Volodymyr (

secular name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of Civil registry, registration of the birth ...

Vasyl Omelianovych Romaniuk, ; 9 December 1923 – 14 July 1995) was a Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox priest and human rights activist who was Patriarch of the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP; (UPTs-KP)) was an Orthodox church in Ukraine, in existence from 1992 to 2018. Its patriarchal cathedral was St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv. After its unilateral declaration ...

from its founding until his death. Prior to becoming patriarch, he had been a

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

and one of the leaders of the

Ukrainian Helsinki Group The Ukrainian Helsinki Group () was founded on November 9, 1976, as the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords on Human Rights () to monitor human rights in Ukraine. The group was active until 1981 when all ...

Biography

Vasyl Omelianovych Romaniuk was born on 9 December 1923 into a

Hutsul The Hutsuls (Rusyn language, Hutsul/; ; ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administra ...

family in the village of , in what was then the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. During World War II, he studied at

Kosiv Kosiv (, ) is a city located in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Kosiv Raion (Raion, district). Kosiv hosts the administration of Kosiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Popu ...

within the

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

and was a member of the

Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN; ) was a Ukrainian nationalist organization established on February 2, 1929 in Vienna, uniting the Ukrainian Military Organization with smaller, mainly youth, radical nationalist right-wing groups ...

operating underground in opposition to the German occupation. Following the recapture of Kosiv by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, Romaniuk was arrested for his nationalist activities on 12 July 1944. His family was deported to Siberia while he was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. He served out his sentence in

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

. Romaniuk was again imprisoned during the

1972–1973 Ukrainian purge From 12 January 1972 to 1973, a wide-reaching purge of Ukrainian society and intelligentsia was organised by Leonid Brezhnev and the KGB. Codenamed Operation Bloc (; ), the purge resulted in the arrest of 193 people, including most of the leaders ...

and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for

anti-Soviet agitation Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) () was a criminal offence in the Soviet Union. Initially, the term was interchangeably used with counter-revolutionary agitation. The latter term was in use immediately after the October Revolution of 1917 ...

. He was recognised as a

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. In 1979 he became a member of the

, was exiled from 1979 till 1982, and became a political emigrant at the end of the 1980s. On 1 July 1976 Volodymyr renounced his Soviet citizenship. Between 1987 and 1990, Vasyl Romaniuk lived in Canada and was a priest of the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (UOCC; ; ; ) is an Eastern Orthodox church in Canada, primarily consisting of Orthodox Ukrainian Canadians. Its former name (before 1990) was the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada (UGOCC). The C ...

. He also served under the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA (UOC of USA) is an Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox body of the Ukrainian diaspora under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the United States. It consists of two eparchies (dioces ...

, whose Metropolitan was Metropolitan Mstyslav (later Patriarch of Kyiv). In 1990 with the onset of

Perestroyka ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

and movement for revival of the

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC; (UAPTs)) was one of the three major Eastern Orthodox churches in Ukraine in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, together with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) ...

, he returned to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. In April of 1990 he was tonsured as an archimandrite selecting name of Volodymyr and next day consecrated as

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Uzhhorod Uzhhorod (, ; , ; , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Uzh, Uzh River in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistan ...

and

Vynohradiv Vynohradiv (, ; ; ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city in western Ukraine, in Zakarpattia Oblast. It was the center of Vynohradiv Raion and since 2020 it has been incorporated into Berehove Raion. Population: Names There are multiple alte ...

. His cheirotonia was carried out by Metropolitan of Lviv and Galicia

Ioann (Bodnarchuk) Metropolitan John ( or Іоанн, secular name Vasyl Mykolayovych Bodnarchuk, , ; 12 April 1927 – 9 November 1994) was an Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox hierarch born in the Ternopil area of Western Ukraine, which at that time was a territo ...

, bishop of Ternopil and Buchach Basil (Bondarchuk), bishop of Ivano-Frankivsk Andrew (Abramchuk), bishop of Chernivtsi Daniel (Kovalchuk). His speedy consecration of bishop was not something special and similar method was widely practiced in the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

. For a short period, he was

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and

Sokal Sokal (, ) is a city located on the Bug River in Sheptytskyi Raion, Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Sokal urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population is approximately History The first written ...

. On 22 October 1993 he was elected

Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...

of the

Death and funeral

On 14 July 1995 Patriarch Volodymyr suddenly died under somewhat mysterious circumstances, with the official diagnosis being causes related to a heart attack. Volodymyr's burial, on 18 July 1995, turned into a riot. The

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), commonly referred to by the exonym Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), is an Eastern Orthodox church in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church was officially formed in 1990 in pla ...

, which controlled

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv The Saint Sophia Cathedral (, або Софія Київська) in Kyiv, Ukraine, is an architectural monument of Kievan Rus'. The former cathedral is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first heritage site in Ukraine to be inscribe ...

(with support from the

Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (, ; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine, serving from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. The only president of Ukraine to serve two terms, his presidency was marked by demo ...

Ukrainian Government), refused a request from the Kyiv Patriarchate Orthodox Church to bury him on the cathedral's grounds. Kyiv Patriarchate officials, flanked and supported by uniformed paramilitary guards of the UNA-UNSO nationalist movement, broke through the sidewalk asphalt outside the cathedral gates and buried him there. The Berkut riot police came out from the gates of the Cathedral and attacked the assembly and fighting with Volodymyr's supporters left about 70 people injured. Although an official inquiry was later made, no prosecutions were made. Many religious faithful later called the event Black Tuesday. Patriarch Volodymyr (Romaniuk) was succeeded by Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) who was enthroned as

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and All Rus’ -

on October 22, 1995.

Awards

* Order for Courage 1st class (8 November 2006).Decree of the President of Ukraine from 8 листопада 2006 year № 937/200
«Про відзначення державними нагородами України засновників та активістів Української Громадської Групи сприяння виконанню Гельсінкських угод»

Notes

References

External links

Religious Information Service of Ukraine
* 1923 births 1995 deaths Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by the Soviet Union Burials in Kyiv by place Chevaliers of the Order For Courage, 1st class Clergy from Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Clergy removed from office Hutsuls Primates of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) Soviet human rights activists Soviet dissidents Ukrainian Helsinki Group Victims of human rights abuses Moscow Theological Academy alumni {{Ukraine-bio-stub