Eastern Catholic victims of Soviet persecutions
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History of Christianity in Ukraine Eastern Catholic Churches |
Ruthenian Uniate Church to forced dissolution in Soviet Union |
1595 Union of Brest |
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1839 Council of Polotsk |
1875 Conversion of Chełm Eparchy |
1907 First diasporas bishop |
1946 Council of Lviv |
Council for Religious Affairs |
Anti-Catholicism in the Soviet Union |
Eastern Catholic victims of Soviet persecutions |
Church in Exile |
1963 Title of Major Archbishop conferred |
Since re-legalization in Ukraine |
1991 return of exiled priests and bishops to Lviv |
2005 transfer of See from Lviv to Kyiv |
Eastern Catholic victims of Soviet persecutions include bishops and others among the tens of thousands of victims of Soviet persecutions from 1918 to approximately 1980, under the state ideology of Marxist–Leninist atheism.
From 1917 to 1939
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During the Second World War
Two months after his election on May 12, 1939, in Singolari Animi, a papal letter to the Sacred Congregation of the Oriental Church, Pius XII reported again the persecutions of the Catholic faith in the Soviet Union. Three weeks later, while honouring the memory of Saint Vladimir on the 950th anniversary of his baptism, he welcomed Ruthenian priests and bishops and members of the Russian colony in Rome, and prayed for those who suffer in their country, awaiting with their tears the hour of the coming of the Lord.[1]
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Suppression of Eastern Catholic Churches by Stalin
Ruthenian Church
After
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
After 1945, it was claimed that the
Role of Russian Orthodox Patriarch
The new Patriarch, Alexius I of Moscow called on all Catholics in the Soviet Union for a separation from Rome:
- Liberate yourself! You must break the Vatican chains, which throw you into the abyss of error, darkness and spiritual decay. Hurry, return to your true mother, the Russian Orthodox Church! [5]
Pope Pius XII replied: "Who does not know, that Patriarch Alexius I recently elected by the dissident bishops of Russia, openly exalts and preaches defection from the Catholic Church. In a letter lately addressed to the Ruthenian Church, a letter, which contributed not a little to the persecution?".[6]
Orientales omnes Ecclesias
Orientales omnes Ecclesias refers to United Nations resolutions of a world of tolerance, free of religious persecution . Pius continues, This had given us hope that peace and true liberty would be granted everywhere to the Catholic Church, the more so since the Church has always taught, and teaches, that obedience to the ordinances of the lawfully established civil power, within the sphere and bounds of its authority, is a duty of conscience. But, unfortunately, the events we have mentioned have grievously and bitterly weakened, have almost destroyed, our hope and confidence so far as the lands of the Ruthenians are concerned.[7]
The Pope knew about the attempts to separate the Uniate churches from Rome, and was also aware, that in months preceding the encyclical Orientales omnes Ecclesias, all Catholic bishops of the Ukrainian Church had been arrested. Josyf Slipyj, Gregory Chomysyn, John Laysevkyi, Nicolas Carneckyi, Josaphat Kocylovskyi Some, including Bishop Nicetas Budka perished in Siberia.[8]
Show trials
Subjected to
Subsequent confiscation of properties
The Catholic Church was annihilated, Church institutions were confiscated and expropriated; churches, monasteries and seminaries closed and looted.[12] After the war, the Catholic Uniate churches were integrated under the Moscow Patriarchy, after all residing bishops and apostolic administrators were arrested on March 6, 1946.[13] The Catholic Church of Ukraine was thus liquidated. All properties were turned over to the Orthodox Church under the Patriarch of Moscow.
Some persecuted Priests & Bishops
- Nykyta Budka
- Walter Ciszek
- Potapy Emelianov
- Leonid Feodorov
- Clement Sheptytsky
- Josyf Slipyj
- Vasyl Velychkovsky
- Theodore Romzha
- Hryhorij Khomyshyn
Papal encyclicals on the persecution
The encyclical
Novimus Nos is a letter to the bishops of the Oriental rite asking for faith, strength and hope. The Pope expresses his ardent desire for unity of all Eastern Christians with the Western church and comforts those who suffer in jail or unknown locations for their faith and faithfulness to the Holy See. In Fulgens corona, dedicated to 100th anniversary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, Pope Pius reminds the whole world of the sufferings and persecutions in Russia and dedicates her to the special protection of Mary, who has so many Russian followers.
- 1. Singulari Animi, Apostolic Letter, May 12, 1939, AAS 1939, 258
- 2. The 950th Anniversary of the Baptism of St Wladimir, Discorsi 1939, 163
- 3. Orientales omnes Ecclesias, Encyclical, AAS 1946, 33
- 4. Sempiternus Rex, Encyclical, September 8, 1951, AAS 1951, 624
- 5. Sacro Vergente, Apostolic letter, July 7, 1952, AAS 1952, 505
- 6. Speech to the St. Josaphat College, December 15, 1952, AAS 1952, 876
- 7. Orientales Ecclesias, encyclical, December 15, 1952, AAS 1953, 5
- 8. Novimus Nos, apostolic letter, January 20, 1956, AAS 1956, 260
- 9. Fulgens corona encyclical, September 8, 1954, AAS 1954, 577
Destalinization period
After
Later persecutions in the 1960s and 1970s
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See also
- Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII
- Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union
- Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries
References
- Acta Apostolicae Sedis ( AAS), Roma, Vaticano 1922-1960
- Owen Chadwick, The Christian Church in the Cold War, London 1993
- Richard Cardinal Cushing, Pope Pius XII, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1959
- Victor Dammertz OSB, Ordensgemeinschaften und Säkularinstitute, in Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte, VII, Herder Freiburg, 1979, 355-380
- A Galter, Rotbuch der verfolgten Kirchen, Paulus Verlag, Recklinghausen, 1957,
- Alberto Giovannetti, Pio XII parla alla Chiesa del Silenzio, Editrice Ancona, Milano, 1959, German translation, Der Papst spricht zur Kirche des Schweigens, Paulus Verlag, Recklinghausen, 1959
- Herder Korrespondenz Orbis Catholicus, Freiburg, 1946–1961
- Pio XII Discorsi e Radiomessagi, Roma Vaticano1939-1959,
- Jan Olav Smit, Pope Pius XII, London Burns Oates & Washbourne LTD,1951
Sources
- ^ AAS 1939, 165
- ^ Giovannetti, 112
- ^ Wikipedia Polonisation
- ^ Giovannetti, 112
- ^ Giovannetti, p. 115
- ^ AAS 1946, Orientales omnes Ecclesias, 57
- ^ AAS 1946, Orientales omnes Ecclesias, 58
- ^ Giovannetti, 131
- ^ Guglielmo de Vries, Oriente Cristiano, ieri e oggi, Roma, 270-275
- ^ Giovannetti, 90
- ^ Smit, 174
- ^ Adrianyi, 517
- ^ Adrianyi, 518
- ^ AAS,1952, 509
- ^ AAS,1952, 877
- ^ AAS 1952, Orientales Ecclesias 12
- ^ AAS 1952, Orientales Ecclesias 19
- ^ Giovannetti, 88