Bishop Maksim Ryabukha was born on 18 May 1980 in Lviv. In 1998 he entered the Society of St. Francis de Sales, attending the novitiate at Pinerolo, where he made his first profession on Sept. 8, 1999; he then made his perpetual profession in Lviv on Aug. 19, 2005, and received priestly ordination on Aug. 4, 2007, also in Lviv.
After initial formation, he completed his studies in Philosophy and Theology at the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS). In addition, he also trained in Human Resource Management at the Interregional Academy in Kyiv, as well as obtaining a Master's Degree in School Administration from the Lviv Polytechnic University and a Master's Degree in Social Pedagogy from the National University of Transcarpathia.
His many roles include Director of the School of Catechetics at Pokrov Parish of the Holy Mother of God in Lviv, Administrator of St. John Chrysostom Parish in Kyiv, head of University Pastoral Ministry of the Archeparchy of Kyiv, Local Collaborator of the Apostolic Nunciature in Ukraine, Teacher of Pedagogy at the Greek-Catholic Major Seminary in Kyiv.
At the level of Salesian communities, he was Rector of the Oratory of the Lviv community (2007-2010) and Vynnyky (2010-2011), Rector and Economer in Dnipro (2014-2015) and, from 2018 to the present, Rector and Economer of the Kyiv house.
At the circumscription level, he served as National Delegate for Youth Ministry for the then Eastern Circumscription (2009-2012), and for the Vice Province "Mary Help of Christians" of Greek Catholic Ukraine (UKR), Delegate for Formation and Vicar (2018-2021), Delegate for Vocations Ministry and Salesian Family (2020-2021).
