Severian Stefan Baranyk ( uk, Северіян Бараник; 18 July 1889 - ) was a

Ukrainian Greek Catholic , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church (sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's C ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. Baranyk was born in Uhnów in Austrian Galicia (modern-day

Uhniv Uhniv ( uk, У́гнів, pl, Uhnów, yi, הובנוב) is a city in Chervonohrad Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine. Population: Uhniv (or Uhnow, Uchnów or Hivniv) is the smallest city of Ukraine. It is part of the Chervonohr ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). He entered the monastery of the Order of St Basil the Great in Krekhiv in 1904. On 16 May, he took his first

monastic vows Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role ...

and, on 24 September 1910, he took his perpetual vows. He was ordained to the priesthood on 14 February 1915. Baranyk was known for his preaching, and his life was noted for his special kindness to youth and

orphans An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

. In 1932, he was made the

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

(hegumen) of the Basilian monastery in Drohobych. On 26 June 1941, the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

arrested him. He was taken to Drohobych prison and never seen alive again. After the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

withdrew from the city his mutilated body was found in the prison with signs of torture, including cross-shaped knife slashes across his chest. He was

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 27 June 2001. Yasyf Lastoviak, in a testimony, recounted finding Stefan Baranyk's corpse:

References

*
Biographies of twenty five Greek-Catholic Servants of God
' at the website of the Vatican *
Beatification of the Servants of God on June 27, 2001
' at the website of the

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church (sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's C ...

*
Basilian Martyrs and Confessors
'. St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, Winnipeg Canada. *Francisco Radecki. ''Tumultuous Times: The Twenty General Councils of the Catholic Church and Vatican II and Its Aftermath''. St. Joseph's Media, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baranyk, Severian 1889 births 1941 deaths Catholic people executed by the Soviet Union Members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Ukrainian beatified people Order of Saint Basil the Great Ukrainian people executed by the Soviet Union Beatifications by Pope John Paul II