/ Church in Ukraine / Catholic Educational Institutions in Ukraine:
THE PAPAL VISIT TO UKRAINE    
June 23-27, 2001    
Church in Ukraine

A Survey of Christianity in 21st Century Ukraine
Orthodox Churches in Ukraine
The Catholic Churches of Ukraine
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the Underground
A Brief History of Christianity in Ukraine
Ukrainian Religious Heroes
Roman Catholic beatifications (June 26, 2001): Short biographies
Greek Catholic beatifications (June 27, 2001): Short biographies
Twentieth Century Leaders of the UGCC
List of Bishops of the UGCC
The Byzantine Rite
Charitable institutions of UGCC
Monastic orders and religious congregations of the UGCC
Sanctuaries of UGCC
Structure of UGCC
Catholic Educational Institutions in Ukraine


Catholic Educational Institutions in Ukraine

NEW SITE: Up-to-date information is now maintained at the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church official website at www.ugcc.org.ua/eng/.

 

Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church

The Lviv Theological Academy

The goal of the Lviv Theological Academy (LTA) is to nurture the intellectual and spiritual life of the Church and to present the Christian worldview in all its fullness.

Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky founded the Academy in 1929. With the arrival of the Soviet Army in 1945 the Academy was definitively closed. The first rector of the Academy, Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, established a Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome in the 1960s. His intention was to prepare the ground for the renewal of the Academy in Ukraine. In the 1990s, when the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was able to come out from the underground, the question of the renewal of the Academy was brought up once more. In 1994 the first new students began studying at the Academy. The revival of the Academy was blessed by scholars who had known Patriarch Josyf: Mykhailo Dymyd, Borys Gudziak, Fr. Andriy Onuferko, Fr. Ivan Dacko and others. His Beatitude Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky blessed their efforts.

The Academy conducts fundamental scholarly research in Eastern theology, developing those aspects that will promote a healthy dialogue with other Eastern Christians. The Academy's eight institutes conduct research and publish, creating a basis for the future of theology and humanities studies in Ukraine. The Academy maintains the largest theological library in Ukraine.

The Academy has a philosophical- theological faculty where the students prepare to become priests, philosophical-theological scholars, teachers, catechists, theological literature translators and church administrators. For the first time in the thousand-year history of Christianity in Ukraine, laywomen and religious sisters are theology students. Upon completion of their studies, full-time students of the Academy receive bachelor's degrees that are accredited by the Congregation for Catholic Education (Rome) which allow them to continue their education abroad at Catholic institutions of higher education. Many graduates of the LTA have received scholarships to continue their education at universities in the USA, Canada, Australia, Italy, Belgium and Germany.

The Lviv Theological Academy also provides an opportunity for students to obtain a theological education at its Evening Theology School. During the summer the Academy organizes educational and catechetical programs where students can study Holy Scripture, Liturgy and experience community life in a monastic setting.

Because of a lack of good will among some Ukrainian legislators, none of the various theological institutions of all the denominations in Ukraine are officially accredited in Ukraine. This makes collaboration between the Academy and other educational institutions in Ukraine very difficult. The Academy, nevertheless, has close relations with the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Lviv National University and other universities in Ukraine.

Greek Catholic Seminary of the Holy Spirit in Lviv

Austrian Emperor Joseph II founded the Greek Catholic seminary on 30 August 1783 to educate future priests from Galicia, Transcarpathia, Priashiv, the Kryzhevets eparchy in Yugoslavia, Semyhorod and Croatia. The seminary's first rector was Antin Anhelovich, who later became metropolitan. From its very beginning the seminary, in addition to being a place for theological studies, was a center for the formation of national ideas, and scholarly and cultural thought in Galicia and all Ukraine. The Lviv Theological Academy grew out of the seminary. Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky initiated and blessed the idea of establishing the Academy in 1929. With the arrival of the Red Army in 1939 the seminary was closed. The former seminary building on Copernicus Street then became the property of Lviv State University. Throughout the Second World War there were attempts to revive the seminary. In 1945 the seminary was decisively closed. The majority of the faculty members were arrested and sentenced to work camps. The State confiscated the seminary building, all the land and the library. Alumni and students of the Academy were dispersed throughout Ukraine and to many different countries.

During the underground period the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church wanted to continue the formation of candidates to the priesthood, even in difficult circumstances. Young men who felt a call to the priesthood overcame their fear of being persecuted and imprisoned and, as part of a conspiracy, asked the bishop to bless their study in the underground seminary. Sometimes the conspiracy would be so secret that even parents of the candidate would not know about his underground studies and ordination.Young men who had no contact with the underground church would enter the legal seminaries of the Russian Orthodox Church and serve as priests of the Orthodox Church.

By the end of the 1980s and in the beginning of the 1990s, when the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was coming out of the underground, new groups of candidates for the priesthood appeared. Their studies were short; formation was not emphasized so much as self-education and liturgical practice. Many priests of the Orthodox Church had a Greek Catholic background and joined the Greek Catholic Church. Because of this complicated situation, clergy in the UGCC have had radically different levels of spiritual formation.

With the legalizaltion of the UGCC, the question about the renovation of the seminary arose again. The State did not want to give back the old seminary buildings on Copernicus Street which were in the possession of the State University. One building available for the seminary was a half destroyed summer camp in Rudno, a suburb of Lviv. The seminarians themselves repaired those old, deteriorating buildings. Because of a lack of teachers the students were taught only what was necessary. The period of time for studies was also reduced and the new clergy were formed in this way.

In 1990 the Lviv Seminary was officially reopened. Since then there have been four rectors: Bishop Fylymon Kurchaba, Bishop Julian Voronovskyi, Fr. Stepan Meniok and the present rector, Fr. Dr. Bohdan Prakh.

Holy Spirit Greek Catholic Seminary in Lviv is a community that forms future clergy for the Church. Life in the heart of the community is a key factor in their preparation for the priesthood. Education in the seminary focuses on four main aspects of formation: personal, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral. The responsibility for the formation of the seminarians is shared by Holy Spirit Seminary and the Lviv Theological Academy. The Academy is responsible for the educational program, catechetical and liturgical-theoretical courses; Holy Spirit Seminary is responsible for practical liturgical and pastoral courses, life in community and spiritual formation.

From its very reopening, the seminary began looking for a new location, hoping to move the seminary from Rudno to Lviv. This will better answer to the seminarians' educational and pastoral needs. In 2001 near Lviv's Sykhiv neighborhood the construction of a new seminary complex will begin. The Holy Father will bless the cornerstone for the new building during his visit to Lviv.

Other Educational Institutions of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

-Ivano-Frankivsk Theological Academy (Ivano-Frankivsk, Vul. Vasylianok, 64)
-Josyf Slipyj Seminary (Ternopil region, Velyka Berezovytsia, Vul. Shkilna, 20)
-Holy Trinity Eparchial Catechetical Institute (Lviv region, Drohobych, Vul. D. Halyckoho, 2)
-Nicholas Charnetsky Philosophical-Theological Institute of the Redemptorist Order (Lviv, Vul. Zamarstynivska, 225)
-Metropolitan Rudsky Philosophical-Theological Institute of the Basilian Order (Lviv region, Zoluchiv, Vul. Lvivska, 48)
- Institute of Religious Culture (Lviv, Vul. Lysenka, 45)
-Institute of Spiritual and Religious Education (Ternopil region, Sboriv, Vul. Shevchenko, 4)
-Lviv Musical-Theological School (Lviv, Pl. Vicheva, 2)
-Cantors School (Ternopil district, Chortkiv, Vul. Podilska, 1)
-Clement Sheptytsky Lyceum (Lviv, Vul. Hnata Hotkevycha, 16)


Mukachiv Eparchy

- Theodore Romzha Theological Academy in Uzhorod (Uzhorod, Vul. Mynaiska,76)


Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine

Spiritual Seminary St. Joseph Seminary

Lviv Archdiocese
(Lviv - Briukhovychi, Vul. Lvivska, 62)

In 1700 Archbishop Constantine Zelinsky founded the Lviv Latin Rite Seminary. It functioned until September 1945 when the government closed it. Its teachers and seminarians were sent to Poland. During the 1970s candidates to the priesthood from Ukraine were sent to the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Seminary in Riga, Latvia. In 1991seminarians from Ukraine began to study at Lublin Catholic University in Poland. On 12 December 1996 Marian JAWORSKI, Metropolitan Archbishop of Lviv, renewed the seminary's activities in Lviv - Briukhovychi, and on 20 May 2000 the seminary was placed under the protection of St. Joseph.

Currently there are 28 seminarians in their first three years of study in Ukraine. Four sixth-year students are continuing their education in Lublin, 9 fifth-year seminarians are studying in Wroclaw, Poland. In addition, 7 priests are continuing their education at the graduate and doctoral level in Rome, Paris and Lublin.

Rector: 79491 Lviv - Briukhovychi, Vul. Lvivska, 62 tel. +380 322 59 34 96 fax. 59 37 68
Cardinal Prof. Dr. Marian JAWORSKI e-mail: M@rkc.lviv.ua
Vice-rector Msgr. Kazymyr Halimurka
Administrative Director Msgr. Mychajlo Jaworski

- Sacred Heart Seminary (Kyiv region, Vorzel, Vul. Chervonoarmijska, 1)
- Seminary (Khmelnytskyi region, Horodok, Vul. Pionersky,14
- Catechetical Center (Uzhorod, Vul. Volodymyrska, 76)
- St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Theological College (Kyiv, Vul. A. Barbiusa, 8)

 Get the printable page

© Web design and programming - TRC Web Team, 2001
Support - Oleh Kuzo, 2001-2006, 2011
© The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, 2001
Research by the - Lviv Theological Academy
All rights reserved.