50th anniversary of the martyrdom of Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARTYRDOM OF PROTOPRESBYTER GABRIEL KOSTELNIK

The Divine service was celebrated and a conference was held in Lvov, Ukraine, on 20 September 1998 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the demise of Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik, an outstanding church leader, theologian, philosopher, religious publicist, poet, playwright and prose-writer.

The Divine Liturgy was celebrated in St. George’s church, and after that, Archbishop Augustine of Lvov and Drogobych conducted a Panikhida at the tomb of Father Gabriel at the Lychakov cemetery. After that in the ‘Karpaty’ assembly hall a church- historical conference on the theme ‘Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik and His Role in the Revival of Orthodoxy in Galicia’ was held.

Taking part in the Divine service and in the conference were hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: Archbishops Onuphry of Chernigov and Bukovina, Niphont of Lutsk and Volyn, Augustine of Lvov and Drogobych, Sergy of Ternopol and Kremenets, Bishops Methodius of Khust and Vinogradov, Simeon of Vladimir-Volynsky and Koval, representatives of the theological schools from Moscow, Kiev, Lutsk, Pochaev and Warsaw, clergymen from the Rovno, Khust, Chenovtsy; Vladimir-Volynsky and Brest dioceses, Abbess Mikhaila Zaets, mother superior of the Gorodets convent, representatives of the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods in Ukraine, and many parishioners.

At the end of the Divine service Archpriest Victor Petliuchenko, deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, read out a message from His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia which was met with the exclamations of approval.

Also, Archpriest Victor Petliuchenko read out greetings from Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, addressed to the participants in the inter-Orthodox meeting.

The texts of both greetings are published below.

Message from His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia

Your Eminence, beloved in the Lord Archbishop Augustine of Lvov and Drogobych;
All-honorable archpastors, pastors, brothers and sisters – participants in the Conference “Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik and His Role in the Revival of Orthodoxy in the Galician Land”:

I cordially greet you all as you have gathered at St. George’s in Lvov to mark the 50th anniversary of the martyrdom of the outstanding church leader and ascetic pastor, Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik, by lifting up prayers for the repose of his soul in the heavenly mansions and paying homage to this selfless champion of Holy Orthodoxy. We cherish in our hearts the image of this exceptionally gifted and highly educated personality, a bearer of bright pastoral charisma, fervent preacher, profound theologian and philosopher, religious publicist, poet, play-right and prose writer. One can only be struck by the great amount of creative work he carried out, with God’s help, till the last hour of his life. But first and most of all he thought about the hard fate of Holy Orthodoxy in Galicia and exerted every effort to restore the faith of his ancestors in that originally Orthodox land.

Being a Greek Catholic by his birth and upbringing, Father Gabriel was attracted to holy Orthodox faith in his young age. A student of Lvov University, he could see how deprived the Orthodox were in Galicia and was a witness to a mass return of Uniates to Orthodoxy in the Carpathian Rus, his ancestors’ native land. His study of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and the Orthodox theology and liturgy helped him to realize very clearly the need for return to the righteous Orthodox faith.

Father Gabriel conveyed his conviction in the truth of Orthodoxy to his disciples at the theological academy in Lvov where he taught philosophy. For instance, he advocated the rightness of the Eastern form of the epiclesis pronounced in the liturgy and resolutely opposed the imposition of celibacy on the Uniate clergy. In 1930 Father Gabriel was discharged from teaching and put under the strict control of the diocesan authorities. This did not restrain him from moving towards his cherished goal. At the Uniate congress in 1936 in Lvov, Father Gabriel read a paper on the Ideology of the Unia, arguing that the Greek Catholic Church was doomed and that it was necessary to return to the fathers’ faith. He courageously developed the same theme at the Lvov diocesan clergy congress in 1943. The desire of Father Gabriel to return to the fold of the Russian Orthodox Church was shared by a great many Greek Catholics in Galicia at that time. Enforced in 1596, the Unia of Brest, throughout its 400 years, retained a strong internal opposition which would resolutely break away in favorable times.

I will give you three outstanding examples. Greek Catholics in Belorussia, Lithuania, Volhynia and Podolia, led by the Uniate bishop Joseph (Semashko) and his colleagues representing the high-ranking Greek Catholic clergy, reunited with the Russian Orthodox Church in 1839. The same was done by Greek Catholics in Kholm region led by bishop Markell (Popel) in 1875. In 1890, the Uniate priest Alexis Toth initiated in the USA a process of reunification in which some 90 thousand Greek-Catholic clergy and laity – emigres from Galicia and the Carpathian Rus – reunited with the Mother Church.
It was natural that in May 1945, immediately after the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War, an Initiative Group for Reunification of the Greek-Catholic Church with the Russian Orthodox Church was formed to implement the idea for which Father Gabriel suffered so much. Through its efforts the Church Council of Lvov was prepared and held from March 8 to 10, 1946, to end, as we all know, in the decision that 1596 Unia of Brest should be abolished and the Greek-Catholic clergy and laity should reunite with the Mother Orthodox Church.

In fact, Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik continued the mission started by his predecessors, bishops Joseph and Markell, Father Alexis Toth and many other archpastors, pastors and lay people of the Greek Catholic Church. Father Gabriel and his associates happened to live at a time exceptional in its tragic complexity, when the generally accepted norms of internal policy including church-state relations were run over in our country by the authoritarian atheistic regime. This distorted to a certain degree the essentially organic process which was to culminate in the Church Council of Lvov. It was also the tragedy of Father Gabriel Kostelnik.

After the Church Council of Lvov, Father Gabriel devoted all his spiritual potential, energies, knowledge and experience to the cause of helping the people of God – the Galician Greek Catholics – to inter Holy Orthodoxy so that their parishes could live a full life in the fold of the Russian Orthodox Church. He did it very tactfully, protecting their spiritual traditions and helping the clergy and flock to accept the necessary things from the rich experience of the Orthodox witness and service.

The death of Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik was an irretrievable loss for the spiritual life of his legacy – the people of God who reunited with Holy Orthodoxy at the Church Council of Lvov and for the Russian Orthodox Church as a whole. “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yes, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them” (Rev. 14:13).

Beloved in the Lord archpastors, pastors, brothers and sisters: we are aware how thorny has been the last 50 years for the service of our Church in Western Ukraine. There have been more than enough reasons for this during this half century. At the same time, many of these reasons have not been of religious nature. It is known that especially painful for our dioceses in that region has been the process of restoration of the Greek Catholic Church which began in 1988 and which has resulted in open violence against Orthodox clergy and laity, in pogroms to seize our Orthodox churches. The continuation and even aggravation of this process in 1989 led us to begin negotiations with the holy authorities of the Roman Catholic Church and then to change the theological nature of our traditional bilateral talks into a discussion on the ways and means of improving relations between the Greek Catholics and the Orthodox in Western Ukraine.

As far back as June 1990, representatives of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches at their meeting in Fraising concluded their discussion on Uniatism and Methodology of Action with a unanimous declaration: “We reject it as a method of seeking unity as it contradicts the common tradition of our Churches”. Still, it is sad that despite the understanding and support that the holy authorities of the Roman Catholic Church showed for our desire to achieve an improvement in our relations which would be fair for either side and to settle the issue of ownership over church buildings and other matters, the problem remains unresolved.

We are convinced that an improvement in our relations can and should be achieved without delay through a fair settlement of practical matters. Only this can be the foundation of a really equitable and therefore lasting peace between us to which we call the Greek Catholic side. We are not against our brother and sister Greek Catholics, but against what we believe to be a wrong ecclesiological principle, the Unia which we reject.

May God’s blessing and His all-powerful help be with the archpastors, pastors, monastics and all the people of God – faithful children of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who work courageously in a very difficult situation today to realize their Orthodox calling.

Beloved participants in the Conference on church history, from the bottom of my heart I wish you success in your noble work. May it become a worthy contribution to the perpetration of the memory of the honorable confessor of Holy Orthodoxy, Father Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik. Eternal memory be to him!

With love in Christ,

+ Alexy, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

Message from Metropolitan Kirill

Your Eminence, dear Vladyko Augustine;
Reverend Fathers;
Brothers and Sisters Beloved in Christ:

I cordially greet the participants in the Conference “Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik and His Role in the Revival of Orthodoxy in Galicia”.

Your distinguished assembly is a vivid manifestation of the people of God’s living and grateful memory of the feat of confession performed by our brother in faith and service. The fact that we are marking 50th anniversary of the martyrdom of Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik also testifies to our common commitment to the great and salvific cause of Orthodoxy which Father Gabriel of eternal memory sought to assert and protect to the end of his life.

In today’s situation of confusion, disorder and division which has affected not only the internal life of states and societies but also that of Church herself, the feat of faith performed by Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik compels us to turn again and again to the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ Who taught: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Mt. 12:25). The example of Father Gabriel who suffered even to death confessing the idea of unity in the fold of the Mother Church teaches us the authentic love of Orthodoxy as well as steadfastness and firmness in face of divisions and schisms.

Today, too, we can see the moving examples of commitment to Orthodox faith in Western Ukraine. They breath new life in the unfading tree of our forefathers’ faith. May the Lord grant all the pastors and children of our Holy Church, who tirelessly build the house of God under very difficult circumstances, His all-powerful help, strengthening their faith and stand for the Truth and empowering them to build peace and accord with all those around them.

Wishing the conference every success, I lift up my prayers for the good health and prosperity of its participants.

With love in the Lord,

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad
Chairman of Department for External Church Relations