His Beatitude Svyatoslav (Svyatoslav Yuriyovych Shevchuk) – head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (2011 – present time).
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on May 5, 1970 in the city of Stryi, Lviv region.
He was educated first at the Boryslav Medical School, and in 1983 – 1989 he attended courses at the underground Greek Catholic Theological Seminary.
In 1991 – 1992 he continued his studies at the Don Bosco Center for Philosophical and Theological Sciences in Argentina. From 1992 to 1994 he was educated at the Lviv Theological Seminary.
In 1994 – 1999 he studied in Italy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.
A Career as a Clergyman
During the Soviet era, he served in military units in Vinnytsia and Luhansk regions.
In May 1994, he was ordained a deacon, and a month later he received the rank of priest.
He held administrative and teaching positions at the Lviv Greek Catholic Seminary: first he worked as a prefect, and later became its vice-rector.
From 1999 to 2000 he held the position of prefect of the Lviv Theological Seminary of the Holy Spirit, and in 2000 – 2007 he was vice-rector.
At the same time, in 2002-2005, he was the personal secretary of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar and headed the Patriarchal Curia in Lviv.
During 2007, he served as rector of the Lviv Theological Seminary of the Holy Spirit.
Since 2009, he has been appointed auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. In April of the same year, a bishop’s ordination took place in St. George’s Cathedral in Lviv.
In 2010, he served as the apostolic administrator of the diocese.
In 2011, he became the Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, replacing Lubomyr Husar, who had previously resigned.
