EDITORIAL: Recognition long overdue (10/30/05)

EDITORIAL

Recognition long overdue

November 1 marks the 61st anniversary of the death in 1944 of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, a great civic, cultural and religious leader of Ukraine who was enthroned as metropolitan of Halych and archbishop of Lviv in 1901. Sheptytsky was a fearless fighter against both the Soviet and Nazi regimes whose influence was felt worldwide.

Active in political life, he was a member of the Galician Diet, the Austrian House of Lords and the Imperial Ministerial Council - all capacities in which he advocated Ukrainian rights and promoted Ukrainian education. He was a political prisoner of both the Russian and Polish authorities who occupied Halychyna at various times in history, yet he continued to speak out for the Ukrainian cause. In 1930 he condemned the Polish pacification campaign directed against the Ukrainians. He became an enemy of Soviet authorities when he spoke out about the Great Famine of 1932-1933 and condemned communism. As well, he criticized the assassinations of Polish officials that were carried out by radical Ukrainian nationalists.

All the while Sheptytsky was active also as a pastor and Church leader. He held regular eparchial synods and established the order of Studite Fathers. He sent many clergymen abroad to care for the needs of Ukrainian immigrants in North and South America. In 1928 he founded the Theological Academy in Lviv (which today has evolved into the Ukrainian Catholic University).

During the second world war Sheptytsky defended his Church during the Soviet occupation of western Ukraine. When the Germans occupied the region, he at first believed that German rule would be better than that of the Soviets. Soon, however, he saw the Nazis' true face. In early 1942 he wrote a letter to Himmler to denounce the treatment of the Jews and to protest the use of Ukrainians in anti-Jewish repressions. He also provided refuge to Jews and instructed his monasteries and convents to do the same. He authored the well-known pastoral letter "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and wrote to Pope Pius XII about the Nazis' killings of the Jews. According to various accounts written by historians, contemporaries and those whom Sheptytsky saved from the Nazis, more than 150 Jews were saved by the metropolitan.

According to a recent article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, for decades Holocaust survivors have tried to convince Yad Vashem to recognize Sheptytsky as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations," a designation given to those whose efforts to save Jews are recognized by the Holocaust memorial authority in Jerusalem. Since the 1960s the committee that grants the title of "Righteous" has met to discuss the Sheptytsky case 13 times; 13 times it has voted against recognition of Sheptytsky's courageous acts.

But a group of survivors in Israel is determined to win the recognition for Sheptytsky that he so rightfully deserves, wrote Haaretz, and they are circulating a petition to Yad Vashem. In the meantime, the Ukrainian-Jewish group Tkuma is to hold a seminar in Lviv dedicated to Sheptytsky with the participation of historians from Israel and Ukraine. And, Holocaust survivors say they are encouraged that an upcoming visit to Israel by President Viktor Yushchenko may also help the cause.

Meanwhile, within the Catholic Church, a movement for Sheptytsky's beatification that began in the 1950s bore its first fruit in 1968 when Pope Paul VI bestowed the title "Servant of God" upon Sheptytsky. In 2004 Cardinal Lubomyr Husar said all that is needed for the beatification of Metropolitan Sheptytsky is that the Church recognize a miracle that occurred through his intercession.

As we recall this great man on November 1, we pray that his extraordinary life and deeds may soon be recognized.

(Editor's note: the source for the historical information cited above is W. Lencyk's entry in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine.)

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