Kosovo, Ukraine, Austria

Kosovo: no violence and intolerance"We firmly denounce any kind of violence or intolerance, asking both parties to put an end to extremism". Father Lush Gjergji, Vicar General of the Apostolic Administration of Prizren speaks to SIR Europe from Pristina, after the tensions involving the city of Mitrovica and several municipalities in Kosovo, where a few Orthodox cemeteries were subject to acts of vandalism. President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga says those facts are "inacceptable". Protest demonstrations were made also in Dakovica, near an Orthodox monastery defended by NATO forces. According to Father Gjergji, those facts "are connected with the recovery of negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo, occurring in Brussels last 17 January; their purpose is destabilising the situation". Serbian Premier Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Premier Hashim Thaci have met under the aegis of EU High Representative for foreign policy and security Catherine Ashton. Talks are going on, even though the government of Belgrade does not acknowledge the independence of the former province, proclaimed unilaterally from Pristina in 2008. "After a few steps forward, we hope that the situation will not deteriorate – added Father Lush – because the people are fed up with the war and with conflicts. For this reason, we pray for them to carry on dialogue". Ukraine: new eparchy of UGCC createdPope Benedict XVI elevated the apostolic exarchate for Ukrainian Greek Catholics residing in France to the status of an eparchy on 19 January, with the title of Saint Volodymyr the Great (Eparchie de Saint-Vladimir le Grand). Bishop Borys Gudziak was named its first head. Archbishop Luigi Ventura, apostolic nuncio to France, made the official announcement after the hierarchal divine liturgy at the Cathedral of Saint Volodymyr in Paris. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) has been officially present in France since 1937, when the Holy See, in consultation with metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi, granted it the official status of "Mission of the UGCC in France". In 1939, Ukrainain Greek Catholics received their first apostolic visitator, bishop Ivan Buchko. The eparchy currently has 16 priests serving the faithful in two republics and three monarchies over a total territory of approximately 792,785 square kilometers. Bishop Borys hopes that the status of eparchy will allow the Church to grow in order to meet the needs of its faithful in Western Europe. "At the onset of a new millennium, after a century of ferocious persecution, Ukrainian Greek Catholics have been dispersed globally by divine Providence not without a spiritual and ecclesial purpose", said the prelate in an interview in advance of the announcement. "We hope that in secularized Europe, the children of the martyrs can witness creatively and compellingly to that everlasting truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are grateful to the Holy Father Benedict XVI; to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, father and head of the UGCC; and to the Synod of the UGCC for the trust they place in the clergy, religious, and faithful of this new eparchy", continued the new eparch. Speaking of the place of the new eparchy within the Church in Europe, bishop Borys said for the Religious Information Service of Ukraine: "I dare to think that from the Lord’s perspective, the Church in Europe is still very young. I hope that the creation of our new eparchy will contribute to its growth and vitality over the coming centuries and millennia". The eparchy bears the name of Saint Volodymyr, Grand Prince of Kyivan-Rus’, who brought Christianity to present-day Ukraine in 988. For his work of evangelization, he is called "Equal-to-the-Apostles" according to the Byzantine tradition.Austria: ecumenical dictionary on theological anthropologyThe Pro Oriente Foundation in Vienna and Moscow presented a unique Dictionary on Theological Anthropology on 21 January in Vienna, with the presence of its responsible editors – Rev. Prof. Dr Bertram Stubenrauch from Vienna (Munich) and archpriest Prof. Dr Andrej Lorgus (Moscow). The common project of scientific institutions in Russia, Austria and Germany shows the point of view of both Roman Catholic and Russian-Orthodox Church. According to the press statement, the main purpose of the concise dictionary on theological anthropology is ecumenical: "It is the task of this project to show how the Russian-Orthodox side thinks about central ideas of the human existence and how the Roman Catholic side does. It should be demonstrated in this dictionary, which contains (similar to a lexicon) 53 important terms". Each of these terms has been elaborated by authors of both Churches and this way "one could show the communalities and the differences". The project bears also a cross-cultural element, being a contribution to "understanding between the Russian and the West-European cultural sphere". The dictionary was published last year both in Russian and in German languages. The German version was published at Herder Publishing, the Russian one at Polomnik Publishing. Among the Catholic institutions involved there are the Faculties of Catholic Theology in Vienna, Graz and Munich, Pro Oriente Foundation and Johann-Adam-Möhler Institute for ecumenical studies. The Russian-Orthodox part of work has been done by the Russian-Orthodox University of St. John the Theologian, Moscow State University, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian State University for Humanities and St. Tikhon´s Orthodox University.