Eastern Catholic victims of Soviet persecutions
Encyclopedia
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.
, the Russian Orthodox Church
was given some freedom by the government of Joseph Stalin
, but the Eastern Catholic (also called Oriental) Churches which were united with Rome, were persecuted. Leaders of the Orthodox Oriental Churches faced intense pressure to break with Rome and unite with Moscow. Pope Pius addressed specifically the Ruthenian Catholic Church
located in the Ukraine. Some Ruthenian Catholics call themselves Rusyns. They speak a dialect of the Ukrainian language. The traditional Rusyn homeland extends into northeast Slovakia and the Lemko region of southeast Poland. Until 1922, the area was largely a part of Austria-Hungary
. After much of the area was added to Poland
, which follows the Latin rite, Polonisation and significant problems for all Orthodox and Uniate Christians developed. Some Ruthenians, resisting Polonisation, felt deserted by the Vatican and returned to the Russian Orthodox Church
during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI.
under the leadership of the incomparable Marshall Joseph Stalin
, and therefore, continued ties to Rome are no longer necessary.
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? Pope Pius never shared Roosevelt’s war time optimism regarding Stalin's allegedly changed attitudes towards religious freedom and tolerance and related guarantees from the newly established United Nations
.
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.
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
, 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.
is a summary of the relations between the Uniated (Eastern) churches and Rome until the persecutions 1945.Pope Pius presents a comprehensive historical review of the reunion, to show the many trials and bloody persecutions but also the advantages of the union to the faithful in Ukraine. In Sacro Vergente
this history is repeated with view to relations with Russia in general. He again rejects communism
but not communists. Those who err, are always welcome. At Saint Josaphat College he mourns the terrible changes of the past twenty years in Russia, bishops incarcerated, in concentration camps, banned from their homes, killed while in jail, for one reason only, they are faithful to the Holy See.
Orientales Ecclesias
reviews the efforts of the Vatican of improving relations with the oriental Churches. Pope Pius XII mentions the naming of an Oriental Cardinal Grégoire-Pierre Agagianian, and the reform of the Eastern Canon Law
as two examples. But the most flourishing Christian communities are wiped out without trace these days. He does not know details except that many bishops and priests are deported to unknown destinations, to concentration camps and to jails, while some are under house arrest. AAS 1952, Orientales Ecclesias 5 In Bulgaria, Bishop Bossilkoff was executed with many others. But Bulgaria is not alone. Many are robbed of the most basic natural and human rights, and mistreated in the most extreme ways. The suffering in Ukraine is immense. The Pope refers specifically to the Kiev show trial against bishops of the oriental Church. Still there is reason for comfort and hope: The strength of the faithful. The Christian faith makes better citizes, who use their God-given freedom to work for their societies to further the causes of justice and unity. The Pope concludes by requesting worldwide public prayers for the persecuted, and hopes hat they may open the jails and loosen the chains in those countries.
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.
died in 1953, “peaceful coexistence” became subject of numerous discussions. In his Christmas Message of 1954, Pius XII defined possibilities and preconditions for peaceful coexistence. He indicated Vatican willingness to practical cooperation, whenever possible in the interest of the faithful. The slow pace of de-Stalinisation and the Soviet crack-down of the Hungarian Revolution
did not produce results, aside from modest improvements in Poland
and Yugoslavia
after 1956. January 1958, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrey Gromyko expressed willingness of Moscow, to have formal relations with the Vatican in light of the position of Pope Pius XII on World peace and the uses of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, a position, which he claimed was identical with Kremlin policy. The Vatican did not respond officially, and reported unofficial contacts will not be known until 2028, when Vatican Archives open access to all documents of the pontificate of Pius XII
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.Ruthenian Church
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
was given some freedom by the government of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, but the Eastern Catholic (also called Oriental) Churches which were united with Rome, were persecuted. Leaders of the Orthodox Oriental Churches faced intense pressure to break with Rome and unite with Moscow. Pope Pius addressed specifically the Ruthenian Catholic Church
Ruthenian Catholic Church
The Ruthenian Catholic Church is a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church , which uses the Divine Liturgy of the Constantinopolitan Byzantine Eastern Rite. Its roots are among the Rusyns who lived in the region called Carpathian Ruthenia, in and around the Carpathian Mountains...
located in the Ukraine. Some Ruthenian Catholics call themselves Rusyns. They speak a dialect of the Ukrainian language. The traditional Rusyn homeland extends into northeast Slovakia and the Lemko region of southeast Poland. Until 1922, the area was largely a part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. After much of the area was added to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, which follows the Latin rite, Polonisation and significant problems for all Orthodox and Uniate Christians developed. Some Ruthenians, resisting Polonisation, felt deserted by the Vatican and returned to the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI.
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
After 1945, it was claimed that the union with Rome was a Polish conspiracy to dominate and wipe out the Oriental culture of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: Uniate and Orthodox faithful and priests had to suffer under Polish bishops of the Latin Rite and Polonisation. But now they are liberated by the Soviet ArmySoviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
under the leadership of the incomparable Marshall Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, and therefore, continued ties to Rome are no longer necessary.
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!
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
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? Pope Pius never shared Roosevelt’s war time optimism regarding Stalin's allegedly changed attitudes towards religious freedom and tolerance and related guarantees from the newly established United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
Orientales Omnes
Orientales OmnesOrientales Omnes
Orientales omnes Ecclesiae is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII to the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. It commemorates the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Union of Brest....
refers to United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
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.
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
Orientales Omnes
Orientales omnes Ecclesiae is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII to the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. It commemorates the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Union of Brest....
, 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.
Show trials
Subjected to Stalinist Show Trials, they all received severe sentencing. The remaining leaders of the hierarchies and heads of all seminaries and Episcopal offices were arrested and tried in 1945 and 1946. July 1, 1945, some three hundred priests of the United Church wrote to Molotov. They protested the arrest of all bishops and large parts of the Catholic clergy. After the Church was thus robbed of all its leadership, a “spontaneous movement” for separation from Rome, and unification with the Russian Orthodox Church developed. Mass arrests of priests followed. In Lemko, some five hundred priests were jailed in 1945 Giovan or sent to a Gulag, officially called, “an unknown destination because of political reasons”.Subsequent confiscation of properties
The Catholic Church was annihilated. Church institutions were confiscated and expropriated; churches, monasteries and seminaries closed and looted, 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. The Catholic Church of Ukraine was thus liquidated. All properties were turned over to the Orthodox Church under the Patriarch of Moscow.Some bishops
- Nykyta BudkaNykyta BudkaBlessed Nykyta Budka was a clergyman of the of Ukrainian Catholic Church who lived and worked in Austria-Hungary, Canada, Poland, and the Soviet Union. In Canada he is noted as the first bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada...
- Walter CiszekWalter CiszekRev. Walter Ciszek, S.J. was a Polish-American Jesuit priest known for his clandestine missionary work in the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1963....
- Potapy EmelianovPotapy EmelianovPotapy Emelianov was a Russian Catholic priest and confessor.-Early life:...
- Leonid FeodorovLeonid FeodorovBlessed Leonid Ivanovich Feodorov was Exarch of the Russian Catholic Church, in addition to being a survivor of the GULAG. After painstaking investigation, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 27, 2001.-Early life:...
- Clement SheptytskyClement SheptytskyBlessed hieromartyr Clement Sheptytsky was the Archimandrite of the Studite monks, martyred by the Soviets in Siberia.He was born in the village of Prylbychi, near Lviv in Galicia then under Austro-Hungarian rule to the old Rutheniana noble family of Sheptytsky as a younger brother of the future...
- Josyf Slipyj
- Vasyl VelychkovskyVasyl VelychkovskyBlessed Martyr Vasyl Velychkovsky was a priest, and later bishop, of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church .In 1920 he entered the seminary in Lviv...
Papal encyclicals on the persecution
The encyclical Orientales OmnesOrientales Omnes
Orientales omnes Ecclesiae is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII to the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. It commemorates the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Union of Brest....
is a summary of the relations between the Uniated (Eastern) churches and Rome until the persecutions 1945.Pope Pius presents a comprehensive historical review of the reunion, to show the many trials and bloody persecutions but also the advantages of the union to the faithful in Ukraine. In Sacro Vergente
Sacro Vergente
Sacro Vergente anno is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to all people of Russia. In it Pope consecrates all the people of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Because of the Virgin Mary, he has great faith in the future of their country but is anguished about the Soviet hostility towards...
this history is repeated with view to relations with Russia in general. He again rejects communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
but not communists. Those who err, are always welcome. At Saint Josaphat College he mourns the terrible changes of the past twenty years in Russia, bishops incarcerated, in concentration camps, banned from their homes, killed while in jail, for one reason only, they are faithful to the Holy See.
Orientales Ecclesias
Orientales Ecclesias
Orientales Ecclesias is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII concerning the persecution of Oriental Churches and describing the hopeless situation of the faithful in Bulgaria-Summary:...
reviews the efforts of the Vatican of improving relations with the oriental Churches. Pope Pius XII mentions the naming of an Oriental Cardinal Grégoire-Pierre Agagianian, and the reform of the Eastern Canon Law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
as two examples. But the most flourishing Christian communities are wiped out without trace these days. He does not know details except that many bishops and priests are deported to unknown destinations, to concentration camps and to jails, while some are under house arrest. AAS 1952, Orientales Ecclesias 5 In Bulgaria, Bishop Bossilkoff was executed with many others. But Bulgaria is not alone. Many are robbed of the most basic natural and human rights, and mistreated in the most extreme ways. The suffering in Ukraine is immense. The Pope refers specifically to the Kiev show trial against bishops of the oriental Church. Still there is reason for comfort and hope: The strength of the faithful. The Christian faith makes better citizes, who use their God-given freedom to work for their societies to further the causes of justice and unity. The Pope concludes by requesting worldwide public prayers for the persecuted, and hopes hat they may open the jails and loosen the chains in those countries.
Novimus Nos
Novimus Nos
Novimus Nos is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the Catholic Bishops of the Oriental Rite, whose dioceses are devastated after years of persecution. The letter commemorates the 1000th anniversary of the conversion of Saint Olga, which was the beginning of Christianity in Russia...
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
Fulgens Corona
Fulgens corona is an encyclical by Pope Pius XII, given at St. Peter's Rome, on 8 September 1953, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the fifteenth year of his Pontificate...
, 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 950 th.Anniversary of the Baptism of St Wladimir, Discorsi 1939, 163
- 3. Orientales OmnesOrientales OmnesOrientales omnes Ecclesiae is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII to the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. It commemorates the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Union of Brest....
, Encyclical, AAS 1946, 33 - 4. Sempiternus Rex, Encyclical, September 8, 1951, AAS 1951, 624
- 5. Sacro VergenteSacro VergenteSacro Vergente anno is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to all people of Russia. In it Pope consecrates all the people of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Because of the Virgin Mary, he has great faith in the future of their country but is anguished about the Soviet hostility towards...
, Apostolic letter, July 7, 1952, AAS 1952, 505 - 6. Speech to the St. Josaphat College, December 15, 1952, AAS 1952, 876
- 7. Orientales EcclesiasOrientales EcclesiasOrientales Ecclesias is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII concerning the persecution of Oriental Churches and describing the hopeless situation of the faithful in Bulgaria-Summary:...
, encyclical, December 15, 1952, AAS 1953, 5 - 8. Novimus NosNovimus NosNovimus Nos is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the Catholic Bishops of the Oriental Rite, whose dioceses are devastated after years of persecution. The letter commemorates the 1000th anniversary of the conversion of Saint Olga, which was the beginning of Christianity in Russia...
, Apostolic Letter, January 20, 1956, AAS 1956, 260 - 9. Fulgens CoronaFulgens CoronaFulgens corona is an encyclical by Pope Pius XII, given at St. Peter's Rome, on 8 September 1953, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the fifteenth year of his Pontificate...
encyclical, September 8, 1954, AAS 1954, 577
Destalinization period
After Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
died in 1953, “peaceful coexistence” became subject of numerous discussions. In his Christmas Message of 1954, Pius XII defined possibilities and preconditions for peaceful coexistence. He indicated Vatican willingness to practical cooperation, whenever possible in the interest of the faithful. The slow pace of de-Stalinisation and the Soviet crack-down of the Hungarian Revolution
Hungarian Revolution
Hungarian Revolution may refer to:* The Hungarian Revolution of 1848.* The Hungarian Revolution of 1919, which led to the formation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic headed by Béla Kun.* The Hungarian Revolution of 1956....
did not produce results, aside from modest improvements in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
after 1956. January 1958, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrey Gromyko expressed willingness of Moscow, to have formal relations with the Vatican in light of the position of Pope Pius XII on World peace and the uses of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, a position, which he claimed was identical with Kremlin policy. The Vatican did not respond officially, and reported unofficial contacts will not be known until 2028, when Vatican Archives open access to all documents of the pontificate of Pius XII
See also
- Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XIIPersecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XIIPersecutions against the Catholic Church took place in virtually all the years of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII, especially after World War II in Eastern Europe, the USSR and the People's Republic of China...
- Persecution of Christians in the Soviet UnionPersecution of Christians in the Soviet UnionThe history of Christianity in the Soviet Union was not limited to repression and secularization. Soviet policy toward religion was based on the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, which made atheism the official doctrine of the Soviet Union...
- Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countriesPersecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countriesBefore and after the October Revolution of November 7, 1917 there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the people of the world under Communist rule . This included the Eastern European bloc countries as well as the Balkan States...