During last week’s visit of Patriarch Sviatoslav to the Sheptytsky Institute, his Beatitude was presented with a copy of the newly released collection of essays Eastern Catholic Theology in Action: Essays in Liturgy, Ecclesiology, and Ecumenism. This collection is the first volume in a new series, Eastern Catholic Studies and Texts, published by Catholic University of America Press.
The two editors of the volume, Deacon Cyril Kennedy and Fr. Andrew Summerson, both have deep ties to the Sheptytsky Institute. Deacon Cyril studied at the Sheptytsky Institute from 2008 to 2013, and has been the editor of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, since 2017. Fr. Andrew is Assistant Professor of Greek Patristics, and has taught at the Sheptytsky Institute since 2021.
During his presentation, Deacon Cyril highlighted how the volume builds on the theological work of Fr. Peter Galadza, to whom it is dedicated. This is expressed in the breadth of contributions from a variety of theologians, historians, canonists, liturgists and other scholars, who represent the various Eastern Catholic Churches, the Roman Catholic Church, and several Orthodox Churches.
The book is available for purchase through the CUA Press website, and on Amazon. To hear Deacon Cyril’s presentation to Patriarch Sviatoslav click here.
CBC Radio has featured His Beatitude’s Tuesday lecture on Ideas which is a national program that airs across Canada. Click here to listen!
From the CBC Ideas March 2025 Schedule Page:
WAR, PEACE AND TRUTH: UKRANIAN ARCHBISHOP SVIATOSLAV SHEVCHUK How can religion help decode the motives for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine? And how can Judeo-Christian ethics inform a way forward for peace? Ukrainian Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, and bestselling historian of Central European politics Timothy Snyder explore these questions during a public event in Toronto.
Fr. Raymond J. de Souza comments on Patriarch Sviatoslav’s powerful message on truth and lies after attending the Institute’s “War, Peace and Truth” presentation. Read the whole story here.
A new book, “Eastern Catholic Theology in Action: Essays in Liturgy, Ecclesiology and Ecumenism” edited by our own professors Drs. Andrew Summerson and Cyril Kennedy and featuring the work of Director and Professor Emeritus Dr. Peter Galadza is hot off the press! Check out the Q&A with the editors at the Catholic University of America Press blog: Q&A with Andrew J. Summerson and Cyril Kennedy – Catholic University of America Press
TORONTO—The Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute Foundation (MASIF) is excited to announce that the Temerty Foundation, established by James and Louise Temerty, has made a transformational gift of $5 million to MASIF. The endowed funds will provide scholarships for students at the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies and support the continued publication of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. The gift also will support the maintenance of the Sheptytsky Institute’s headquarters on the campus of University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, which is now officially named “Sheptytsky House.”
“The Temerty Foundation commends the University of St. Michael’s College for honouring the legacy of Metropolitan Sheptytsky (1865-1944) by renaming Windle House to Sheptytsky House. This action recognizes Metropolitan Sheptytsky’s immense contributions to the preservation of Ukraine’s cultural heritage and his brave efforts to protect Jewish lives during World War II,” said James C. Temerty, C.M., chairman of the Temerty Foundation.
The institute’s executive director, Fr. Alexander Laschuk, highlighted how the university’s renaming of the house “gives recognition to one of the great leaders of the Catholic Church in the 20th century. Despite living through numerous foreign occupations, including the Nazi regime, Metropolitan Sheptytsky always preached tolerance, compassion and principled moral action.”
Catherine Pawluch, president and chair of MASIF, expressed gratitude for the gift that will help sustain and expand the institute’s mission: “We are profoundly grateful to the Temerty Foundation for its vision, its extraordinary generosity and its support of the important work of the Sheptytsky Institute. We are blessed to have such remarkable individuals as Louise and Jim Temerty as benefactors.”
A portion of the Temerty Foundation gift also supported an international academic conference marking the 80th anniversary of Sheptytsky’s death. The Sheptytsky Institute Foundation held a gala dinner to launch the conference at the University of Toronto’s Hart House. A highlight of the dinner was the address by renowned historian and public intellectual Timothy Snyder, who spoke of Sheptytsky’s moral stance against the Nazi regime during World War II.
Over 200 participants attended the conference. The lectures and discussion were recorded and will soon be available online. Conference proceedings are forthcoming.
+Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the more than 5 million Ukrainian Catholics worldwide, will deliver a public lecture at the Isabel Bader Theatre at Victoria College (93 Charles Street West) at the University of Toronto on February 25 at 7 p.m.
Professor andNew York Times best-selling author Timothy Snyder will respond to the lecture. , Snyder teaches at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and is a leading public intellectual in modern Central European politics.
As the war enters its fourth year, their conversation will focus on how religion is key in decoding the motives for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. They will also discuss the ethical dimensions of the Judeo-Christian tradition as a way forward for peace.
This past December, Shevchuk celebrated Christmas in a bomb shelter in Kyiv. For the greater part of the 20th century, the Ukrainian Catholic Church was the largest body of illegal Christians in the world under the Soviet Union. His experience growing up in this reality informs his moral authority as a voice for human dignity and peace, both in Ukraine and on the world stage. As a religious leader, he continues to draw wisdom from those who have suffered from the fallout of the war.
The Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies is proud to announce the recipients of this year’s Non-Resident Ukrainian Fellows.
The Fellowship is open to Ukrainian faculty or Ukrainian advanced PhD students working on research topics in Eastern Christian history, liturgy, spirituality or theology who have been affected by the war on Ukraine. During the term of their Fellowship, each of our talented colleagues will work on their respective projects and will present their research in a lecture at the end of their fellowship. More details about dates of lectures will be announced in the near future. The Non-Resident Fellows program has also benefitted from the generous collaboration of the Jacyk Centre for the Study of Ukraine (at the Centre for European and Eurasian Studies (CEES) at the Munk School, University of Toronto).
Dr. Andrii Smyrnov is a professor at the Department of history at the National University of Ostroh Academy (Ukraine). His research interests are focused primarily on church history, church-state relations and ecumenism. Dr. Smyrnov earned his Doctor of Historical Sciences degree in 2021 at the National University of Ostroh Academy. He is the author of Between the Cross, the Swastika and the Red Star: Ukrainian Orthodoxy during the Second World War (2021) as well as a number of publications on the history of religion.
Dr. Smyrnov serves as a member of the Expert Council under the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, Synodal Commission for the inter-Christian relations of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Pathways to Peace Initiative steering group of the Conference of European Churches, and the World Council of Churches reference group for the pilgrimage of justice, reconciliation and unity.
During his fellowship, Dr. Andrii Smyrnov will work on his research project titled “The Orthodox Church of Ukraine: Ecumenical Perspectives.”
Dr. Iuliia Korniichuk holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from National Pedagogical Dragomanov University in Kyiv. She has taught courses in Ukrainian Culture, Religious Studies, and Religion and Politics at both National Pedagogical Dragomanov University and the University of Warsaw.
Dr. Korniichuk has been a fellow in various programmes, including Lane Kirkland Programme, Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, Indiana University Bloomington, and University of Munich. Her key publications appear in Politics and Religion Journal, Religions, Stosunki Międzynarodowe – International Relations, and the forthcoming Eastern Journal of European Studies.
Her research interests encompass religion and politics, Eastern Orthodoxy, higher education, decolonisation, and Euro-integration. For the MASI Non-Resident Fellowship she will begin work on a project entitled “Challenges for International Representation of Ukrainian Orthodox Churches: Soviet Legacies in Contemporary Perspective.”
Dr. Taras Tymo is a patristic scholar who holds a bachelor’s degree from the Ukrainian Catholic University (L’viv, Ukraine, 1999); a licentiate (STL) in Theology and Patristics (Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, 2001); and MA in Early Christian studies from the University of Notre Dame (USA), 2006. He recently received his Doctorate in Theology (STD) from Ukrainian Catholic University. In 2013,
He taught for the Sheptytsky Institute’s summer program in Univ, Ukraine, on the theology and spirituality of Icons.
His project for the MASI Non-Resident Fellowship extends the work he did in his doctoral dissertation. His project is entitled “Mystery of Theology”: St. Symeon the New Theologian on the Trinity and the Nature of Theology.” Part of this research period will also will include translating, for the first time into Ukrainian, selected works of St. Symeon.
The Metropolitan Andrey Sheptysky Institute is hosting two public seminar-series led by Rev. Dr. Jack Custer focused on the Biblical Books of Genesis and Exodus. The dates for the first series are January 14, 21, 28, & February 4; for the second, the dates are March 4, 11, 18, & 25. Seminars will take place on Tuesday afternoons and will begin with a complementary lunch at Sheptytsky House (5 Elmsley Place) whereafter the seminar will begin at 13:30. Seminars will last anywhere from 90 to 120 minutes, depending on the sessions. These seminars will be focused on a close reading of selected texts as informed by both contemporary exegetical methods and the Patristic and Rabbinic Traditions with particular reference to the Byzantine liturgical tradition. No knowledge of original languages is required or prior reading is required.
The Sheptytsky Institute will host a Divine Liturgy offered prior to each session from 12:00-13:00 in St. Sophia Chapel, located in Elmsley Hall.
These amazing learning opportunities are free, although registration is required:
