On August 14–15, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Philadelphia Borys Gudziak visited the Exarchate of Lutsk. During the two-day visit, he traveled to Ostroh, Zdolbuniv, Dubno, and Lutsk, where he met with clergy and representatives of educational and cultural communities and took part in prayer and the blessing of a new spiritual and social center. Metropolitan Gudziak was welcomed by Bishop Yosafat Oleh Hovera, Exarch of Lutsk.
The visit began with a Divine Liturgy for the community of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Parish of Saints Joachim and Anne in Ostroh, which worships in the Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Divine Liturgy was presided over by Bishop Emeritus Hlib Lonchyna, who also preached. Metropolitan Borys Gudziak, Bishop Yosafat Hovera, and the parish administrator, Father Ivan Rozhak, concelebrated.
The guests were welcomed by Father Yaroslav Rudyi, pastor of the Roman Catholic Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Canon Father Witold-Józef Kowaliv, director of the Volhynia publication Volannia z Volyni.
After the Divine Liturgy, the delegation visited the National University of Ostroh Academy. The university's president, Professor Ihor Pasichnyk, and Vice-Rector for Education and Upbringing, Doctor Ruslana Kalamazh, introduced the guests to the life and work of the academy.
Metropolitan Borys and the members of the delegation visited the Museum of the History of Ostroh Academy, the university church, and the academy's research laboratories. In the church, they prayed for the university's leadership, faculty, and students, asking for wisdom and strength for the academic community and for its peaceful future. Metropolitan Gudziak also had an opportunity to hold one of the rare copies of the Ostroh Bible.
The next stop was Zdolbuniv. At the local cemetery, a memorial plaque dedicated to Father Theodore Malko, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest arrested by the Soviet authorities in 1950, was unveiled and blessed. He died in Zdolbuniv prison in 1952. Father Ivan Bokalo, a priest of the Stryi Eparchy, which is leading the beatification process of Father Theodore Malko, also took part in the ceremony.
After the unveiling of the memorial plaque, the delegation visited the Zdolbuniv Local History Museum at the invitation of its director, Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi. During the Soviet period, the museum building was used as an NKVD prison, where the priest spent the final years of his life. The guests saw former prison cells and rooms associated with torture and learned how the museum today preserves the memory of Soviet repression and reinterprets this historic space.
In Zdolbuniv, the delegation also visited the Parish of Saints Peter and Paul.
In Dubno, the guests visited the Parish of the Ascension of the Lord, where they met with young participants in the “Fun Vacation with God” camp and learned about the work of the parish sewing workshop and bakery.
The first day concluded in Lutsk at the Monastery and Church of St. Basil the Great. There, Metropolitan Gudziak met with the monastic community and representatives of the local “Ukrainian Youth – Christ” community.
On August 15, the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, Metropolitan Borys Gudziak presided over the Divine Liturgy at the cathedral in Lutsk.
That same day, the delegation visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, located near Lutsk Castle, and its underground crypts.
At the house of the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence, the delegation met with members of the community. The congregation originated among Ukrainian women working in Italy and today brings together Ukrainian and Italian women. It has three houses, in Lutsk, Ternopil, and Modena. The meeting was also attended by Bishop Vitaliy Skomarovskyi, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lutsk in Ukraine.
The visit concluded with the blessing of a new spiritual and social center on the site designated for the construction of the Church of the community of St. Andrew the First-Called in Horokhiv, Volyn.
The center was established with the support of the Patriarchal Foundation “Mudra Sprava” and through donations from benefactors mobilized by the foundation. The multifunctional space is intended to serve not only the parish community but also the residents of the city as a place for spiritual, social, and cultural life.
The blessing ceremony was presided over by Bishop Yosafat Oleh Hovera, Exarch of Lutsk. Metropolitan Borys Gudziak, Bishop Emeritus Hlib Lonchyna, and clergy from the Exarchate of Lutsk and neighboring eparchies joined him in prayer.
