Ukraine is living through a very difficult period of a full-scale aggression by Russia. Every day civilians are dying, infrastructure is being destroyed, babies are born under explosions. Our struggle continues, and we need your support. Academic communities in various countries have reached out to us offering their solidarity and help.

We thought that one of the ways in which this solidarity could be strengthened, would be by organizing a couple of meetings between Ukrainian students and their foreign peers.

We see this as an opportunity to share what Ukrainians are experiencing, how they are reacting to the war, how the situation looks like from abroad, and how people abroad can help to stop the war and support their peers in Ukraine.

We invite students from European universities and everybody interesred to meet their peers from the Ukrainian Catholic University on March 11, 2022, at 5 p.m. CET (6 p.m. EET) via ZOOM.

Please, register

Do not hesitate to contact us for additional information: Iryna Kitura: (irakit@ucu.edu.ua) and Andriana Hamar: (hamar@ucu.edu.ua)

Supported by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies, Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv

Institute of Ecumenical Studies of the Ukrainian Catholic University in partnership with the Libertas Center for Interreligious Dialogue, l’Oeuvre d’Orient and International Federation of Catholic Universities will run an online Round table discussion "Ukrainian Churches in the Time of War" on Friday, March 4, 18:00-19:30 Kyiv time [17:00-18:30 CET]

Speakers:

• Myroslav Marynovych, Vice-Rector of UCU, Co-Founder of Amnesty International Ukraine, and a Founding Member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, Lviv
• Rev. Petro Balog, OP, Director of St Thomas Aquinas Institute, Kyiv
• Sergii Bortnyk, Theology Academy of Kyiv, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kyiv
• Taras Dzyubanskyy, Director of the UCU Institute of Religion and Society and the Libertas Center for Interreligious Dialogue, Lviv
• Roman Soloviy, Director of Eastern European Institute of Theology, Lviv
• Most Rev. Pavlo Shvarts, Bishop of the German Evangelical Lutheran Churches of Ukraine, Kharkiv
• Rev. Ihor Shaban, Head of the Commission for Interconfessional and Interreligious Dialogue, Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Lviv
• Dmytro Horyevoy, religious journalist, Lviv

Moderated by Rev. Roman Fihas and Pavlo Smytsnyk, Institute of Ecumenical Studies.

The war in Ukraine is heavily affecting the entire population of the country, churches included. We gathered an ecumenical cohort of representatives from Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches, as well as religious observers to examine how Ukrainian churches are reacting to the Russian military invasion and assisting the population. We will also examine the religious narratives being formulated and how religious organizations abroad can help in this critical moment.

Youtube translation https://youtu.be/uhPjFFAyGTs

Registration here

International Association for Mission Studies – Europe, Missions Towards Human Dignity: Challenges from Within and Beyond the Black Sea Region and Institute of Ecumenical Studies will run a webinar “Ukraine: Church Communities and Conflict” on February 11, 2022 – 13.00-14.30 CET [14.00-15.30 EET]

Main speakers:

Tetiana Kalenychenko “Contact Lines between Religious and Non-Religious Worlds in Ukraine since 2013”

This presentation will reflect on the main trends and changes in relations between the religious and non-religious world in Ukraine since 2013. The rapid changes that resulted from protests on Maidan, the occupation of Crimea and armed conflict in Donbass gave a new space for religious communities to engage in self-reflection and theological developments. We will examine the primary unifiers and dividers in social and political changes through the prism of conflict studies.

Dr. Tetiana Kalenychenko, PhD in Sociology of Religion, is a co-creator of Dialogue in Action peacebuilding initiative and NGO European Center for Strategic Analytics. Currently working in the field of Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding as national adviser for Peaceful Change Initiative (London), dialogue facilitator for national and international organizations. Main interests: sociology of religion, conflict studies, peacebuilding and restorative practices.

Pavlo Smytsnyuk “Ukrainian Orthodoxy, its Ecumenical Reception and Conflict”

This presentation will reflect upon the creation and recognition of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the context of the hybrid war between Ukraine and Russia, and the wider confessional conflict between Constantinople and Moscow. With the granting of autocephaly to the new church, other Christian denominations and ecumenical institutions—both within and outside Ukraine—have been drawn into the conflict, and forced to choose sides. This webinar will analyze the consequences of this development.

Dr. Pavlo Smytsnyuk is the Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv, and a Senior Lecturer at UCU’s Philosophy and Theology Faculty. Pavlo studied Philosophy and Theology in Rome, Athens and St. Petersburg, and holds a Doctorate from the University of Oxford. His main interests are political theology, ecumenism, nationalism and religion, as well as colonial studies.

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89921089544?pwd=ejg1ZENCSExaZVlnem9DT2NJa04yQT09

Meeting ID: 899 2108 9544

Passcode: 128061

The Institute of Ecumenical Studies in partnership with Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung invite you to attend the webinar "Ecumenism and Peacebuilding: The Experience of the Northern Ireland"

This webinar will be held on December 14, at 17.00 EET via ZOOM.

Moderator: Dr. Pavlo Smytsnyuk, Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies UCU

Speaker: Rev. Tom Layden, Superior of Jesuit Community Belfast and Coordinator of Ecumenism for Irish Jesuits

Respondent: Dr. Tetiana Kyselova, Department of International Relations Director, Mediation and Dialogue Research Center,National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy"

Please, register to attend

On November, 25-26, 2021 The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church Commission for Interfaith and Interreligious Relations together with the Institute of Ecumenical Studies, UCU, Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Ukraine and Renovabis, invite you to attend the international conference “Building of Just Peace: the Role of Church and Public Society”, dedicated to the German-Polish reconciliation and the lessons, we can take for modern Ukraine.

The forum attendees include – outstanding experts of international diplomacy, representatives of various churches of Germany, Poland and Ukraine, international journalists, scholars and Religious Studies experts.

Languages: Ukrainian, Polish, German. Date: November 25, 2021 Time: 16:00 – 20:00 Date: November 26, 2021 Time: 10:00 – 17:00 Format: Online via Zoom, Facebook, Youtube

https://www.facebook.com/events/248627303986147?ref=newsfeed

Registration

*** Physical presence is possible provided that visitors have a "green" COVID-certificate, a digital certificate of negative test result or recovery. If you intend to participate in the conference offline — please take a relevant certificate with you, or send it to us in advance.

In case you do not have such documents, but wish to participate in the conference, please notify the organizers no later than November 18. Such persons will be able to undergo an express-test for coronavirus antigen 30 minutes before the event.

Responsible person: Iryna Kitura irakit@ucu.edu.ua

The Institute of Ecumenical Studies of the Ukrainian Catholic University in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Ukraine, invites you to attend the webinar “Ecumenism and Peacebuilding: the Experience of the Balkans”, December 8, at 18:00 EET, via Zoom.

Speaker: Dr. Thomas Bremer, Professor of Ecumenical Theology, Eastern Church Studies and Peace Studies at Muenster University

Respondent: Fedir Raychynets, Head of the Theology Department at the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, Director of the M.Th. in Transformative Leadership Program, PhD student at the Free University of Amsterdam

Moderator: Dr. Pavlo Smytsnyuk, Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies UCU

Registration

Webinar “Ecumenism and Peacebuilding: Experience of Lebanon”

November 17, 2021

Time: 17:00 (Kyiv time)

ZOOM

English/Ukrainian

Moderator: Dr. Pavlo Smytsnyuk, Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of UCU.

Speaker: Dr. Antoine Fleyfel, Director of the l'Institut chrétiens d'Orient, Paris.

Respondent: s. Alphonsa Karapata, Missionary Sisters of the Holy Redeemer.

Registration

IES Director Pavlo Smytsnyuk will have an open lecture entitled “Ecumenical Aspects of the Establishment of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine”

Working language English

The lecture is organized by the Stt. Peter and Andrew Center (Bucharest, Romania)

Date: November 17, 2021

Time: 18:00 (Kyiv time)

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82996502211?pwd=ekNnRFpxYTZHWGh6SExoYVFuUFBrUT09&fbclid=IwAR1I07hr4LLo6b8R3cDghSaotg8d_PE-zOwq8epzcvz63D9jBbSAfxc6KNM

Meeting ID : 829 9650 2211

Passcode : 348754

“Having Hope” is a National Repentance Forum started on the 100th anniversary of the Russian Catastrophe in 1917. It is a call addressed at those whose hearts ache for the fate of Russia, Russian people and Russian church. The Forum calls those who participate to demand full deCommunization, to restore the best Russian traditions, to remember not only the honour and worth of every human person, but also a sense of nobility and generosity.

Kirill Mozgov is a Russian philologist and holds his BA in Theology from St Philaret Christian Orthodox Institute (SFI, Moscow) and his MA in Theology from the Russian Christian Academy of Humanities (RCHHA, St Petersburg). He is a lecturer History of Catechism and Church Slavonic. Kirill is also the Head of the SFI Publishing House. Since 2015 he is also the Head of St Seraphim Orthodox Brotherhood.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia saw an unprecedented interest in Christian faith and church life, with the hope to restore the religious aspect of human dignity. Yet, deprived of any religious upbringing, most people found it hard to enter the church. The practice of prolonged catechumenate that was developed in the Transfiguration Fellowship of Minor Orthodox Brotherhoods served to help those seeking God to discover the Scriptures and bring their life in accordance with the teaching of Christ. The presentation examines how the principles of catechumenal practice of the ancient church are applied in today’s Russia in order to restore human dignity.

Vladimir Yakuntsev holds his BA from St Philaret Christian Orthodox Institute (SFI, Moscow) and MA in Theology from the Russian Christian Academy of Humanities (RCHHA, St Petersburg). He is Head of the Research Centre for Mission and Catechesis at SFI and a lecturer in Missiology and Catechetics. From 2000 to 2020 he was also the Head of St Sergius Orthodox Brotherhood.

Zoom: https://wwu.zoom.us/j/96937117931; Code: summer

Moderator: Dr. Pavlo Smytsnyuk, Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of UCU.

Speaker: Dr. Shlomo Fischer, sociologist and senior Fellow in the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem (JPPI)

Respondent: Roman Nazarenko, Religious Studies Scholar, author of publications and lectures on interreligious dialogue and reconciliation. PhD student of the Theology Faculty of the Tilburg Catholic University.

Free participation.

The event will be held with simultaneous interpreting, in English and Ukrainian.

Details and organizing issues: irakit@ucu.edu.ua

To receive event link, please register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSduZi51TjuW1D60tL_05hXtca2wGmQMoZaqHb8TngBsBcdZ1Q/viewform