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Created page with "'''Andrey Sheptytsky'''(29 July 1865 – 1 November 1944) was a prelate and theologian of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church who served as Metropolitan of Galicia and..."
'''Andrey Sheptytsky'''(29 July 1865 – 1 November 1944) was a prelate and theologian of the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]] who served as Metropolitan of [[Galicia]] and Archbishop of [[Lviv]] from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure in office spanned two world wars and seven political regimes: [[Austrian]], [[Russian]], [[Ukrainian]], [[Polish]], [[Soviet]], [[Nazi German]], and again [[Soviet]].
==World War II==
Sheptytsky welcomed the [[Wehrmacht]] entering [[Lviv]] and supported the [[OUN-B]]'s declaration of Ukrainian independence on June 30, 1941. After the dissolution of [[Yaroslav Stetsko]]'s government, he became honorary chairman of the Ukrainian Council of Seniors. On July 22, 1941, in a letter to [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]], [[Germany]]'s foreign minister, he protested against the annexation of [[Eastern Galicia]] to the occupied [[Polish]] General Government. In August 1941, he assumed the protectorate of the newly established Ukrainian Red Cross.
Sheptytsky maintained contacts with the Polish underground and tried to mediate in the Polish-Ukrainian conflict. In the autumn of 1941, he met with Jerzy Braun, an envoy of Government Delegate for Poland Cyryl Ratajski and General Stefan Rowecki, Commander-in-Chief of the ZWZ, to whom he made a proposal to delegate two Ukrainian representatives to the Polish Government in Exile in [[London]].
Gradually, he developed a dislike for the [[Nazi Party]], being disgusted by their [[policies]] toward the [[civilian]] [[population]]. In June 1942, he promulgated the document The Ideal of Our National Life, in which he presented a vision of an independent, united [[Ukraine]] united by a single [[Church]] in union with the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. In February 1942, he signed a letter to [[Adolf Hitler]] issued by the [[OUN-M]] opposing [[German]] [[policies]] and demanding the establishment of an independent Ukraine.
Sheptytsky supported the [[SS Galicia Division]], blessing new recruits. He reportedly told Volodymyr Kubiyovych, who was helping organize it, that "there is virtually no price which should not be paid for the creation of a Ukrainian army." According to his close friend Rabbi David Kahane, however, Sheptytsky had believed that the SS Galicia Division would be used to fight [[Stalinism]] and personally expressed disgust in a conversation with the Rabbi about the Division's subsequent role as perpetrators of the [[Holocaust]] in Ukraine.
Also in February 1942, Sheptytsky sent a letter to [[Heinrich Himmler]] protesting the Holocaust. During World War II, he saved at least 150-200 Jews, mainly [[children]], by hiding them in Greek Catholic orphanages, monasteries, and convents, where they were trained in how to pass as Greek Catholics. He collaborated in this work with the superiors of the Studite orders, Sister Josefa (Helena Witter) and his brother Klymentiy Sheptytsky. At his archbishop's residence in Lviv, he gave shelter to Kurt Lewin, the son of Jecheskiel Lewin, the chief rabbi of the Lviv progressive synagogue.[7]
In August 1942, Sheptytsky sent a letter to [[Pius XII]] in which he reported on the brutal [[Nazi]] [[policies]] and condemned the murder of [[Jews]], and also admitted that his original assessment of the Germans' attitude toward Ukrainians was wrong. Nevertheless, in the summer of 1943, Sheptytsky appointed chaplains for the [[Waffen SS Galicia Division]].
According to historian Ronald Rychlak, "A German Foreign Office agent named 'Frederic' was sent in a tour through various Nazi-occupied and satellite countries during the war. He wrote in his confidential report to the German Foreign Office on September 19, 1943, that Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky, of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, remained adamant in saying that the killing of Jews was an inadmissible act. 'Frederic' went on to comment that Sheptytsky made the same statements and used the same phrasing as the [[French]], [[Belgian]], and [[Dutch]] bishops, as if they were all receiving instructions from the [[Vatican]]."
One of the rabbis whose life was saved by Metropolitan Sheptytsky, David Kahane, stated: "Andrew Sheptytsky deserves the undying gratitude of the Jews and the honorific title 'Prince of the Righteous'". In addition, among the Jews who, thanks to Sheptytsky's help, survived the war were Lili Pohlmann and her mother, Adam Daniel Rotfeld (later Poland's foreign minister), two sons of the chief rabbi of Katowice (including the prominent cardiac surgeon Leon Chameides).
==Volhynian Massacre==
{{See also|Volhynian Massacre}}
Sheptytsky was aware of the ongoing [[genocide]] of the [[Polish]] [[population]] by the forces of [[OUN-B]] and the [[UPA]] since the summer of 1943. He did not condemn it outright, but in a pastoral letter of August 10, 1943, he called for saving the lives of those in danger, and in another of August 31, he urged both sides to stop fighting. In early 1944, he condemned the killings and their perpetrators, regardless of their motives. In a "word for Easter" dated April 16, 1944, he called for harmony between neighbors
During this period he secretly consecrated Josyf Slipyj as his successor. Sheptytsky died on November 1, 1944, and was buried in St. George's Cathedral in Lviv. Due to the metropolitan's high authority in Galicia, the Soviets allowed a public funeral, which was attended by thousands of people. On 12 November Josyp Slipyj was consecrated as the new metropolitan. However, soon thereafter due suspicions of the church hierarchy's collaboration with [[Nazi]]s, Soviet authorities started their campaign to liquidate the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In March 1946, during the so-called "Lviv Synod", Soviet officials declared it was part of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], and transferred property from the [[Holy See]] to the [[Moscow Patriarchate]].
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheptytsky, Andrey}}
[[Category:Ukraine]]
==World War II==
Sheptytsky welcomed the [[Wehrmacht]] entering [[Lviv]] and supported the [[OUN-B]]'s declaration of Ukrainian independence on June 30, 1941. After the dissolution of [[Yaroslav Stetsko]]'s government, he became honorary chairman of the Ukrainian Council of Seniors. On July 22, 1941, in a letter to [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]], [[Germany]]'s foreign minister, he protested against the annexation of [[Eastern Galicia]] to the occupied [[Polish]] General Government. In August 1941, he assumed the protectorate of the newly established Ukrainian Red Cross.
Sheptytsky maintained contacts with the Polish underground and tried to mediate in the Polish-Ukrainian conflict. In the autumn of 1941, he met with Jerzy Braun, an envoy of Government Delegate for Poland Cyryl Ratajski and General Stefan Rowecki, Commander-in-Chief of the ZWZ, to whom he made a proposal to delegate two Ukrainian representatives to the Polish Government in Exile in [[London]].
Gradually, he developed a dislike for the [[Nazi Party]], being disgusted by their [[policies]] toward the [[civilian]] [[population]]. In June 1942, he promulgated the document The Ideal of Our National Life, in which he presented a vision of an independent, united [[Ukraine]] united by a single [[Church]] in union with the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. In February 1942, he signed a letter to [[Adolf Hitler]] issued by the [[OUN-M]] opposing [[German]] [[policies]] and demanding the establishment of an independent Ukraine.
Sheptytsky supported the [[SS Galicia Division]], blessing new recruits. He reportedly told Volodymyr Kubiyovych, who was helping organize it, that "there is virtually no price which should not be paid for the creation of a Ukrainian army." According to his close friend Rabbi David Kahane, however, Sheptytsky had believed that the SS Galicia Division would be used to fight [[Stalinism]] and personally expressed disgust in a conversation with the Rabbi about the Division's subsequent role as perpetrators of the [[Holocaust]] in Ukraine.
Also in February 1942, Sheptytsky sent a letter to [[Heinrich Himmler]] protesting the Holocaust. During World War II, he saved at least 150-200 Jews, mainly [[children]], by hiding them in Greek Catholic orphanages, monasteries, and convents, where they were trained in how to pass as Greek Catholics. He collaborated in this work with the superiors of the Studite orders, Sister Josefa (Helena Witter) and his brother Klymentiy Sheptytsky. At his archbishop's residence in Lviv, he gave shelter to Kurt Lewin, the son of Jecheskiel Lewin, the chief rabbi of the Lviv progressive synagogue.[7]
In August 1942, Sheptytsky sent a letter to [[Pius XII]] in which he reported on the brutal [[Nazi]] [[policies]] and condemned the murder of [[Jews]], and also admitted that his original assessment of the Germans' attitude toward Ukrainians was wrong. Nevertheless, in the summer of 1943, Sheptytsky appointed chaplains for the [[Waffen SS Galicia Division]].
According to historian Ronald Rychlak, "A German Foreign Office agent named 'Frederic' was sent in a tour through various Nazi-occupied and satellite countries during the war. He wrote in his confidential report to the German Foreign Office on September 19, 1943, that Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky, of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, remained adamant in saying that the killing of Jews was an inadmissible act. 'Frederic' went on to comment that Sheptytsky made the same statements and used the same phrasing as the [[French]], [[Belgian]], and [[Dutch]] bishops, as if they were all receiving instructions from the [[Vatican]]."
One of the rabbis whose life was saved by Metropolitan Sheptytsky, David Kahane, stated: "Andrew Sheptytsky deserves the undying gratitude of the Jews and the honorific title 'Prince of the Righteous'". In addition, among the Jews who, thanks to Sheptytsky's help, survived the war were Lili Pohlmann and her mother, Adam Daniel Rotfeld (later Poland's foreign minister), two sons of the chief rabbi of Katowice (including the prominent cardiac surgeon Leon Chameides).
==Volhynian Massacre==
{{See also|Volhynian Massacre}}
Sheptytsky was aware of the ongoing [[genocide]] of the [[Polish]] [[population]] by the forces of [[OUN-B]] and the [[UPA]] since the summer of 1943. He did not condemn it outright, but in a pastoral letter of August 10, 1943, he called for saving the lives of those in danger, and in another of August 31, he urged both sides to stop fighting. In early 1944, he condemned the killings and their perpetrators, regardless of their motives. In a "word for Easter" dated April 16, 1944, he called for harmony between neighbors
During this period he secretly consecrated Josyf Slipyj as his successor. Sheptytsky died on November 1, 1944, and was buried in St. George's Cathedral in Lviv. Due to the metropolitan's high authority in Galicia, the Soviets allowed a public funeral, which was attended by thousands of people. On 12 November Josyp Slipyj was consecrated as the new metropolitan. However, soon thereafter due suspicions of the church hierarchy's collaboration with [[Nazi]]s, Soviet authorities started their campaign to liquidate the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In March 1946, during the so-called "Lviv Synod", Soviet officials declared it was part of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], and transferred property from the [[Holy See]] to the [[Moscow Patriarchate]].
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheptytsky, Andrey}}
[[Category:Ukraine]]