Huzar, Liubomyr

Huzar, Liubomyr or Husar, Lubomyr Lev Luka [Гузар, Любомир], b 26 February 1933 in Lviv, d 31 May 2017 in Kyiv. Ukrainian religious leader, Studite monk (M.S.U.), head of the Ukrainian Catholic church, major archbishop, and cardinal (from 2001). During the Soviet occupation of Galicia (1939–41) and the Second World War, Huzar lived in Lviv, where he completed primary school and later attended the city’s Gymnasium no. 1 (1943–4). As the Soviet Army advanced westward in March 1944, the Huzar family fled to Mezhybrody near Stryi, then to Slavsk in the Carpathian Mountains, and from there to Strasshof an der Nordbahn near Vienna. After a brief stay in a transit camp, they settled in Silberwald near Schönkirchen-Reyersdorf, Lower Austria (September 1944), and later in Timelkam, Upper Austria (February 1945). From 1945 to 1947, Huzar attended a secondary school in Timelkam before continuing his education at the Ukrainian gymnasium in the Lexenfeld displaced persons camp in Salzburg (1947–9), located in the American occupation zone. In late summer 1949 the family emigrated to the United States of America, where they arrived on 5 September 1949, and settled in New York. Huzar continued his studies at Saint Basil Preparatory School (Ukrainian Catholic minor seminary) in Stamford, Connecticut (1949–50), before earning a BA degree from the College of Saint Basil the Great (1954). From 1955 to 1958 he continued his studies at Saint Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in Washington, DC, while also studying theology at the Catholic University of America, where he obtained a Licentiate degree. He was ordained as deacon on 30 March 1957 and as priest on 30 March 1958 by Bishop Ambrose Senyshyn.

From 1958 to 1969, Huzar served as prefect of the Ukrainian Catholic theological seminary of Saint Basil the Great in Stamford, where he also taught Ukrainian language and the history of philosophy. In addition, he was involved in pastoral ministry, serving as spiritual director at the Ukrainian National Association’s resort Soyuzivka near Kerhonkson, New York State, and at the Ukrainian Youth Association Oselia camp in Ellenville, New York State. From 1966 to 1969 he was pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in Kerhonkson. He pursued further studies at Fordham University (1965–1967), earning a master’s degree in philosophy. In 1969 Huzar moved to Rome, where he studied at the Pontifical Urban University while also serving as an assistant to the head of the Ukrainian Catholic church, Yosyf Slipy. He successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, entitles ‘Ecumenism in the Writings of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky,’ in 1972. Also in 1972 he joined the Studite monastery of Saint Theodore, the Studion, near Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and then completed his novitiate at Metten Abbey, Germany. He returned to Castel Gandolfo in 1973, took his monastic vows on 24 June, and was appointed the monastery’s hegumen in 1974. From 1973 to 1984 he served as assistant professor of ecclesiology at the Pontifical Urban University, and in 1987 he also taught missiology at the Higher Institute of Spirituality and Mission Catechesis in Castel Gandolfo.

On 2 April 1977, at Saint Theodore’s Monastery, Cardinal Yosyf Slipy secretly ordained Huzar as a bishop. The secrecy was maintained in order to ensure that, in the event of the destruction of the church hierarchy of the underground Ukrainian Catholic church in the Ukrainian SSR by the Soviet authorities, Huzar—along with Ivan Khoma and Stepan Chmil, who were ordained the same day—could enter the USSR under the guise of tourists to help restore the Church. Since this ordination was conducted without papal approval, Huzar did not function as a bishop in the following years. On 23 July 1978 he was appointed archimandrite of the Studite Fathers outside Ukraine. From 1985 to 1991 he served as protosyncellus (vicar general) to Major Archbishop of Lviv Myroslav Lubachivsky.

In 1993 Huzar returned to Ukraine with the Studite monastic community of Saint Theodore’s Monastery and became a confessor at the Theological Seminary of the Holy Spirit in Lviv. The monastery relocated to Kolodiyivka, Ternopil oblast, in 1994.

On 22 February 1996 Pope John Paul II confirmed Huzar’s episcopal rank and assigned him to the titular see of Nisenus in Lycia. On 2 April he was elected exarch of Kyiv-Vyshhorod. Later, on 14 October 1996, he was appointed auxiliary bishop to Cardinal Myroslav Lubachivsky with delegated authority to act as head of the Ukrainian Catholic church. Following Cardinal Lubachivsky’s death, Pope John Paul II named Huzar apostolic administrator sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis on 23 December 2000. On 25 January 2001 the extraordinary synod of the Ukrainian Catholic church in Lviv elected him major archbishop of Lviv. Shortly after, on 21 February 2001, he was created a cardinal priest of S. Sophia in via Boccea. On 6 December 6 2004 his title was changed to major archbishop of Kyiv-Halych, and on 21 August 2005 he transferred his seat to Kyiv.

Due to health problems, and in particular vision loss, he submitted his resignation that was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on 10 February 2011. After stepping down, Huzar lived in Kniazhychi near Kyiv as an archbishop-emeritus. However, he remained active in Ukraine’s social and public life. Among other things, he cofounded, alongside other prominent intellectuals and public figures, the First of December Initiative Group aimed at fostering national dialogue on societal and state issues.

As head of the Ukrainian Catholic church, Huzar placed great emphasis on integrating the Church’s social teachings into Ukrainian society. He strongly supported the processes of democratization and the development of civil society and he left a lasting impact on both the Church and the nation. He actively promoted a dialogue between the Ukrainian Catholic church and the Ukrainian Orthodox churches. On 26 April 2008 he proposed the creation of the Council of Ukrainian Churches of Saint Volodymyr’s Baptism. As a theologian, Huzar focused on ecumenism and ecclesiology. His most significant scholarly work, Andrei Sheptyts'kyi mytropolyt Halyts'kyi (1901–1944): Provisnyk ekumenizmu (Andrei Sheptytsky, Metropolitan of Halych (1901–1944): A Pioneer of Ecumenism), explores Andrei Sheptytsky’s ecumenical ideas and was published in Ukrainian in 2015. Not limiting himself to scholarly research, Huzar worked on practical models for the restoration of unity between the Greek Catholics and the Ukrainian Orthodox church, proposing the concept of the Kyivan Church as both the starting and final point for the convergence of all Ukrainian churches that share a common Byzantine-Kyivan heritage. He also authored and co-authored several books on social and ethical issues. The book of his memoirs, entitled Spohady, was published in 2023.

On 26 February 2024 Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic church Sviatoslav Shevchuk announced the commencement of the beatification process of Liubomyr Huzar.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
‘O. d-r. Lubomyr Huzar zlozhyv vichni obity v monastyri ustavu sv. Teodora Studyta v Kastel'gandol'fo,’ Blahovisnyk Verkhovnoho arkhyyepyskopa vizantiys'ko-ukrayins'koho (hreko-rus'koho) obriadu nos. 1–4 (1973)
‘Vitayemo arkhymandryta Lyubomyra Huzara z nominatsiyeyu,’ Patriiarkhat 6 (1985)
Blahovisnyk Verkhovnoho arkhyiepyskopa Ukraïns'koï Hreko-Katolyts'koï Tserkvy Blazhennishoho Lubomyra kardynala Huzara no. 1 (2001)
Arjakovsky, A. Conversations With Lubomyr Cardinal Husar: Towards a Post-Confessional Christianity (Lviv 2007)
Galadza, D. ‘Svit potrebuie molytvy. Interv’iu z Blazhennishym Lubomyrom pro monashe zhyttya v diaspori,’ Patriiarkhat no. 3 (2017)
Shchotkina, K. Liubomyr Huzar: Khochu buty liudynoiu (Kharkiv 2017)

Anatolii Babynskyi

[This article was written in 2025.]