Gudziak Borys, Bishop

Eparch (Bishop) of the Paris Eparchy (Diocese) of St. Volodymyr the Great or France, Switzerland and Benelux (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church). Head of the Department of External Church Relations, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. President of the Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv.

Borys Gudziak was born in 1960 in Syracuse, New York, the son of immigrants from Ukraine. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and biology from Syracuse University in 1980 and then studied in Rome, in the circle of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj. He received a degree in theology from Urbaniana University in 1983 and then returned to America to pursue a doctorate in Slavic and Byzantine Cultural History at Harvard University, which he successfully defended in 1992. In 1992, he moved to Lviv where he founded and directed (1992-2002) the Institute of Church History. In 1993, he was appointed Chairman of the Commission for the Renewal of the Lviv Theological Academy. From 1995 until 2000 he served as Vice Rector of the Lviv Theological Academy, then as Rector from 2000 to 2002. In that year, Borys Gudziak became Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University (founded on the basis of the Academy), and in 2013 its President. Borys Gudziak received his priestly ordination in 1998. In 2012 he was appointed Bishop for Ukrainian Catholics in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Switzerland and presently is based in Paris. Also serves as a member of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. He speaks English, Ukrainian, Italian, Polish, French, Russian, and German.

Bishop Gudziak is the author of a number of scholarly works, among them a doctoral dissertation Crisis and Reform: The Kyivan Metropolitanate, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Genesis of the Union of Brest (1998), as well as articles in European and North American academic journals. He has penned articles in popular magazines, newspapers, commentary on political, cultural and religious affairs, position papers on academic curricula and educational reform, and introductions to scholarly publications.

Bishop Borys was an active supporter of the 2013/14 Euromaidan movement for dignity and appeared regularly on leading global TV channels and media with expert commentary. In 2015 Bishop Borys Gudziak became a Cavalier of the Order of Legion of Honor - the highest decoration in France, in 2016 was awarded with Jan Nowak-Jezioranski Award (Wroclaw, Poland). Author and editor of dozens of articles and books and on church history, spirituality, theology and hundreds of publications on contemporary church life, development and reform of universities, architecture and spirituality and other issues of public, social, cultural and political life. Active member of the Ukrainian scouts’ organization "Plast", head of its supervisory board.