{"id":57,"date":"2015-05-20T11:37:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T11:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/05\/a-story-of-perseverance.html"},"modified":"2016-03-25T17:25:24","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T22:25:24","slug":"a-story-of-perseverance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/05\/a-story-of-perseverance.html","title":{"rendered":"A story of perseverance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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In June 2006, I landed at an airport where arrivals and departures were permanently painted on the wall and where every passenger, regardless of airline, went to the same one check-in counter. \u00a0After convincing the immigration agent that the picture on my passport was really me, I began one of the most meaningful events of my life, teaching English in Lviv, Ukraine.<\/div>\n
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Nearly all my students were Greek Catholics, those who preserve the liturgy and traditions of the east while remaining in communion with the Pope in Rome. \u00a0The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is one of the several churches that make up the Catholic Church. \u00a0Most of my students had participated in the recent 2005 peaceful Orange Revolution which saw the fall of an illegitimate regime and the election of the western leaning president Viktor Yushchenko. \u00a0Along with a hopeful political situation came a dynamic and growing Ukrainian Church with a full seminary and a growing Catholic university. \u00a0After decades of worshipping underground, Ukrainian Catholics were grateful to practice their faith openly.<\/p>\n

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Teaching English at the university\u2019s language immersion camp in a remote village on the Stry River was more than just teaching a foreign language to college sophomores. \u00a0It was giving them a tool that would help Ukraine integrate better with Europe and assist the seminarians develop a stronger link to Rome. \u00a0The university\u2019 president, Father Borys Gudziak, a Harvard educated Ukrainian-American, told us that the mission of the university was to help Ukrainian society heal and rise from decades of Soviet control. \u00a0Besides its strong Christian mission, the university serves as a center of Ukrainian culture and outreach that upholds the dignity of the human person.<\/div>\n

When the Soviet Union invaded Lviv in 1945, the Theological Academy of Lviv was closed and its rector, Bishop Josyf Slipyj, was sentenced to a labor camp in Siberia. \u00a0The following year the Ukrainian Catholic Church was officially dissolved and forcibly joined to the Russian Orthodox Church. \u00a0Millions of Ukrainian Catholics lost their parishes, schools and other institutions. \u00a0They continued to worship underground. \u00a0Soviet policies called for the eradication of the Ukrainian language and culture. \u00a0Millions died of starvation while Ukraine continued to be the bread basket of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

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Bishop Slipyj was released in 1963 after President Kennedy exchanged him for a Soviet spy. \u00a0Slipyj promptly founded the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome. \u00a0Soon after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Lviv Theological Academy began operating again under the guidance of Father Borys Gudziak, one of Slipyj\u2019s students in Rome. \u00a0In 2002, the Academy officially became the Ukrainian Catholic University. \u00a0Before Josyf Slipyj died in 1984, he stated that once the Soviet Union fell, he wished for his body to be transferred to Lviv. \u00a0Soviet authorities scoffed at his words, yet in 1992 his body was transferred from Rome to the Cathedral of Saint George in Lviv. \u00a0He further stated before dying, that when the Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churches in Ukraine reunited, he wished for his body to be transferred to Kiev. \u00a0That may still take some time to happen.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the political climate in Ukraine has changed in recent years. \u00a0The peaceful Orange Revolution of 2005 was replaced by a revolution of death and confrontation in 2014. \u00a0Though politics may be turbulent, the zeal and mission of Greek Catholic Ukrainians continues. \u00a0A Church that has known extreme persecution and suffering rallies on, confident and unafraid.<\/p>\n

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With my students. \u00a0I\u2019m in the back towards the right. \u00a0On the left wearing purple is Paul from Alaska, we taught together.<\/div>\n
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In class with Father Bob (RIP) who had an amazing beard<\/div>\n

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Our classroom was also the dinning room of the house where six teacher volunteers lived.<\/div>\n
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After liturgy at the nearby village<\/div>\n
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Bridge at the village over the Stry River<\/div>\n
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Pictures are mine, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In June 2006, I landed at an airport where arrivals and departures were permanently painted on the wall and where every passenger, regardless of airline, went to the same one check-in counter. \u00a0After convincing the immigration agent that the picture on my passport was really me, I began one of the most meaningful events of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA story of perseverance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In June 2006, I landed at an airport where arrivals and departures were permanently painted on the wall and where every passenger, regardless of airline,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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