A Bridge for East & West

The Institute for Eastern Christian Studies strives to create a welcoming and inclusive community for all. Our mission is to spread the love and teachings of Jesus Christ while fostering a sense of belonging and fellowship among our members. We offer a bridge for Catholics and Orthodox Catholics to reunite as one Church.  That means returning to the APOSTOLIC faith of Christ free from heresy and apostasy.  

We do this mission following the command from Cardinal Josyf Slipyj in uniting East and West.  We are a bridge to people in finding their way to Jesus Christ and we do this in our bi-ritual jurisdiction by providing the Sacraments from East, West and the Orthodox.  

Cardinal Slipyj was Eastern Rite and said the Divine Liturgy.  He was a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church and was an Archbishop in the Eastern Rite Catholic Church.  When Cardinal Slipyj was trying to unite East and West and the Orthodox he was near retirement so he consecrated Archbishop +Amvrosij to do this mission.  Cardinal Slipyj also had Papal Privilege and Jurisdiction from Rome to consecrate bishops on his own and to also form dioceses.  

Cardinal Slipyj sent Archbishop Amvrosij to the United States with Papal Privilege and Jurisdiction over North America and South America with dependencies (Africa and other countries).  Archbishop Amvrosij also was consecrated a Metropolitan Archbishop in Chicago with the Orthodox Church of America.  The consecrating bishops who were present included Eastern Rite (Melkite Catholic Church in union with Rome) and Orthodox bishops.

Cardinal Slipyj now has a Metropolitan Archbishop building the North and South American jurisdiction with East, West and Orthodox.  Archbishop +Amvrosij and his priests are focused on this mission of uniting the Catholic Church both east and west and the Orthodox.  The focus on being traditional, bi-ritual and Orthodox puts us in a very prominent position to be able to welcome and build a unity that has never been done before.  

On 23 January 1963, he was freed by Nikita Khrushchev's administration after political pressure from Pope John XXIII and United States President John F. Kennedy.  Cardinal Slipyj arrived in Rome on 9 February 1963 in time to participate in the Second Vatican Council.

For the first time in 17 years, the splendidly robed archbishop fully celebrated the Eucharist in the high Slavonic rite. Willebrands, Arrighi and I witnessed the tears of the archbishop, the tears of the monks and the tears of each other.

Cardinal Slipyj can be known as the "Bridge Worker" in uniting East and West.  He worked to unite the challenges between East and West and strategized to work on this for many years and set the ball in motion to continue his work.   

Our jurisdiction was established by Joseph Cardinal Slipyj with the cooperation of Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Maximos V Hakim as a union of Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic Bishops. It was established to work towards one united Ukrainian jurisdiction as a bridge between East, West and the Orthodox.