In recent days Ukraine has been celebrating the 125th anniversary of Viacheslav Lypynsky’s birth. Lypynsky was a prominent Ukrainian political theorist, ideologist, sociologist, historian, and public and political figure. On April 12-13 the all- Ukrainian scholarly conference “Viacheslav Lypynsky’s Creative Legacy in the Context of Shaping Ukraine’s Political, Cultural, and Religious Identity” was hosted by Ostroh Academy National University, located in the historical region of Volyn where Lypynsky was born. Scholars from Ukraine, representatives of the Institute of Strategic Research, and members of the Ostroh Club for Young People’s Free Intellectual Exchange were invited to discuss the issued raised in Lypynsky’s works.
Larysa Ivshyna, The Day’s editor in chief, and Yevhen Marchuk, head of the Institute for Defense Problems and a well-known public and political figure, were among the guests of honor who came to Ostroh to pay tribute to the eminent Ukrainian scholar. At the plenary session Marchuk was awarded the title of academician from the Ostroh Academic Brotherhood.
The brotherhood, which was founded in the early 1990s concurrently with the revival of the Ostroh Academy, is based on the prototype of the brotherhood that was active in Ostroh Academy in the 1500s. Among its members are such renowned contemporary figures as Leonid Kravchuk, Viktor Yushchenko, Mykola Zhulynsky, Mykola Kovalsky, Roman Lubkivsky, Larysa Ivshyna, and other key contributors to the development of the Ukrainian state, its education, culture, and spiritual dimension, and especially the recent revival of Ostroh Academy. After receiving an academician’s gown and diploma, Marchuk delivered the required inaugural address in which he talked about Ukraine’s current sociopolitical situation.
The discussion, which was later continued at a meeting of the Ostroh Club meeting, was focused on the latest political developments and possible ways to further implement the idea of the internal integration of Ukrainians through informal communication among young people. “We are not politicians who do as they please and, in most cases, stop halfway. We persistently promote the idea of the Ostroh Club and, most importantly, put our main principles into life,” said Ivshyna, the initiator and intellectual godmother of the Ostroh Club.
On the second day of the conference the participants were scheduled for a trip to Zaturtsi village in Volyn oblast to visit Lypynsky’s grave and meet students and lecturers of Lesia Ukrainka Volyn State University.
To be continued
