Who is Patriarch Volodymyr?

Volodymyr (secular name: Romanyuk Vasyl Omelyanovych) – Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kyiv Patriarchate (1993-1995), active participant of the human rights movement, member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union (1979), author of journalistic and theological works, public figure, patriot and hero of Ukraine.

Detailed description of the manor-museum of Patriarch Volodymyr in Kosiv district

The museum recreates the family life of the Romanyuk family, takes us back to the times of Vasyl Romanyuk childhood and youth. The building was created on a voluntary basis, thanks to the enthusiasm of the villagers who worked on the construction of the museum for free and landscaped the territory with the help of the ‘village clean-up’.

The museum was consecrated by the hierarchs and clergy of the UAOC and the UOC-KP, which symbolised the readiness to unite the two branches of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, which the Patriarch had always called for.

The ceremony of consecration was performed:

• Metropolitan Mefodiy, head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church;
• Metropolitan Andriy of Ivano-Frankivsk and Halych (UAOC);
• Bishop Ioan of Kolomyia and Kosiv of the UOC-KP.

The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the regional and district administrations, the director of the Lviv Museum of Religion, Volodymyr Hoyanyuk, respected natives of the village, including Mykhailo Romanyuk, Doctor of Economics, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the Carpathian National University named after V. Stefanyk, and others, delegations of creative unions, and artistic groups from the Hutsul region, who performed sacred music. Among the speakers was Patriarch Volodymyr’s son, priest Taras Romanyuk, who spoke in detail about his father’s life, which he lived and rethought together with him. The audience also remembered an emotional speech by Antonina Lystopad, a poet from the Luhansk region. During the solemn event, there were calls for the reburial of Patriarch Volodymyr’s ashes on the territory of St Sophia of Kyiv and for the further proper perpetuation of his memory and spiritual heritage.

Exposition of the museum-manor of Bishop Volodymyr in the village of Khimchyn

The manor house-museum is a peasant house of the 20-30s of the twentieth century, which contains two rooms separated by a corridor.

The upstairs room contains family belongings of the Romanyuk family: a table, sofas, a cradle, a chest, a chair, bedding, a sacrificial altar (hanger) with weaving products, a kudela, family photos, a portrait of the Patriarch who stood for a year on his grave in Kyiv; icons, a bowl with ceramic dishes, pots, and wooden items.

The second room contains an exposition on the periods of Bishop Volodymyr’s life:

1. He was ordained a priest and served in the parishes of the Kosiv region.
2. Period of exile and persecution.
3. Canadian period.
4. From bishop to patriarch.
5. Period of the Patriarchate.
6. A fatal ending.
7. Memory.

The exposition contains numerous photographs from different periods of the Bishop’s life, documents, press materials, rehabilitation certificates, videos and recordings of the Patriarch’s speeches, books, and his personal belongings (letters, vestments, patriarchal crosier, clothes, phelons, his own Gospel, and personal icons).

The museum’s collection also includes church paraphernalia, spiritual literature, portraits of the patriarch by artists of the Carpathian region, ancient images and icons.

To achieve its main goal, the museum works in the following areas:

• cultural and educational activities;
• scientific and research work;
• publishing activities;
• exposition work.

The main forms of the museum’s work are guided tours of the museum; consultations; lectures and talks on the museum’s topics; studying the life and work of Patriarch Volodymyr, showing films about the patriarch, studying the museum’s collections, their artistic and scientific value; organising the collection of new information and documents about the life and work of Patriarch Volodymyr.