UGCC Eparchial Economes from across Ukraine gather in Zarvanytsia

During the meeting, participants discussed the role of the econome in modern conditions, financial security challenges, the activities of the UGCC Consulting Center, and the development of social entrepreneurship. The central theme focused on the resources that enable the Church to carry out its mission of serving others during wartime.

In this context, the economes focused on how the Church can create jobs, support communities, participate in reconstruction, and effectively utilize existing resources. This was reported by the UGCC Information Department.

Father Lubomyr Yavorskyi, Patriarchal Econome of the UGCC and head of the Mudra Sprava Patriarchal Foundation, emphasized that the meeting marked the resumption of regular communication, as the economes had last met a year ago.

“We have resumed our meetings because we understand that the Church needs to have resources to serve today. The war continues, donor funding is decreasing, everyone is becoming exhausted, but needs are only increasing. Our role as economes is to ensure that the ‘hands’ of the Church are not empty. Therefore, we strategized about social enterprise and financial security, which builds trust,” said Fr. Lubomyr.

The priest emphasized that regular meetings help shape the Church’s ecosystem of social enterprises and initiatives, while also allowing for more effective maintenance of existing projects.

A separate portion of the meeting was dedicated to the first achievements of the UGCC Consulting Center—a structure designed to strengthen the Church’s capacity to manage finances, resources, and donor funds.

“We teach parishes, communities, and priests not only about entrepreneurial activity but also how to maintain proper accounting, how to write a grant, how to receive it, and how to report on it. Today, the Consulting Center is our effective tool,” Fr. Lubomyr explained.

Given the importance of exchanging experience, the participants agreed to hold future meetings more frequently in hybrid formats—both online and offline. According to the priest, communication always fosters new ideas and creates greater opportunities. Starting from the next meeting, eprchial economes plan to move to practical work: conducting brainstorming sessions, searching for specific solutions, and processing them together with the UGCC Consulting Center.

“Every econome is already an expert with experience in managing resources, finances, and project implementation. Therefore, we will strategize together on each proposed initiative and subsequently bring it to life,” noted Fr. Lubomyr Yavorskyi.