Serhii Shumylo information

Serhii Viktorovych Shumylo (Ukrainian: Сергій Вікторович Шумило; born 8 June 1976) is an historian, specialist in religious studies, journalist and public figure. Shumylo is a candidate of historical sciences (PhD) and a Doctor of Theology (ThDr).

He is an invited science researcher at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom),^[1][2][3] director of the International Institute of the Athonite Legacy in Ukraine,^[1] a science researcher at the Institute of History of Ukraine (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine),^[4] Co-chairman of the Church History Group at the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA) in the USA,^[5][6] Associate Professor at the National Academy of Government Managerial Staff of Culture and Arts (Ukraine),^[7] Assessor of the IQS Board of the University of Prešov,^[8] Deputy Chairman of the Chernihiv Branch of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union.^[9]

Serhii Shumylo researches the Ukrainian spiritual and cultural heritage, is the editor-in-chief of the scientific almanac "Athos Heritage" (Ukrainian: «Афонська спадщина», Afonska spadshchyna), a member of the editorial boards of the scientific journal "Local Lore" (Ukrainian: «Краєзнавство», Krayeznavstvo) and the popular science magazine "Landmarks of Ukraine: History and Culture" (Ukrainian: «Пам'ятки України: історія та культура»), a member of the editorial board of the All-Ukrainian scientific journal "Siveryansky Litopis" (Ukrainian: «Сіверянський літопис») and the editorial board of the popular science magazine "Liberation Struggle" (Ukrainian: «Визвольна боротьба»). He also made great contributions in research of the Eastern Orthodox churches during their persecutions in the Soviet Union and studies towards history of "catacomb" (underground) religious communities as well as other religious communities. The author of at least ten books and more than 100 scientific publications on subject of the history of Mount Athos, the Eastern Orthodox underground in the Soviet Union, the history of Eastern Orthodoxy in Ukraine during the Cossack Hetmanate, the early history of Eastern Orthodoxy in Ukraine during Kyivan Rus, as well as numerous publications in the mass media on issues of history, religion, culture, and politics.^[1]

He is a full member of the international society "The Friends of Mount Athos" (under the patronage of HRH Prince Charles, Oxford, UK),^[3] a member of the National Union of Local History of Ukraine, Shevchenko Scientific Society, National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies, International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) and European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR).^[1]

He defended his candidate of historical sciences (Ph.D. in History) on the topic "Development of Ukrainian-Athonite spiritual and cultural ties in the 17th - first third of the 19th century". In doctoral studies at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Presov (Presov, Slovakia), he defended his doctorate in theology (ThDr).^[1] He took a course at Harvard University (Harvard University course "Tangible Things: Discovering History Through Artworks, Artifacts, Scientific Specimens, and the Stuff Around You").^[10]

He is a follower of the famous Greek professor Antonios Tachiaos (1931-2018), under whose influence he began researching in the archives of Athos and later, in 2013, founded the International Institute of the Athonite Legacy with him (Prof Tachiaos was the honorary chairman of this institute from 2013 to 2018, and from 2018 to 2022, Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia was the honorary chairman of the institute).^[11]

For a long time, he has been researching the history of relations between Ukraine and the Holy Mount Athos, the influence of the Athonite heritage on Ukrainian spiritual culture and tradition. He has studied the archival collections of Athos monasteries, the Holy Kinot of Athos (Athos, Greece), the Patriarchal Archives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Phanar (Istanbul, Turkey), and historical archives of Ukraine and other countries. In particular, he found documents and material remains of the lost Ukrainian "Cossack" skete "Black Whirlpool" (Mavrovyr) on Mount Athos, founded by the Cossacks on Athos in 1747.^[12] He discovered and published little-known letters of St Paisius Velichkovsky in the archives, as well as documents on charitable activities towards Athos monasteries by Ukrainian hetmans and representatives of Cossack families of the 17th and 18th centuries. He compiled a biography of the Ukrainian polemic writer and Athonite elder John Vyshensky, on the basis of which the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church canonised him as a saint in 2016. He has published other research, books, publications and materials on the historical, spiritual and cultural ties between Ukraine and the monasteries of Mount Athos.^[11] Also, for the first time, he found and explored the remains of the cell of St Paisius Velichkovsky on Mount Athos.^[13]

Recipient of research fellowships and grants from the Dumbarton Oaks Research Centre at Harvard University (2022) and the British Academy (2023).^[14][11] In 2022, he was a Visiting Fellow at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (Germany),^[15] as well as in École Pratique des Hautes Études l PSL in Paris (France).^[16]

For several years (2014–2015, 2021–2022) he was a representative of the Hoover Institution of Stanford University (USA) in Ukraine.^[17][18] From January 2023, he was appointed Head of the Branch of the Institute of Ukrainian Studies of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in Exeter (UK).^[19][20] Works closely with scientific institutions in Greece and other countries.^[21]

He has organized more than 20 international scientific conferences on the spiritual and cultural heritage of Mount Athos and the history of the Church in Ukraine (including with the support of the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris, France), the Keston Institute in Oxford (UK), Columbia University (USA), the World Council of Churches (Geneva, Switzerland) and other international organizations). For a long time, he was engaged in research activities abroad (Great Britain, France, Greece, Germany, Italy), held personal lectures, exhibitions and presentations on the Ukrainian heritage of Mount Athos in more than ten European countries (Athens, Paris, London, Oxford, Cambridge, Rome, Venice, Milan, Naples, Strasbourg, Geneva, Brussels, Hamburg, Warsaw, Prague, Jassy and others).^[11] In particular, he has lectured at the World Council of Churches in Geneva,^[22][23] Webster University in Athens^[12] and other international academic and religious institutions. In 2022, he organized several scientific and educational events at the Sorbonne University in Paris to promote Ukrainian cultural heritage.^[24][25][26]

In addition to his academic work, he is involved in social and political activities. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was a member of the youth anti-communist movement and one of the organisers of the Chernihiv branch of the Union of Independent Ukrainian Youth, and since March 1990, a member of the Shevchenko Ukrainian Language Society (Prosvita). In 2002–2006, he was a member of the Chernihiv City Council. In 2002–2003 - Secretary of the Commission of the Chernihiv City Council.^[11] He participated in the events of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine (2004). He was also involved in monitoring issues in the field of harmonisation of church-state relations, freedom of conscience and religious organisations,^[27] in 2015, together with well-known human rights activists from different countries, he signed a declaration on the creation of the international movement "Freedom of Conscience" and acted as the coordinator of the organisation's representative office in Ukraine.^[28][29][30] 2019–2022 – worked as an expert consultant at the Apparatus of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine).^[11]

After Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he repeatedly spoke in the media criticising Russia's actions and the fundamentalist ideology of the "Russian world", which the Moscow Patriarchate promotes to justify Russia's war against Ukraine. In particular, he is published in Kathimerini,^[31] The Art Newspaper,^[32] ElDebate.com,^[33] The Pilot,^[34] Vatican News,^[11] Orthodox Times,^[35][36] Fos Fanariou,^[37] Religion & Gesellschaft^[38] and others.

Participated in advising British medical forensic experts who are collecting testimonies and evidence of crimes committed by the Russian military in Ukraine to be submitted to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.^[11][39][40] Organiser of ecumenical inter-Christian events in support of Ukraine in the UK.^[41][42]