Borys Gudziak


Borys Gudziak is the current Archeparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia.
On February 18, 2019, the Vatican Information Service announced that the Pope Francis has appointed Borys Gudziak as Archeparch of Philadelphia for Ukrainians and Metropolitan for the Ukrainian Catholic Church in USA and thus concurring with the recommendation of the appointment offered by the Synod of Ukrainian Catholic Bishops, which met in September 2018 in Lviv, Ukraine. He was installed on June 4, 2019.

Early life and education

Gudziak was born in Syracuse, New York US. His parents, both Ukrainian Greek Catholics, had come to New York from western Ukraine in the early 1950s. After completing his pre-university studies at Christian Brothers Academy, he graduated from Syracuse University, obtaining a dual degree in philosophy and biology in 1980. He entered the College of Saint Sophia in Rome where, as a student of the Lviv Archeparchy under Cardinal Josyf Slipyj, he attended the Pontifical Urban University. In 1983 he graduated in theology and began doctoral studies in an interdepartmental program of Slavic and Byzantine Cultural History at Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1992. His thesis, Crisis and Reform: The Kievan Metropolitanate, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Genesis of the Union of Brest, was published by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute in 1998.
From October 1994 until July 1995 he attended the Pontifical Oriental Institute, examining in particular the synthesis of neopatristic Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky.

Priest

In 1992, he moved permanently to Lviv, where he founded the Institute of Church History, becoming its director until October 2002. In 1993 he was appointed chairman of the Commission for the Renewal of the Lviv Theological Academy by Archbishop Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky. From 1995 until 2000 he served as vice rector of the Lviv Theological Academy, then as rector from 2000 to 2002. In that year, Gudziak became rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, and later its president.
He was ordained on 26 November 1998 in the Cathedral of St. George in Lviv by Bishop Sofron and incardinated in the Major Archeparchy of Lviv of the Ukrainians. He is the author of over 50 studies on the history of the Church, theological training and on different topics of cultural relevance.

Bishop

On 21 July 2012 it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Michel Hrynchyshyn from the pastoral Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainians of the Byzantine rite in France, and appointed Borys Gudziak apostolic exarch for the Ukrainian faithful of the Byzantine rite in France, at the same time appointing him Titular Bishop of Carcabia. He was ordained a bishop on 26 August 2012 and installed in a Divine Liturgy on 2 December 2012.
On January 19, 2013, Benedict XVI elevated the Apostolic Exarchate of France, Benelux and Switzerland for the Ukrainians to the status of a full apostolic eparchy, and named it after Saint Vladimir. Gudziak, though already an ordained bishop, is now an eparch, instead of exarch. He ceased to be a titular bishop since he is now a full eparch.
Gudziak is the 49th member of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Besides France, the eparchy also includes Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, and Switzerland.
In May 2018, Gudziak received an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree during the 164th commencement of Syracuse University.
On June 4, 2019, Metropolitan Archbishop Gudziak was enthroned as the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia, PA.
Pope Francis named him a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches on August 6, 2019.

Awards