Sviatoslav Shevchuk | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Shevchuk in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Church | Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elected | 23 March 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Installed | 27 March 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Lubomyr Husar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other post(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Orders | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ordination | 26 June 1994 by Myroslav Lubachivsky | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consecration | 7 April 2009 by Ihor Vozniak | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 5 May 1970 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Ukrainian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Denomination | Catholic Church | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motto | Church Slavonic: Гдⷭ҇ь просвѣще́нїє моє́ и҆ сп҃си́тель мо́й The LORD is my light and my salvation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coat of arms |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ordination history | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sviatoslav Shevchuk (Ukrainian: Святосла́в Шевчу́к; born 5 May 1970 in Stryi, Ukrainian SSR) is a Ukrainian Catholic prelate who has served as the Major Archbishop of Kyiv–Galicia and Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) since 25 March 2011.
At the time he was born, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was illegal under the Soviet Union. His parents and grandparents were devout Catholics and active in the Underground Church. He recalled that on a family trip to the Orthodox shrine of Pochaev around 1985, he prayed before an icon of the Theotokos, expressing his desire to become a priest. A couple of years later, while studying medicine in the city of Boryslav, he began to attend a secret seminary in Yaremche, in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains.[1]
He completed his mandatory military service as a field medic, based in Eastern Ukraine. In the waning days of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was legalized again, and Shevchuk was able to complete his seminary studies in a reopened seminary in Lviv.[2]
In August 1991, at the direction of his superiors, he moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to study philosophy. He briefly spent time with the Salesian community there. Returning to Ukraine, he was ordained a deacon on May 21, 1994.[2]
- ^ Burger, John (2023). At the Foot of the Cross: Lessons from Ukraine. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-1639660278.
- ^ a b Burger, John (2023). At the Foot of the Cross: Lessons from Ukraine. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor. pp. 79–82. ISBN 978-1639660278.