Bishop Jaroslav Pryriz

Bishop Yaroslav Pryriz, Eparch of Sambir-Drohobych and Head of the Theological Department of the UGCC. Born on March 30, 1963, in the village of Lastivka (Turka Raion, Lviv Oblast). Ordained a priest on December 4, 1988, by the Most Reverend Bishop Mykhailo Sabryha, Eparch of Ternopil-Zboriv. Consecrated a bishop on April 29, 2006, at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Drohobych (Lviv Oblast). Enthroned on December 24, 2011, at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Drohobych (Lviv Oblast). Childhood and Education: Bishop Yaroslav Pryriz was born on March 30, 1963, in the village of Lastivka (Turka Raion, Lviv Oblast) to Mykolai and Anna (née Fedak). He began school in 1970 and completed his studies in 1981, receiving a diploma in secondary technical education. From 1983, he worked as a mechanic in the technical department of the Drohobych Drill Bit Plant while simultaneously studying at the underground seminary of the UGCC in Lviv, led by Archbishop Volodymyr Sterniuk. Priestly Ministry: On December 4, 1988, he was ordained a priest in Lviv by Bishop Mykhailo Sabryha, Eparch of Ternopil-Zboriv. In 1989, Archbishop Volodymyr Sterniuk entrusted him with the task of reviving and organizing Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church parishes in the Staryi Sambir Raion of Lviv Oblast. Subsequently, as a priest, he restored and served UGCC communities in the town of Khyriv and in the villages of Ternava, Piatnytsia, Poliana, Slyvnytsia, Stariava, Sushytsia, Lopushnytsia, Terlo, and others. In 1990, he served as a pastor at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Drohobych (Lviv region). In 1991, he began advanced theological studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. In 1992, he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), and in 1994, he professed his vows in the Lviv Province of the Congregation. At the direction of his superiors, he continued his advanced theological studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome—specifically at the Faculty of Theology and Patristics with a specialization in Eastern Theology—where he obtained a Licentiate degree in 1996. In 1997, he completed the third stage of advanced theological studies with distinction, thereby qualifying to write a doctoral dissertation. That same year, commissioned by his superiors, he organized the Blessed Martyr Mykolay Charnetskyi Higher Theological Institute in Lviv, where he served as prefect of students and lecturer in Eastern Theology. In 1999, the General Government appointed him a member of the General Secretariat for Formation at the Congregation's General Headquarters in Rome for a six-year term; this term was subsequently extended in 2005. In 2001, he was appointed Rector of the Higher Theological Institute and Superior of the St. Alphonsus Monastery. During this period, he engaged in pastoral work in parishes both within Ukraine and abroad (in Europe, Canada, and the United States). In June 2005, he was appointed Protosyncellus of the Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy. Regarding his episcopal ministry: on March 2, 2006, Fr. Yaroslav Pryriz was named Auxiliary Bishop of the Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy. On April 29, 2006, he received episcopal ordination from the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Lubomyr Husar, in concelebration with the Eparch of Sambir-Drohobych, the Most Reverend... ...by Julian Voronovsky and the Eparch of Ternopil-Zboriv, Most Reverend Mykhailo Sabryha. On April 21, 2010, he was elevated to the rank of Coadjutor Bishop of the same eparchy. On October 27, 2011, after His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk accepted the resignation of Bishop Julian Voronovsky from the office of Bishop of Sambir-Drohobych, Bishop Yaroslav assumed the administration of the Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy. On December 24, 2011, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Head and Father of the UGCC, installed Bishop Yaroslav on the cathedra of the Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy. Since September 15, 2008, by decision of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, Most Reverend Yaroslav Pryriz has served as the head of the Theological Department of the UGCC.