The year dedicated to the 90th anniversary of His Beatitude Lubomir Huzar has come to an end. On December 18, the magnificent spiritual and artistic program “BEING A HUMAN…” gathered a full hall of the Lviv National Opera for those for whom Cardinal Lubomyr was and remains a guide.
“The testament left to us by His Beatitude Lubomyr – “To be a person” – is, first of all, an incentive for everyone to look at themselves, to ask themselves what kind of person I am. The testament “To be a man” should become an examination of conscience for us,” Archbishop and Metropolitan of Lviv Ihor Wozniak emphasized in his address at the spiritual and artistic evening.
Metropolitan Bishop of Philadelphia Borys Gudziak was among the invited guests. Remembering His Beatitude Lubomyr, Bishop Borys noted: “The Lord sent Lubomyr Husar to our people and our Church. It has been a figure for half a century. As a six- or seven-year-old boy, I saw him in America. Then he was known as a volleyball player. Then he was a close associate of Patriarch Joseph, who consecrated him as a bishop. This bishopric was underground in the free world for 19 years. And later, from the underground, God’s providence appointed Lubomir Husar as the Head and Father of our Church. He was a person who found time to listen, who heard God’s word and conveyed it to us – in the most difficult moments, in the most delicate issues, conveying the deepest meaning in the simplest words. Blessed Lubomyr united our Synod, our Church and our People. He still remains a special moral authority of our time. Thank God that He sent us this figure. He taught us to listen, so let’s listen to him!”.
The memories of His Beatitude Lubomyr and from the assistant bishop of the Ivano-Frankivsk Archdiocese, Bishop Mykola Semenyshin, who was his secretary for the last 4 years of his life, were deeply emotional. “For 4 years, when I had the grace to be close to the Blessed Lubomir, I heard a lot, saw a lot, looked a lot – I was close to him. So I would like to share one story: when the Blessed One was approached by directors to make a film about him – “Lyubomir. Be Human” and started pitching the idea, he initially refused, saying: “Give me a break, what a movie about me.” But when they told him that he will not be the main character of the film, but the idea is that the young generation, watching this film, will become good people, good Christians, loving parents, he agreed. His Beatitude Lubomyr never emphasized himself. Even today, he looks at us with such a smile. His wish would be for us to come out better people after this event. Therefore, I wish all participants and spectators to leave here better!” Bishop Mykola said.
Among the guests was also the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytskyi, v. at. the chairman of the Lviv Regional Council Yuriy Kholod and the mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi. Each of them remembered Blessed Lubomir in the warmest terms, emphasizing his huge founding role.
The author of the project and its embodiment Mykhailo Perun, talking about this spiritual and artistic program, noted: “The spiritual and artistic program “Being a person…” has four parts, namely: “Years of Vocation”, “Years of Consecration”, “Years of Service in Ukraine” and “Spiritual Guidelines for Future Generations.” Each of them reveals through words, thematic spiritual music and a visual series – multimedia – the figure of Blessed Lubomir: in the first part – his childhood years, vocation and service, in the second – spiritual intimacy with Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi, confessor of faith Yosif Slipy, monastic path in Studite monasteries. The third part is the main milestones of the episcopal and patriarchal ministry: the return to Ukraine, the visit of the Holy Pope John Paul II and the transfer of the seat of the Father and the Head of the UGCC to Kyiv. In the last, fourth, part, the viewer had the opportunity to enter into the spiritual and worldview orientations of Blessed Lubomir for us, which are thoughts about the Motherland, life guidelines and a prayer of thanks.
In the spiritual and artistic program “Being a person…” music performed in the “Spiritual Music of Ukraine” series of the “Andrei” Foundation, by Viktor Kaminsky, Oleksandr Kozarenko, was played. Maria Slepchenko, Bohdana Frolyak, Myroslav Volynskyi, Igor Shcherbakov, and also Stanislav Lyudkevich. The world premiere of the work of Yaroslav Vorotniak – “Kheruvymska”, which today is a soldier of the Armed Forces, took place.
Information Department of the UGCC
according to the materials of the Lviv Archdiocese of the UGCC