Metropolitan Constantine Buggan (1936-2012)… Вечная ему памятъ!
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After a long battle against heart failure, Metropolitan Constantine Buggan, the first American-born Ukrainian Orthodox bishop, who led his church quietly and humbly from his home on Pittsburgh‘s South Side, died Monday at the age of 75. A champion of Orthodox unity, he brought his church into the jurisdictional fold of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and oversaw unification with another Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdiction. Metropolitan Nicholas Pissare of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Detroit knew Metropolitan Constantine when he served the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Pittsburgh 20 years ago, saying, “He was a kind and gentle man, not pompous, not a self-promoter, but he was a defender of the church”. Metropolitan Constantine was born Theodore Buggan, and grew up across the street from his family’s parish on the South Side.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Ukraine underwent brutal persecution (sic) in the Stalin era {give Ms Rogers a break… she’s obviously clueless and doesn’t know the ins and outs of the samosvyatsy… it wasn’t called “the church of the dead hand” for nothing: editor}. All of its bishops there were executed, leaving its American outpost without a patriarch and splintered into two bodies. There were sharp tensions between the economic emigrants who came prior to the communist takeover of the 1920s and the DPs who fled for religious and political freedom after World War II. However, the future metropolitan’s mother received all new immigrants into her home with kindness, said his niece and god-daughter, Larissa Kocelko of Castle Shannon PA.
His Pastor Was His Mentor
Bishop Antony Scharba, who runs the administrative offices of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA in South Bound Brook NJ, said, “He’d tell you that no one chooses to become a priest, that God chooses you. And he felt from the earliest days of childhood that that was his call”. In 1955, Metropolitan Constantine left for the only Ukrainian Orthodox seminary available. Located in Winnipeg MN (Canada), it held all classes in Ukrainian, which he had to learn. He did further studies at St Vladimir Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers NY and at Duquesne University. He was ordained a priest in 1967, serving first as an assistant at St Vladimir Cathedral in Chicago IL and then as a pastor in Troy NY. In 1971, he took monastic vows, taking the name Constantine. He was consecrated as bishop of Chicago in 1972.
Bishop Antony said that because of distrust rooted in the overseas problems, some questioned whether a bishop who wasn’t from the Ukraine could serve the church, observing, “He won the hearts of everyone. It was a real turning point in the life of the church. The church became more united in a common understanding of what our purpose is, which is of course, the salvation of souls”. Metropolitan Constantine made ministry to youth and young adults a priority, establishing a seminary in New Jersey and All Saints Camp in Emlenton PA in Venango County. He was devoted to that camp. Larissa Kocelko said, “He just loved the children. He’d judge diving contests and food contests… and he loved his food”.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Ukraine received independence in 1990, he joined then-Metropolitan Mstyslav Skrypnyk in rebuilding the church there. Metropolitan Mstyslav became primate of the church in Ukraine and then-Archbishop Constantine became the metropolitan here. Upon his predecessor’s death in 1993, Metropolitan Constantine was elected primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA. Rather than ruling from New Jersey, he returned to his home in Pittsburgh PA. His cathedral was in Parma OH, but he was never tempted to leave Sidney Street. Bishop Antony said, “He was the best ambassador Pittsburgh ever had. Everywhere he went, it was ‘my Pittsburgh, my Pittsburgh’. He’d talk about the beauty of the hills, the beauty of the three rivers, the beauty of the city. He could go on and on”.
But His Reach Was Global
After meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch in 1994, he brought his church under the jurisdiction of the EP. In 1996, he presided over the reunification of the two Ukrainian Orthodox bodies in the US. Today, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA claims nearly 100,000 members, and it’s planted many new missions. Larissa Kocelko said that he was generous with spiritual guidance, who added that it was more important that he was her godfather than that he was her uncle, saying, “His main role was to pray for me and to guide me spiritually, and he did that every day of my life. He did it through example”. When she was upset with people who had disappointed her, he counselled love and forgiveness, urging her to think of what was happening in the souls of those who had offended her, she said, noting, “He never judged. He only saw the good in everyone, and pointed it out”. He was also a prankster. He had a realistic-looking mechanical mouse that he would sometimes send across the sidewalk to surprise pedestrians, while he chuckled from his front porch. Larissa said, “He was a child at heart, and innocent in so many ways”.
Bishop Antony said that with priests and parishioners, “He was very outgoing and very approachable. If there was a banquet, he didn’t want someone waiting on him, he wanted to serve himself and join everyone else”. Last week, as a 40th anniversary celebration of his episcopacy approached, he was in hospital. His sister and niece prayed for God’s guidance about whether to cancel the event. When his spirits rose and he talked nonstop about the celebration, they took it as a sign and took him home. Larissa Kocelko said that about 300 people attended the Liturgy and dinner, where he spoke of “the touch of the finger of God throughout his life. As I grieve him, and miss him, everyone keeps saying what a gift it was that he came. Everybody he loved was in that room and he got to say his final goodbyes. So the finger of God was there the whole time”.
A sister, Daria Mazur of Baldwin PA, also survives him. All services will be at St Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Church, South Side. He will lie in state Friday, starting at 13.00 EDT, with a priestly funeral service at 19.00 EDT. The Divine Liturgy and memorial service is at 09.00 EDT. Saturday.
24 May 2012
Anne Rogers
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
