition organization For Truth, which Dr. Zhulynskyi accepted, explaining that he was not opposed to the slogan "pravda" (truth) if it is used in its real and complete sense.

At the conclusion of the meeting he said, "I believe that your work towards strengthening the moral and ethical foundations of Ukrainian society will be properly valued and supported. There's no need either to throw up your hands in despair or to relax; it's necessary to work and to believe that our country is ours and we give it its strength."

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