Doroha do blyzhnioho (A Path to One’s Neighbor) — the second audiobook by His Eminence Liubomyr Huzar, head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) — was launched on April 14 in the bookstore Ye. The first book Doroha do sebe (A Path to Oneself) was released last year.
His Eminence Liubomyr Huzar is justly called a wise pastor who realizes in what time we live, sees the challenges Christianity encounters, knows his parish very well, and speaks to it in a contemporary language. It is demonstrated by the many initiatives of the primate of the Greek-Catholic Church, in particular his audiobooks.
In A Path to One’s Neighbor the patriarch shares his own thoughts with the listeners regarding the fundamental topics: “About love,” “About man and woman,” “About contraception and abortions,” “About the conflict of generations,” “About citizens and the state,” and “About patriotism and chauvinism.” He answers the following questions: What should one do if love isn’t strong enough? What is the church’s attitude to searching one’s future spouse by means of dating a few people? If the church is against abortions, why is it against contraception? Shall women stay at home and men work? What should one secure: heritage or education? How can relations between different generations be built? This is the first disc of the audiobook.
In the second disc the head of the UGCC formulates his own attitude to the problems of corruption and donations from bribes; he gives advice on survival and keeping a family in crisis conditions; he speaks about how migrant workers can get used to life in Ukraine when they return home, as well as on the cultural division between the East and the West and the heroic and tragic pages in history.
As is known, the head of the UGCC pays a great deal of attention to youth. One can think, for example, about the rock-music tour “Faith and Love” with the participation of popular Ukrainian musicians last fall. And this time the vocalist of the Gorgisheli band, Tamara Gorgisheli, was invited for cooperation. She started the presentation with “Irmos.”
“A way to one’s neighbor is a very important thing,” pointed out His Eminence Liubomyr Huzar. “Though love starts with love of oneself, one can’t exist without one’s neighbor. Meeting someone else, a person finds himself or herself and uncovers and secures one’s identity. The notion of ‘one’s neighbor’ is very broad. By the way, the tragedy in Smolensk touched the topic of ‘one’s neighbor’ in our hearts. For one should understand that when we say only ‘I,’ it gives nothing to us. But when we say ‘you’ and ‘I,’ a person becomes ‘someone.’” Outlining at the request of journalists what love is and answering the question about how one can learn to love one’s neighbor, the patriarch cordially said: “Love does not have a definition. Philosophers and poets try to tell for thousands of years what love is, but no one managed to ultimately do it. I’d say that love can’t be learned, but it can be passed. When someone loves me sincerely, kindles my heart, and passes something, I can pass that feeling on. In fact, loving someone (in a broad sense) is a key to our happiness.”
P.S. The third audiobook by His Eminence Liubomyr (Huzar), Doroha do Boha (A Path to God), is to be released soon.
