VIDEO RECORDING OF BOHDAN BOCIURKIW MEMORIAL LECTURE & SYMPOSIUM ON ORTHODOXY AND AUTOCEPHALY IN UKRAINE

3 March 2020

 

BOHDAN BOCIURKIW MEMORIAL LECTURE
NICHOLAS DENYSENKO
"EXPLAINING UKRAINIAN AUTOCEPHALY: POLITICS, HISTORY, ECCLESIOLOGY, AND THE FUTURE"

 
Dr. Nicholas Denysenko serves as the Emil and Elfriede Jochum Professor and Chair at Valparaiso University (Indiana). He studied business at the University of Minnesota (B.Sc., 1994), and his graduate studies were at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (M.Div., 2000) and the Catholic University of America (Ph.D., 2008). Professor Denysenko is the author of several books and articles on liturgical theology and Orthodoxy.
The historic decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) in 2018-19 dominated the news and heightened tensions between the world's Orthodox Churches. In his presentation, Dr. Denysenko will connect the events that led to the creation of the OCU with the modern history of Orthodoxy in Ukraine. Aspects of politics, history, and ecclesiology will be discussed based on his recent monograph  The Orthodox Church in Ukraine: A Century of Separation (Northern Illinois University Press 2018).

 

 

SYMPOSIUM
"ORTHODOXY AND AUTOCEPHALY IN UKRAINE: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE" 

 

 

 

Due to our growing concerns about the rapidly escalating coronavirus pandemic, and the fact that our symposium included several international participants and was expected to draw a significant number of seniors, a decision was made on the morning of the event to cancel our public sessions. However, as we were already set up to make a video recording of the talks, so as to salvage the work done by our expert speakers we taped each of their presentations, which were given without discussion to save time. That way we could get our visitors back home before travel became much more difficult or impossible. We are now pleased to be able to share with you the content of the symposium, along with the Bohdan Bociurkiw lecture which preceded it, both of which are accessible through our Facebook page. The symposium was organized and sponsored by the Religion and Culture Program of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. 

 
On 5 January 2019 the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, signed the  tomos that officially recognized and established the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and granted it autocephaly. The consequences of this act are still reverberating not only in Ukraine but also throughout the Orthodox world. This international symposium brings together experts from a variety of fields and perspectives in order to discuss the historical origins of and procedures for granting autocephaly, as well as the state of the Church at ground level in Ukraine since the  tomos and its theological and political impact both in Ukraine and internationally.

 

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Jaroslaw Buciora, St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, Toronto, "The Ecclesiastical Motherhood of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine"

 

 
Tetiana Kalenychenko,  Drahomanov National Pedagogical University, "Orthodoxy on the Ground: How to Deal with Religion in Conditions (Frames) of Armed Conflict"

 

 
Anatolii Babynskyi, Ukrainian Catholic University and Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, "Both 'Ukrainian' and 'Canonical': Challenges and Opportunities for the Relations between the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church"

 

 
Andrii Krawchuk, University of Sudbury, "Who's Afraid of the OCU? Competing Agendas of Recognition, Relationships and Geopolitics"

 

 
Thomas Bremer, University of Münster, "Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda-Missed Opportunities, Lost Chances, Bad Options for the Moscow Patriarchate"

 

 

Radu Bordeianu, Duquesne University, "Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine: Its Impact Outside Ukraine"