Auxiliary Bishop of Donetsk, Ukraine
Dom Maksym Ryabukha was born on May 18, 1980, in Lviv, Ukraine, in the territory of the Salesian parish. For 12 years he attended the Salesian Oratory, catechesis, the youth group, and then became an animator.
At the age of 15, he went, with the young people of the Oratory, to Slovakia, to participate in a meeting with Pope John Paul II. Since that pilgrimage, the thought of becoming a Salesian has never left him.
After finishing high school in 1997, he immediately began the path of Salesian life: in 1998/99 he completed his novitiate in Pinerolo, Italy; on September 8, 1999, he made his first Salesian profession, in Turin – Valdocco; between 1999/2001 he studied Philosophy in Nave, Italy; 2001/02 was the first year of internship in Odessa, Ukraine; 2002/03 was the second year of internship in Obroshyno, Ukraine. From 2003 to 2007 he carried out his theological studies in Turin, in Crocetta, having made his perpetual profession in Lviv on August 19, 2005. On August 4, 2007, he was ordained as a priest in Lviv.
From 2007 to 2010, Bishop Maksym Ryabukha was in charge of the Lviv Salesian Oratory in Pocrova; From 2010 to 2011 he was the vicar of the director of the Salesian Aspirantate of Lviv – Vynnyky. Between 2011 and 2013 he served as vicar of the director of the Salesian community of Dnipro; and from 2013 to 2018 he was in charge of the Salesian presence in Kyiv, Ukraine.
From 2015 to 2018 he was in charge of the Diocesan University Pastoral, in Kyiv, and from 2016 to 2018 he was the interpreter of the Apostolic Nunciature, in Ukraine, in Kyiv. Between 2018 and 2022 he was the director of the Salesian House “Maria Auxiliadora” and responsible for the Salesian Oratory “Don Bosco”, in Kiev.
Bishop Maksym Ryabukha’s episcopal ordination took place in Kyiv on December 22, 2022. On December 24, 2022, his pastoral service began in the Archbishopric Exarchate of Donetsk, as an auxiliary bishop.
However, not only did he obtain a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Theology, he also began studies to obtain a license in Pastoral Theology and completed a master’s degree in Law, Social Pedagogy and School Management.