The Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) is the heir and continuer of the educational activities of the Greek-Catholic Theological Academy, which was created in 1928-1929 in Lviv by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and headed by its first rector, then Fr. Josyf Slipyj. After the Academy was closed in 1944, its mission and functions were taken over by the Ukrainian Catholic University of Pope St. Clement in Rome, organized in 1963 and headed by then Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj. In 1994, the activities of the Academy were revived under the name Lviv Theological Academy (LTA), and in 1998 it earned international accreditation. Fr. Mykhaylo Dymyd was the first rector of the revived LTA. In 2000, he was succeeded by Fr. Borys Gudziak, who in 2002 by decision of the St. Clement Fund was appointed to the post of first rector of UCU.
UCU conducts fundamental and applied scholarly research in the field of Eastern theology, developing those aspects that will promote a healthy dialogue with other Eastern Christians, and it also develops related philosophical scholarly disciplines. UCU's institutes conduct research and publish, creating a basis for the future of theology and humanities studies in Ukraine. UCU maintains the largest library of theological literature and periodicals in Ukraine.
UCU has a Faculty of Philosophy and Theology, which prepares priests, scholars in philosophy and theology, teachers, catechists, translators of theological literature, and workers for church administrations. 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 receive bachelor's degrees that are accredited by the Congregation for Catholic Education (Rome) which allow them to continue their education at any university outside Ukraine. Many students of the LTA's first graduating classes (1999, 2000) received scholarships to continue their studies at universities in the U.S., Canada, Austria, Italy, Belgium, and Germany.
UCU also provides an opportunity for students to obtain a theological education at its Evening Theology School. During the summer UCU organizes educational and catechetical programs where students can study Holy Scripture, Liturgy and experience community life in a monastic setting.
UCU also has a Humanities Faculty.
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)
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)
