OBITUARIES (01/25/98)

OBITUARIES

The Rev. Protopresbyter Volodymyr Bazylevsky, New York pastor, 94

NEW YORK - The Rev. Protopresbyter Volodymyr Bazylevsky, longtime pastor of St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in New York and active member of the Ukrainian community, died on December 22, 1997. He was 94.

The Rev. Bazylevsky was born on June 19, 1903, in the village of Batky in the Poltava region, in a priest's family. His studies at the Poltava seminary were interrupted by the revolution of 1917, thwarting his plans to become a priest.

Mr. Bazylevsky entered the university in Poltava, but was expelled when the authorities found out that his father was a priest. (The Very Rev. Ivan Bazylevsky was forcibly removed from church while celebrating liturgy and deported to a prison camp in Siberia where he was killed by a felled tree).

Thereafter Mr. Bazylevsky had to conceal his past in order to pursue an education. Upon completion of studies, he worked as an architectural designer in the city of Kharkiv. At this time he was under tremendous pressure from the NKVD, including threats of arrest and deportation to Siberia, to become an informer in his workplace for the secret police.

In 1929 Mr. Bazylevsky married Elikonida Kolesnikova; they had two children, George and Inna.

During World War II the family was able to escape to the West - to Austria via Czecho-Slovakia. After the end of the war, while in a Displaced Persons camp in Salzburg, Mr. Bazylevsky was involved in establishing two Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox parishes. He also was an active member of the Ukrainian Hetman Organization.

In 1950 Mr. Bazylevsky emigrated to the U.S. and settled in New York. At first he worked as a laborer, and then, after mastering English, became a building designer, working on many New York skyscrapers, including the World Trade Center.

After retiring at the age of 65, Mr. Bazylevsky finally fulfilled his youthful dream of becoming a priest. He was ordained by the late Bishop Andrij on May 4, 1969. He first served at St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Jamaica, N.Y., and subsequently was pastor of St. Mary Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Eastport, Long Island.

The Rev. Protopresbyter Bazylevsky was the pastor of St. Volodymyr Cathedral in New York from 1974 to 1996. At the age of 93, after 22 years of service, he became pastor emeritus at the cathedral. He continued to concelebrate the liturgy every Sunday and on holy days with the present pastor, the Very Rev. Roman Tarnawsky.

Throughout his life the Rev. Protopresbyter Bazylevsky was an active member in civic and political organizations of the Ukrainian community, among them the United Ukrainian American Organizations of Greater New York, the National Council of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Ukrainian Hetman Organization.

With Ukraine's independence he became an unofficial chaplain of Ukrainian diplomats who lived in New York. In 1995 he welcomed President Leonid Kuchma to St. Volodymyr Cathedral during the president's visit to New York.

A memorial service for priests ("chyn yereiskoho pokhoronu") was held at St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral on December 26, celebrated by numerous clergy, among them: the Very Rev. Tarnawsky, the Very Rev. Volodymyr Hanas, pastor, All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church, New York; the Rev. Theodor Mazur, pastor, Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, New York; the Very Rev. Leonid Kishkowsky, pastor, St. Mary Protectress Orthodox Church of America, Seacliff, N.Y.; the Rev. Bohdan Kalynuk, pastor, St. Mary Protectress, New Haven, Conn.; the Very Rev. Patrick Paschak, pastor, St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church, New York; the Rev Michael Lev, pastor, St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Bayonne, N.J.; the Rev. Deacon Andrij Kulyk, St. Volodymyr Cathedral, New York; and the Rev. Deacon Yuri Malachowsky, Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church, Astoria, N.Y.

Funeral services were held at St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral on December 27, officiated by Archbishop Antony, followed by a service at St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle Ukrainian Orthodox Memorial Church in South Bound Brook, N.J., and internment at St. Andrew's Cemetery. The Rev. Protopresbyter Bazylevsky was buried next to his wife, Elikonida.

Among speakers at the tryzna-repast held at the parish hall following the funeral were: the Rev. Hanas; Askold Lozynskyj, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America; Dr. Lubomyr Woroch, Conference of Central Ukrainian Academic Professional Organizations; Nadia Sawchuk, Ukrainian National Women's League of America; Borys Fessak, president, board of trustees, St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, N.Y.; Mykola Turetsky, Ukrainian American Veterans; Alexander Redko, Poltava Region Association; Eugene Zmyj, Ukrainian Engineers' Society; Motria Milanych, Senior Division, Plast; and the Rev. Protopresbyter's two grandsons, Bohdan Bazylevsky and Terrance Solomone.

The Rev. Protopresbyter Bazylevsky is survived by his son, George, with his wife, Oksana, and their children, Christina (with her husband Ross), Bohdan and Andrew; daughter, Inna Solomone, with her son, Terrance (and his wife, Christina); great-grandson, Andrew; and family in Ukraine.

Maria Savchak, UNWLA officer, employee-activist of UNA, 78

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Maria Savchak, known Ukrainian community activist who held various important positions at the Ukrainian National Association (UNA), the Ukrainian National Women's League of America (UNWLA) and The Ukrainian Museum, died in Brooklyn, N.Y., on January 8 at the age of 78.

Mrs. Savchak was born on January 7, 1919, in the village of Liadske Shliakhetske in the Stanyslaviv region of western Ukraine. Upon emigrating to the U.S. in 1949, she became active in the Ukrainian community, an involvement that proved to be lifelong.

At the UNA she was employed at the Home Office for over 20 years as secretary of the Organizing Department. She was president and secretary of UNA Branch 25, and secretary of the 30th UNA Convention.

Mrs. Savchak was a two-term president (1987-1993) of the UNWLA. She served as a member of the UNWLA executive board for 14 years and was a member of the board of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations (WFUWO). She was a UNWLA delegate to WFUWO and World Congress of Free Ukrainians congresses and conventions.

She was also a member of the editorial board of the UNWLA magazine Nashe Zhyttia, as well as a member of the executive board of The Ukrainian Museum in New York.

A panakhyda service was held on January 12 in New York, followed by funeral services the next day at St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church in New York and internment at St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle Ukrainian Orthodox Memorial Church in South Bound Brook, N.J.

Mrs. Savchak is survived by two sons, Roman Kupchynsky (in Kyiv) and Mychailo with his wife, Annalisa; a sister Yaroslava with her husband, Myroslav Pastushenko; and a grandson, Markian Kupchynsky (in Kyiv).

Memorial donations may be made to: The Ukrainian Museum in New York; various UNWLA charitable causes; and the Fund for the Rebirth of Ukraine at the UNA.

Zynoviy Sokoliuk, 72, prorector and dean at Munich university

MUNICH, Germany - Dr. Zynoviy Sokoliuk, prorector of the Ukrainian Free University, former officer of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and member of the Association of the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council, died here on January 2 at the age of 72.

Dr. Sokoliuk was dean of law and socio-economic studies and director of the Institute of German-Ukrainian Relations at the UFU. He received his doctorate from UFU in 1953.

Dr. Sokoliuk was born in Belz, western Ukraine, in 1926.

He was a former officer of the UPA, the Ukrainian military formation that fought from 1942 to 1949, mostly in western Ukraine, against the German and Soviet occupational regimes.

Dr. Sokoliuk, whose nom de guerre was "Semeniv," was a contributor to the UPA journal Do Zbroii (1943) and editor of the memoirs of Lt. Maj. Duda ("Hromenko") and Lt. Maj. Stepan Stebelsky ("Khrin") of the Lemko Company of the UPA.

Burial was on January 8 at the Nordfriedhof cemetery in Munich.

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