{"id":911,"date":"2017-05-10T21:54:43","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T21:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stsophia.us\/?page_id=911"},"modified":"2017-05-10T22:23:02","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T22:23:02","slug":"metropolitan-andrew","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stsophia.us\/en\/metropolitan-andrew\/","title":{"rendered":"Metropolitan Andrew"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrey Sheptytsky,\u00a0O.S.B.M.<\/a><\/strong>, (Ukrainian<\/a>:\u00a0\u041c\u0438\u0442\u0440\u043e\u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442 \u0410\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0435\u0439 \u0428\u0435\u043f\u0442\u0438\u0446\u044c\u043a\u0438\u0439; Polish: Andrzej Szeptycki; July 29, 1865 \u2013 November 1, 1944) was the\u00a0Metropolitan Archbishop<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church<\/a>\u00a0from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure spanned two\u00a0world wars<\/a>\u00a0and seven political regimes:\u00a0Austrian<\/a>,\u00a0Russian<\/a>,\u00a0Soviet<\/a>,\u00a0Polish<\/a>,\u00a0Soviet<\/a>,\u00a0General Government<\/a>\u00a0(Nazi), and again\u00a0Soviet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the church historian\u00a0Jaroslav Pelikan<\/a>, “Arguably, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky was the most influential figure\u2026 in the entire history of the Ukrainian Church in the twentieth century”.\u00a0The\u00a0Lviv National Museum<\/a>, founded by Sheptytsky in 1905, now bears his name.<\/p>\n

Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

He was born as\u00a0Count<\/a>\u00a0Roman Aleksander Maria Sheptytsky<\/strong>\u00a0(Szeptycki) in a village 40\u00a0km west\/northwest of\u00a0Lviv<\/a>\u00a0called\u00a0Prylbychi<\/a>, in the\u00a0Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria<\/a>, then a\u00a0crownland<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Austrian Empire<\/a>.\u00a0His family<\/a>\u00a0was from an\u00a0aristocratic<\/a>\u00a0Ruthenian<\/a> line, which in the 19th century had become\u00a0polonized<\/a>,\u00a0Roman Catholic<\/a>\u00a0and French-speaking. Among his ancestors there were many important church figures, including two\u00a0metropolitans<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Kiev<\/a>, Atanasy and Lev. His maternal grandfather was the Polish writerAleksander Fredro<\/a>. One of his brothers,\u00a0Klymentiy Sheptytsky<\/a>, M.S.U., became a\u00a0Studite monk<\/a>, and another,\u00a0Stanis\u0142aw Szeptycki<\/a>, became a military general in the\u00a0Polish Army<\/a>. He was 2 m 10 cm tall.<\/p>\n

Sheptytsky received his education first at home and then in\u00a0Krak\u00f3w<\/a>. After graduating he went to serve in the Austro-Hungarian army but after a few months fell sick and was forced to abandon it. Instead he studied law in\u00a0Krak\u00f3w<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Wroc\u0142aw<\/a>, receiving his doctorate in 1888. During his studies he visited Italy, where he was granted an audience with\u00a0Pope Leo XIII<\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0Vatican<\/a>, and to the Ukrainian heartland of\u00a0Kiev<\/a>, then under Russian rule, where he met some of the most prominent Ukrainian personalities of that time. He also visited Moscow.<\/p>\n

Religious life<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite his father’s opposition, Sheptytsky became a monk at the\u00a0Basilian<\/a>\u00a0monastery<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Dobromyl<\/a>, returning to his roots to serve what was regarded as the peasant\u00a0Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church<\/a>. He took the name Andrew, after the younger brother of\u00a0Saint Peter<\/a>,\u00a0Saint Andrew the First Called<\/a>, considered the founder of the Byzantine Church and also specifically of the Ukrainian Church. He then studied at the\u00a0Jesuit<\/a>\u00a0Seminary in Krak\u00f3w, receiving a doctoral degree in theology in 1894. In 1892 he was ordained a priest in\u00a0Peremyshl<\/a>. He was made\u00a0rector<\/a>\u00a0of the Monastery of St. Onuphrius in Lviv in 1896.<\/p>\n

In 1899, following the death of\u00a0Cardinal<\/a>\u00a0Sylvester Sembratovych<\/a>, Sheptytsky was nominated by\u00a0Emperor<\/a>\u00a0Franz Joseph<\/a>\u00a0to fill the vacant position of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop of Stanyslaviv (now\u00a0Ivano-Frankivsk<\/a>), and\u00a0Pope Leo XIII<\/a>\u00a0concurred. Thus he was\u00a0consecrated<\/a>as bishop in Lviv on 17 September 1899 by Metropolitan\u00a0Julian Sas-Kuilovsky<\/a>\u00a0assisted by Bishop Chekhovych and Bishop Weber, the Latin-Rite auxiliary of Lviv.\u00a0A year later, on December 12, 1900 and following the death of Sembratovich’s successor, Sheptytsky was appointed, at the age of thirty-six, Metropolitan Archbishop of\u00a0Lviv<\/a>\u00a0and enthroned on January 17, 1901.<\/p>\n

Sheptytsky visited North America in 1910 where he met with Ukrainian Greek Catholic immigrant communities in the\u00a0United States<\/a>; attended the twenty-first\u00a0International Eucharistic Congress<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Montreal<\/a>; toured Ukrainian communities in\u00a0Canada<\/a>; and invited the\u00a0Redemptorist<\/a>\u00a0fathers ministering in the Byzantine rite to come to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

After the outbreak of\u00a0World War I<\/a>, Sheptytsky was arrested by the Russian government and imprisoned in various places in the Ukraine and Russia. He was released in March 1918 and returned to Lviv from Russia.<\/p>\n

As a student Sheptytsky learned\u00a0Hebrew<\/a>\u00a0in order to better relate to the Jewish community. During pastoral visits to Jewish villages he was sometimes met with the\u00a0Torah<\/a>. During\u00a0World War II<\/a>\u00a0he harbored hundreds of Jews in his residence and in Greek Catholic monasteries.\u00a0He also issued the pastoral letter, “Thou Shalt Not Kill,”\u00a0to protest\u00a0Nazi atrocities<\/a>. During this period he secretly consecrated\u00a0Josyf Slipyj<\/a>\u00a0as his successor.<\/p>\n

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 Soviet prisons where he encountered the faithfulness of married Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox priests and their wives and families. After this he fought the Roman Catholic leaders on their attempts to force celibacy on the Eastern Catholic Priests.<\/p>\n

Sheptytsky was also a patron of artists, students, including many Orthodox Christians, and a pioneer of\u00a0ecumenism<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 he also opposed the\u00a0Second Polish Republic<\/a>\u00a0policy offorced conversion<\/a>\u00a0of Polish Ukrainians into\u00a0Latin Rite<\/a>\u00a0Catholics.\u00a0He strove for reconciliation between ethnic groups and wrote frequently on social issues and spirituality. He also founded the Studite and Ukrainian\u00a0Redemptorist<\/a>\u00a0orders, a hospital, the\u00a0National Museum<\/a>, and the Theological Academy. He actively supported various Ukrainian organizations such as the\u00a0Prosvita<\/a>\u00a0and in particular, the\u00a0Plast<\/a>\u00a0Ukrainian Scouting Organization, and donated a campsite in the\u00a0Carpathian Mountains<\/a>\u00a0called\u00a0Sokil,<\/em>\u00a0and became the patron saint of the Plast fraternity\u00a0Orden Khrestonostsiv<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sheptytsky died in 1944 and is buried in\u00a0St. George’s Cathedral<\/a>\u00a0in Lviv. In 1958 the cause for his\u00a0canonization<\/a>\u00a0was begun; but stalled at the behest of Cardinal\u00a0Stefan Wyszynski<\/a>. Pope Francis<\/a>\u00a0approved his life of heroic virtue on July 16, 2015, thus proclaiming him to be\u00a0Venerable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrey Sheptytsky,\u00a0O.S.B.M., (Ukrainian:\u00a0\u041c\u0438\u0442\u0440\u043e\u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442 \u0410\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0435\u0439 \u0428\u0435\u043f\u0442\u0438\u0446\u044c\u043a\u0438\u0439; Polish: Andrzej Szeptycki; July 29, 1865 \u2013 November 1, 1944) was the\u00a0Metropolitan Archbishop\u00a0of the\u00a0Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church\u00a0from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure spanned two\u00a0world wars\u00a0and seven political regimes:\u00a0Austrian,\u00a0Russian,\u00a0Soviet,\u00a0Polish,\u00a0Soviet,\u00a0General Government\u00a0(Nazi), and again\u00a0Soviet. According to the church historian\u00a0Jaroslav Pelikan, “Arguably, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky was the most influential figure\u2026 in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-911","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"sofia","author_link":"https:\/\/stsophia.us\/en\/author\/sofia\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":null,"rttpg_excerpt":"Andrey Sheptytsky,\u00a0O.S.B.M., (Ukrainian:\u00a0\u041c\u0438\u0442\u0440\u043e\u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442 \u0410\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0435\u0439 \u0428\u0435\u043f\u0442\u0438\u0446\u044c\u043a\u0438\u0439; Polish: Andrzej Szeptycki; July 29, 1865 \u2013 November 1, 1944) was the\u00a0Metropolitan Archbishop\u00a0of the\u00a0Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church\u00a0from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure spanned two\u00a0world wars\u00a0and seven political regimes:\u00a0Austrian,\u00a0Russian,\u00a0Soviet,\u00a0Polish,\u00a0Soviet,\u00a0General Government\u00a0(Nazi), and again\u00a0Soviet. According to the church historian\u00a0Jaroslav Pelikan, “Arguably, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky was the most influential figure\u2026 in…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stsophia.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stsophia.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stsophia.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stsophia.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stsophia.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stsophia.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":916,"href":"https:\/\/stsophia.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/911\/revisions\/916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stsophia.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}