Silent witness

On 22 March, the Supreme Council of Ukraine passed a resolution to mark the 120th anniversary of birth of patriarch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), cardinal Josyf Slipyj. The document was supported by 361 deputies. The recommendation has been passed to the Government to establish an organizational committee on preparation and organization of celebration of the anniversary and to facilitate publication of the works of this renowned leader of the UGCC.Life and works. Josyf Slipyj was born in Zazdrist on 17 February 1892. He was a churchman of three careers: scholar, confessor of faith and an international voice for persecuted Christians. After studies in Lviv, Innsbruck, Rome and Paris, he became a professor and then rector (1928-44) of the Lviv Seminary and Theological Academy. In 1939 he was ordained archbishop by metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and succeeded him as a head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church upon the latter’s death on 1 November 1944. On 11 April 1945, Slipyj was arrested by the Soviet authorities and spent eighteen years in stalinist prisons, labor camps and Siberian exile, where he earned a reputation for being an iron-willed, intrepid witness to the faith. Through the intervention of pope John XXIII and president John F. Kennedy he was released in 1963 to attend the Second Vatican Council. During the following 21 years Slipyj inspired the life of the UGCC in the West, establishing the Ukrainian Catholic University and building the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Rome. His death on 7 September 1984 was followed by the translation of his remains to Lviv in 1992, where they were interred in St. George’s Cathedral with participation of over a million faithful. Silent witness of the Church. Bishops of the UGCC have published a special message in February, declaring the Year of Remembrance of patriarch Josyf Slipyj and referring to him as a "live embodiment of the fate of the Ukrainian Church" and whole nation in the 20th century. "He, like millions of Ukrainians, was doomed to torture in the dungeons of the NKVD/KGB and martyrdom in the gulag. Even in prison he was a ‘silent witness of the Church,’ later, in the settlements (outside Ukraine), he became its voice and spiritual support, never forgetting his countrymen who were still being punished in captivity", reads the message, adding that even today there is "no stop to the troublesome tradition of abuse of power and disregard for human dignity, violation of national, cultural and religious rights, pursuit of honors and thirst for power". The bishops view the cardinal’s attitude towards national unity as a "guiding light" in contemporary situation when people are "artificially divided by regional, historical, linguistic and cultural characteristics". They emphasize that thanks to patriarch Slipyj, the Church in the diaspora not only survived but has become a world Church, without which today it is difficult to imagine the landscape of the Catholic Church in the world. "Normative for us are the two fundamental principles with which he described the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s identity: communion with the bishop of Rome and allegiance to the Eastern Byzantine tradition", conclude the prelates, encouraging the faithful to pray for the glory of Josyf Slipyj and to participate in festivities planned by the UGCC and the state during the anniversary year. First steps. A two-volume book entitled Patriarch Josyf Slipyj in Soviet Security Services Documents (1939-1987) was presented on 7 March at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv. Compiled by the professor Volodymyr Serhiichuk of the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, it is the first publication of documents of the Soviet Security Services regarding the life and activities of the head of the UGCC. Director of the Institute of Church History of UCU, Andrii Mykhailenko, stressed that it represents a great contribution to the source base with regard to the study of the figure of Josyf Slipyj. "As we analyze the documents we can see the conflict of two absolutely different and irreconcilable worldviews. Slipyj used normal terminology clear for the Church and Ukrainian environment, and the other side viewed it as espionage and treason", commented the historian. According to the author, the book includes protocols of interrogations, reports, arrest warrants, lists of confiscated property and other documents, showing the true attitude of the Bolshevik regime to the UGCC and its efforts to destroy it. Prisoner for the sake of Christ. Courageous was the attitude of His Beatitude Josyf Slipyj during the years of suffering and full of humbleness and devotion were the words in his testament: "I thank the Almighty that I was beaten both in prisons and in freedom. I thank Him that I was beaten and not glorified by the slaves! I forgive them all, for they too are only instruments in the hands of the Almighty, who summoned me and gave me His blessing to be a prisoner for the sake of Christ, both in captivity and in freedom!".