Dutch and Hungarian students meet fellow students in Lviv

 By Heleen Zorgdrager, guest lecturer from the Protestant Church in the Netherlands at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.

Dutch and Hungarian students meet fellow students in Lviv.

On 31 October and 1 November a group of 14 students in protestant theology from the Netherlands ( University of Utrecht ) and from Hungary ( Budapest and Pápa) visited the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. They had an ecumenical meeting with students from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, participating in the Magisterial Programme of Ecumenical Studies. The contact was enabled by Dr. Heleen Zorgdrager, who is attached to the Institute for Ecumenical Studies as a guest lecturer on a regular basis. For all participants this event was a great and successful experience, and tastes after more.

Photo report for the website Ecumenical Studies

(originally for the website of Kerkinactie: www.kerkinactie.nl )

Photo of the group: 030 jpg The group of students in front of the University. First row, fourth from the right: Heleen Zorgdrager, standing on the right: Anne-Marie Kool, professor in Mission Studies in Budapest and Pápa, and Martha Frederiks, Professor at the Theological Faculty of Utrecht University (Centrum IIMO).

Photo 002 jpg: The UCU is the university of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. This Church is in union with Rom, and celebrates the slavonic-byzantine liturgy in the tradition of the Eastern Churches. In communist times the Greek Catholic University was liquidated. As an underground church and in the emigration the church continued to exist. After the collapse of the Sovjet Union she revived. In 1994 the Lviv Theological Academy was re-established. In 2002 the Ukrainian Catholic University was inaugurated, with the faculties of Theology and Philosophy, and Humanities.

Photo 007 jpg: In the University a museum is dedicated to the life and work of Metropolitan Joseph Slipiy. He was the spiritual leader of the Greek Catholic Church in the underground existence. Metropolitan Slipiy was imprisoned for many years in the Gulag, but he survived. He was delegated to the Second Vatican Council, and leaded the Greek Catholic community in the diaspora. The students were deeply moved by the history of suffering of this church under communism.

Photo 014 jpg : The students are welcomed by Myroslav Marynovich, vice-rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, and Dr. Antoine Arjakovski, director of the Institute for Ecumenical Studies at UCU. The Hungarian-Dutch group is headed by Anne-Marie Kool, professor of Mission Studies in Budapest and Pápa, and Martha Frederiks, professor at the Theological Faculty of Utrecht University (Centrum IIMO). From the left to the right: Myroslav Marynovich, Martha Frederiks, Antoine Arjakovski.

Photo 022 jpg: The students are listening to a guest lecture Martha Frederiks on: “Kenosis as a model of interreligious dialogue”. The lecture is very appealing to them. The base for religious dialogue is to be found in an “ecumenism of life”, in living together as good neighbours, in a lifestyle of serving your neighbour. The genuine religious identity of a person is recognized in his or her activities. Religious identity is part of your entire identity as a human being. Theological reflection can only be the second step. The aim of Christian mission is: “witnessing the love of Jesus, not trying to convert the other.”

“Ecumenism of life” as basis for the dialogue between confessions and religions is also the leading principle for the Institute of Ecumenical Studies in Lviv.

Photo 2006 032 jpg(attention: there are two photos with the number 032): The students attend together the Divine Liturgy in the chapel of the university. The slavonic-byzantine liturgy is new to the protestant students and makes a deep impression. Student chaplains of UCU are celebrating in the liturgy.

Photo 023 jpg: Vice-rector Myroslav Marynovich holds a speech after liturgy. Today it is the day of remembrance of metropolitan Sheptytski, the spiritual leader of the Greek Catholic Church from World War I until the end of World War II. His commemoration day is a national holiday in Western Ukraine . Therefore there are flags on the houses and official buildings. Metropolitan Sheptytski had also a great significance for the ecumenical movement.

Photo 024 jpg: Students are talking together during lunch in the restaurant of the university. A Ukrainian student look backs on the meeting and says: “It was really cool. We had very nice conversations and we made fun together. You notice that there are differences between the Dutch and Hungarian students, and also between them and us. But we could be friends. I think, then you can also talk about your faith.” This student expresses clearly what is meant by “ecumenism of life”.

Photo 034 jpg: In the afternoon the students make an excursion through the beautiful old town of Lviv , wit its many churches and buildings from the Renaissance, the Baroque and the Neo-Classicism. In speed up tempo they visit Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Roman-Catholic churches, and also the remnants of the Golden Rosh synagogue. Lviv had a flourishing Jewish culture until the World War II. The students also visited Svichado, a publishing house for Christian literature, with an ecumenical approach in their policy of editing.

Photo 2006 II 032 jpg: Students are listening to an explanation of the one of the oldest Orthodox Church in Lviv, from the 16th century.