Turning the pages back... April 14, 1996 (04/10/05)

Turning the pages back...

April 14, 1996

Back in 1996, on April 14, The Ukrainian Weekly carried an interview conducted by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute with Dr. Borys Gudziak, then director of the Institute of Church History (which he founded) at the Lviv Theological Academy and vice-rector of the academy. Dr. Gudziak was to conduct a course on modern Ukrainian history at the 1996 Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute and was awaiting release of his book on the Union of Brest ("Crisis and Reform," to be published by HURI and Harvard University Press). The topic of the interview was the revival of religion in Ukraine. Today, the Rev. Dr. Gudziak is rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.

Nine years ago Dr. Gudziak, told The Weekly's readers that, following the euphoria that came after Ukraine's independence proclamation of 1991, the people were "enduring a time of trial, a time when many of the expectations of a few years ago are proving to have been overly high and unrealistic." He added, however, that "the depression after the euphoria is also coming to an end, and there is a steep stabilization occurring that involves a basic and increasing readiness to confront the problems in every sphere of life."

Asked about the state of culture and religion, he replied: "In the contemporary West there is a great spiritual hunger, and this now is found throughout Ukraine, with people looking for nourishment from new sources. The challenge for the traditional Ukrainian Church is to address the spiritual aspirations of the post-modern, post-Soviet society. It is a tremendous challenge. This is a time when many of the presuppositions of 2,000 years of Christianity are being challenged throughout Christendom - and no less so in Ukraine."

"I'm convinced that a very interesting synthesis will come out of the present challenge in Ukraine, because there are a variety of Eastern and Western meeting points. There has been a basis for strong religious movements and strong formulations. Many young people are very serious about religion on a personal level rather than an intellectual level, examining the issue of spirituality, religious life and culture. What does it mean? The religious society and new state, and how does one express that? I think that there will be a truly fruitful rearticulation of Ukraine; this is just beginning," he said.

Dr. Gudziak also spoke about his background as an American-born Ukrainian who had been living in Ukraine since 1992. "I felt the call of the priesthood when I was a teenager in the mid-'70s. Both personally and historically that was not an easy time to go through such inclinations, and I went to the seminary in Rome and studied under Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, one of the few Ukrainian leaders of the 20th century who I think had a clear vision of where he wanted to lead his community," he related.

"One point in his agenda was stressing the role and the importance of intellectual life in the life of a Church, and a group of us young seminarians became inspired by his example and took the path of scholarship. I think he also reminded the diaspora community of the vitality of the Church in Ukraine and spoke about the need to be in solidarity with the Mother Church. So a number of us actually ... well we were seminarians of the new archdiocese in the '70s and '80s, as abstract as that seemed."

"When things changed I had an opportunity to, first as a graduate student, spend a good deal of time in Eastern Europe and Ukraine and Poland and then, after defending my dissertation, to move to Ukraine and work on the intellectual elaboration of the Christian legacy. I had a chance to go to Ukraine and work for the development of institutions that will help others gain a deeper knowledge and appreciation of each Eastern Christian tradition," Dr. Gudziak stated.

Source: "Interview: Dr. Borys Gudziak on the revival of religion in Ukraine," The Ukrainian Weekly, April 14, 1996, Vol. LXIV, No. 15.

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