A
memorial to the victims of political repressions and the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross Church.
NSH Gorodok Kostel Vozdvyjennya Chesnogo Hresta
Римо-католицький костел Воздвиження Чесного Хреста (мур.), 1372р.; Городок, вул. Львівська, 4
Bienheureux Pierre
Verhun, prêtre et martyr
Né en 1890 en Galicie
près de Lvov où il étudie la philosophie, ordonné prêtre (grec-catholique) en
1927, il a en charge les catholiques ukrainiens en Allemagne où il est nommé
visiteur apostolique. Arrêté en 1945 durant la période de persécution
soviétique contre la religion, il est déporté dans un goulag de Sibérie d'où il
sort en 1953, mais il est de nouveau déporté et envoyé au camp de travaux
forcés d’Angarsk, près de Krasnoiarsk en Sibérie, où il meurt le 7 février
1957.
Bienheureux Pierre Verhun
Prêtre et martyr
ukrainien (+ 1957)
Né en 1890 en Galicie
près de Lvov où il étudie la philosophie, ordonné prêtre (grec-catholique) en
1927, il a en charge les catholiques ukrainiens en Allemagne où il est nommé
visiteur apostolique. Arrêté en 1945 et déporté dans un goulag de Sibérie d'où il
sort en 1953; il est alors envoyé en Russie à Angarsk où il meurt le 7 février
1957.
"Le prêtre martyr
Pierre Verhun servit comme vicaire apostolique en Allemagne, où il devint 'tout
pour tous'. C'est pourquoi les paroles de st Paul: 'Réjouissez-vous avec qui
est dans la joie, pleurez avec qui pleure' (Romains 12.15) illustre son credo
vital." Les
nouveaux martyrs d'Ukraine - Université catholique d'Ukraine
Il a été béatifié le 27
juin 2001 par Jean-Paul II avec d'autres martyrs originaires d'Ukraine.
Au camp de travaux forcés
d’Angarsk, près de Krasnoiarsk en Sibérie, l’an 1955, le bienheureux Pierre
Verhun, prêtre et martyr, qui mourut en déportation durant la période de
persécution soviétique contre la religion.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11432/Bienheureux-Pierre-Verhun.html
Pierre ( Petro ) Verhun*
naquit en Galicie orientale à Gorodok près de Lvov, l'ancienne Lemberg (
Leopoli en latin, Lviv en ukrainien ) en 1890 et ordonné en 1927 selon le rite
grec-catholique ( rite byzantin uniate pour les Ruthènes ).
La région appartint à la
Pologne jusqu' à la seconde guerre mondiale.
Il fut nommé visiteur
apostolique des émigrés ruthènes, originaires d' Ukraine
sub-carpathique et d' autres pays limitrophes dans l' ancienne
Autriche-Hongrie, et les grecs-catholiques ukrainiens de Berlin. Il vécut
donc en Allemagne.
En 1945, il fut arrêté
par le régime communiste soviétique et déporté dans un goulag sibérien. A sa
libération en 1953, il fut relégué à Angarsk près de Krasnoïarsk, où il
mourut le 7 février 1957.
Il a été béatifié en 2001
par Jean-Paul II avec d' autres martyrs originaires d' Ukraine.
La translation de ses
reliques eut lieu le 26 juillet 2004 à l' église de la Dormition de la Très
Sainte Mère de Dieu à Stryi ( Ukraine occidentale), ainsi qu' à Gorodok et à la
paroisse grecque-catholique de Munich.
* prononcer :
Vergoun
SOURCE : http://ut-pupillam-oculi.over-blog.com/article-5556873.html
Pierre (Petro)
Verhun naquit en Galicie orientale à Gorodok près de Lvov, l'ancienne
Lemberg le 18 novembre 1890 et fut ordonné prêtre le 30 octobre 1927 selon le
rite grec-catholique (rite byzantin uniate pour les Ruthènes).
La région appartenait
alors à la Pologne, et le resta jusqu'à la seconde guerre mondiale.
Il fut nommé visiteur
apostolique des émigrés ruthènes, originaires d'Ukraine sub-carpathique et
d'autres pays limitrophes dans l'ancienne Autriche-Hongrie, et les
grecs-catholiques ukrainiens de Berlin. Il vécut donc en Allemagne.
En juin 1945, il fut
arrêté par le régime communiste soviétique et déporté dans un goulag sibérien
où il subit toute sorte de vexations de la part de ses gardiens qui devint en
quelque sorte aussi ses bourreaux. À sa libération en 1953, il fut relégué à Angarsk
près de Krasnoïarsk, où il mourut le 7 février 1957.
Il fut béatifié en 2001
par Jean-Paul II — pendant sa Visite Pastorale en Ukraine (23-27 juin
2001 — avec d'autres martyrs originaires d'Ukraine.
La translation de ses
reliques eut lieu le 26 juillet 2004 à l'église de la Dormition de la Très
Sainte Mère de Dieu à Stryi (Ukraine occidentale), ainsi qu'à Gorodok et à la
paroisse grecque-catholique de Munich.
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/pierre_verhun.htm
Bienheureux Pierre VERHUN
Nom: VERHUN
Prénom: Pierre (Petro)
Pays: Ukraine
Naissance:
18.11.1890 à Horodok (Lviv)
Mort: 07.02.1957 à
Angarski (Krasnoïarsk - Russie)
Etat: Prêtre - Visiteur
apostolique - Martyr du Groupe des 25
martyrs d'Ukraine 2
Note: Prêtre en 1927.
Visiteur Apostolique pour les catholiques Ukrainiens d'Allemagne. Déporté en
Sibérie où il meurt en 1957.
Béatification:
27.06.2001 à Lviv (Ukraine) par Jean Paul II
Canonisation:
Fête: 27 juin
Réf. dans l’Osservatore
Romano: 2001 n.26 p.1-5 - n.27 p.9-10 - n.28 p.12
- n.29 p.2.5
Réf. dans la Documentation
Catholique: 2001 n.15 p.747-749
Notice
Petro Verhun naît à
Horodok près de Lviv le 18 novembre 1890. Il est ordonné prêtre par le
métropolite André Sheptytsky dans la cathédrale Saint Georges à Lviv le 30
octobre 1927. Il est envoyé à Berlin pour s'occuper des grecs-catholiques de
cette ville et peu après il devient Visiteur Apostolique pour les catholiques
Ukrainiens d'Allemagne. En juin 1945, il est arrêté et envoyé en Sibérie. Il
meurt en martyr de la foi le 7 février 1957 au village d'Angarski dans le
territoire de Krasnoïarsk (Russie).
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/hagiographie/fiches/f0560.htm
Also known as
Petro Verhun
Profile
Greek
Catholic. Doctor of philosophy. Ordained on 30
October 1927. Priest for
Ukrainian Catholics at Berlin, Germany.
Apostolic Visitor to Germany. Arrested for
his faith in
June 1945,
and exiled to
Siberia. Martyr.
Born
18
November 1890 at
Horodok, Lviv District, Ukraine
7
February 1957 at
Anharck, Krasnoyarskiy kray, Russia
24
April 2001 by Pope John
Paul II (decree of martyrdom
27
June 2001 by Pope John
Paul II at Ukraine
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-peter-verhun/
The
New Martyrs of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church
Holiness
in Life
Pope John Paul II’s
solemn proclamation of the new martyrs and faithful servants of God of the
Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church as blessed is another divine manifestation to
our people. During more than 1,000 years of salvation history on our land,
Ukrainian Christians have rejoiced in various signs of God’s presence. The Word
has become incarnate among us has been changed into visible sacraments: the
healing water of baptism, the oil of the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine of the
Lord’s paschal feast. They lead us to the divine life. “God is with us!”
He has built His house
here. Great Church councils throughout the ages and quiet little chapels speak
to us. The warm and hospitable face of the Lord looks into our souls from
childhood. His image is embroidered on our decorative cloths at home. The feasts
of the liturgical year sanctify our time; invite us to overcome our lack of
faith and our doubts, and to feel that we live in the age of the Kingdom of
God.
We receive this mercy of
the Lord through the blessing of hierarchs and priests, on whose heads we can
still feel the warm hands of the priests and martyrs Hryhorii, Theodore,
Josaphat, Nykyta, Hryhorii, Mykola, Semeon, Ivan and Vasyl. We celebrate
together with monks and nuns who still today remember the sanctifying
righteousness of Sister Josaphata and the “aristocracy of spirit” of priest and
martyr Klymentii. They remember these fathers and sisters of their communities
– kind, welcoming and, at the same time, brave and constant in the faith. We
rejoice with Neonila Lysko, who can still today tell us about the eyes of her
good husband, full of troubles: Neonila who for such a short time was comforted
by his close presence but his glory will last. Together with Father Emilian
Kovch’s children, who are with us, we pass on his testament of love of neighbor
and love of enemy.
From now on from our
midst, for us and for the world, the universal Church raises them up as
examples of holiness, as heavenly friends of the Lord, humble figures of mortal
human beings. Yesterday they lived among us or among our parents in our cities
and villages, bravely fought with the greatest tyrants of human history,
against wrongs and injustices done to their brothers and sisters. They also
struggled with their own imperfections and with the simple worries of daily
life. Their presence here was and now is, incredibly, still felt.
They walked our streets
and rode on our roads, sat on our Episcopal thrones and in our confessionals.
They gave lectures at solemn conferences and reports from their professorial
chairs, and studied in our Theological Academy and seminaries. They probably
did not think that the terrible trial of martyrdom and its everlasting crown
was waiting for them. They wore priestly vestments and the habits of our
religious communities and heard stirring words from their spiritual directors
about self-giving and self-dedication, which we often hear but receive as
something every day, as an abstraction, something unreal and far away in time
and space.
Now their figures are
strangely close, visible. Through them holiness itself is closer. They bring
heaven closer to us – sometimes so unattainable – heaven, where they have
gloriously found their place at the hand of the Almighty Father and Our
Creator. And the land on which they walked only yesterday has itself become holier,
receiving their hot blood and tortured bodies. Walking on this same earth we
feel the grandeur of this holiness and the depth of this drama which they lived
through and to which the Lord can call you and me.
Finally, we were all
called long ago-called to love our neighbour, forgive our enemies, feed the
hungry, tend to the wounded, comfort the weary, give hope to the hopeless and
die to self in order to live for others. Today on our earth and in our Ukraine
there is no lack of opportunities to dedicate yourself to God.
Through these blessed and
martyrs, whom we are honouring today, the Lord has shown us that for us mere
mortals, who are neighbours, fellow workers or students, relatives and family
members or just friends, for us such accomplishments are possible. God reveals
Himself always and everywhere: in the quiet of a monastic cell and in an
inspiring sermon in church, among the Siberian snows and in the burning oven of
Majdanek, in the joy of motherhood and in the cries of an orphaned child …
Will we be able here and
now, and then tomorrow and elsewhere, to respond to this appearance of our
Lord? Are we ready to give witness to Christ in everyday life or, God forbid,
in the face of mortal danger? We hope in the Lord that this is so. And our
first step in this direction is our joyful celebration of these abundant
blessings which have come to us through the solemn glorification of the new
martyrs and faithful servants of God. Let us be glad with them and with
certainty follow in their footsteps!
Father Borys Gudziak,
Ph.D. is rector of the Lviv Theological Academy and director of the Institute
of Church History. Written in 2001.
Church
of the Martyrs – Biographies of the 20th century Martyrs
Following are
biographical materials prepared by the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. The
information is organized in chronological order.
Sanctifying
righteousness
Sister Josaphata (Michaelina) Hordashevska was
born in Lviv on November 20, 1869. At the age of 18,
influenced by the retreats of the Basilian Fathers, she felt the call to
consecrate her life to God. Together with Father Kyryl Seletskyi, pastor in
Zhuzhel, and Father Yeremia Lomnytskyi OSBM, she established a new
congregation, the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, called to an active
apostolate among the people. Today the Sisters Servants is the biggest female
religious community in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.
Sister Josaphata’s
holiness showed itself in her total dedication to her calling, in constantly
embodying in her life Christ’s command to love God and neighbor and in humbly
bearing all her difficulties and sufferings. She died on April 7, 1919, after a
long and severe illness, prophesying the day of her death, which she accepted
consciously, with prayer on her lips.
“She showed her love for
her people through her heart-felt desire to lift them up morally and
spiritually: she taught children, youth and women, served the sick, visited the
poor and needy, taught liturgical chant and looked after the church’s beauty.” –
From the testimony of Sister Filomena Yuskiv.
Apostle of unity
Priest and martyr Father Leonid Feodorov was
born to a Russian Orthodox family on November 4, 1879, in St. Petersburg,
Russia. In
1902, he left his studies at the Petersburg Spiritual Academy and went abroad.
In Rome he converted to Catholicism. He studied in Anagni, Rome and Frieburg.
Contact with Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky had a great influence on Father
Leonid’s spiritual development. On March 25, 1911, he was ordained a
Greek-Catholic priest. In 1913 he became a monk of the Studite order in Bosnia.
After his return to
tsarist Russia, in connection with the beginning of World War One he was exiled
to Tobolsk, Siberia because he was a Catholic. In 1917 he was released and
appointed head of the Russian Greek-Catholic Church, with the title of exarch.
His second imprisonment came in 1923, now by the Bolsheviks, for 10 years. From
1926 to 1929 he served his term in Solovky and later in exile in Pinieza,
Kotlas and Viatka. He died as a martyr for the faith and Church unity on March
7, 1935.
“We expect that the
exarch is on the road to glorification through beatification. Of course, it is
much too early to talk about this, but all of us were strongly impressed by his
holiness, strengthened by the crown of martyrdom and death; this certainly
supports our expectations. On the other hand, as a Russian Catholic, as exarch,
as someone who died at the hands of the Bolsheviks, it seems to us that he will
be right in the centre of attention of the entire Church.” – From
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky’s letter to Prince P. Volkonski of May 4, 1935.
Bloody Unification
Stalin’s attack on the
Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) began immediately after the first
occupation of western Ukraine in September 1939. This occupation was in
accordance with the Soviet-Nazi Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and lasted until June
1941. In this period all UGCC property was confiscated, and schools and
hospitals were nationalized. Church publications and religious organizations
were forbidden, religious educational institutions and presses were closed, the
activities of religious congregations were limited, brutal atheist propaganda
and mass terror, and the deportation of a peaceful population began.
“It is absolutely clear
that under the Bolsheviks we all felt destined for death; they did not conceal
their intention to destroy, to strangle Christianity, to erase its smallest
traces.” – From Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky’s letter to the nuncio,
Rotti, of August 30, 1941.
Patron of Students
Priest and martyr Father Mykola Konrad was
born on May 16, 1876 in the village of Strusiv, Ternopil District. He
finished his philosophical and theological studies in Rome, where he defended
his doctoral dissertation. In 1899, he was ordained to the priesthood. He
taught in a high school in Berezhany and Terebovlia. In 1929 in Lviv he founded
Obnova (Renewal), the first Ukrainian association of Catholic students.
In 1930 Metropolitan
Andrey Sheptytsky invited him to teach at the Lviv Theological Academy and
later appointed him to be a parish priest in the village of Stradch, near
Yaniv. There, as in previous years, he showed his great diligence and
responsibility, fulfilling his pastoral duties, in particular, spiritual
guidance for youth. Returning from visiting a sick woman, who had requested the
sacrament of reconciliation, he died tragically as a martyr for the faith at
the hands of the NKVD on June 26, 1941, near Stradch.
“Doctor Konrad, a
professor at the academy, my catechist … O, he was a distinguished person. An
ideal man. He was very involved with youth; he had a heart for youth – and for
his people. He wanted us to be patriots, to be good and aware students. That
was Father Konrad…” – From an interview with Father Mykola Markevych.
Sacrificial Cantor
Martyr Volodymyr Pryima was born on July 17,
1906, in the village of Stradch, Yavoriv District. After
graduating from a school for cantors he became the cantor and choir director in
the local church. He took active part in the life of his parish. Always and in
everything he respected human dignity and built his life on the principles of
the gospel. On June 26, 1941, agents of the NKVD mercilessly tortured and
murdered him along with Father Mykola Konrad.
“Father Konrad went with
the holy sacraments to fulfil his sacred obligation, hearing a woman’s
confession in the neighbouring village. He felt he had to go, though he was
stopped. I know that they stopped him and said: ‘Father, don’t go. Look what’s
happening: the war has started, anything could happen.’ He said that this was
his sacred duty and he had to go. He got dressed and left together with
Volodymyr Pryima, the cantor. They didn’t come back. After a week they were
found there, murdered. People thought something was wrong. So they went to look
for them and they found them there. It was awful. The cantor’s wife had two
children. One was three, the other was four. Mama told me how when they were found
everyone was overcome by what they saw. The cantor was especially cut up, his
chest stabbed with a bayonet many times.” – From an interview with Yuriy
Skavronskyi.
Professor and Pastor
Priest and martyr Father Andrii Ischak was
born on September 20, 1887, in Mykolaiv, in the Lviv District. He
finished his theological studies at the universities in Lviv and Innsbruck
(Austria). In 1914 he received his Ph.D. in theology and was ordained.
Beginning in 1928 he taught dogmatic theology and canon law at the Lviv
Theological Academy.
He was able to combine
his professorial duties with his pastoral work in the village of Sykhiv near
Lviv, where he met his death. Even under the threat of great danger he did not
leave his parishioners without spiritual guidance. He was faithful to the end.
On June 26, 1941, he died a martyr for the faith at the hands of soldiers of
the retreating Soviet army.
“As the war began, the
priest was taken at Persenkivka, the neighbouring station. Sometime in the
afternoon they took him, detained him until the evening, then they let him go.
My dad, because they knew each other well, told him: ‘Father, when they let you
go, I would advise you to hide for a few days.’ Because it was already clear
that the Germans were coming and the Bolsheviks would be fleeing. ‘Hide
yourself and we’ll survive.’ But the priest said: ‘Ivan, the shepherd doesn’t
abandon his flock. And I can’t leave my parishioners and conceal myself.’ In
two days the military came and took him from his home. It was overgrown there
with bushes, some distance from the parish, maybe a half-kilometre. They
brought him there and killed him. They shot him in the stomach, and it looked
like they also stabbed him with a knife.” – From the testimony of Ivan
Kulchytskyi.
Benevolent Prior
Priest and martyr Father Severian Baranyk was
born on July 18, 1889, place of birth unknown. On September 24,
1904, he entered the monastery of the Basilian Fathers in Krekhiv. He was
ordained to the priesthood on February 14, 1915. In 1932 he became the hegumen
(prior) of the monastery in Drohobych. In life he was noted for his special
kindnesses to youth and orphans. He inspired all with his joy and was famous
for his preaching.
On June 26, 1941, the
NKVD arrested him. They brought him to a prison in Drohobych, after which he
was never seen alive again. His body, mutilated by tortures, was found among
other dead prisoners. He died a martyr for the faith at the end of June 1941.
“Behind the prison I saw
a big hole which had been covered up, filled with sand. When the Bolsheviks
retreated the Germans came and people rushed to the prison to find their
relatives. The Germans allowed people into the area of the prison in small
groups to claim their murdered relatives, but most people stood by the gates. I
was a little boy and didn’t see anything from the gates, so I went to the side
and climbed a tree. There was a terrible stink … I saw how the Germans sent
people to uncover the hole which was filled with sand. The hole was new,
because the people uncovered it with their hands. They dragged out the murdered
bodies. There was a little covering near the hole, and under it I saw the dead
body of Father Severian Baranyk, Basilian, with visible marks of his prison
tortures; his body had unnaturally swelled, black, his face terrible. Dad later
said that on his chest the sign of the cross had been slashed.” – From the
testimony of Yosyf Lastoviak.
Loving Monk
Priest and martyr Father Yakym Senkivskyi was
born on May 2, 1896, in the village of Hayi Velyki, Ternopil District. After
completing his theological studies in Lviv, he was ordained as a priest on
December 4, 1921. He received a Ph.D. in theology in Innsbruck (Austria). In
1923 he became a novice in the Basilian order in Krekhiv. After professing his
first vows he was assigned to serve in the village of Krasnopuscha, and later
in the village of Lavriv, in the area of Starosambir. From 1931 to 1938 at St.
Onufry monastery in Lviv he was chaplain of the Marian Society, he ministered
to children and youth and organized a Eucharistic Society. In 1939, he was
appointed proto-hegumen (abbot) at the monastery in Drohobych.
He was arrested by the
Bolsheviks on June 26, 1941. According to the testimony of various prisoners,
he was boiled to death in a cauldron in the Drohobych prison on June 29.
Because of his righteous life the faithful held him up as a model of service to
Church and nation. He died a martyr for the faith.
“From the first days of
his time in Drohobych he became the favourite of the whole town. He gained the
affection of the population with his remarkable talent, his ability to speak to
the scholar and the labourer, young and old, and even to the little child. He
was always polite and with a warm smile on his face. In your soul you felt that
this person had no malice, and in addition to the impression of humility and
dignity, a true servant of Christ was evident.” – From the memories of
Father Orest Kupranets.
Fearless Preacher
Priest and martyr Father Zenovii Kovalyk was
born on August 18, 1903, in the village of Ivakhiv near Ternopil. He
entered the Congregation of the Redemptorists and on August 28, 1926, he made
his religious vows. He received his philosophical and theological education in
Belgium. He returned to Ukraine and on September 4, 1937, was ordained to the
priesthood. He served as a missionary in Volyn.
On December 20, 1940, he
was arrested in church while giving a homily. After terrible tortures he was
murdered by the Communists in a mock crucifixion against a wall in a prison on
Zamarstynivska Street, in Lviv in June 1941. He died a martyr for the faith.
“[His] sermons made an
incredible impression on the listeners. But in the prevailing system of
denunciations and terror this was very dangerous for a preacher. So I often
tried to convince Father Kovalyk … that he needed to be more careful about the
content of his sermons, that he shouldn’t provoke the Bolsheviks, because here
was a question of his own safety. But it was all in vain. Father Kovalyk only
had one answer: ‘If that is God’s will, I will gladly accept death, but as a
preacher I will never act against my conscience.’” – From the memories of
Yaroslav Levytskyi.
A New Order
The beginning of the
Nazi-Soviet war on June 22, 1941, for many western Ukrainians meant, first of
all, the liquidation of the hated Bolshevik domination and led to unfulfilled
expectations for the revival of religious freedom and the achievement of their national
aspirations. However, it was soon apparent that changing one bloody regime for
another would not change the essence of totalitarianism.
“… The terror is growing.
During the last two months in Lviv more than 40,000 Jews were murdered. The
authorities conducted searches in the church, in my residence and in parts of
the monastery … Two monks were imprisoned, and perhaps there will be attempts
to create some ‘show trials.’ The arrests continue. This is a regime of raving
madmen.” – From a letter of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky to Cardinal
Tisserand of December 28, 1942.
Rescuer of the Doomed
Priest and Martyr Father Emilian Kovch was
born on August 20, 1884, in Kosmach near Kosiv. After graduating
from the College of Ss. Sergius and Bacchus in Rome, he was ordained to the
priesthood in 1911. In 1919 he became field chaplain for the Ukrainian Galician
Army. After the war and until his imprisonment he conducted his priestly
ministry in Przemysl (Peremyshl), at the same time tending to his parishioners’
social and cultural life. He helped the poor and orphans, though he had six
children of his own.
During World War II he
bravely carried out his priestly duties, preaching love to people of all
nationalities and rescuing Jews from destruction. He was arrested by the
Gestapo on December 30, 1942. He displayed heroic bravery in the concentration
camp, protecting the prisoners sentenced to death from falling into despair. He
was burned to death in the ovens of the Majdanek Nazi death camp on March 25,
1944. He was recognized as a “Righteous Ukrainian” by the Jewish Council of
Ukraine on September 9, 1999.
“I understand that you
are trying to free me. But I am asking you not to do anything. Yesterday they
killed 50 persons here. If I were not here, who would help them to endure these
sufferings? I thank God for His kindness to me. Except heaven this is the only
place I would like to be. Here we are all equal: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians,
Russians, Latvians and Estonians. I am the only priest here. I couldn’t even
imagine what would happen here without me. Here I see God, Who is the same for
everybody, regardless of religious distinctions which exist among us. Maybe our
Churches are different, but they are all ruled by the same all-powerful God.
When I am celebrating the Holy Mass, everyone prays … Don’t worry and don’t
despair about my fate. Instead of this, rejoice with me. Pray for those who
created this concentration camp and this system. They are the only ones who
need prayers May God have mercy on them…” – From Father Emilian Kovch’s
letters written in the concentration camp to relatives.
Second Assault
The prospect of the
return of Soviet power to western Ukraine after the defeat of the German Army
on the Eastern Front led the hierarchy and faithful of the UGCC to fear for the
fate of the Church. All too painful were the still fresh memories of the
violence of the Communist regime against the conscience of the faithful during
the previous Soviet conquest of less than two years.
“The Bolshevik Army is
approaching … This news fills all the faithful with fear. Everyone … is
convinced that they are destined for certain death.” – From a letter of
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky to Cardinal Tisserand on March 22, 1944.
“Because she was a nun”
Nun and Martyr Sister Tarsykiya Matskiv was
born on March 23, 1919 in the village of Khodoriv, Lviv District. On
May 3, 1938 she entered the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate. After
professing her first vows on November 5, 1940, she worked in the convent,
sewing clothes for the sisters and teaching the skill to others. Even prior to
the Bolshevik arrival in Lviv, Sister Tarsykiya had made a private oath to her
spiritual director, Father Volodymyr Kovalyk OSBM, that she would sacrifice her
life for the conversion of Russia and for the good of the Catholic Church.
On July 17, 1944 Soviet
soldiers surrounded the monastery, determined to destroy it. At 8 a.m. Sister
opened the door, expecting a priest who was supposed to celebrate the liturgy.
Without warning an automatic shot her dead. All her life she witnessed to the
authenticity of the consecrated life. She died a martyr for the faith.
“Suddenly the bell at the
gate rang. We thought it was the priest. Sister Tarsykia opened the door, asked
Sister Maria for the key to the front door and went to the main entrance. Then
a shot rang out and Sister Tarsykia fell down dead. The soldier who shot her
did not really explain why he did it. Later they said that he said he killed
her because she was a nun.” – From the testimony of Sister Daria Hradiuk.
Friendly missionary
Priest and Martyr Father Vitalii Bairak was
born on February 24, 1907 in the village of Shvaikivtsy, Ternopil District. In
1924 he entered the Basilian monastery. He was ordained a priest on August 13,
1933. In 1941 he was appointed superior of the Drohobych monastery, in place of
the recently martyred Father Yakym (Senkivskyi).
On September 17, 1945 the
NKVD arrested Father Vitalii and on November 13 sentenced him to eight years’
imprisonment “with confiscation of property” (though he had none). In life he
was distinguished for his friendliness, his activeness in mission and
preaching. He possessed the gift of spiritual direction. He died a martyr for
the faith just before Easter 1946 after having been severely beaten in the
Drohobych prison.
“Living in the territory
that had been temporarily occupied by German forces…, he wrote an article with
a negative position towards the Bolshevik Party, which had been published in
the anti-Soviet calendar Misionar [“Missionary”] in 1942.” – From the
personal file of V. V. Bairak in the archives of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs.
Father-Psalmist
Priest and Martyr Father Roman Lysko was
born on August 14, 1914 in Horodok, Lviv District. He
finished his theological studies at the Lviv Theological Academy. Possessing
special poetic and artistic talents, he and his wife joyfully conducted youth
ministry together. On August 28, 1941 he was ordained to the priesthood by
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.
He refused to sign a
statement of conversion to Orthodoxy, remaining faithful to his Church and his
people. On September 9, 1949 he was arrested by the NKVD and imprisoned in
Lviv. Until 1956, according to information given after his family had been
turned away many times, it was said that he died on October 14, 1949 from
paralysis of the heart. But many witnesses report that they saw him in prison
later, or they heard him singing psalms at the top of his lungs. It was
reported that they sealed him up, alive, in a wall. He gave his life as a
martyr for the faith. “He was imprisoned on Lontskyi Street. His mother brought
him some packages. Sometimes his grandmother came from Zhulychi to visit him.
At first the packages were accepted. The prisoner always had a right to thank
the giver with the same card [with which the package was sent]. These cards
were always sent back, even the bags in which they usually put packages. And
there were always those cards, on which he wrote, ‘Thank you. Many kisses,’ and
signed it.
“After the murder of
Galan [a Communist agitator], they refused to accept the packages. But after
six months when they started to accept packages again, then the relatives found
a card with ‘Thanks’ and a signature written, but in a stranger’s hand. It was
a completely different handwriting.” – From an interview with his niece
Lidia Kupchyk.
Liquidation by the State
Immediately after the Red
Army returned to western Ukraine in the summer of 1944 the previous limitations
imposed on the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church were renewed. But the great
authority possessed by the whole Church and its head, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky,
forced the state during the first period to avoid direct confrontation. The war
with Nazi Germany was finishing, and the spiritual father of the Church and the
people, Servant of God Andrey, passed into eternity in the odor of sanctity on
November 1, 1944.
Then the Soviet security
services prepared a special plan “for detachment of parishes of the
Greek-Catholic (Uniate) Church in the USSR from the Vatican and their
subsequent unification with the Russian Orthodox Church.” This plan carried out
Stalin’s direct order and received his praise. On April 11, 1945 with no proof
of guilt, Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj, Bishops Hryhorii Khomyshyn, Nykyta Budka,
Mykola Charnetskyi and Ivan Liatyshevskyi were arrested. Soon after that the
Bishops of Przemsyl, Josaphat Kotsylovsky and Hryhory Lakota, about 500 priests
all over western Ukraine, in addition, almost all eparchial officials,
professors of the Theological Academy and seminaries, the most gifted pastors.
With the combined efforts
of party and government structures, the police organs and the Orthodox
hierarchy, by means of open terror and false demagoguery, the “liquidation of
the union” was proclaimed in 1946 in western Ukraine in the so-called “Lviv
pseudo-Sobor [“Council”]” and in 1949 in Transcarpathia. Regardless of the
persecution, the authorities were not able to break the will of the bishops and
to convince one of them to renounce his Church for a career in the Church of
the “regime,” the Russian Orthodox Church. “…Then you will be handed over to be
persecuted and put to death … At that time many will turn away from the faith
and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and
deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness the love of most
will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Gospel of
St. Matthew 24:
9-14)
Unbending Fighter
Bishop and Martyr Hryhorii Khomyshyn was
born on March 25, 1867 in the village of Hadynkivtsi, Ternopil District. After
graduating from the Lviv seminary in 1893, he was ordained to the priesthood.
He continued his theological studies in Vienna (1894-1899), earning a
doctorate. In 1902, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky appointed Father Hryhorii
rector of the Seminary in Lviv, and in 1904 he was ordained bishop of
Ivano-Frankivsk.
In 1939, he was arrested
for the first time by the NKVD. His second arrest was in April of 1945, after
which he was taken to Kyiv’s Lukianivska prison. Bishop Hryhorii remained an
example for the Church of the bravery of a soldier of Christ, showing
perseverance in God’s truth in the most difficult moments of life. He died a
martyr for the faith in the infirmary of the NKVD prison in Kyiv on January 17,
1947.
“At the Kyiv prison the
interrogations were conducted by Interrogator Dubok. He was a horrible sadist.
He investigated my case too This Dubok told me himself how he had killed the
bishop: ‘So you, Khomyshyn, spoke out against communism?’ The bishop, as
always, replied resolutely: ‘I did and I will’. ‘Did you fight against the
Soviet authority? “Yes, I did and I will!’ Then Dubok became outraged and
grabbed some books written by the bishop, which lay on the table in front of
him, and started cruelly beating His Excellency with them, on his head and
everywhere else.” – From the testimony of Father Petro
Heryliuk-Kupchynskyi.
Undying Spirit of the
Carpathians
Bishop and Martyr Theodore Romzha was born
on April 14, 1911, in the village of Velykyi Bychkiv, Zakarpattia to a family
of railroad workers. He finished his theological studies at the
Papal Gregorian University in Rome. In 1938 he became pastor in the mountain
villages of Berezevo and Nyzhnii Bystryi outside of Khust. Beginning with the
fall of 1939 he taught philosophy and was spiritual director at the Uzhorod
seminary. On September 24, 1944, soon after the arrival of the Soviet Army, he
was ordained to the episcopacy.
Because Bishop Theodore
bravely refused to cooperate with the authorities in the liquidation of the
Greek-Catholic Church and separate from the Roman Apostolic See, government
organs decided to destroy him. On October 27, 1947 a military vehicle ran into
the bishop’s horse-carriage. When the soldiers saw that he didn’t die in the
accident, they beat him and his companions into unconsciousness. On November 1
of that year when Bishop Theodore was beginning to recover, he was poisoned in
the Mukachiv hospital by workers cooperating with the security services. He
died a martyr for the faith.
“According to the
instructions of Khruschev, a member of the Politburo (Central Committee of the
Communist Party) of Ukraine and the first secretary of the same, according to
the plan developed by the Ministry of State Security in Ukraine and approved by
Khruschev, Romzha was eliminated in Mukachiv. As the head of the Greek-Catholic
Church, he had actively opposed the uniting of Greek-Catholics to Orthodoxy.” –
From a letter of Pavlo Sudoplatov, general of state security, to delegates of
the 23rd Assembly of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
“Deported” into Eternity
Bishop and Martyr Josaphat Kotsylovsky was
born on March 3, 1876 in the village of Pakoshivka, Lemkiv District. He
graduated with a degree in Theology from Rome in 1907, and later on October 9
of that year he was ordained to the priesthood. Not long after that he was
appointed vice-rector and professor of Theology at the Ivano-Frankivsk
seminary. In 1911 he entered the novitiate of the Basilian order. He was
ordained a bishop on September 23, 1917 in Przemysl (Peremyshl) upon the return
of Metropolitan Andrey (Sheptytsky) from captivity in Russia.
In September of 1945 the
Polish Communist authorities arrested him and on June 26, 1946, after his next
arrest, they forcibly took him to the USSR and placed him in a prison in Kyiv.
Throughout his life he showed his perseverance of service, to make the
Christian faith firm and to grow in human souls. He died a martyr for the faith
on November 17, 1947 in the Chapaivka concentration camp near Kyiv.
“I came to Protection
Monastery and the hegumena [prioress] told me the story. When they arrested
Bishop Kotsylovsky they arrested their Orthodox bishop of Kyiv at the same
time. When they brought a package to Chapaivka, that Orthodox bishop said:
‘Uniate Bishop Josaphat Kotsylovsky is confined in the same camp with me.’ And
he asked those nuns, if they could, to bring a package to Bishop Josaphat as
well. So they brought a package for the one bishop and for the other … Once
when she brought a package, the bishop said that Kotsylovsky had died. And he
asked her, because the dead were all thrown into one hole, if they could borrow
some money or get some money somewhere. He asked her ‘to bury him in a separate
grave, because this was a holy man.” – From the testimony of Father
Josaphat Kavatsivo.
Archpastor in Three Parts
of the World
Bishop and martyr Nykyta Budka was born on
June 7, 1877, in the village of Dobomirka, Zbarazh District. In
1905 after finishing theological studies in Vienna and Innsbruck he was
ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. From the very
beginning he gave great attention to the ministry for Ukrainian emigrants. The
Holy See appointed him first bishop for Ukrainian Catholics in Canada in July
1912, and he was ordained bishop on October 14, 1912. In 1928 he returned to
Lviv and became vicar general of the Metropolitan Curia in Lviv.
[Editor’s note: Since his
beatification, more information has been discovered regarding the arrest and
death of Nykyta Budka. Hence we have removed the orginal text of Fr. Borys
Gudziak. Based on recent research, we present the following account by Rev. Dr.
Athanasius McVay of the Eparchy of Edmonton who has spent years research the
life and works of Budka. Fr. Athanasius updates his work on his personal blog]
Blessed Nykyta Budka was
arrested in Lviv by the Soviets on 11 April 1945 and transported to Kyiv the
following day. For the next twelve months he was interrogated and tried for
‘crimes’ against the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. A military tribunal
sentenced him to five-years imprisonment on 29 May 1946. After that he vanished
and, for over ten years, no one knew his whereabouts or even if he was alive.
It was rumoured that Budka was being held in Siberia. Instead, he was among the
many innocent people who had been sent to prison camps near Karaganda,
Kazahstan. After Stalin’s death, Soviet authorities began to release the
survivors. These men and women were finally able to tell the stories about
those who had lived and died in the gulag. Among the survivors from Kazakhstan
were Blessed Bishops Ivan Liatyshevsky and Aleksander Khira, and
future-archbishop, Father Volodymyr Sterniuk. In 1958 Soviet authorities
finally confirmed that Nykyta Budka had died close to 1 October 1949, but more
precise dates and details are still lacking to this day.
Budka and other Ukrainian
Catholics who had been criminalized by a criminal regime were politically
rehabilitated in September 1991. This occurred less than a month after
Ukrainian independence, with the Soviet ‘Union’ still officially in existence
and the Communist Party having been declared illegal. Yet no official follow-up
to the case has ever occurred, even though Canadian Ukrainians had asked their
government for a redress to the Budka case in 1989.
Kazahstani authorities
have only recently confirmed that Budka served out his sentence at the
Karadzhar prison camp near Karaganda, where he died of heart disease on 28
September 1949. Additional documentation, obtained unofficially in 1995,
further specifies that Budka arrived at the camp on 5 July 1946 and was
admitted to a nearby hospital on 14 October 1947, the feast-day of his patron,
the Protection of the Mother of God according to the Julian calendar. That day
was also the forty-second anniversary of his priestly ordination and the thirty-fifth
of his episcopal ordination. Even the date of his death occurred on the
forty-second anniversary of his ordination to the diaconate.
Angelic Bishop
Bishop and Martyr Hryhorii Lakota was born
on January 31,1883, in the village of Holodivka, in Lviv District. He
studied theology in Lviv. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1908 in Przemsyl
(Peremyshl). In Vienna in 1911 he received his Ph.D. in theology. In 1913 he
became a professor at the Przemysl seminary, later becoming its rector. On May
16, 1926, he was ordained to the episcopacy and was appointed auxiliary bishop
of Przemysl.
On June 9, 1946, he was
arrested and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. In exile in Vorkuta, Russia,
he was distinguished for his great humanness, his humility, his desire to take
the most difficult labour on himself and to make the unbearable conditions of
life easier for others. He died a martyr for the faith on November 12, 1950, in
the village of Abez near Vorkuta.
“Exiled to a labour camp,
in the middle of human misery, I also met real angels in human bodies, who by
their lives were the earthly representatives of the cherubim, glorifying
Christ, the King of Glory. Among them was the confessor of the faith, Hryhorii
Lakota, auxiliary bishop of Przemysl. From 1949 to 1950, by his example of
Christian virtues, his life witnessed to us who were weakened by life in the
labour camp.” – From the written account of Father Alfrysas Svarinskas.
Aristocrat of the Spirit
Priest and Martyr Archimandrite Klymentii
Sheptytsky, the younger brother of the Servant of God Metropolitan Andrey
Sheptytsky, was born on November 17, 1869, in the village of Prylbychi, Yavoriv
region. He
studied law in Munich and Paris and received a doctorate at the University of
Krakow. He was a legate of the Austrian Parliament and member of the National
Council. In 1912 he entered the Studite monastery as a late vocation; by so
doing he renounced his successful secular career. He completed his theological
studies in Innsbruck. On August 28, 1915, he was ordained to the priesthood.
For many years he was the hegumen (prior) of the Studite monastery at Univ, and
in 1944 he became the archimandrite (abbot).
During World War II, he
gave refuge to persecuted Jews. On June 5, 1947, he was arrested and sentenced
to eight years’ imprisonment by a special meeting of the NKVD in Kyiv. He died
a martyr for the faith on May 1, 1951, in a harsh prison in Vladimir, Russia.
“Tall, 180-185
centimetres, rather thin, with a long white beard, a little stooped, with a
cane. Arms relaxed, calm, face and eyes friendly. He reminded me of St.
Nicholas We never expected such a rascal in our room Some sisters had passed
three apples to him, real rosy red and ripe. And he gave one apple to Roman
Novosad, who often had stomach problems. He said: ‘You need to take care of
your stomach,’ and the others he divided among us.” – From the memories of
Ivan Kryvytskyi.
Apostles of the Gulag
The unbending
faithfulness to Christ and His Church of Confessor of the Faith Metropolitan
Josyf Slipyj and all the Greek-Catholic hierarchy, their deep certainty in the
victory over evil and their special witness of fidelity to the Roman Apostolic
See served as an inspiring example and supported the faith and hope of laity
and clergy alike who had avoided arrest and exile and had not spent time in
prison.
Prayerful Parent
Priest and Martyr Father Mykola Tsehelskyi was
born on December 17, 1896, in the village of Strusiv, Ternopil District. In
1923 he graduated from the Theological Faculty of Lviv University. On April 5,
1925, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky ordained him to the priesthood. He was a
zealous priest who cared for the spirituality, education and welfare of his
parishioners.
After the war he was
repressed by the Bolsheviks because he refused to convert to Orthodoxy. Father
Tsehelskyi drank deep from the bitter cup of intimidation, threats and
beatings. On October 28, 1946, he was arrested, and on January 27, 1947, he was
sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. He was deported to Mordovia, Russia, but
his wife, three children and daughter-in-law were taken to Russia’s Chytynska
region. He lived in extremely horrid conditions, in a camp that was notoriously
strict and cruel. He suffered from severe pain due to illness, but this did not
break his strong spirit. He died a martyr for the faith on May 25, 1951, and is
buried in the camp cemetery.
“My dearest wife: the
feast of the Dormition was our 25th wedding anniversary. I recall fondly our
family life together, and every day in my dreams I am with you and the
children, and this makes me happy I give a fatherly kiss to all their
foreheads, and I hope to live honestly, behaving blamelessly, keeping far from
everything that is foul. I pray for this most of all.” – From the letters
of Father Mykola Tsehelskyi written in Mordovia.
Suffered on Good Friday
Priest and Martyr Father Ivan Ziatyk was
born on December 26, 1899, in the village of Odrekhiv, near Sianok. After
finishing his theology studies in Przemysl (Peremyshl) seminary in 1923, he was
ordained to the priesthood. In 1935 he entered the Congregation of the Most
Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists). He was a teacher of dogmatic theology and holy
scripture, and also known as a good administrator. During the Nazi occupation
he was acting superior of the monastery in Ternopil and later in Zboiski near
Lviv. After the official liquidation of the UGCC and the exile of Protohegumen
Yosyf de Vokhta, Father Ivan took on his duties.
On January 5, 1950, he
was arrested and found guilty of “preaching the ideas of the pope of Rome
regarding the spread of the Catholic faith among nations of the whole world.”
At first he was imprisoned in Zolochiv and later was sent to Ozerlah, Irkhutsk
region, Russia. In all he lived through 72 interrogations. On Good Friday in
1952 he was severely beaten, drenched with water and left to lie in the cold.
He died in the prison infirmary on May 17, 1952, a martyr for the faith.
“He stood and prayed the
whole day; for whole days he prayed every moment. He was such a pleasant person
to talk to. You could hear many wise and instructive words from him; this was
especially so in my case, as at that time I was a youngster.” – From an
interview with fellow prisoner Anatolii Medelian.
A Mother to Her Sisters
Nun and Martyr Sister Olympia Olha Bida was
born in 1903 in the village of Tsebliv, Lviv District. At
a young age she entered the congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. In 1938
she was assigned to the town of Khyriv where she became superior of the house.
After the establishment of the Soviet regime, she and the other sisters
suffered a number of attacks on the convent. She, nevertheless, continued to
care for children, to catechize and organize underground religious services
(often without a priest).
In 1950 she was arrested
by soldiers of the NKVD and taken to a hard labour camp in Boryslav. Eventually
she was sentenced to lifelong exile in the Tomsk region of Siberia for
“anti-Soviet activities.” Even in exile, Sister Olympia tried to perform her
duties as superior. She provided support for her fellow sisters. She patiently
endured inhuman living conditions. She died a martyr’s death on January 23,
1952.
“God Almighty, God’s
Providence will not allow His little children to perish in a foreign land. For
He is with us here, in the midst of these forests and waters. He doesn’t forget
about us Because of our faith, because of a divine matter, we suffer, and what
could be better than this? Let’s follow Him bravely. Not only when all is well,
but even when times are bitter, let us say: Glory to God in all matters.” –
From Sister Olympia’s letter to her provincial superior, Sister Neonylia.
Faith Amid Hopelessness
Nun and Martyr Sister Lavrentia Herasymiv was
born on September 31, 1911, in the village of Rudnyky, Lviv District. In
1931 she entered the congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Tsebliv. In
1933 she made her first vows. Together with Sister Olympia, in 1938 she went to
the house in Khyriv, and their fates were crossed until death. In 1950 she was
arrested by the agents of the NKVD and sent to Boryslav.
Eventually, together with
her fellow sister she was sentenced to lifelong exile in the Tomsk region. She
was sick with tuberculosis when she arrived to her designated place of exile
and so only one family would agree to give her a roof over her head. This was
in a room where a paralyzed man lay behind a partition. She prayed much and
performed various forms of manual labor. She patiently endured the inhuman
living conditions and the lack of medical attention. She died on August 28,
1952, as a martyr for the faith in the village of Kharsk in Siberia’s Tomsk
Region.
“The NKVD agents attacked
our convent. They spent a long time breaking down the door. It was night-time;
the sisters were terrified. Sister Lavrentia ran to the cellar and escaped into
the garden through a little window. A cold rain started to fall. When the NKVD
broke into the house they immediately noticed the open window and ran to look
for her. It was dark and with their bayonets they poked every bush. A few times
the bayonet was right in front of Sister’s eyes. Not finding her, the NKVD went
away, but sister was out in the rain until the morning. She came to the house
exhausted and frozen. After this incident she got seriously ill, and lay in
bed. They took her to prison when she was infirm.” – From the memories of
a relative, Anna Harasymiv.
Berlin
Founder
Priest and Martyr Father
Petro Verhun was
born on November 18, 1890, in Horodok, Lviv District. He
held a Ph.D. in philosophy. On October 30, 1927, he was ordained to the
priesthood by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky at St. George’s Cathedral and was
appointed to be the pastor and later the apostolic visitator for Ukrainian
Catholics in Germany. Priests and all the faithful, whom fate had brought to a
foreign land, gravitated to Father Verhun because they felt he was a good
shepherd who would give his life for his sheep.
In June 1945 he was
arrested by the Soviet security services in Berlin and sent to Siberia, sentenced
to eight years of hard labour. But even there, amid unbearable living
conditions, he knew how to gather the faithful around him, giving his own
personal example of perseverance in the faith. He died as a martyr for the
faith on February 7, 1957, in exile in the village of Anharsk, in the Krasnoyar
territory.
“My life is very
monotonous. I have enough to eat. I cook for myself. My greatest joy is that I
can pray every day without disturbances Finally I don’t need anything. I feel
that my head is tending little by little to my eternal rest. But I really would
rather die in the monastery.” – From the letters of Father Petro Verhun
written in Siberian exile.
Pastor of the East
Priest and Martyr Father
Oleksii Zarytskyi was born in 1912 in the village of Bilche, in the Lviv
District. From 1931 to 1934 he studied at the Lviv Theological Academy. He was
ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky in 1936. During
his ministry in the village of Strutyna near Zolochiv he gained the special
favour of his parishioners. In 1948 he was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment
in the camps of Siberia and Kazakstan for refusing to convert to Orthodoxy.
After his rehabilitation
in 1957, he returned to western Ukraine a number of times but again returned to
the east. Amid inhuman conditions Father Zarytskyi had a wide field for
pastoral ministry to people in a foreign land. He tirelessly took care not only
of Ukrainians but Poles, Germans, Russians, Greek and Roman Catholics. He
visited Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj in exile.
Father Zarytskyi was
sentenced a second time: two years for “vagrancy.” The guardian of children,
youth, the poor, he will forever remain in people’s memory an example of the
embodiment in life of the commandments to love God and neighbour. He died a
martyr for the faith on October 30, 1963, in a labour camp in a village in
Karaganda. His mortal remains were reburied in 1990 in the village of
Riasna-Ruska near Lviv.
“That was in 1957 during
Lent, on Palm Sunday. Almost the whole village was waiting for him. There were
even people who went to the Orthodox Church, who hadn’t made their confession;
they were still waiting … And they waited until he came. When we told them that
Father Zarytskyi was here, everyone came to us to confess. Confessions started
in the evening and lasted almost to the morning. At dawn Father Zarytskyi
celebrated the divine liturgy. Very many people took advantage of the
opportunity: young and old. They got married, children were baptized. Father
Zarytskyi stayed with us the whole summer. But on September 21 he had to leave
for Karaganda; he had to return because they were waiting for him there” –
From an interview with Sister Konstantsia Seniuk.
Light in the Catacombs
Stalin’s death in March
1953 and Khruschev’s “thaw” began a new period in the way of the cross of the
UGCC: the catacombs. The main protagonists of this period of the Church’s life
were the bishops, priests, monks, nuns and faithful who had returned home from
the camps and exile. Having survived unspeakable physical and moral tortures,
they encountered a different western Ukraine: bloodless, frightened by the
terror, deceived by the atheist-communist ideology, but in spite of all that it
was still alive and waiting for the resurrection.
These people who knew how
to preserve in their hearts faith in Christ and faithfulness to their Church
became little islands around which the gradual renewal of Church structures
began. Thanks to the unbending character of the martyr bishops, the
perseverance of the clergy and the faithfulness of the laity, the UGCC survived
the period of official “liquidation,” organized the underground and gave birth
to a new generation of Church leaders. For almost half a century it was the
largest illegal Christian community in the world and at the same time the
largest organism of social opposition to the totalitarian system of the USSR.
“And so take up every
divine weapon so that you can stand fast during the storms and, overcoming
everything, survive. Stand up, therefore, girding your thigh with truth and
clothing yourself with the armour of justice … But above all take in your hands
the shield of faith, with which you will be able to defeat the fiery arrows of
the Evil One. And take up the helmet of salvation and the spiritual sword,
which is the word of God.” – From a letter of Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj,
written in exile, February 17, 1961.
Healer of Souls
Bishop and Martyr Mykola Charnetskyi was
born on September 14, 1884, in the village of Semakivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk
District. After he completed his studies at the local seminary
in Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1909. He obtained his doctorate
in dogmatic theology from Rome and became a spiritual director and professor at
the seminary in Ivano-Frankivsk. In 1919 he entered the novitiate of the
Redemptorist Fathers in Lviv, and in 1926 he was appointed apostolic visitator
for Ukrainian Catholics in Volyn, Polissia, Kholm and Pidliashia. A model
religious leader and missionary, he zealously worked for the union of the Holy
Church. He was ordained to the episcopacy by Bishop Hryhorii Khomyshyn in Rome
on February 2, 1931.
He was arrested by the
NKVD on April 11, 1945, and sentenced to six years of hard labour in Siberia.
According to official data, he underwent 600 hours of interrogation and torture
and spent time in 30 different prisons and camps. Terminally ill, in 1956 he
was permitted to return to western Ukraine, where he secretly continued to
fulfil his episcopal obligations. In the midst of the cruelty and oppression
which he suffered in imprisonment and in exile, he was distinguished for his
evangelical patience, gentleness and limitless goodness; already during his
life he was considered a holy man. As a consequence of his sufferings, he died
a martyr for the faith on April 2, 1959, in Lviv.
“I saw him. He was a very
humble person. The first time I came for instruction from the bishop, he was
sweeping the house. I wanted to help him, to take the broom, but he didn’t let
me. He himself swept. ‘Have a seat,’ he said. I was embarrassed that the bishop
was sweeping, but I was sitting, because he wouldn’t let me. He told how many
priests who had signed over to Orthodoxy, came to him to confess nearly 300
priests, they repented and came to him.” – From an interview with Father
Vasyl Voronovskyi.
Discrete Member of the
Underground
Bishop and Martyr Semeon Lukach was born on
July 7, 1893, in the village of Starunia, Ivano-Frankivsk District. In
1913 he entered the seminary. He finished the seminary in Ivano-Frankivsk and
was ordained a priest in 1919. In December 1920 he was appointed professor of
moral theology at the seminary where he had earlier studied. He secretly
received episcopal ordination in the spring of 1945 before the arrest of Bishop
Hryhorii Khomyshyn. On October 26, 1949, he was arrested by the Soviet secret
police. Sentenced in August 1950 to 10 years of imprisonment, he carried out
hard labour in a lumber camp in Krasnoyarsk. He was freed on February 11, 1955,
and returned to his native land. In July 1962 he was arrested for a second time
and was sentenced to five years in a severe colony. During his interrogations
he showed his unbroken perseverance, discretion and faithfulness to the
Catholic Church. In March 1964 because of his critical condition, tuberculosis
of the lungs, he was taken to his native village, Starunia. He died a martyr
for the faith on August 22, 1964.
“I celebrated divine
liturgy in an apartment and in a few houses. From one to 30 people took part in
the services I also baptized and celebrated marriages But conscience does not
allow me to mention their names, so that my mistake will not cause those people
who sought spiritual help from me to suffer. I acted in good faith, serving
God’s will, so I was in danger of colliding with state laws. If the state finds
me guilty, I myself will take the responsibility.” – From the
autobiography in the court case written after his arrest in 1949.
Unbroken
“Conversationalist”
Bishop and Martyr Ivan Sleziuk was born on
January 14, 1896, in the village of Zhyvachiv, Ivano-Frankivsk District. After
graduating from the eparchial seminary in 1923 he was ordained to the
priesthood. He served as a catechist and spiritual director in Ivano-Frankivsk.
In April of 1945 Bishop Hryhory Khomyshyn secretly ordained him a bishop. On
June 2, 1945, Bishop Sleziuk was arrested, and a year later he was sentenced to
10 years’ imprisonment. He served his sentence in camps in Vorkuta and
Mordovia, Russia. Released from prison, he returned to Ivano-Frankivsk and
carried out the duties of administrator of the eparchy.
In 1962 he was arrested
for the second time, together with Bishop Semeon Lukach, and was sentenced to
five years’ imprisonment in harsh camps. After his release in 1968 he ordained
Basilian Sofron Dmyterko a bishop. Bishop Dmyterko succeeded him in guiding the
eparchy. In his final years Bishop Sleziuk was often called to the KGB for
regular “conversations.” After one of these “conversations” he fell ill and
never recovered. He died a martyr for the faith on December 2, 1973, in
Ivano-Frankivsk.
“As the deceased himself
said, they locked him in a separate isolated area, and no one visited him. He
stayed there for two hours. Then they told him: ‘You’re free to go.’ It was
difficult for him to walk because, as he himself said, after this he felt
dizzy, as if he had a fever, his skin was burning. The Sisters of St. Vincent,
who helped him out, also said that the bishop returned from this ‘conversation’
with a very red face, he felt exhausted, stayed in bed and died two weeks
later. There was and still is a suspicion that the KGB used radiation to get
rid of one more Uniate bishop.” – From the testimony of Bishop Sofron Dmyterko.
Worthy Acting Head
Bishop and Martyr Vasyl Velychkovsky was
born June 1, 1903, in Ivano-Frankivsk. In 1920 he entered the
seminary in Lviv. In 1925 in Holosko, near Lviv, he took his first religious
vows in the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer and was ordained a priest. Father
Vasyl became a missionary in Volyn. In 1942 he became the hegumen (prior) of
the monastery in Ternopil, where he was arrested in 1945. He was then taken to
Kyiv. His death sentence was soon commuted to 10 years of imprisonment and hard
labor. He returned to Lviv in 1955, where he continued his pastoral work.
In 1963 he was secretly
ordained an archbishop in a Moscow hotel by Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj, who, on
his way to exile in Rome, passed Bishop Velychkovsky the responsibility for the
catacomb Church. Predicting his own possible arrest, he ordained new
underground bishops in 1964. Among them was his successor, Archbishop Volodymyr
Sterniuk, who eventually led the Church out of the underground. In 1969 Bishop
Velychkovsky was arrested a second time, but after three years of imprisonment
he was deported outside the USSR. He died in Winnipeg on June 30, 1973, as a
consequence of serious heart disease which began when he was in prison.
“After many years spent
in prisons and labour camps, how pleasant it is to be free with my fellow
Ukrainians. What joy to go to pray freely in a Ukrainian church, where no one
will send you to the camps or prison because of your prayers The prisons and
camps ruined my health and my strength, but this was my fate, the Lord God
placed this cross on my shoulders.” – From the last speech of Bishop Vasyl
Velychkovsky to the faithful in Canada, June 17, 1973.
In Lieu of an Epilogue
“The metropolitan lay calmly with eyes shut and breathed with difficulty, as he had previously. Then he began to pray again. He opened his eyes and began to talk to us: ‘Our Church will be ruined, destroyed by the Bolsheviks, but you will hold on, do not renounce the faith, the Catholic Church. A difficult trial will fall on our Church, but it is passing. I see the rebirth of our Church, it will be more beautiful, more glorious than of old, and it will embrace all our people. ‘Ukraine,’ the metropolitan continued, ‘will rise again from her destruction and will become a mighty state, united, great, comparable to other highly-developed countries. Peace, well-being, happiness, high culture, mutual love and harmony will rule here. It will all be as I say. It is only necessary to pray that the Lord God and the mother of God will care for our poor tired people, who have suffered so much and that God’s care will last forever.’” – From an interview with Father Yosyf Kladochnyi about Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky’s last moments of earthly life.
Source
The official website of the papal visit to Ukraine, http://www.papalvisit.org.ua. Oleh
Turii, candidate of historical studies and acting director of the Institute of
Church History at the Lviv Theological Academy, prepared this text on the basis
of materials of the Postulation Center for the Beatification and Canonization
of Saints of the UGCC and the archives of the Institute of Church History at
the LTA.
The Beatified
Sister Josaphata
(Michaelina) Hordashevska
Father Leonid Feodorov
Father Mykola Konrad
Volodymyr Pryima
Father Andrii Ischak
Father Severian Baranyk
Father Yakym Senkivskyi
Father Zenovii Kovalyk
Father Emilian Kovch
Sister Tarsykia Matskiv
Father Vitalii Bairak
Father Roman Lysko
Bishop Hryhorii Khomyshyn
Bishop Theodore Romzha
Bishop Josaphat
Kotsylovsky
Bishop Mykyta Budka
Bishop Hryhorii Lakota
Archimandrite Klymentii
Sheptytsky
Father Mykola Tsehelskyi
Father Ivan Ziatyk
Sister Olympia Olha Bida
Sister Lavrentia
Herasymiv
Fahter Petro Verhun
Father Oleksii Zarytskyi
Bishop Mykola Charnetskyi
Bishop Semeon Lukach
Bishop Ivan Sleziuk
Bishop Vasyl Velychkovsky
SOURCE : https://sspp.ca/our-faith/saints-and-blessed/list-of-martyrs/
Beato Pietro Verhun Sacerdote
e martire
>>>
Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
Horodok, Ucraina, 18
novembre 1890 - Angarsk, Siberia, Russia, 7 febbraio 1957
Petro Verhum nacque ad
Horodok, nei pressi di Lviv (Leopoli), il 18 novembre 1890. Ricevette
l’ordinazione presbiterale dal metropolita Sheptytsky nella cattedrale di San
Giorgio in Lviv il 30 ottobre 1927, divenendo così sacerdote diocesano di rito
bizantino dell’Arcieparchia di Lviv degli Ucraini. Inviato a Berlino per
occuparsi dei greco-cattolici emigrati in tale città, ben presto fu nominato
Visitatore Apostolico per i Cattolici Ucraini in Germania. Nel giugno 1945
Petro Verhun, preso di mira dal regime sovietico, fu arrestato e deportato in
Siberia. Qui morì martire della fede il 7 febbraio 1957 presso il campo di
prigionia della cittadella di Angarsk, nel territorio di Krasnoïarsk. Fu
beatificato da Giovanni Paolo II il 27 giugno 2001, insieme con altre 24
vittime del regime sovietico di nazionalità ucraina.
Martirologio
Romano: Nel campo di prigionia di Angarsk nella Siberia in Russia, beato
Pietro Verhun, sacerdote e martire, che, durante la persecuzione contro la
religione, restando fedele nella morte conseguì la vita eterna.
Pëtr Vegun nasce il 18
novembre 1890 nella famiglia di un falegname, nella città di Gorodok, regione
di Leopoli. Terminato il ginnasio a Peremyšl’, nel 1909 è chiamato alle armi
dal governo austriaco e, durante la prima guerra mondiale, combatte sul fronte
italiano. Viene ferito e, una volta ristabilitosi, è arruolato nell’Esercito di
liberazione galiziano ucraino. Dopo la disfatta dell’Esercito ucraino nella
guerra polacco-ucraina degli anni 1918-1919, passa al servizio dell’Armata
bianca nel Sud della Russia e in seguito al servizio dell’Armata rossa. Vergun
viene fatto prigioniero dai polacchi, ma riesce a scappare e a rifugiarsi in
Cecoslovacchia. Studia teologia all’Università di Praga e contemporaneamente
frequenta i corsi di filosofia presso la Libera università ucraina.
Il 30 ottobre 1927 a
Leopoli Pëtr Vergun viene ordinato sacerdote dal metropolita Andrej Šeptickij,
che lo manda a Berlino per assistere gli ucraini emigrati in Germania. Alle
celebrazioni in rito bizantino di padre Pëtr sono presenti più di mille fedeli,
fra i quali Stepan Bandera e Andrej Mel’nik. La Chiesa greco-cattolica con
padre Vergun diventa il luogo dove la gente, in particolare i giovani studenti,
può trovare l’aiuto umanitario di cui ha bisogno. Nel frattempo padre Pëtr
non trascura i suoi impegni pastorali e culturali. Tiene conferenze sul rito
bizantino nei seminari cattolici tedeschi e pubblica articoli sui giornali
locali, oltre ad essere assistente alla cattedra di storia ecclesiastica
all’Università di Berlino.
Con l’inizio della
Seconda Guerra Mondiale inizia la deportazione in massa degli ucraini e di
cittadini di altre nazionalità in Germania e nei territori occupati dai
tedeschi, dove vengono sfruttati come forza-lavoro. Il 23 novembre 1940 padre
Pëtr viene nominato amministratore apostolico per tutti gli ucraini
greco-cattolici residenti in Germania. Preoccupato per le future vocazioni
sacerdotali, padre Pëtr sostiene finanziariamente lo studio dei giovani
seminaristi nelle università di Praga, Paderbon e Graz.
L’ultima celebrazione
eucaristica di padre Pëtr si svolge a Berlino il 29 aprile 1945, la Domenica
delle Palme. Quando il 22 febbraio 1945 l’Armata Rossa entra a Berlino e la
maggior parte degli ucraini abbandona la città, il comando sovietico propone
all’amministratore apostolico di trasferirsi a Monaco di Baviera, ma lui
rifiuta, desiderando prestare aiuto al suo gregge, fino a che l’ultimo ucraino
sia rimasto in città.
Il primo arresto di padre
Pëtr avviene il 9 maggio 1945, ma dopo lunghi interrogatori viene rilasciato.
Tuttavia, il sacerdote continua ad essere convocato per degli interrogatori nei
mesi di maggio e di giugno. Padre Pëtr viene arrestato il 15 giugno 1945 e il
22 dello stesso mese viene trasferito a Kiev. La sua istruttoria si protrae per
un anno, finché nell’estate del 1946 la Corte Marziale lo condanna a 8 anni di
lager da scontarsi in Siberia. Il 22 giugno 1952 viene liberato dal lager e
condannato al confino nel villaggio di Angarsk, distretto di Krasnojarsk. Nel
1954 subisce un’operazione allo stomaco che lo debilita fortemente. Un suo
compagno di confino scrive a proposito di padre Pëtr: «Di lui mi ha sempre
impressionato la sua forza morale. Nonostante le difficoltà e la solitudine
insopportabile, era sempre straordinariamente affabile e gentile, e sul suo volto
non appariva mai la tristezza. Salutava sempre ciascuno di noi con il sorriso
sulle labbra…». Padre Pëtr viene costantemente convocato al comando di polizia,
e fino alla morte non ha il diritto di lasciare il villaggio.
Padre Pëtr Vergun muore
al confino il 7 febbraio 1957.
Viene beatificato il 27
giugno 2001, in occasione della visita di papa Giovanni Paolo II in Ucraina.
Fonte : www.russiacristiana.org
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/Detailed/92940.html
Den salige Peter Verhun
(1890-1957)
Minnedag: 2.
april
Den salige Peter Verhun
[Vergun] (Petro) ble født den 18. november 1890 i Horodok i oblast (distriktet)
Lviv i Vest-Ukraina. Han tilhørte den gresk-katolske «unerte» Kirken i
landet. Han tok doktorgraden i filosofi før han den 30. oktober 1927 ble
presteviet i St. Georgskatedralen i Lviv av metropolitt Andreas Septyckyj
[Sheptytsky] (Andrij), som ledet den ukrainsk-katolske Kirke fra 1901 til sin
død i 1944. Peter ble utnevnt til prest for de ukrainske katolikkene i Berlin i
Tyskland, og en tid senere ble han apostolisk visitator for Tyskland.
Prester og alle de
troende som skjebnen hadde brakt til et fremmed land, samlet seg rundt Peter
fordi de følte at han var en god hyrde som ville gi sitt liv for sine får. I
juni 1945 ble han arrestert av de sovjetiske sikkerhetsstyrkene i Berlin og
sendt til Sibir. Han ble dømt til åtte års hardt tvangsarbeid. Men selv blant
de uutholdelige leveforholdene i leiren klarte han å samle de troende rundt seg
og ga dem sitt eget personlige eksempel i å bevare troen. Han døde som martyr
for sin tros skyld den 7. februar 1957 i landsbyen Anharsk i territoriet
Krasnoyar.
Den 24. april 2001 ble
dekretet som anerkjente hans og andre ukraineres martyrium (gruppen den
salige Nikolas
Carneckyj og hans 24 ledsagere) promulgert i Vatikanet av
Helligkåringskongregasjonen i nærvær av pave Johannes Paul II (1978-2005).
Dermed fikk de tittelen Venerabilis, «Ærverdige», og veien til saligkåring
var åpnet. Gruppen består av åtte biskoper, seks sekularprester, syv
ordensprester, tre ordenssøstre og en legmann.
De ble saligkåret den 27.
juni 2001 av pave Johannes Paul II under hans besøk i Ukraina. Deres minnedag
er 2. april, Nikolas Carneckyjs dødsdag. Samtidig ble to andre gresk-katolske
ukrainere, en rutensk biskop og to latinske katolikker også saligkåret.
Kilder:
Patron Saints SQPN, papalvisit.org.ua, vatican.va, EWTN/OR - Kompilasjon
og oversettelse: p. Per
Einar Odden - Sist oppdatert: 2005-07-04 23:44
SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/pverhun
Petrus Werhun
auch: Petro
Gedenktag katholisch: 7. Februar
nicht gebotener Gedenktag in Berlin
Name bedeutet: der
Fels (griech. - latein.)
Priester, Märtyrer
* 1890 in Gorodok bei Lemberg, heute L'viv in der Ukraine
† 7. Februar 1957 in Angarsk in Sibirien in Russland
Petrus Werhun wuchs im
damals österreichischen Lemberg auf.
Er absolvierte das ukrainische Gymnasium und studierte an der
Lehrerbildungsanstalt. Im ersten Weltkrieg diente er als Soldat. Nach dem
Zusammenburch der österreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie 1918 schloss er sich der
ukrainisch-galizischen Armee an, um die Freiheit seiner Heimat von der nun
polnischen Besatzung zu erkämpfen. 1920 geriet er in polnische Gefangenschaft,
aus der er sich durch die Flucht nach Deutschland rettete. Er entschloss sich,
Priester zu werden, und studierte in Prag Osteuropäische
Kirchengeschichte, Ukrainistik, Kunstgeschichte und Theologie. An der
Ukrainischen Freien Universität in Prag wurde er 1926 zum Doktor der
Philosophie promoviert, 1927 in Lemberg zum Priester geweiht, dann kam er
nach Berlin als
Seelsorger der Ukrainer in Deutschland, wo er v. a. zerstreute Arbeitskolonien
und landwirtschaftliche Saisonarbeiter betreute. Ab 1939 kamen die ukrainischen
Zwangsarbeiter hinzu, er war nun für etwa 1,5 Millionen Ukrainer zuständig.
Zur Stärkung seiner
Position im misstrauischen nationalsozialistischen Staat wurde Petrus Werhun
1937 zum päpstlichen Hausprälaten ernannt. 1939 konnte ein Ausweisungsbefehl
durch das Eingreifen des päpstlichen Nuntius rückgängig gemacht werden. Im
November 1940 errichtete Papst Pius XII. die Apostolische Administratur für die
katholischen Ukrainer in Deutschland und ernannte Petro Werhun zum Apostolischen
Visitator mit den Rechten eines Apostolischen
Administrators. Nun konnte er der Ukrainerseelsorge in Deutschland eine
organisatorische Struktur geben. Er gründete mehrere Pfarreien und errichtete
ukrainische Schulen in Bremen und Hamburg.
Ein besonderes Anliegen
war Petrus Werhun, Verständnis für die Ostkirche zu wecken; in vielen Kirchen
und Priesterseminaren hielt er Ostkirchentage ab, im Bund
Neudeutschland bildeten sich Ostkirchenkreise, die ihn auch zur Feier der
Liturgie einluden.
Brief vom 8. Juni 1941 an seine Priester:
Ich bin besorgt um Eure priesterliche Heiligung. Nur jener, der aus der Fülle
des geistlichen Lebens schöpft, kann dieses Leben in die Herzen und Seelen
seiner Gläubigen einpflanzen. Bitte sorgt dafür, vor allem erfüllt zu sein vom
Geist Gottes und der Göttlichen Liebe …
Pastorales Schreiben vom Oktober 1943:
Bittet immer um Hilfe und die Gottesmutter wird
euch immer vor allem Bösen schützen. Dann werden unsere täglichen Sorgen nicht
zu groß sein, um sie bewältigen zu können; dann werden die Sirenen nicht
erschrecken, weder der schreckliche Lärm der Bombardierungen noch die
Artillerie und Maschienengewehrfeuer. Dann wird der Tod nicht ein Gegenstand
zum Fürchten sein. Denn die Gottesmutter und der Erlöser selbst werden bei uns
sein.
Beim Zusammenbruch 1945
blieb Petrus Werhun in Berlin,
um weiter seinen ukrainischen Landsleuten zu dienen, statt sich wie geplant
ins Kloster der Benediktiner nach
Niederaltaich zurückzuziehen, wo er 1938 als Oblate aufgenommen
worden war und im Ruhestand als Mönch leben wollte. Am 22. Juni wurde er von
Sowjetsoldaten verhaftet. Danach fehlte jahrelang jede Spur von ihm - bis
schließlich bekannt wurde, dass ein sowjetisches Militärtribunal ihn wegen
Kollaboration mit dem Feind zu acht Jahren Zwangsarbeit verurteilt hatte. Nach
Verbüßung der Strafe im Straflager in Taischet beim
Bajkalsee wurde er nach Angarsk verbannt.
2002 wurde in Angarsk Petrus
Werhuns Grab ausfindig gemacht und seine Gebeine erhoben.
Reliquien wurden nach L'viv in
der Ukraine und nach Berlin überführt
2006 kamen Reliquien nach Niederaltaich.
Auch in der Kathedrale der Apostolischen Exarchie für katholische Ukrainer in
Deutschland in München werden
Reliquien aufbewahrt.
Worte des Seligen
In seinem Kurzen
Grundriß der Kirchengeschichte der Ukraine, verfasst 1941, weist Werhun darauf
hin, dass der Ursprung des Christentums im slawischen Osten nicht in Russland,
sondern in der Ukraine liegt: Großfürst Wladimir ließ
sich und sein Volk im Jahre 988 taufen und zwar nach dem griechisch-orthodoxen
Ritus. Die Schönheit der dortigen Liturgie hatte es ihm angetan. Nach der
Trennung von Ost- und
Westkirche im Jahr 1054 kam es 1596 zur Union eines Teils der ukrainischen
orthodoxen Kirche mit der lateinischen Kirche. Damit betrat die
später griechisch-katholisch genannte Kirche jedoch
einen Dornenweg. Es kam zu gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen mit der alten
orthodoxen Kirche. Aber auch von der polnisch geprägten lateinischen Kirche
wurden die Unierten kaum anerkannt, gedemütigt und in vieler Hinsicht
benachteiligt. Am Schluss seines Vortrags weist Werhun auf die Schlüsselstellung
der Ukraine zwischen Ost und West hin. Dem vorkonziliaren Denken
entsprechend kann er sich eine Einheit der Kirchen nur in
der Bekehrung der Orthodoxen zur katholischen Kirche vorstellen:
Die göttliche Vorsehung hat dem ukrainischen Volk an der Grenze zwischen dem
Westen und Osten seine Wohnplätze angewiesen. Die östlichen und westlichen
Einflüsse kreuzen sich auf seinem Territorium, wie in einem Fokus. Ohne die
östlichen Eigenschaften eingebüßt zu haben, hat das ukrainische Volk
verstanden, nicht nur die westlichen Elemente in die eigene Kultur, Psyche und
die ganze Mentalität aufzunehmen, sondern sie zu einem koordinierten
harmonischen Faktum zu entwickeln. Die ukrainische griechisch-katholisch-unierte
Kirche ist das markanteste Merkmal dieser synthetischen Harmonie. Ihre
Entwicklung sowie Organisation kann als Leitfaden bei der Gewinnung der übrigen
orthodoxen Völker für die katholische Kirche dienen. Eben in dem bereits
Erwähnten sowie in der Mittelstellung zwischen West und Ost liegt die Bedeutung
der Ukraine für die Union. 'Dies haben schon vor Jahrhunderten die Nachfolger Petri erkannt.
Am 25. März 1629 sprach der Papst Urban VIII. die denkwürdigen Worte: O
mei Rutheni per vos ego orientem spero convertendum, Ihr Ukrainer, mit
eurer Hilfe kann - so hoffe ich - der Osten bekehrt werden. Jedoch seit dieser
Zeit hat sich so manches geändert. Der Orient ist komplizierter geworden. Die
östlichen Völker haben sich gewaltig vermehrt. Aber der große Gedanke lebt
weiter und wir haben zu Gott die Hoffnung, dass, wenn der ukrainischen
Geistlichkeit gegenwärtig aus unklugen politischen Rücksichten Hemmnisse in den
Weg gelegt werden, sie doch das vom Nachfolger Petri ausgesprochene Vertrauen
durch die Arbeit nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen wenigstens teilweise
rechtfertigen. und beitragen werde, damit die Worte des Erlösers in Erfüllung
gehen können: ES WERDE EIN HIRT UND EINE HERDE!
Quelle: Peter Werhun:
Kurzer Grundriß der Kirchengeschichte der Ukraine, Berlin 1941, S. 32
zusammengestellt von Abt
em. Dr. Emmeram Kränkl OSB,
Benediktinerabtei Schäftlarn,
für die Katholische
SonntagsZeitung
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Quellen:
• http://www.ukrainische-kirche.de/index.php?id=28,0,0,1,0,0
korrekt zitieren: Joachim Schäfer: Artikel Petrus Werhun, aus dem Ökumenischen Heiligenlexikon - https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienP/Petrus_Werhun.htm, abgerufen am 28. 2. 2022
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet das Ökumenische
Heiligenlexikon in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte
bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://d-nb.info/1175439177 und http://d-nb.info/969828497 abrufbar.
SOURCE : https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienP/Petrus_Werhun.htm
Voir aussi : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z48WP9Wn5pk
https://holodomormuseum.org.ua/en/holodomor-remembrance-day/
https://www.heilig-blut.com/index.php?plink=petro-verhun-entstehung
