UCU Rector Edits Ukrainian Version of John Paul II's Final Book
The Ukrainian version of the last book of Pope John Paul II was presented at the Apostolic Nunciature in Kyiv on 13 December 2005 . Among those present were Prof. Antoine Arjakovsky, director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv, and Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar), head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), who wrote the introduction to the Ukrainian version. The book, " Memory and Identity: Conversations at the Dawn of a Millennium ," was edited by Fr. Borys Gudziak, rector of UCU.
According to the press service of the UGCC, "Memory and Identity" is a special spiritual testament which introduces the reader into the depth of the spiritual world of the late pontiff, a restless traveler who went to people with the word of God. In the annotation we read that the book, constructed in the form of a dialogue, provides John Paul's reflections on significant historical events from the perspective of Christian philosophy. In this book there also is talk about the attempt upon the Holy Father's life in May 1981, in which John Paul II meditates on the question of where one can get enough strength to forgive and be merciful.
The speakers acknowledged various particularities in the style and ideas of "Memory and Identity . " It was emphasized that the book is the work of a contemplative. This means it is not a research in which the author goes into polemics with modern scholarly achievements, but it is a collection of personal meditations on certain issues. The genre chosen for this book - dialogue - was also stressed. By writing in this genre the Pope wanted to step down from the pedestal on which he had been placed and talk to his readers as a father talks to his children. Patriarch Lubomyr emphasized that John Paul II won great friendliness from his contemporaries because of his eyes - pure as a child's eyes, as one of those who had a chance to talk to the pontiff noted. In the patriarch's opinion, the meditations of the author of "Memory and Identity" are so valuable precisely because they are the analytical look of pure, untainted, eyes on the modern world.
Source: www.ugcc.org.ua, www.risu.org.ua
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