Andrey Sheptytsky,
OSBM
The Order of Saint Basil the Great ( uk, Чин Святого Василія Великого, translit=Chyn Sviatoho Vasyliia Velykoho; la, Ordo Sancti Basilii Magni, abbreviated OSBM), also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat, is ...
(; uk, Митрополит Андрей Шептицький; 29 July 1865 – 1 November 1944) was the
Metropolitan Archbishop of the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure spanned two
world wars and seven political regimes:
Austrian,
Russian,
Ukrainian,
Polish,
Soviet,
General Government
The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...
(Nazi), and again
Soviet.
According to the church historian
Jaroslav Pelikan, "Arguably, Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky was the most influential figure ...in the entire history of the Ukrainian Church in the twentieth century". The
Lviv National Museum, founded by Sheptytsky in 1905, now bears his name.
Information-Resource Center of Ukrainian Catholic University that was opened in September 2017 also bears his nameThe Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Center.
Life
He was born as
Count Roman Aleksander Maria Szeptycki in a village 40 km west/northwest of
Lviv called
Prylbychi, in the
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, then a
crownland of the
Austrian Empire.
The
Sheptytsky family descends from the
Ruthenian nobility, but in the 18th century had
become Polish-speaking and
Roman Catholic. The maternal Fredro family descends from the
Polish nobility
The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...
. Among his ancestors, there were many important church figures, including two
metropolitans of
Kyiv, Atanasy and Lev. His maternal grandfather was the Polish writer
Aleksander Fredro. One of his brothers,
Klymentiy Sheptytsky, M.S.U., became a
Studite monk, and another,
Stanisław Szeptycki, became a General in the
Polish Army. He was 2 m 10 cm (6 ft. 10 in.) tall.
Sheptytsky received his education first at home and then in
Kraków. After graduating he went to serve in the
Austro-Hungarian Army but after a few months he fell sick and was forced to abandon it. Instead, he studied law in
Kraków and
Breslau, receiving his doctorate in 1888. During his studies he visited Italy, where he was granted an audience with
Pope Leo XIII at the
Vatican, and to the Ukrainian heartland of
Kyiv, then under Russian rule, where he met some of the most prominent Ukrainian personalities of that time. He also visited Moscow.
Religious life
Despite his father's opposition, Sheptytsky became a monk at the
Basilian monastery in
Dobromyl,(1888) returning to his roots to serve what was regarded as the peasant
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. He took the name, Andrew, after the younger brother of
Saint Peter,
Andrew the Apostle
Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an Apostles in the New Testament, apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He ...
, considered the founder of the Byzantine Church and also specifically of the Ukrainian Church. He then studied at the
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
Seminary in Kraków, receiving a doctoral degree in theology in 1894. In 1892 he was ordained a priest in
Przemyśl
Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...
. He was made
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of the Monastery of St Onuphrius in Lviv in 1896.

In 1899, following the death of
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
Sylvester Sembratovych
Sylvester Sembratovych ( uk, Сильвестр Сембратович, pl, Sylwester Sembratowicz; 3 September 1836 – 4 August 1898) was the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1885 until his death in 1898 ...
, Sheptytsky was nominated by
Emperor Franz Joseph to fill the vacant position of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop of Stanyslaviv (now
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вськ, translit=Iváno-Frankívśk ), formerly Stanyslaviv ( pl, Stanisławów ; german: Stanislau), is a city located in Western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk O ...
), and
Pope Leo XIII concurred. Thus he was
consecrated
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...
as bishop in Lviv on 17 September 1899 by Metropolitan
Julian Sas-Kuilovsky
Julian Sas-Kuilovsky ( uk, Куїловський Юліан; 1 May 1826 – 4 May 1900) was the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1899 until his death in 1900.
Life
Julian Sas-Kuilovsky was born on May 1, 1 ...
assisted by Bishop Chekhovych and Bishop Weber, the Latin-Rite auxiliary of Lviv.
A year later, on 12 December 1900 and following the death of Sembratovych's successor, Sheptytsky was appointed, at the age of thirty-six, Metropolitan Archbishop of
Lviv and enthroned on 17 January 1901.
Sheptytsky visited North America in 1910 where he met with Ukrainian Greek Catholic
immigrant communities in the
United States; attended the twenty-first
International Eucharistic Congress in
Montreal; toured
Ukrainian communities in
Canada; and invited the
Redemptorist fathers ministering in the Byzantine rite to come to Ukraine.
After the outbreak of
World War I, Sheptytsky was arrested by the Imperial Russian government and imprisoned in
monastery of Saint Euthymius,
Suzdal
Suzdal ( rus, Суздаль, p=ˈsuzdəlʲ) is a town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located on the Kamenka River, north of the city of Vladimir. Vladimir is the admin ...
(1914-1917).
[ He was released in 1918 and returned to Lviv from the Russian Empire. Bolsheviks destroyed his parents' rural house in Prylbychi where he was born.][Senkivska, N]
Metropolitan Andrei: life story in retro-photographs (Митрополит Андрей: життєпис у ретро-світлинах.)
''Zbruc''. 1 November 2016 During the destruction the family archives were lost.[
]
As a student, Sheptytsky learned Hebrew in order to better relate to the Jewish community. During pastoral visits to Jewish villages, he was sometimes met with the Torah. During World War II he harbored hundreds of Jews in his residence and in Greek Catholic monasteries. He also issued the pastoral letter, "Thou Shalt Not Kill", to protest Nazi atrocities. Alone among the church leaders in Nazi-occupied Europe, Sheptytsky openly spoke in defense of the persecuted Jews. He sent an official letter, as the First Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, to Hitler and Himmler protesting about the destruction of the Jews. In a special Pastoral Letter addressed to his Ukrainian faithful, he strongly forbade them (under the pain of excommunication) from participating or helping in the destruction of Jews. In addition, he issued secret instructions to his secular and monastic clergy, ordering them to help the Jews by hiding them on church property, feeding them and smuggling them out of the country. 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'". During this period he secretly consecrated Josyf Slipyj as his successor.
Sheptytsky in the early years of his episcopacy expressed strong support for a celibate Eastern Catholic clergy. Yet he said to have changed his mind after years in Imperial Russian prisons where he encountered the faithfulness of married Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox priests and their wives and families. After this, he fought Latin Catholic leaders who attempted to require clerical celibacy among Eastern Catholic priests.
Sheptytsky was also a patron of artists, students, including many Orthodox Christians, and a pioneer of ecumenism
Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...
he also opposed the Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...
policy of forced conversion of Polish Ukrainians into Latin Rite Catholics. He strove for reconciliation between ethnic groups and wrote frequently on social issues and spirituality. He also founded the Studite and Ukrainian Redemptorist orders, a hospital, the National Museum
A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...
, and the Theological Academy. He actively supported various Ukrainian organizations such as the Prosvita and in particular, the Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization, and donated a campsite in the Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
called ''Sokil'' and became the patron saint of the Plast fraternity Orden Khrestonostsiv
''Kurin are fraternities within the Ukrainian Plast Scouting organization.
Lisovi Chorty
Lisovi Chorty (Ukrainian ''Лісові Чорти'', English ''Forest Devils'') - 3rd ''Kurin’'' (fraternity) for ''Starshi Plastuny'' (Rover Scouts) an ...
.
Sheptytsky died in 1944 and is buried in St. George's Cathedral in Lviv. In 1958 the cause for his canonization
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...
was begun; but stalled at the behest of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. Pope Francis approved his life of heroic virtue on 16 July 2015, thus proclaiming him to be Venerable.
Jews who were saved thanks to actions of Andrey Sheptytsky have lobbied Yad Vashem for years to have him named Righteous Among the Nations, just as his brother Klymentiy Sheptytsky had been, but so far Yad Vashem has failed to act, mostly due to concerns with his initial belief that German invaders would be better for Ukraine than the Soviet Union had been. He strongly supported the blessing new recruits into the division.
Memory
The first monument to Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky was erected during his lifetime in 1932. It was destroyed by the Soviets in 1939.
A new monument to Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky was inaugurated in Lviv on 29 July 2015, the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Images
File:Andrzej Szeptycki (a).jpg, Father Andrey in Rome, 1921
File:A. Szeptycki (retouched).jpg
File:Andriy sheptytskyi.jpg
File:Szeptycki_sm.jpg, Archbishop Andreas Szeptycki in Philadelphia, October 1910.
Notes
Further reading
* , ''Metropolitan Andrew (1865–1944)'', Translated and Revised by Serge Keleher, Stauropegion, 1993, Lviv.
* Aharon Weiss, Andrei Sheptytsky in '' Encyclopedia of the Holocaust'' vol. 4, pp. 1347–8
* The Ukrainian Division Halychyna by Dr. Roman Serbyn
Films
*
*
*
External links
*
*
Andrei Sheptytsky
at the '' Encyclopedia of Ukraine''
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies
''Welcome to Ukraine''
''Thou Shalt Not Kill''
(Ukrainian, pdf of scanned images)
''Thou Shalt Not Kill''
(English, pdf)
He Welcomed the Nazis and Saved Jews
Sheptytsky Award
''Tablet'', Vladislav Davidzon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheptytsky, Andrey
1865 births
1944 deaths
Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany
Andrey
People from Lviv Oblast
People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Austro-Hungarian Eastern Catholic priests
Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians
Polish Austro-Hungarians
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19th-century Polish nobility
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Ukrainian anti-communists
19th-century Eastern Catholic archbishops
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20th-century venerated Christians
Leaders of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Venerated Catholics by Pope Francis
Venerated Eastern Catholics
Order of Saint Basil the Great
Burials at St. George's Cathedral, Lviv
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