Twenty-five Blessed of the Greek Catholic Church of Ukrainians

The twenty-five saints of the Greek Catholic Church of Ukrainians , representing in particular with the Blessed Mykolaj Tscharnezkyj named were, on 27 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II. , As part of a Byzantine-Slavic liturgy in Lviv as a martyr and beatified the Greek - proclaimed Catholic Church of Ukrainians . The blessed are eight bishops , 13 priests , three women religious and one lay person . On June 26, 2001, the Pope had already beatified two Lviv clergy of the Latin Church .

history

After the February Revolution of 1917 and the overthrow of the Tsarist government , the Ukrainian National Congress elected a Supreme Council, which on November 20, 1917 proclaimed Ukraine's independence. When the October Revolution was over, the Central Council proclaimed autonomy . On January 22, 1918, full independence as the Ukrainian People's Republic - Ukrajinska Narodna Respublika (UNR) was proclaimed.

→ Main article : History of Ukraine

After the First World War

After the end of the First World War in 1918 and the withdrawal of the German and Austro-Hungarian troops, civil war raged again in 1919 and 1920 , which was ultimately won by the Bolsheviks . The West Ukrainian People's Republic was formed in the former Galicia , the capital of which were successively Lviv , Ternopil and Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk ). In 1921 the West Ukrainian People's Republic lost the war against Poland and had to surrender . In 1922 the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic officially became part of the newly established Soviet Union . With the new rulers, the systematic fight against the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine began in 1922. The aim of the Soviets was to merge the Greek Catholic Church, united with Rome, with the Russian Orthodox Church . A wave of arrests against all Catholic bishops , priests , religious and lay people followed between 1922 and 1939 .

Second World War

During the German occupation in World War II , the country was under German civil administration . More than a million Ukrainians, including many clergymen, Germany were to forced labor direction deported . Ukrainian books and magazines were no longer approved for printing, and a few newspapers that were still permitted were strictly censored . During the course of the war there were several changes of power between Russian and German troops, and both occupying powers persecuted the Christians in Ukraine.

→ Main article : History of Ukraine during World War II

After the Second World War

Even before the end of the Second World War, there was strong resistance to Soviet rule from 1943 onwards. The Ukrainian nationalists lost after the war another war against the Soviet army, as a result around 300,000 Ukrainians to Siberia were deported. After western Ukraine was retaken by the Soviet Union in 1944/45, the Soviet occupiers tried again to unite the Russian Orthodox Church and the Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine united with Rome by force. This led to the dissolution of Catholic orders , the expropriation of monasteries and finally to the mass arrest of Catholic Christians, priests, monks , nuns and all bishops. Many people were deported to Siberia and died in captivity , a few were released or in the years 1955-56 from prison into exile exiled and died as a result of torture and complications.

→ Main article : “World War II and the Postwar Period” in the article History of Ukraine

The twenty-five venerable servants of God

On June 27, 2001, during his visit to Lviv , Pope John Paul II announced the names of the Venerable Servants of God of the Greek Catholic Christians of Ukraine. In his sermon on beatification, the Holy Father stated:

“The servants of God who are inscribed today in the register of the blessed are representative of all members of the ecclesial community: among them were bishops and priests, men and women religious and lay people. They were put to the test in various ways by the supporters of the ominous ideologies of National Socialism and Communism. Knowing about the sufferings these faithful disciples of Christ were exposed to, my predecessor Pius XII. expresses his solidarity with sorrowful sympathy with all "who persevere in the faith and oppose the enemies of Christianity with the same indomitable strength with which they resisted their ancestors" "

- John Paul II

The Pope also recalled the Apostolic Letter Orientales ecclesias , in which Pope Pius XII. (1939–1958) pointed to the courage with which the pastors resisted at the time and remained loyal to the Pope.

The blessed women and men

• Bishop Mykolaj Tscharnezkyj CSsR (* December 14, 1884 - April 2, 1959), was initially a religious priest of the Redemptorists . He was a missionary and was, in recognition of his successful missionary work, by Pope Pius XI. (1922–1939) appointed titular bishop . He was arrested in 1945 and sentenced to forced labor in Siberia in 1946. In 1957 he was released from captivity and died on April 2, 1959 in Lemberg. April 2nd was set as the common church day of remembrance for the twenty-five blessed.

• Father Leonid Feodorow MSU (born November 4, 1879 † March 7, 1935) was in 1902 from the Russian Orthodox faith to the Roman Catholic Church converted and was ordained a priest in 1911. In Bosnia he joined the Order of Students and returned to his native Saint Petersburg in 1913 . Here he was arrested and released in 1917. In 1917 he was appointed exarch of the Russian Catholic Church . In 1923 he was arrested again and banished to the Solovetsky Monastery , which had been converted into a prison, on the island of Solovetsky in the White Sea . Later he was moved to Vladimir (Russia) . Two years after that term, he died as a result of the torture he had suffered. The Metropolitan of Ukraine Andrei Scheptyzkyj OSBM had already initiated the beatification process in 1939.

• Pastor Mykola Konrad (* May 16, 1876; † July 26, 1941) was a professor at the Theological Academy in Lemberg and a pastor . He was shot in the woods near Birok, near the town of Stradch near Lemberg.

• Volodymyr Pryjma (born July 17, 1906, † June 26, 1941) was shot together with Mykola Konrad, whom he had accompanied during a communion distribution.

• Pastor Andrij Ishchak (born September 23, 1887 - † June 26, 1941) was shot as pastor of the Lviv district of Sychiw by Soviet soldiers who were in retreat.

• Father Severian Baranyk OSBM (July 18, 1889 - June 26, 1941) was the prior of the Basilian monastery in Drohobych and pastor. He was monitored by the Soviet secret service in 1939 and imprisoned in 1941. During the advance in 1939, German troops found only dead people in Drohobych prison; Pastor Baranyk's body was not clearly identified.

• Father Jakym Senkiwskyj OSBM (* May 2, 1896, † June 29, 1941) was pastor and lecturer in theology . He was the prior of the Drohobych Monastery and suffered the same fate as his brother, Father Baranyk.

• Father Synowij Kowalyk CSsR (* August 18, 1914, † 1941) was a religious priest of the Redemptorists and was arrested on December 20, 1940. He was shot together with other prisoners in the Lviv Bryhidky prison before the Soviet troops withdrew. It was also narrated that he was crucified on a wall.

• Sister Tarsykija Mazkiw (born March 23, 1919, † July 17, 1944) was a religious sister of the Cooperative of the Servants of Mary the Immaculate . She was shot in her monastery by a Soviet soldier in Krystonopil, Poland (now Chervonohrad in Ukraine).

Sel. Bishop Hryhoriy Khomyshyn

• Bishop Hryhorij Khomyschyn (born March 25, 1867 - January 17, 1947) was Bishop of Stanisławów , he was arrested in 1939 when the Russian troops marched in and again in 1945 when they withdrew. He died in a prison in Kiev as a result of severe torture .

• Father Witaliy Bairak OSBM (* February 24, 1907, † 1946) became Superior of the Basilian Order of St. Josaphat and succeeded his predecessor Jakym Senkiwskyj who died as a martyr in 1941 . On September 17, 1945, he was arrested by the Soviets and brought before a court . He was charged with writing against communism . The sentence was eight years imprisonment.

Sel. Bishop Josaphat Kocylovskyj

• Bishop Josaphat Kocylovskyj OSBM (born March 3, 1876 - November 17, 1947) was Bishop of Przemyśl , he was released from September 1945 - February 1945 after a brief detention. In 1946 he was captured again and imprisoned in Kiev. Despite his serious illness they were deported him to the relief camp Capaivca. The violent attempt to convert him to the Russian Orthodox Church ended in his death.

• Bishop Nicetas Budka (* June 7, 1877 - October 1, 1949) died in the Karadzar camp hospital in Kazakhstan . On October 14, 1912, he was appointed the first Apostolic Exarch of Canada for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Canada . He returned in 1928 as a canon at Lviv Cathedral. In 1945 he was arrested and deported to Siberia for eight years of forced labor. After four years of suffering, he died.

• Archpriest Roman Lysko (* August 14, 1914, † October 14, 1949) was the archpriest of Lemberg and pastor in Belzets. He was imprisoned and forced to convert to the Russian Orthodox Church. He died in Lviv prison as a result of the torture.

Sel. Bishop Hryhory Lakota

• Bishop Hryhory Lakota (born January 31, 1883, † November 12, 1950) was titular bishop of Daonium and auxiliary bishop in Przemyśl-Warsaw . In 1940 he fell into communist captivity and was deported to Siberia. He died in the Siberian camp Abez .

• Archimandrite Klymentij Scheptyzkyj MSU (also Clement Sheptytsky ; * November 17, 1869, † May 1, 1951) was the younger brother of the Metropolitan Andrei Scheptyzkyj . He was the superior general of the student monks in Ukraine and prior of the Uniw monastery . In 1947 he was accused of anti-Soviet actions and cooperation with foreign countries in the Vatican . He was arrested and sentenced to eight years of forced labor at the age of 77. He died in a Russian prison in Vladimir.

• Pastor Mykola Zehelskyj (* December 17, 1896, † May 25, 1951) was married before his priesthood and the father of four children. He was a pastor in Lviv and was arrested on October 28, 1946 and sentenced to ten years in a camp. He died in Java's camp in Moldova .

• Sister Olympia Olha Bida (* 1903, † January 28, 1952) was a member of the " Cooperative of the Sisters of St. Joseph " and worked as a community nurse in Zebliw (Lemberg Oblast). Since 1945 she worked underground and was arrested together with her co-sister Levkadia Herasymiw in 1950. On May 27, 1950, she was sentenced to forced labor for anti-Soviet agitation and taken to Siberia. She died there in the Charsk camp.

• Father Ivan Sjatyk CSsR (* December 26, 1899 - May 17, 1952) died in the hospital of the prison camp Oserlag near Irkutsk . In 1948 the incumbent Provincial of the Redemptorists was expelled by the Russian rulers and Ivan Ziatysk took over the leadership of the order province . He was appointed Vicar General of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine by Archbishop and Metropolitan Andrej Scheptyzkyj . On January 5, 1950, Sjatyk was captured and sentenced to ten years in a forced camp for belonging to the Redemptorists.

• Sister Levkadia Herasymiw (born September 30, 1911, † August 28, 1952) was, like her co-sister Olympia Olha Bida, a member of the Cooperative of the Sisters of St. Joseph. They were arrested together in April 1950 and taken to the Charsk camp. Here she died of complications from tuberculosis .

• Father Petro Werhun (born November 18, 1890 - † February 7, 1957) was in 1940 by Pope Pius XII. (1939–1958) was appointed Apostolic Visitator for all Catholic Ukrainians in the German Empire . He was kidnapped on June 22, 1945 and only released in 1952. He died as a result of the abuse.

• Pastor Oleksyj Saryzkyj (* 1913; † October 30, 1963) was pastor in Stutyn and Sarwanyzja . He was sentenced to eight years' exile in Karaganda , Kazakhstan, for the first time in 1948 . After his release in 1956, he worked underground in Karaganga as a pastor and was apprehended in 1962. He was sentenced to two years in prison and locked in the Dolinka camp , where he died in the camp hospital .

Sel. Bishop Symeon Lukatsch

• Bishop Symeon Lukatsch (* July 7, 1893, † August 22, 1964) was ordained a secret bishop in 1945 after the arrest of the Ukrainian episcopate . On October 26, 1949, he was arrested and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment and deported to Krasnoyarsk (Siberia). In 1955 he was able to leave the camp and began the secret pastoral care. He was sentenced to forced labor again in 1962. He fell ill in March 1964 and was released, shortly afterwards he died.

• Bishop Vasyl Velytschkowskyj CSsR (born June 1, 1903, † June 30, 1973) was a religious priest of the Redemptorists. In 1942 he became superior of the Redemptorist monastery in Ternopil and arrested on April 11, 1945. He was sent to the Vorkuta Labor Camp in Siberia and was sentenced to ten years . In 1955 he was released to Lemberg, where he was appointed "secret bishop" in 1959 and consecrated in 1963. After being arrested and exiled again, he was released on January 27, 1972, after having been given a long-term poison injection . After emigrating to Canada , he died in Winnipeg .

• Bishop Ivan Slesjuk (born January 14, 1896 - December 2, 1973) was ordained secret bishop of Ukraine in 1945 together with Symeon Lukatsch. He was arrested in June 1945 and sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released on November 15, 1954 and arrested again on October 22, 1962. The allegation was of anti-subversive religious activities and was punished with five years in prison. After his release, he lived in Ivano-Frankovsk from 1968, where he was summoned several times by the police authorities. A sudden fit of faintness that surprised him during such an interrogation then led to death.

Web links

• Beatifications during His Holiness John Paul II's pastoral trip to Ukraine (June 23-27, 2001)
• Celebration of the divine liturgy with beatification, sermon of John Paul II (June 27, 2001)
• Biographies of twenty five Greek-Catholic Servants of God (English)
• Entry in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The order of the blessed was sorted according to the year of death
2. ^ Mykola Conrad
3. ↑ Blessed Volodomyr Pryjma ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Blessed Andrew Ishchak
5. ↑ Bienheureux Joachim SENKIVSKY
6. ↑ Bl. Zenon Kovalyk
7. ↑ Blessed Tarsykija Mazkiw ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Blessed Vitaliy Bairak ( Memento of the original from October 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Blessed Roman Lysko ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ Bl. Clement Sheptytsky  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ Blessed Mykola Tsehelskyi
12. ↑ Blessed Olympia Bida ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ↑ The Redemptorists: Blessed Ivan Ziatysk ( Memento of the original from August 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
14. ↑ Blessed Levkadia Harasymiv
15. ↑ Oleksiy Zarytskyi
16. ↑ Underground bishop entry on twenty-five blessed of the Greek Catholic Church of the Ukrainians on catholic-hierarchy.org