In 1772, after the first division of the Rzeczpospolita (Polish Republic), the western Ukrainian territories, namely Halychyna and Bukovyna, were annexed to the Austrian Empire. The reforms that were taking place in the empire in the late 18th century, particularly in education, allowed the Greek Catholic Church to develop its own schools.
To raise the educational level of the Greek Catholic clergy, the Royal Greek Catholic General Seminary at the Church of St. Barbara in Vienna (Regium generale Seminarium Graeco-Catholicum Viennae ad Sanctam Barbaram) was established in 1774. The Austrian authorities facilitated the foundation of the seminary, which was commonly known as “Barbareum.” Later on, the shortened name “Barbareum” became the officially accepted one.
The ten-year long existence of the “Barbareum” played a considerable role in the development of the Greek Catholic Church. Six of the seminary graduates later became bishops, 16 were honorary members of the Chancery, 10 worked as professors at universities or eparchial seminaries, 8 became rectors of seminaries, and 8 were writers.
In 1783, the General Theological Seminary was established in Lviv, where “Barbareum” students from Halychyna continued their studies. “For Halychyna and for Ukrainian people scattered outside of the country, the theological seminary became a ‘temple’ of theological studies and the center of a revival from the beginning of its existence until 1928, when the Theological Academy adopted its ideas.” (Svitylnyk Istyny [The Lantern of Truth], p. 28) Work in the theological academy focused on deeper theological studies and spiritual life, along with profound learning of liturgical rites and church singing. In 1784, a university was founded in Lviv, which consisted of four departments, including theology. For one and a half centuries, seminarians were enrolled in the philosophy and theology departments at the University of Lviv.
In the 20th century, the organization of theological education in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church underwent drastic change. As early as at the1905 session of the Austrian Parliament, Metropolitan Andrey (Sheptytsky) demanded that the Ukrainian University be established. However, World War I and the unfavorable political circumstances of that time substantially hindered the realization of this attempt. A stimulus to invigorate the development and expansion of Ukrainian higher education in Halychyna arose as a consequence of acts by the Polish authorities. In 1918, they pursued a general policy of polonization, which resulted in the dismissal of many Ukrainian professors and the closure of the Ukrainian departments at the University of Lviv. A secret Ukrainian university, which became a temporary refuge for Ukrainian professors and students, was liquidated in 1925. In this context, Metropolitan Andrey came up with an initiative to create a higher educational theological institution.
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The History of the Founding
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Acting within his rights as metropolitan, the head of the UGCC approved the proposed statutes of the Theological Academy on 23 February 1928 and founded the Theological Academy with the prospect of its transformation into a Ukrainian Catholic University.
The solemn opening of the Greek Catholic Theological Academy in Lviv took place on 6 October 1929. Fr. Josyf Slipyj, Ph.D., was appointed the first rector. Having united leading representatives of the western Ukrainian intelligentsia, the Academy immediately became the center of Ukrainian scholarly life. It was the only Ukrainian higher educational institution on then-Polish territory. After ten years of its existence, the Academy expanded substantially. New departments were opened; the faculty increased to 40 people; the publishing house and the library were launched. Since its foundation, the Theological Academy had tried to implement Eastern perspectives and develop the enculturation of theology, even though before the Second Vatican Council such initiatives within the Catholic Church were quite limited.
After the Russian troops invaded Halychyna (western Ukraine) in 1939, the Academy was closed and the students underwent repressions. In the aftermath of the German bombardment on 15 September 1939, the Church of the Holy Spirit and the library at the Academy were destroyed. During the German occupation, despite a small amount of instructors, the Academy managed to resume instruction. In 1942, the Pope allowed the Academy to offer graduate-level courses. Out of the total of 500 students who studied in the Academy from 1941 to 1944, only 60 received diplomas. After the second Soviet occupation in the spring of 1945, the Theological Academy was completely closed. A great number of graduates and professors of the Academy (including Josyf Slipyj, who for many years was rector of the Academy and after the death of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky became head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church [UGCC]) were exiled to the Siberian gulag.
The UGCC, however, survived in the underground. Bishops and priests concealed their ministerial work, monasteries functioned secretly, and students continued to study in the underground. Former teachers and graduates of the Academy acted then as professors and spiritual instructors.
For Greek Catholics who had emigrated from Ukraine, the situation with theological education was even more complicated. In the absence of Greek Catholic schools, they had no other option than to receive education in Roman Catholic institutions. In 1963, after 18 years of imprisonment and labor camps, Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, head of the UGCC, came to Rome. One of his first decrees dealt with the establishment of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU). Shortly afterwards, the patriarch founded St. Sophia College, demonstrating his deep faith in the revival of Ukraine and emphasizing the need to prepare for this revival. Under Patriarch Josyf’s spiritual care, students of the UCU and St. Sophia College were convinced that the church greatly needed its own theology, its own approach to theological issues, and finally its own research and educational institution. In the 1970s and ‘80s, Ukrainian seminarians who studied in Rome were already considering the prospect of creating a Ukrainian Catholic theological department and developing appropriate syllabi that would meet the needs of their Church. After the legalization of the UGCC and the regaining of Ukrainian independence, the renewal of the Lviv Theological Academy began mainly due to their efforts.
In 1992, a commission on the renewal of the Theological Academy was created with the blessing of Myroslav Ivan Cardinal Lubachivsky, head of the UGCC. In 1994, the Synod of Bishops in Lviv voted for the renewal of the LTA. In September 1994, the Academy was officially opened, now called the Lviv Theological Academy (LTA). After this, LTA authorities started work towards receiving state accreditation for the institution. In 1998, the LTA received recognition from the Congregation for Catholic Education. All Catholic and many non-Catholic educational institutions throughout the world recognized the bachelor’s of theology degree given to the first graduates of the LTA.
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