On Friday 5th August we had the great pleasure in welcoming the newly elected Patriarch of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslaw Shevchuk.His Beatitude’s cortège included Bishop Hlib Lonchyna, the Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainian Catholics in Great Britain, the bishop’s mother who was visiting from the United States, Reverend Father Mykola Matwijiwskyj, Chancellor of the Apostolic Exarchate, and Bishop Hlib’s brother, Reverend Father Taras Lonchyna from Washington, USA.
Early morning activities involved all youth campers cleaning and preparing our Tabir in preparation for the visit of our VIP guests. With everything in place everyone gathered in the hall “Hortycha” to eagerly await their arrival.
His Beatitude Sviatoslaw, the youngest of all the bishops of the UGCC, arrived by car from Nottingham where he had earlier celebrated the Divine Liturgy and had a brief meeting with the local community.
Our SUM Chaplain, Reverend Father David Senyk, as co-ordinator of the visit, introduced the Chairman of SUM National Committee (Krayova Uprava), druh Bohdan Pryhidnyj, and the commendant of the Sports Camp, druh Andrij Stebiwka. After a short conversation the Krayova Uprava Chairman lead His Beatitude to the entrance of the hall where the Patriarch was introduced to individual members of the National Committee and members of the various Komanda Teams for the camps taking place this year. His Beatitude spoke to each member and was interested to hear about the roles and individual responsibilities they held.
Upon entering the hall His Beatitude was greeted in true Ukrainian style with Bread and Salt by starshyj yunak Markian Lachman and Starsha yunachka Halyna Rewko, whilst the rest of the Tabir sang the traditional song “Hist u Dim” – “Guest in our Home”. Chairman druh Bohdan Pryhidnyj welcomed His Beatitude with a short speech and presented our guests with books outlining the History of the Ukrainian Youth Association in Great Britain and a SUM emblem commemorating the 65th anniversary of SUM in the diaspora. The yunatstvo also presented the guests with bunches of flowers.
His Beatitude warmly addressed those present with kind words of thanks for their welcome, hospitality and thoughtful gifts. He also highlighted the fact that being the youngest of all the Ukrainian Bishops he hopes to be a supporter of Ukrainian youth in his leadership of the Church in the future.
Fr. Chaplain David again thanked the Patriarch for his kind words and introduced podruha Iryna Terleckyj, the Chief Educator of the Leadership Camp. Podruha Iryna introduced to the Patriarch the participants of the campfrom the previous week and asked His Beatitude to present them with their Certificates of Achievement. Following this His Beatitude Sviatoslaw and Bishop Hlib posed with the yunatstvo for a memorial photograph. The formal part of the visit ended with an applause and the invitation of our honoured guests to lunch, which consisted of “Camp Borscz” and “Lazy Varenyky”.
After lunch participants of the Sports Camp continued with their programme of sporting activities and competitions whilst our distinguished guests were lead by druh Bohdan Pryhidnyj and Fr. David on a guided tour of Tarasivka’s facilities. His Beatitude Sviatoslaw had an opportunity to meet more youth members and have interesting conversations with them in both Ukrainian and English. All youth members who met with him were impressed by the approachability and welcoming attitude of the Head of the Church to their expressed thoughts. It was particularly pleasing to see that the Patriarch was genuinely interested in what the youth had to say.
During the guided tour His Beatitude the Patriarch visited the camp kitchens and the SUMeniata barrack; he watched the campers playing volleyball, ultimate Frisbee and Netball; visited the monumenty to the fallen heroes of Ukraine, the Camp Chapel, Offices of Krayova Uprava and “Halychyna” Shooting Range. During the tour the camp Chief Educator, podruha Anna Fedeczko, presented His Beatitude with a blue SUM tie, which the Patriarch was happy to accept and wear.
Krayova Uprava National Committee of the Ukrainian Youth Association in Great Britain expresses heartfelt thanks to His Beatitude the Patriarch Sviatoslaw, to Bishop Hlib Lonchyna and to our distinguished guests who graced us with their visit and made this an historic day in the lives of so many young people. Equally, we are grateful to our chaplain Fr. David for conducting the main programme of events and to all the personnel who made this great day a successful one in the history of Tabory at Tarasivka.
