Human Resource Potential of the Ternopil-Zboriv Metropolis of the UGCC: History, Current State, and Prospects (1990–2024)

Abstract

. The article examined the personnel potential of the Ternopil-Zboriv Metropolis from the perspective of both the history of its structure and its current state. The key stages in the development of the metropolis and its four eparchies—three of which remain active—were outlined. Particular attention was given to the fact that only two of the ruling bishops are natives of Ternopil region, while four former bishops were natives of Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions. This trend indicates that prior to the establishment of the eparchy and later the metropolis of the UGCC in Ternopil, there had not yet been a sufficient number of personnel trained for the higher levels of its administration. On the other hand, the export of such personnel to the neighboring Khmelnytskyi region and the foundation there, in 2015–2019, of a separate Kamianets-Podilskyi Eparchy attests to the high pace of development of the metropolis and its capacity to exert influence on neighboring regions.

Purpose of the article. The aim of the article is to explore the history of the formation of the Ternopil-Zboriv Metropolis of the UGCC by reviewing its personnel potential within three active and one former eparchy, as well as to consider the future prospects for their development through the expansion and reorganization of existing educational institutions as centers for training new personnel both in Ternopil region and for neighboring Khmelnytskyi region.

Scientific novelty. For the first time, the personnel potential of the Ternopil-Zboriv Metropolis has been examined through the analysis of biographies and appointments to the highest leadership positions in the eparchies of the metropolis from 1990 to 2024. Emphasis is placed on the opportunities to reform and develop the network of educational institutions within the metropolis as hubs for supplying and rejuvenating personnel.

Research methods. The analysis of historiography and media materials made it possible to systematize information on the personnel potential of the Ternopil-Zboriv Metropolis during 1990–2025. The use of the historical-biographical method contributed to reconstructing the chronicle of all active and one dissolved eparchy within the metropolis in order to identify both the strengths and weaknesses of this ecclesiastical unit within the UGCC.

Conclusions. Thus, personnel potential can be defined as the ability of a collective, by means of appropriate resources and tools, to achieve certain results at different stages of an organization’s existence. In the case of the Ternopil-Zboriv Metropolis, it initially consisted of two eparchies, which were merged into one in 2000 as a consequence of the creation of another eparchy in the southern part of Ternopil region. The main leadership of all three active and one former eparchy of the Ternopil-Zboriv Metropolis—with the exception of two bishops consecrated in 2019 (Kulyk) and 2023 (Firman)—are not natives of Ternopil region. However, this fact only further emphasizes that each of them was able to realize their potential precisely in a region that was initially unfamiliar, but which over the years became like home to them.