From May 29 to 31, the conference hall of the Irena Hotel in Lviv hosted an international conference "The Christian Perspective of a United Europe: Origins and Future." The event brought together about fifty participants from three European countries. The conference was preceded by a presentation of Jeff Fontaine 's book Deep Roots about the …
From May 29 to 31, the conference hall of the Irena Hotel in Lviv hosted an international conference “The Christian Perspective of a United Europe: Origins and Future.” The event brought together about fifty participants from three European countries.
The conference was preceded by a presentation of Jeff Fontaine ‘s book Deep Roots about the Christian roots of the modern European Union, which took place at the Sheptytsky Center of the Ukrainian Catholic University on May 28, 2018. Both events were initiated by the Foundation for Support of Democratic Initiatives and the Sallux Foundation in cooperation with the Svichado Publishing House.
During the presentation of the book and in his speech at the conference, the author of the book, Director of the Robert Schuman Center for European Studies, Jeff Fontaine, spoke about what inspired him to write the book and outlined the main principles of the European Union. In particular, he believes that most of the problems of the modern EU are related to the fact that the current generation of European politicians, those who influence decision-making, is the generation of the “1968 revolution”, that is, people who did not know the horrors of World War II and for this reason they do not understand the principles that the founding fathers, in particular Robert Schuman and Konrad Adenauer, laid down in the creation of the EU.
His position was supported by Bohdan Pankevych, a public figure, member of the Ukrainian Galician Party, and member of the Nestorian Group. In his speeches at the presentation and during the conference, he emphasized that the departure from Christian principles cannot but have catastrophic consequences for the European community and that only a return to the roots can give hope for the preservation and development of the EU. In terms of how Christian values are combined with Ukrainian politics, he explained that what should be called Christian practice is important to embody God’s principles in daily practice.
Taras Antoshevsky , director of the Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU ), spoke about the prospects for Christian democracy in Ukraine, and Andriy Hnidets, a member of the board of the Association of Christian Lawyers, shared his vision of how Christian values and realpolitik can be combined.
Johannes de Jong, Director of the Sallux Foundation (Netherlands), also made a major presentation, explaining how Christian values influence current European politics and the need to create a broad civil movement that would unite all public figures who profess Christian values. He also initiated the practical work of the conference participants in groups, during which the participants developed several interesting approaches to implementing Christian principles in Ukrainian politics. His colleague from the Netherlands , Christian Meinen, spoke about his experience in public activities as a practicing Christian.
A well-known Christian pastor from Donetsk, Serhiy Kosyak, who has faced the manifestations of anti-Christian propaganda and destructive phenomena in the occupied territories (and suffered in captivity for his beliefs), made an interesting report. He gave practical examples of how the Word of God helped him and his colleagues survive, how they managed to save the lives of innocents, and examples of how the propaganda of the Russian occupiers, hostile to both the state and God, works. His thesis that Satan is the first and most daring separatist aroused lively emotions among the participants.
All the speeches and reports were followed by lively and informative discussions involving various public, political and religious figures, analysts, experts and journalists. In particular, Bohdan Halayko, director of the Institute of Ukrainian Studies, analyst Yevhen Zherebetsky, professor of Lviv National University Marian Zhytariuk, Father Oleh Kobel, lecturer of the Kyiv National Economic University Yevhen Bilonozhko, PhD in Philosophy Oksana Horkusha, representatives of local government, and others were able to express their opinions.
The conference participants also presented their own projects, in particular, expert Yuriy Oliynyk presented the activities of theUkrainian Strategic Studies Center, Oksana Horkusha presented the book “Maidan and the Church,” and Bohdan Berezenko presented the activities of the Bratske Publishing House.
The conference resulted in an agreement to continue cooperation in the format of creating a broad civil movement of people who profess Christian values. The process will be moderated by the Foundation for Support of Democratic Initiatives in cooperation with theSallux Foundation .
