Just a few reflections that I came with while reading Fr Cyril Korolevsky's biography.
It wasn't theology that captured him when he visited the Melkite church in Paris. It wasn't a dislike of the Roman rite that moved him East. It was beauty that moved him East. He saw what the first Ukrainians saw in Constantinople. He was moved by what moved St Volodymyr, Divine beauty. The chants, hymns, icons, everything that connected with him. I reflected upon such a matter. It was not the theology that moved me East, it was not theology that moved me East. If I wanted Neo-Platonism, I could just read Carmelite and Franciscan theology. If I wanted some of the beauty of mystery, I could have joined the SSPX. What captivated me in the East was the fullness of the mystery of God that the West lacks, or at least does not have to the same degree. Just like Fr Cyril, who was born a Latin in France and loved to attend the mass and read Latin off his Misal, so could I identify with him. But, there was something there that I dreamed and yet I did not know until I discovered the East.
The beauty of the East it's mystical. The East taught me that God is not a being to comprehend systematically. Adding labels of philosophy for God only limits our perspective of God. In the East, our relationship with God is in an eternal dance in time. We dance surrounded by Him for He is love. It is so clear in the prayer life and the liturgical life of the East that we are loved by God. God is not a formula, but an unreachable mystery. In the East, the mystical beauty balanced even the life of a scholar like Fr Cyril, and it balances my life. In the East, mystery supersedes any systematic theological framework because of this, the soul of someone like me does not hurt. In the West, without mystery, I slowly drift towards Acadia, but in the East, there is the perfect balance necessary for me to grow and run towards God.
Fr Cyril struggled a lot. He came to know Eastern Catholicism during the time that Rome even discouraged Latins to receive communion if the bread was leavened. Yet, he did not give up, he worked hard and structured a plan. Even after painful nights in which he had to study in questionary colleges with professors that did not know much about academics. But, father found ways around it. I guess that somewhere else where I identity with him is in the book-buying addiction. He became his professor in this sense of the word. Fr Cyril not only dreamed about union, but he also worked hard for it. He worked so hard in improving the churches through the congregation of Eastern churches of which he was a pillar that made it possible. His works were so important for the de-latinizations of the Byzantine churches and his heart was of gold.
His friendship with Metropolitan Andrej was also beautiful. Joining the mission of evangelizing Russia was not a dream but a reality for him. His works became so important that even the Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe used his liturgical work. Fr Cyril was a hero, a man that loved the East. He was someone that contemplated God and all e could do was love God. Fr Cyril slowly confirms the idea that the UGCC it/'s the place where I belong.
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