European Greek Catholic bishops meeting in Uzhhorod

(RISU) - “Usually our meetings have a double character: we, if there is the possibility, gather together in miraculous places, in order to hold a joint pilgrimage and to have the possibility of joint prayer; the other purpose is the desire to get better acquainted with the tradition of the Eastern Church. For this purpose in recent years we have been considering the holy sacraments. This year we will concentrate our attention on the sacrament of the priesthood,” Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar) told the Department of Information, when describing the meeting of the Greek Catholic bishops of Europe, which took place in Uzhhorod from May 12 to 14.

The other task of such meetings, according to the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), is the creation of the opportunity to be together, “in fact we [bishops of the UGCC, – aut.] in Ukraine have our synod, and are celebrating in our land, but some bishops are alone by themselves… We reflect together on what their task is, how they should share Eastern spirituality with bishops of the Roman Catholic Church.”

A pilgrimage of representatives of the Greek Catholic Churches of Western Europe to Italy took place on June 6-11, 2005, with the motto: “Christian roots of Europe. A pilgrimage to the sources.” During the six-day pilgrimage the participants visited Rome, Grotta-Ferrata, Monte-Casino, Amalfi and Bari. The main place of the meeting was the pilgrim house of the Salesianum near Rome. “Precisely during this pilgrimage was born the idea to annually conduct similar meetings of the Greek Catholic bishops of Europe, to discuss themes of joint personal interest,” Patriarch Lubomyr said. Accordingly, the latest meeting in Uzhhorod was the sixth.

As the web page of the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Eparchy, www.mgce.uz.ua, reports, bishops from 14 countries of Europe arrived for the meeting. During their stay in the Transcarpathia Region the bishops together with priests celebrated three Divine Liturgies.

In addition, on May 14, the blessing of a monument to the Exit from the Underground of the Mukachevo Eparchy took place near the Chapel of the Crucifixion on Calvary in the city of Uzhhorod.

Additional photos available here and here.