DIFFICULT WAY OF FORMATION: THE THEOLOGICAL LYCEUM IN LVIV AS A «FORERUNNER» GREEK-CATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY (1919–1928)

Abstract

The presented article examines the activities of the theological lyceum in Lviv, which was the predecessor of the greek-catholic theological academy. This academy is a promising educational project started by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi and rector of the archdiocesan seminary priest Yosyf Slipyi – was created and started its work in 1928–1929. Until the end of its existence, due to unfavorable social and political circumstances, it was never able to receive official accreditation either from the Polish state or from the Roman Apostolic See. However, despite this, the theological academy left a noticeable mark in the history not only of greek-catholics, but also of ukrainians as a whole. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary at the end of 1918 and the subsequent defeat of the army of the West Ukrainian People’s Republic, Eastern Galicia came under the rule of Poland. Various punitive and restrictive measures were applied to ukrainians who did not agree with this development of events. This also applied to the opportunity to obtain higher education. Taking into account all the above facts, galician greek-catholic Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi was forced to stop the education of his seminarians at the theological faculty of Lviv University and organize private lectures for them at the theological seminary. In the future, he planned to realize his old dream and create a full-fledged theological educational institution for eastern catholics in Lviv, but the realization of such a plan required more time. The study shows that theological lyceum became an intermediate stage that allowed to pass the crisis period and to continue the formation and scientific training of future greek-catholic priests. Keywords: higher education, theological academy, theological seminary, Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Yosyf Slipyi, Andrei Sheptytskyi.