Volodymyr Sterniuk ( uk, Володимир Стернюк; 12 February 1907 – 29 September 1997) was a

Ukrainian Greek Catholic , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church (sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's C ...

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 ...

and the acting head 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 C ...

(UGCC) in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

from 1972-91. Sterniuk was born in

Pustomyty Pustomyty ( uk, Пустомити) is a city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Pustomyty urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: . For centuries Pustomyty belonged to Rutheni ...

near the city of

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 Ukraine ...

in 1907. He was born into the family of a priest.
Bishop Volodymyr Sterniuk
'. Biography from the Institute of Church History at the

Ukrainian Catholic University The Ukrainian Catholic University ( ua, Український Католицький Університет, ''Ukrains'kyy Katolyts'kyy Universytet'') is a Catholic university in Lviv, Ukraine, affiliated with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. ...

. He studied philosophy and theology both in

and at the

University of Louvain A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

.Desmond O'Grady. ''The Turned Card: Christianity Before and after the Wall''. Gracewing, 1995. p42 He 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 va ...

in 1931 as a

Redemptorist 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 ...

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 particu ...

.
Church Leaders
'. At the website of the

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

in the

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 ...

and Stanislaviv regions.Roman Woronowycz.
Thousands mourn at funeral of Archbishop Volodymyr Sterniuk
'.

The Ukrainian Weekly ''The Ukrainian Weekly'' is the oldest English-language newspaper of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States, and North America. Founded by the Ukrainian National Association, and published continuously since October 6, 1933, archived copies ...

. He witnessed the liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church at the "synod of Lviv" by hiding in a loft of St. George's Cathedral.Archbishop Volodymyr Sterniuk dead at 90, was a leader of underground Ukrainian Church

. Information provided by the press service of the Patriarchal Curia. He was arrested by the Soviets in 1947 and spent five years in prison and labor camps in

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies o ...

where he worked as a

lumberman Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

. While in the camp, he continued his priestly duties and occasionally managed to celebrate Divine Liturgy with a few crumbs of

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

and drops of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

. After his release, he returned to his hometown where he worked various jobs including park gatekeeper, bookkeeper, janitor and nurse while secretly continuing his priestly ministry. He taught

catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...

, said Mass, and heard

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

s in his spare time in his room or in the woods. In July 1964 Sterniuk was secretly ordained bishop by

Vasyl Velychkovsky Vasyl Vsevolod Velychkovsky (June 1, 1903 – June 30, 1973) was a priest, and later bishop, of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, one of the Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with Rome. He is a martyr of the Catholic Church, dying in ...

and from 1972 to 1991 was the leader of the UGCC in Ukraine until

Myroslav Lubachivsky Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky ( uk, Мирослав Іван Любачівський; 24 June 1914, Dolyna, Austria-Hungary – 14 December 2000, Lviv, Ukraine), cardinal, was bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia in the U ...

returned from

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

in 1991.Paul Burns. ''Bulter's Lives of the Saints''. Burns and Oates, 2005. p 81 From 1964-90, he lived in a single room above a paint shop. During this time, he was subject to constant surveillance and frequent raids by the Soviet police who confiscated his books,

rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

, and

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning. Re ...

. During this time he wrote liturgical and theology texts, and ordained five to six priests a year. In 1983, he became archbishop and the representative in Lviv for Myroslav Lubachivsky, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church who was at the time residing in Rome. On August 19, 1990, he celebrated the first

divine liturgy Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of C ...

offered by a Greek-Catholic priest in the St. George's Cathedral since the Soviet liquidation of the Church. When he died of natural causes on 29 September 1997 a public funeral procession which attracted tens of thousands was conducted through the center of Lviv.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sterniuk, Volodymyr 1907 births 1997 deaths People from Pustomyty People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Ukrainian Eastern Catholics Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union Burials at St. George's Cathedral, Lviv