HIS BEATITUDE CARDINAL LUBOMYR HUSAR, MSU (1933), FIRST MAJOR ARCHBISHOP of KYIV-HALYCH of theUkrainian Greek Catholic Church

 

Its been a Year since His Beatitude Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, MSU willfully submitted his resignation as the Major Archbishop of Kyiv Halych to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, though the Synod and the Faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church gives him the Title Patriarch, a very unusual move for a Eastern Rite because there are no Canonical provision for it, even the Canon Law of the Eastern Church does not have such. Patriarch Lubomyr, or others addressed him as Cardinal Husar, will be forever remember for the Transfer of the Seat of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from Lviv to Kyiv in 2005 with the approval of then Pope Blessed John Paul II, reversing the decision of Pope Pius VII when in 1806 Lviv becomes the Greek Catholic Metropolia till the recent Transfer, changing the title Major Archbishop of Lviv into Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Here are his Historical First, Originally posted in the Blog Annales Ecclesia Ucrainae of Rev. Fr. Athanasius McVay, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Historian and Priest based in Rome

1. To have lived most of his life outside of Ukraine, in the United States of America and Italy. Although some of the Kyivan Metropolitans were Greek, most of his predecessors lived in Ukrainian lands;

 2. To have begun his ministry as a secular priest but later embraced the monastic life. Virtually all of his predecessors were members of the Basilian Order. Since 1806 all have been secular priests with the exception of Metropolitan Sheptytsky.

 (Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky)

3. To have been Archimandrite of the Studite Monks before becoming head of the Ukrainian Church. Metropolitan Sheptytsky had founded the Studites and became their first archimandrite.

 4. To have been Archimandrite of the Studite Monks before becoming head of the Ukrainian Church. Metropolitan Sheptytsky had founded the Studites and became their first archimandrite.

 5. To have been a regular professor at a pontifical university in Rome. Josyf Slipyj taught very briefly at the Gregoriana in 1922;

 (Cardinal Josyf Slipyj)

6. To have received episcopal ordination without the papal mandate (1977);

7. To have had his episcopal privileges confirmed by the pope and made public almost twenty years later (1996);

8. To be appointed exarch of Kyiv-Vyshorod (1996);

9. To have been designated a cardinal only a month after his election as major-archbishop (2001);

10. Not to have received a red hat during the public concistory. Isidore of Kyiv (1440), Sylvester Sembratovych (1895) and Slipyj (1965) received the ancient gallero. Lubachivsky (1985) received a red kolpak (Greek-Catholic biretta).

 (His Beatitude Cardinal Lubomyr Husar wearing a Red Kolpak)

11. To have welcomed a Roman Pontiff to his diocese, namely the Papal Visit of His Holiness Blessed Pope John Paul II in Ukraine (2001);

(Patriarch Lubomyr and His Holiness Blessed Pope John Paul II)

12. To become Major-Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych upon the return of the primatial see from Lviv to Kyiv (2004);

13. To have participated in a papal conclave (2005);

14. To have lost his eyesight during his mandate;

15. To have willingly submitted his resignation to the Roman Pontiff. Josyf Sembratovych had been forced to resign in 1882. 

(Metropolitan Josyf Sembratovich)

15.  To be present at the installation of his successor, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk

 (His Beatitude Cardinal Lubomyr Husar with the new Major Archbishop His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk)

Here is the Wikipedia Link of His Beatitude's Autobiography about his Life and Work