Throughout the history of the Drohobych Seminary we have had good friends - our sponsors. They are people of good will from Ukraine and from outside its borders. Thanks to them our Seminary can successfully operate in the field of education for priesthood. We always remember them in our Liturgies.
For those who would like to join the list of our donors and thus contribute to the preparation for priesthood here are the details of our bank account (hryvnia and foreign currency):

Дрогобицька Духовна Семінарія (Drohobytska Duhovna Seminaria, vul.D.Halytskoho,2 Drohobych, Ukraine)
Код ЄДРПОУ 26483496
 «Alfabank» Kyiv
МФО 300346

in UA Hryvnja:

UA 87 300346 0000026001017850101
UAH CARD - 4102 3251 2402 6311

in EURO:

UA873003460000026001017850101EUR

purpose of payment - donation (добровільна пожертва)

for other foreign currencies, please, contact us.

For many people the idea of a "brotherhood" represents a closed-in group of individuals who are organized around clearly limited ideas. A brotherhood unites all the members of this group into a single organism, which gives them the right to be called brothers. When a member goes outside the limits of permissible thinking he automatically terminates his right to have brotherhood with others who have remained true to the principles of the statutes of the brotherhood. It is not surprising that being in such a brotherhood means submission, self-criticism, doing whatever the ideal requires. In other words, you are my brother for as long as you share traits common to all brothers. A step to the left or to the right is simply unacceptable.

On the other hand, the Christian understanding of "brotherhood" is significantly different. Actually the Church itself, as the Mystical Body of Christ is a true brotherhood. Even the prayer "Our Father", which the Savior taught His disciples, itself reveals this great ecclesiological mystery. The recognition of God the Father, as our own Father and faith in this spiritual unity, puts us in a position not only of brotherhood among ourselves, but also of brotherhood with the Everlasting Only Begotten Son, who is Head of the Brotherhood. Here, unlike in a secular brotherhood, freedom of action is not restricted by anything. You remain a brother even while being free to choose a path that leads in an opposite direction.

However sinful, a brother is a brother who is sick and who needs the most of all the Brotherhood of the Church. Excommunication of a sinner is not a punitive act, done by healthy members of the Body of Christ, but it is a confirmation that our brother is weak and that he has put himself outside the community. Thus, we see that the Christian Brotherhood in its very roots has nothing in common with the groups of people, about which we spoke before. If in the first example, the unifying factor is a common idea, for which the members of the brotherhood live, in the second case, we are all united not by an object, but by the person of Christ and our faith in Him.

However, this faith emerges in the form of specific activity, that is the revelation of Christ's love in the world. With regard to this we have the very eloquent words of the Apostle James: "What does it profit, my brethren if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”, without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead"(James 2:14-17). Understanding these words as a call to action, individual members of the Church have always joined together, with the blessing of their spiritual leader and under his guidance, in shared charitable activity in the name of Christ. Their aim has been to do for their needy neighbors what the world could not (or would not) do. This is a fraternity of Brotherhood, Church organizations within the Church and for the Church.

One such fraternity is the Brotherhood of "The Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple", which has been founded at the Drohobych Theological Seminary. Together with their spiritual father, the brothers gather for weekly prayer in the Church. The main criterion here is freedom in the Holy Spirit. Meeting and being in union with God in a close communication is a prerequisite for meeting other people in love. That is why prayer is so important for members of this community. The brothers go out into a world of people who perhaps are far from God, and these people need someone who is close to God. The outreach of the brothers through preaching is like Christ’s coming to His younger brothers, and not like a well-prepared student of theology lecturing to a clearly defined audience. As, God Himself points out "No one comes to the Father except through me" (Jn 14:6). Therefore, the fundamental mission of members of the seminary community is to witness to Christ and not to himself.

Our academic year begins with Liturgy celebrated by our Bishop in which we pray for the health of all the brothers and ask blessings for the year. According to our tradition we elect the Dean of Students for the Seminary. All the seminarians gather in the auditorium and consider who might be worthy candidates for this office. Having considered everything, the brothers fill in the name of one of their number on specially prepared sheets of paper and then put them into an urn (made especially for this purpose). Once all the names have been collected, the Central Election Commission is organized consisting of all the “seniors” of the different years and the votes are counted to determine who will be the Dean of Students. The newly elected Dean asks the blessing of the administration, and then he undergoes the traditional inauguration ceremony that consists of his “enthronement” on a special tree-stump. Then he proceeds to take up his duties.

After some months of study the winter feast days arrive, one of which is the feast of St. Nicholas. On this day, we traditionally hold two events: the Seminary celebration of the feast of St. Nicholas and a celebration of St. Nicholas together with the Youth Choir "Vidlunnia (Echoes)” and the Brotherhood of the Holy Trinity Cathedral. Both these celebrations are very similar and yet different.

The celebration of the feast inside the Seminary is always organized by students of the third course and this allows them to show their creativity. You may ask why? Because on this evening they present episodes of everyday life in the Seminary in a rather comic light. Parallel with the third year coures’ organization of the celebration of the feast of St. Nicholas, the second year course, organizes theirs for the choir "Echoes" and the Brotherhood of the Cathedral. Here, both sides try to show the shortcomings of the other side through pointed jokes but as everything must be based on real events that have actually taken place, there can be no exaggerating or inventing situations, After these two nights there is always a good atmosphere and good memories.

In October, for the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God we organize the Pokrovsky celebrations with a “Strong Men Competition”. In these competitions each course tries to show their abilities both physical and intellectual. Naturally, as in any competition there is a jury, which evaluates all stages of the contest and who in the end makes a decision. Although this is a contest and, of course, places are awarded in the end, as people like to say “friendship is the ultimate winner.”

The month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. At this time we have special devotions to the Mother of God in our Chapel. But this is not all. In this month we have the annual pilgrimage to Hrushiv (a center of Marian devotion near Drohobych), which involves a large number of people not only from Drohobych, but also from other cities and villages, as well as our seminarians. This has become a tradition not only for the Seminary but for everyone. But, we do not limit ourselves only to the Hrushiv pilgrimage and every year there are also pilgrimages to Univ, Krekhiv, Zarvanytsia, Bylychi and other holy places.

Twice a year we have a “Carnevale”: before the Christmas and Easter fasts. A large number of young people gather at these events because on the next day we begin our ascent of the spiritual “ladder of perfection” so that we may adequately meet these two great feasts.

Our summer camps have a slightly different character. After a long year of study young people want to relax and, with this in mind, we organize our summer camps “Zarephath”. However, the goal of the summer camp is not just to have a good time, it is also an opportunity to work with youth on their spiritual growth and introduce them to a deeper understanding of Christianity. Each year these camps take place in different places, mainly in the mountains and they attract young people from almost all over Ukraine.

6.00 - Rising

6.30 – First Hour and Divine Liturgy

8.00 - Breakfast

8.30 - The first teaching session

10.05 - Break

10.15 - Third Hour

10.25 - The second teaching session

12.00 - Break

12.15 - Third teaching session

14.00 - Lunch

14.30 - Sixth Hour in the chapel

14.45 - Free time

16.00 – Individual Study time

19.00 – Ninth Hour and Vespers

19.40 - Dinner

20.50 - Spiritual Conference

21.15 - Evening prayer and preparation for sleep

22.00 – Sleep

Members of the Seminary community, who wish to have a deeper prayer life, are united in the Brotherhood of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple. The Brotherhood, which is closely linked to the Brotherhood of the same name at the Lviv Seminary of the Holy Spirit, is under the protection of the Fr. Isydor Dolnytskyy – a prominent liturgist of the 19th century.

Seminarians regularly produce a religious-social magazine called the "Word" every two months. The magazine has a high production and printing standard, with a few thousand being distributed throughout the parishes of our Eparchy.

During the Christmas, Easter and summer holidays Seminarians help in the organization of holiday services in parishes in the East, Center and South of Ukraine, in the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, as well as working in summer Christian Youth Camps - the so-called "Sarepta."

A great deal of attention is given to creating conditions in which Seminarians are able to make a free choice about their future state in life. In order to gain a better understanding of monastic life, during the holidays students are able to live for a limited period of time in actual monasteries, and to familiarization them with the Sacrament of Marriage, special series of conferences for clergy, are given to students in the senior courses.

"And it was evening and it was morning - one day ..." At the time when the new day is about to begin, at Drohobych Seminary the bell rings: 6.00 – a time for getting out of bed, getting ready for the First Hour and the Divine Liturgy, for a meeting with Christ, whom we meet in the word of the Gospel and in the edifying, soul building sermon of the Fathers and in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. As St. Gregory the Theologian says in his 32nd Discourse: "We must first make ourselves clean in order to make others clean; we must acquire wisdom to teach others wisdom, be a light in order to enlighten, to get closer to God so as to bring others to Him, be sanctified that we might to sanctify others ".

Then - breakfast and lectures, which begin at 8:30 am and last until 13.50, during which students acquire the knowledge and the skills necessary for their future ministry. During one of the breaks between lectures (there are three breaks daily) the Third hour is prayed, because prayer is an integral part of the growth of Seminarians.

At 14.00 - Lunch at which seminarians receive tasty meals made with love and professional skill. It is important to acknowledge, the women who cook, the cleaners and the other workers, who put their soul into their work, and who take care of the seminary students as if they were members of their own families.

Immediately after Lunch, the Six Hour is prayers, and after that - free time with permission to go to the city. This time lasts until 16.00. At this time a period of private study begins and continues until 19.00. Students, by preparing for lectures, deepen their knowledge. They also attend electives in foreign languages, choir rehearsals for the seminary choir "Oranta" or other activities.

As well as their studies, each student has a specific ministry. This work may be in the iconography workshop, the editorial staff of the seminary magazine "Word"; preparing religious radio programs that are broadcast by local television and radio company "Alset" at 19.00 on Tuesday and Thursday. Other seminarians work in the Charitable Foundation "Caritas" with children from troubled families. Many students serve in orphanages, where they teach catechism to the children, and try to help give at least a little bit of grace and God's light to little ones, who have already suffered so much pain and disillusion, by sharing with them the Father's love.

Together with the ministry "outside the walls ", students also perform a variety of physical jobs, that are necessary for the maintenance of the daily life of the seminary. His awareness of his vocation as service to God and to His people, helps in this daily work. "We have to perform our duties among difficulties and with dedication ... not from self-interest! Not to cling to your position in society. For Christ has placed in our hands the work of the salvation of our people "- so said Metropolitan Sheptytsky and reality of his words still lives on...

Along with their study, fulfilling ministries and responsibilities, students do find time to rest. They attend concerts of sacred and choral music, organize and carry out literary evenings, interesting meetings where various issues interest for of both church and society are raised. Our guests were Bishop Cyril Vasil’, Joseph Wert and Igor Isichenko; Professors Gudziak, Marani, Suttner, Colzani; Fr. Mykola Pristay; guests from the Armenian Apostolic Church; Lesya Dychko, the Secretary of the Union of Composers, the winner of the Taras Shevchenko Prize, a Professor from the National Music Academy of Ukraine; Mstislav Yurchenko PhD, winner of Lysenko State Prize, Deputy Head of Department Musicology State Academy of Administration of Culture and Arts of Ukraine; the poet Dmitry Pavlychko and others.

There is no shortage of sports fans: In the seminary there is a gym with various forms of sports equipment. In addition, students enjoy playing football and participating in various competitions.

19.00 - seminarians gather in the chapel for the Ninth Hour and Vespers. Next - dinner at 21.15 - common evening prayer in the chapel. Then the bell rings at 22.00, which marks the end of the day.

The last rays of evening sun are just visible. They give the sign that this day has ended, but tomorrow will give birth to a new day - a new stage in preparation for the Holy Sacrament of the Priesthood.

"And it was evening and it was morning - day..."

Our library was established in 1996, when the Drohobych Seminary was set up, as a essential part of the school. The emphasis in the library is on spiritual (religious) literature. The main subject areas are : "Scripture", "Writings of the Church Fathers", "History of the Universal Church", "History of the Ukrainian Church", "Philosophy", "Spirituality", "Theology", "The Works of A. Sheptytsky and J. Slipyy", "Lives of Saints and Ascetics", "Liturgical Studies”, “The Holy.Mysteries", "Religion", "The Priesthood", "Christology", "Family and Marriage”, "Catechetics". 
The Library also makes available literature on Ecclesiology, Apologetics, Iconography, Psychology, General History, Cultural History, Church Music, Canon Law, Councils and Synods and Church liturgical books.
At the present moment were are cataloguing our electronic library which includes a huge number of publications, many of which are rare.
Borrowing from the Library is restricted to the students and staff of the Seminary but the services of our reading room are open to the public.

Spiritual Directors:
Fr. Mykhaylo Kolischak - born 12.03.1968 Lybokhora (Turka district, Lviv region).
1989 - 1996 - Kiev Theological Seminary and Academy.
Ordained - 07/16/1996 Skole (Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary), Ordainer - Bishop Yulian Voronovskyy.

Fr. Oleg Smereka - born 09/15/1967 in Borislav (Lviv region).
1992 - 1996 Ivano-Frankivsk Seminary.
Ordained - 11/10/1996 Drohobych (Blessed Trinity), Ordainer - BishopYulian Voronovskyy.

Fr. Ivan Pankiv - born 16.07.1967 in Mosty (Gorodok district Lviv region).
1992 - 1999 Catholic University of Lublin, where he obtained a Master's Degree.
Ordained - 08/09/1996 Drogobych (Blessed Trinity), Ordainer - Bishop Yulian Voronovskyy.

Fr. Roman Volyanskiy - born 16.04.1972 in Bilychi (Staryy Sambir district Lviv region).
1992 - 1997 Lviv Theological Seminary of the Holy Spirit.
Ordained - 11/02/1997 Drohobych (Blessed Trinity), Ordainer- Bishop Yulian Voronovskyy.

Fr. Stepan Uhryn - born 8/01/1976 in Drohobych (Lviv region). 
1994 – 2001 Lviv Theological Seminary of the Holy Spirit.
2009 - 2012 Pontifical Oriental Institute, Licentiate in Eastern Church Studies (Spirituality).
Ordained: 15/06/2003 Drohobych (Blessed Trinity), Ordainer- Bishop Yulian Voronovskyy.


Confessors:
Fr. Eustahiy Ladyka
Fr. Ivan Kovba

The Rector of the Seminary: The Reverend Mitred Archpriest Dr. Myron Bendyk, Doctor of Theology.
Date and Place of Birth: 23.92 1954 Lviv Ukraine
Priestly Ordination - 07/02/1987 Lviv.   Ordainer Bishop Philemon Kurchaba.
Student of the underground seminary in Lviv until 1987. Commencing in 1994, he studied at Catholic University of Lublin, Poland where he defended his Doctoral Thesis in Dogmatic Theology.
 Marital Status: Married. 

Vice-Rector for Formation: Fr. Basil Chava.
Date and Place of Birth - 02.02.1969 Drohobych, Lviv region.
 Priestly Ordination - 12.07.2011 The Holy Trinity Cathedral, Drohobych. Ordainer   - Bishop Yulian (Voronovskyy). 
From 1992 - 1997 studied at the Lviv Seminary.
Marital Status: Married.

Vice-Rector for Studies: Fr.Roman Andriyovskyy, License in Eastern Canon Law, Doctor of Eastern Theology.
 Date and Place of Birth - 25.08.1980 Drohobych.
Priestly Ordination - 7.04.2012 Church of Dormition of Mother of God, Drohobych. Ordainer   - Bishop Yaroslav (Pryriz).
Graduated from the Drohobych Seminary in 2002. From 2002-2004, student for Licentiate in Theology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome. From 2005-2008 student in the Doctoral cycle. In June 2008 received his Doctorate in Theology. In 2009 received the degree of licentiate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. Marital Status: Single.

The Drohobych Seminary is named after the Blessed Priest-monk-martyrs Severyn, Yakym and Vitaliy. These three priests were zealous pastors of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who were ardent pastoral workers and who died at the hands of Bolshevik forces in Drohobych. In June 2001, during his pilgrimage to Ukraine, the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II declared them blessed.

 
Fr. Yakym SENKIVSKYY
Born May 2, 1896 into a large family in the village Hayi Velyki, near Ternopil. From childhood members of the Senkivskyy family were used to hard physical labour in the fields. However, their parents spared no money on the education of their children, whom they raised in a Christian and patriotic spirit. Both the sons of the Senkivskyy family (Ivan (later - Yakym) and Volodymyr) became priests.
Ivan (Yakym) Senkivskyy graduated from his theological studies at Lviv and 4 December 1921 he was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of St. George. He continued theological studies in Innsbruck (Austria) where he gained his doctorate.
Fr. Senkivskyy entered the Order of St. Basil the Great on July 10, 1923 in Krekhiv, made his first monastic vows March 1, 1925, and August 31, 1930 - his perpetual vows. He had a cheerful character, and was an friendly, kind, exemplary monk. From 1925 to 1927 Fr. Yakym worked as assistant priest in the parish of Krasnopushcha in the Ternopil region, and from1927 - 1931 he was a professor of Humanities (Ukrainian Studies, Latin, History, Geography...) at the district Graduate Theological School at St. Onufrius Monastery in the village of Laviv, Sambir District. Besides this he was sent to teach Catechetism at a local school and in the village of Linyna.
In 1932, Fr. Senkivskyy was appointed to Lviv, where he led the Marian Society and the Basilian Third Order. Often, especially during Lent, he led retreats, and throughout the year he gave missions. The Chronicle of Lviv Monastery records: Fr. Yakym Senkivskyy has a gift from God for communication with people, especially young people, and during his sermons, churches were completely filled with the faithful.
In 1939, Fr. Yakym Senkivskyy was appointed Abbot of the Monastery of the Basilians in Drohobych. With the arrival of the Rev. Professor Yakym Senkivskyy in Drohobych there was a revival in pastoral activities and religious life was enlivened by great missions and enriched by new elements of parish work. From the earliest days of his stay in Drohobych he became a favorite of all the town. He won for himself the sympathies of the population through his brilliant talent for preaching, his ability to adapt himself either to the intellectual or to the worker, to the elderly and to the young, even to small children. He was always polite and cordial and with a smile on his face. With the advent of Soviet power in Galicia Fr. Senkivskyy became a symbol of the Church and the people in Drohobych.
Through his sermons Father Yakym knew how to keep people spirits high and give them hope for a better tomorrow. The Soviets repeatedly called Professor Fr. Senkivskyy in for "conversations" and eventually he was required to stop his pastoral work in the Monastery. On the morning of June 26, 1941 the Priest-monk Yakym Senkivskyy celebrated the last Holy Liturgy of his life, and before dinner the Bolsheviks arrested him, along with the Priest-monk Severyn Baranyk. A few days before the faithful had urged the Fathers to leave the Monastery as quickly as possible and wait out the danger elsewhere. Witnesses report that Fr. Yakym answered: "I will not hide, and without the Lord’s Will, not a hair will fall from my head."
On June 29, 1941, a Sunday morning, before the Germans reached the city, people rushed to the prison with the hope of freeing their relatives, but they found only hundreds of tortured bodies. In one of the basement cells of the prison, among other things, the Office Book of Fr. Baranyk and a holy card belonging to Fr. Senkivskyy were found. However, the body of the Priest-monk Yakym Senkivskyy OSBM was never found, witnesses said that it had been boiled in a cauldron and given to the prisoners to eat. There is a great probability of this being true as people who then were in prison, claimed that the soup, which they were fed was of a sweetish taste, and they had found human nails in it.

Fr. Severyn BARANYK
Born July 18, 1889 in Uhniv (Lviv region). He joined the Order of St.Basil the Great on September 24, 1904 at Krekhiv. On May 16, 1907 he made his first monastic vows, and his perpetual vows on September 21, 1910 He received priestly ordination on February 14, 1915.
Living in Zhovkva monastery, Fr. Severyn led an active pastoral life. He worked as a catechist, edited a children's magazine "Nash Pryjatel (Our friend)", was the Director of the Association of Apostleship of Prayer and the Marian Association for the Youth, head of the orphanage, and gave instruction to monks, and led retreats for the faithful.
In 1932 he was appointed Abbot of the Basilian monastery and pastor of the Holy Trinity Church in Drohobych, one of the most important churches and religious centers of Galicia. Many difficulties and joys awaited Father Baranyk in his role as Abbot. Fr. Severyn worked constantly and vigorously giving retreats, was a great friend of young people, and interested in the sporting life of Drohobych, and was also an energetic philanthropist and a member of the City Council.
With the arrival of Soviet troops in Drohobych NKVD (Secret Service Police) agents banned the Drohobych Basilians from going outside of their monastery, citing as the reason the demands of wartime. The faithful advised them to flee as soon as possible and wait out this difficult time, but the Priest-monks did not want to take this advice. On June 26, 1941 the NKVD took them to the Drohobych prison and nobody saw them again after this.
Two or three days later the Germans came and let people look for their relatives in prison. What was revealed was a nightmare. Mr. Josyf Lastov'yak says:
"At the end of June 1941 the front approached Drohobych. The Bolshevik government tried to cover their tracks. I saw a big hole hidden behind the prison, which was covered with sand and smoothed down with a roller. When the Bolsheviks retreated, the Germans came, and people rushed to the prison to find their relatives. The Germans let several people into the territory of the prison - to recognize their murdered relatives, but most people stood at the gate. I was a boy, so being near the gates meant that I could not see anything, so I went off and climbed up a tree. There was a terrible stench. I saw how the Germans had sent people to open a pit that was covered with sand. The pit was fresh because people uncovered it with their own hands and pulled the bodies of the murdered people out. Near the pit was an awning, but underneath it I saw the dead body of Father Severyn Baranyk, OSBM, which was very damaged due to torture in prison: the body was unnaturally swollen, black, a frightening face, and my father later told me that on his chest they had carved a cross. I saw the body of Fr. Baranyk at a distance of 10-15 meters.”
A few years after the war, the local prosecutor, telling Mrs. Sofiya Morska about what happened then in the prison, and in particular to the priests (Severyn Baranyk and Yakym Senkivskyy), said: "One of them was cooked in a pot and given to the prisoners to eat, the others were buried in the ground up to their necks and they walked on their heads. "
The burial place of Fr. Severyn Baranyk is not definitively known, but numerous reports indicate that he was buried with others in a "common" grave in the cemetery on M. Hrushevskyy Street in Drohobych.

Fr. Vitaliy BAYRAK
Born February 24, 1907 in the village of Shvaykivtsi (Chortkiv district, Ternopil region). In 1922 he enrolled in the Gymnasium at Chortkiv where he proved to be an exemplary student and an active organizer of public activities. He entered the Basilian Monastery on September 4, 1924. After the novitiate in Krekhiv and training in monasteries in Lavriv, Dobromyl and Krystynopil (the present Chervonohrad), he studied philosophy and theology. On February 26, 1933 he advanced to perpetual vows. He was ordained a priest in the Monastery of Zhovkva on August 13, 1933.
In Zhovkva Fr. Vitaliy Bayrak led the parish life in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He also was the Deputy Abbot and took care of the parish office. He became Chaplain to the Marian Women’s Group and ran the Association of the Apostleship of Prayer for a Happy Death.
Despite all his occupations, Fr. Vitaliy led retreats and preached in various places in Western Ukraine. In July 1941 he was appointed Abbot of the Monastery in Drohobych, to replace Fr. Yakym Senkivskyy who had been martyred by the Bolsheviks. Here Fr. Vitaliy led an active pastoral life and guided the same associations as he had in Zhovkva.
On September 17, 1945 he was arrested by the NKVD of the Drohobych region. By the decision of the Military Tribunal of the NKVD Drohobych region November 13, 1945 he was sentenced to eight years in prison with confiscation of property. A witness Mr. Vasylenko, who in 1946 tried to give Fr. Vitaliy some blessed Easter foods, said that he had been severely beaten and carried back to his room in a sheet. Fr. Vitaliy Bayrak died at the hands of the NKVD executioners in Drohobych jail on May 16, 1946. He was rehabilitated posthumously by the Regional Office of Prosecutions on August 14, 1995.

When in 1996, with the blessing of His Excellency Yulian Voronovskyy, Bishop of Sambir-Drohobych, the Drohobych Seminary began its work (still under the name of Theological Faculty of the Eparchial Catechetical Institute), the Byzantine tradition, as the basis for the life and development of the Church of Kyiv, was the foundation for its spiritual life, teaching and educational activates.
We had emerged, it would seem, from basic logic: our Church is one of the Churches of the Christian East and should belong to that same East not only historically and in a ritual-liturgical sense, but also in the nature of its education. Therefore, a theological seminary of the Eastern tradition was required.
What may have seemed self-evident in theory was quite different in practice. After analyzing the approaches, curriculum and educational processes of the already existing seminaries of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, we saw that, generally speaking, they were carbon copies of Latin seminaries (philosophical and theological courses were actually translated into Ukrainian from Latin courses and could have been taught in Roman Catholic seminaries in Ukraine without any changes being made. The exceptions to this were Liturgical Studies, and later with the appearance of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches in 1991 - "Eastern" Canon Law also).
Seeing the situation in the Ukrainian Church seminaries, a group of the first teachers of our Seminary looked for possible examples in the seminaries of the Byzantine tradition in other Eastern Catholic Churches (Romanian, Slovak, Hungarian), and made contact with the Professors of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. Unfortunately it turned out that nowhere could such a Byzantine seminary be found. The realization of this idea was of great interest to the Professors of the Oriental Institute. Consequently we re-worked and perfected our seminary program in close collaboration with Frs. Špidlík, Rupnik, Čemus, Taft, Gargano, Guggerotti, Marani. Our collaboration with them helped us to continue along the path that we had chosen. Now that this rather dramatic period of investigation and searching has passed, we can essentially say that it is possible to build a training program based on the Byzantine tradition.
The roots of the structure of education in our Seminary, consisting of philosophical and theological courses, date back to the Antiochian and Alexandrian schools, and especially to Constantinople with its Pandidakterion (University), founded in V century.
In comparison with the Philosophy and Theology cycles in our modern Latin counterparts, it could be said that we have dramatically increased the liturgical-patristic element. We have oriented our Philosophy component to be a preparation for the theology of Fathers of the Church. In this sector we analyze ancient philosophical terms, in the light of their later use by the Fathers. On the other hand, we show how the preaching of the Gospel was inculturated by the Fathers into Greco-Roman philosophical and cultural concepts.
In the theological sector we use the Patristic method of theology to emphasize the importance of inner experience. We do not limit ourselves only to Dogmatic and Moral Theology. In fact Liturgical Theology prevails in our approach to Dogmatic Theology, where liturgical rather than systematic thinking is more influential (especially the Eucharistic Anaphora). Moral Theology is built on the dynamics of the Christian movement from law to grace, from the image of God to Divine likeness, which is not legal and casuistic, but rather personal-divinizing . The idea of the deification of man is opened out in the course on Mystical Theology, which is aimed at promoting the transition from faith to the mystical vision of God.
Closely related to this is the teaching of Patristic Theology, in which the consensus of the Conciliar Fathers (consensus partum) is demonstrated and the action of the "Spirit of truth" in the Church is identified. In presenting Patristics, it is important to show that the Fathers of the Church belong not solely to a specific historical period, which ended with the VIII century. Being a Father of the Church, which includes being a Spiritual Father, is the vocation of every Christian, who is initiated into the Divine Mystery through the Mystagogy of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist.