Yuri Kaminsky is the first Ukrainian student to attend UTS and he credits his presence here to two UTS alumni. He met Misa Murataki (class of ‘92) at one of his first workshops and came to regard her as his spiritual mother. Later, while fund-raising in Russia, he met Jin Hun Park Moon (class of ‘93) who encouraged him to think about attending UTS one day. Coming to Barrytown has been his desire since that day.

Yuri arrived at UTS in August of this year after graduating from the University of Ukraine with a degree in computer science. He met the Unification Church in 1993 when he saw a poster on campus advertising a presentation by an American missionary. Like most Ukrainians who were born after the Bolshevik revolution, he grew up in an environment in which the existence of God was denied. He simply believed in the independence of his personality and the dignity of human intellect and reason. Still, he wondered why the power of evil is so dominant in the world and, when he attended the Divine Principle seminar, it was the Fall of Man lecture which made the greatest impression on him.

It was when he attended a 14-day seminar in Kiev that he met Misa. Through her patient guidance, he learned the traditions of the Unification Church and came to understand and identify with the vision of Reverend Moon. He decided to take a year off from his studies and went to Kharkov where he was involved in witnessing and fund-raising and in the preparations for the visit to Kiev by Mrs. Moon in November 1993. He was able to use his designing skills to prepare some of the promotional literature.

After returning to school and graduating earlier this year, Yuri was determined to come to UTS. He has heard about Barrytown’s diverse community and this particularly appealed to him. He sees the Seminary as, “the focal point where diverse cultures and beliefs are blended to produce one beautiful whole.” Yuri speaks English and Ukrainian and hopes to eventually earn a doctorate so that he can teach the history of religion from the Unification perspective. He also wants to do his best in service to others while studying here and plans to encourage his brothers and sisters back home to come to the Seminary.
Jones Izimo