The Influence of Myroslav-Ivan Lyubachivsky on the Development of Canon Law in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Abstract

This article provides a theological analysis of the influence of the activities of Myroslav Ivan Lyubachivsky, Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), on the development of canon law within the Church. Upon his return to Ukraine in 1991, he led the Church’s revival. According to researchers studying Lubachivsky’s figure, as well as church leaders, he became a symbol of the UGCC’s emergence from the underground. His universal and multifaceted thinking, broad worldview, and the times themselves compelled Lubachivsky to be not only a pastor but also a politician during a period when radicalism would have only exacerbated conflicts. The head of the UGCC was forced to maneuver between the Vatican, the “underground,” and the official position of the authorities of the time, while simultaneously making decisions that would subsequently contribute to the development of the UGCC. For the Church’s development, it was crucial to initiate the process of lawmaking within the UGCC—that is, the creation of its own particular (local) law. The head of the Church initiated the process of law-making by convening Councils and Synods and, for the first time in the history of church legislation, established a commission on law-making within the UGCC.