Vasyl Vsevolod Velychkovsky (June 1, 1903 – June 30, 1973) was a priest, and later
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
, 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 ...
, one of the
Eastern Catholic Churches
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of t ...
in
communion with Rome
Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constitutes full communion, bu ...
. He is a
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 ...
of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, dying in 1973 of his injuries sustained while imprisoned by the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
for his
Christian faith.
Velychkovsky was born in
Stanislaviv, in then-
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. In 1920 he entered the seminary in
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
, then in Poland. In 1925 he took his first religious vows in the village of Holosko near Lviv in the
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brother ...
(better known as the Redemptorists) and was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
a
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 partic ...
. As a priest-monk Vasyl Velychkovsky taught and preached in
Volyn
Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. The ...
, a Ukrainian-majority province in interwar Poland. In 1942 he became
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...
of the monastery in German-occupied
Ternopil
Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...
. Because of
religious persecution by the
Communist Soviet Union he was arrested in 1945 by 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.
...
and sent to
Kiev. The
punishment of death was commuted to 10 years of
hard labor.
["Beatification of the Servants of God on June 27, 2001"](_blank)
accessed 17 October 2011
On release in 1955 he went back to Lviv, and was ordained a bishop in 1963. In 1969 he was imprisoned again for three years for his religious activities.
Released in 1972, he was
exiled outside the USSR. He died of his injuries from prison in
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
, Canada on June 30, 1973, aged 70.
["Blessed VASYL VELYCHKOVSKY, C.Ss.R., Bishop and Martyr"](_blank)
/ref>
Thirty years after his death, Vasyl Velychkovsky's body was found to be almost incorrupt
Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their ...
(his toes had fallen off and were subsequently divided to be used as holy relics). 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 ...
in 2001, the intact remains of Vasyl Velychkovsky are enshrined at St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Today, his shrine is located at 250 Jefferson Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba.Bishop Velychkovsky Martyr's Shrine - Official Site
/ref>
References
External links
Biography of Blessed Vasyl on CSSR Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velychkovsky, Vasyl
Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Soviet prisoners sentenced to death
Prisoners sentenced to death by the Soviet Union
Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union
1903 births
1973 deaths
Religious leaders from Ivano-Frankivsk
People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians
20th-century Eastern Catholic martyrs
20th-century venerated Christians
Eastern Catholic beatified people
Beatified Redemptorists
Redemptorist bishops
Soviet expatriates in Canada
Beatifications by Pope John Paul II
Soviet beatified people
Soviet Eastern Catholics
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic people
Ukrainians in Poland
Polish abbots
Polish priests
Ukrainian people exiled by the Soviet Union
Victims of anti-religious campaign in the Soviet Union