Bienheureuse Olympie
(Olga) Bidà, vierge et martyre
Née en Ukraine en 1903,
elle entre chez les sœurs de Saint Joseph et sert comme catéchiste dans divers
villes et villages. Elle a un charisme envers les jeunes. Devenue supérieure du
couvent de Kheriv, elle fait de son mieux pour assurer les besoins spirituels
de la société malgré le régime communiste. Arrêtée avec d'autres sœurs en 1951,
emprisonnée puis déportée au camp de détention de Kharsk près de Tomsk, en
Sibérie, elle est soumise aux travaux forcés. Elle organise ses sœurs et
d'autres religieuses du camp pour s'entraider et prier ensemble et supporte,
pour l’amour du Christ, toutes les adversités infligées, qui la conduisent à la
mort le 28 janvier 1952, après une grave
maladie.
Bienheureuse Olympia
(Olga Bida)
Martyre du régime
communiste (+ 1952)
Née en 1903, elle entre chez les sœurs de Saint Joseph et sert comme catéchiste dans divers villes et villages. Elle a un charisme envers les jeunes. Devenue supérieure du couvent de Kheriv, elle fait de son mieux pour assurer les besoins spirituels de la société malgré le régime communiste. Arrêtée avec d'autres sœurs en 1951, emprisonnée puis exilée en Sibérie, aux travaux forcés, elle organise ses sœurs et d'autres religieuses du camp pour s'entraider et prier ensemble. Elle meurt après une grave maladie le 28 janvier 1952.
Béatifiée le 27 juin 2001 avec 24 autres grecs-catholiques dont Nicolas Carneckyj par Jean-Paul II lors de son voyage en Ukraine.
Biographie en anglais - homélie du Pape - site du Vatican.
Au camp de détention de Kharsk près de Tomsk en Sibérie, l'an 1952, la
bienheureuse Olympie (Olga Bida), vierge, de la Congrégation des Sœurs de Saint
Joseph, et martyre, qui supporta, pour l'amour du Christ, toutes les adversités
infligées par le régime communiste soviétique.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11393/Bienheureuse-Olympia-%28Olga-Bida%29.html
Bienheureuse Olympia BIDÀ
Nom: BIDÀ
Prénom: Olga (Olha)
Nom de religion: Olympia
Pays: Ukraine
Naissance:
. .1903 à Tsebliv (Lviv)
Mort: 28.01,1952 à
Tomsk (Sibérie)
Etat: Religieuse -
Martyre du Groupe des 25
martyrs d'Ukraine 2
Note: Sœur de Saint
Joseph. Sœur Olympia. Catéchiste, maîtresse des novices, éducatrice. Supérieure
du couvent de Kheriv. Déportée à Tomsk en Sibérie en 1951. Elle y meurt en
1952.
Béatification:
27.06.2001 à Lviv (Ukraine) par Jean Paul II
Canonisation:
Fête: 27 juin
Réf. dans l’Osservatore
Romano: 2001 n.26 p.1-5 - n.27 p.9-10 - n.28 p.12
- n.29 p.2.5
Réf. dans la Documentation
Catholique: 2001 n.15 p.747-749
Notice
Olha Bidà naît en 1903 au
village de Tsebliv dans la région de Lviv. Elle entre chez les Sœurs de Saint
Joseph et prend le nom d'Olympia. Elle sert dans de nombreuses villes ou
villages comme catéchiste. Elle est maîtresse des novices et prend soin des
personnes âgées et infirmes. Elle a un charisme spécial pour les jeunes et
s'occupe personnellement de l'éducation d'un grand nombre de jeunes femmes.
Nommée supérieure du couvent de la ville de Kheriv, elle fait de son mieux pour
discerner les besoins spirituels et sociaux de la population en dépit de la
pression exercée par les communistes pour entraver leur travail. En 1951 elle
est arrêtée avec deux autres religieuses, emprisonnée pendant un certain temps,
puis envoyée en exil dans la région de Tomsk en Sibérie. Soumise à de rudes
travaux forcés, Sœur Olympia essaie de remplir ses devoirs de supérieure auprès
de ses Sœurs, faisant venir des Sœurs isolées dans d'autres camps afin de prier
et de s'entraider; mais peu de temps après son arrivée, elle succombe à la
maladie et meurt le 28 janvier 1952.
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/hagiographie/fiches/f0569.htm
Also
known as
Olga
Olha
Ol’ha
Olimpia
27 June as
one of the Martyrs
Killed Under Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe
Profile
Greek
Catholic. Joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
Worked in several towns as a catechist and novice
director, and with the aged and sick. Taught and
helped to raise several young women. Convent superior
in Kheriv where the Communists worked against her. Arrested for
her faith in 1951,
and exiled to
a forced labour camp in the Tomsk region of Siberia in Russia.
In the camp she continued her duties as superior, and organised other exiled nuns into prayer and
support groups. Martyr.
Born
1903 at
Tsebliv, L’vivs’ka oblast’, Ukraine
28 January 1952 in
Kharsk, Tomskaya oblast’, Russia
24 April 2001 by Pope John
Paul II (decree of martyrdom)
27 June 2001 by Pope John
Paul II in Ukraine
Additional
Information
other
sites in english
images
fonti
in italiano
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
nettsteder
i norsk
MLA
Citation
“Blessed Olympia
Bida“. CatholicSaints.Info. 1 October 2021. Web. 28 February 2022.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-olympia-bida/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-olympia-bida/
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20010627_carneckyj_en.html
Martyrs of Communism: Blessed
Olympia Bida
The saints and blesseds
who died under Communism can help us see why someone would choose death rather
than blindly follow an ideology that not only denies the existence of God, but
also denies human dignity.
January 28, 2022 Dawn Beutner Features, History 10Print
Left: Blessed Olympia Bida (Image:
https://catholicsaints.info/); right: A fence at an old Gulag camp (Image:
Gerald Praschl/Wiklpedia)
How many people have died
as a result of Communism? The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation makes
the bold statement on the front page of their web site that 100 million human
beings have been killed by Communism. Could this be true?
Obviously, simply living
your entire life in a Communist state doesn’t mean that you were killed by
Communism.1 However, there are some unique
features of Communism as a form of government that make it easy to believe that
such a staggering human cost is not unlikely. For example, the Communist
government in Russia instituted prison camps where death was almost a certainty
for its prisoners; letting someone know that you believed in God was sufficient
cause to be sentenced to one of them.
When Communist countries
invaded other countries for the sake of their ideological goals, those who died
in the resulting wars were clearly victims of Communism. People who died by
starvation due to the poor economic policies which are inherent in Communism
were also obviously victims of Communism. These three categories alone start to
make 100 million victims sound reasonable.
But how can we measure
such an immense loss? Who can fathom the joys, sorrows, and inherent worth of
100 million individual human lives? Only God can. That’s why the saints and
blesseds of the Church who died under Communism can help us see not only the
tragedy of an individual life cut short, but why someone would choose death
rather than blindly follow the ideology of a form of government that not only
denies the existence of God, but also denies human dignity.
Olga Bida was born in
1903 in the little village of Tsebliv in Ukraine. She was raised in the Greek
Catholic Church. To understand her life, it helps to understand a little of the
history of her native country.
For about two hundred
years prior to Olga’s birth, Ukraine had been under the control of czarist
Russia. A revolution in Russia in early 1917, when Olga was only a teenager, gave
the Ukrainian people hope for independence, but that hope was in vain. When
Vladimir Lenin took control of Russia several months later, Lenin was unwilling
to give up control over the food produced by the fertile land of Ukraine. It
took four years of fierce fighting, but Lenin eventually won, and Ukraine fell
under Communist control in 1921. Lenin loosened his tight grip over the country
for a few years to avoid grumbling from the nation’s farmers, and Ukraine
briefly experienced a national revival in folk customs, religion, and the arts.
At about that time, Olga
discerned that God was calling her to religious life. It is always difficult
for a person to discern a religious vocation, and living under a regime that
denied the existence of God couldn’t have made it easier to make such a choice.
However, Olga entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph and took the name in
religious life of Olympia.
Life in Ukraine changed
when Lenin died. Joseph Stalin wanted greater control over the troublesome
Ukrainian people, so in 1929, he ordered thousands of their scholars, leaders,
and scientists summarily shot or sent to prison camps. He took land away from
their farmers, and he sent those farmers—and many others—to work in mines as
virtual slaves.
When the people unsurprisingly
continued to resent his propaganda and threats, Stalin punished the entire
country. In 1933, he stole all the food produced in Ukraine and conspired with
Communist sympathizers all over the world to pretend that the Ukrainian people
were not starving to death, when, of course, they were. Descriptions of
emaciated children and the sight of people dropping dead in the streets were
conveniently omitted by the foreign press corps while 25% of the Ukrainian
people—several million human beings—died of starvation.
During the famine of
1932-1933, how many people did Sister Olympia personally know—other sisters in
her community, family members, friends, classmates—who died from starvation? We
don’t know. But everyone who survived the Holodomor, the name which was given
to this event and which means, roughly, “killing by starvation”, experienced a
deep personal suffering as a direct result of Communist ideology and politics.
In 1938, Olympia became
the superior of her community in the town of Khyriv. She and her sisters cared
for the sick and the elderly, taught young women about the faith, and quietly
did what all religious sisters do: prayed to God and witnessed to the grace and
beauty of a life lived solely for Him. Persecution of believers continued as
control of the country changed from the Soviet Union, to Nazi Germany, and then
back to the Soviet Union after World War II.
In 1950, the NKVD (Soviet
secret police) decided that Olympia was engaged in “anti-Soviet activities”;
her only crime was probably that she was a Catholic and a leader of other
Catholics. Olympia was sentenced to hard labor in Boryslav (Ukraine) and then
lifelong exile in Russia. The almost subarctic conditions of the Tomsk region
of Siberia, combined with the inhuman conditions of her prison camp, made life
extremely harsh. Olympia served as the superior of the other sisters who had
also been sentenced to the camp, she cared for those in need, and she led other
prisoners in prayer.
She died less than two
years after her arrest, in early 1952, having inspired those around her with
her faith. The Church considers her a martyr. After all, it was her faith in
God, not her political opinions, that caused her early death. Blessed Olympia’s
feast day is celebrated on January 28.
What did she accomplish
by being a Catholic and a religious sister, when her life could have been much
easier and much longer if she had simply given up her vocation, her
responsibilities to others in need, and her faith in God? In a letter she wrote
to her superior before her death, Blessed Olympia spoke of God’s providence.
She expressed her trust that God continues to care for every single one of His
children, even those who are far from home and imprisoned for their faith.
Blessed Olympia knew God,
loved God, and served God. Even Communist prisons cannot prevent a person from
fulfilling the purpose for which God made every single one of us. And
fulfilling that purpose can make any one of us a saint.
Endnotes:
1 For
historical information about Communism from a Catholic perspective, see Dr.
Warren Carroll’s The Rise and Fall
of the Communist Revolution. For information about Communism and Socialism as a form of government
from a Catholic perspective, see Trent Horn and Catherine R. Pakaluk’s Can a Catholic Be a Socialist ?
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About Dawn Beutner 31 Articles
Dawn Beutner is the
author of Saints:
Becoming an Image of Christ Every Day of the Year from Ignatius Press
and blogs at dawnbeutner.com.
SOURCE : https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/01/28/martyrs-of-communism-blessed-olympia-bida/
The New Martyrs of the
Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church
His Beatitude Patriarch
Sviatoslav blessed the transfer of the relics of new martyrs of Ukrainian
Greek-Catholic Church to venerate in the projected Immaculate Conception Ukrainian
Byzantine Catholic Shrine.
Pope John Paul II’s
solemn proclamation of the new martyrs and faithful servants of God of the
Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church as blessed is another divine manifestation to
our people. During more than 1,000 years of salvation history on our land,
Ukrainian Christians have rejoiced in various signs of God’s presence. The Word
has become incarnate among us has been changed into visible sacraments: the
healing water of baptism, the oil of the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine of the
Lord’s paschal feast. They lead us to the divine life. “God is with us!”
He has built His house
here. Great Church councils throughout the ages and quiet little chapels speak
to us. The warm and hospitable face of the Lord looks into our souls from
childhood. His image is embroidered on our decorative cloths at home. The
feasts of the liturgical year sanctify our time, invite us to overcome our lack
of faith and our doubts, and to feel that we live in the age of the Kingdom of
God.
We receive this mercy of
the Lord through the blessing of hierarchs and priests, on whose heads we can
still feel the warm hands of the priests and martyrs Hryhorii, Theodore,
Josaphat, Nykyta, Hryhorii, Mykola, Semeon, Ivan and Vasyl. We celebrate
together with monks and nuns who still today remember the sanctifying
righteousness of Sister Josaphata and the “aristocracy of spirit” of priest and
martyr Klymentii. They remember these fathers and sisters of their communities
– kind, welcoming and, at the same time, brave and constant in the faith. We
rejoice with Neonila Lysko, who can still today tell us about the eyes of her
good husband, full of troubles: Neonila who for such a short time was comforted
by his close presence but his glory will last. Together with Father Emilian
Kovch’s children, who are with us, we pass on his testament of love of neighbor
and love of enemy.
From now on from our
midst, for us and for the world, the universal Church raises them up as
examples of holiness, as heavenly friends of the Lord, humble figures of mortal
human beings. Yesterday they lived among us or among our parents in our cities
and villages, bravely fought with the greatest tyrants of human history,
against wrongs and injustices done to their brothers and sisters. They also
struggled with their own imperfections and with the simple worries of daily
life. Their presence here was and now is, incredibly, still felt.
They walked our streets
and rode on our roads, sat on our episcopal thrones and in our confessionals.
They gave lectures at solemn conferences and reports from their professorial
chairs, and studied in our Theological Academy and seminaries. They probably
did not think that the terrible trial of martyrdom and its everlasting crown
was waiting for them. They wore priestly vestments and the habits of our
religious communities and heard stirring words from their spiritual directors
about self-giving and self-dedication, which we often hear but receive as
something everyday, as an abstraction, something unreal and far away in time
and space.
Now their figures are
strangely close, visible. Through them holiness itself is closer. They bring
heaven closer to us – sometimes so unattainable – heaven, where they have
gloriously found their place at the hand of the Almighty Father and Our
Creator. And the land on which they walked only yesterday has itself become
holier, receiving their hot blood and tortured bodies. Walking on this same
earth we feel the grandeur of this holiness and the depth of this drama which
they lived through and to which the Lord can call you and me.
Finally, we were all
called long ago-called to love our neighbour, forgive our enemies, feed the
hungry, tend to the wounded, comfort the weary, give hope to the hopeless and
die to self in order to live for others. Today on our earth and in our Ukraine
there is no lack of opportunities to dedicate yourself to God.
Through these blessed and
martyrs, whom we are honouring today, the Lord has shown us that for us mere
mortals, who are neighbours, fellow workers or students, relatives and family
members or just friends, for us such accomplishments are possible. God reveals
Himself always and everywhere: in the quiet of a monastic cell and in an
inspiring sermon in church, among the Siberian snows and in the burning oven of
Majdanek, in the joy of motherhood and in the cries of an orphaned child …
Will we be able here and
now, and then tomorrow and elsewhere, to respond to this appearance of our
Lord? Are we ready to give witness to Christ in everyday life or, God forbid,
in the face of mortal danger? We hope in the Lord that this is so. And our
first step in this direction is our joyful celebration of these abundant
blessings which have come to us through the solemn glorification of the new martyrs
and faithful servants of God. Let us be glad with them and with certainty
follow in their footsteps!
Father Borys Gudziak,
Ph.D. is rector of the Lviv Theological Academy and director of the Institute
of Church History. Written in 2001.
Church of the Martyrs
Following are
biographical materials prepared by the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. The
information is organized in chronological order.
Sanctifying righteousness
Sister Josaphata (Michaelina) Hordashevska was
born in Lviv on November 20, 1869. At the age of 18, influenced by the retreats
of the Basilian Fathers, she felt the call to consecrate her life to God.
Together with Father Kyryl Seletskyi, pastor in Zhuzhel, and Father Yeremia
Lomnytskyi OSBM, she established a new congregation, the Sisters Servants of
Mary Immaculate, called to an active apostolate among the people. Today the
Sisters Servants is the biggest female religious community in the Ukrainian
Greek-Catholic Church.
Sister Josaphata’s
holiness showed itself in her total dedication to her calling, in constantly
embodying in her life Christ’s command to love God and neighbor and in humbly
bearing all her difficulties and sufferings. She died on April 7, 1919, after a
long and severe illness, prophesying the day of her death, which she accepted
consciously, with prayer on her lips.
“She showed her love for
her people through her heart-felt desire to lift them up morally and
spiritually: she taught children, youth and women, served the sick, visited the
poor and needy, taught liturgical chant and looked after the church’s
beauty.” – From the testimony of Sister Filomena Yuskiv.
Apostle of unity
Priest and
martyr Father Leonid Feodorov was born to a Russian Orthodox family
on November 4, 1879, in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1902, he left his studies at
the Petersburg Spiritual Academy and went abroad. In Rome he converted to
Catholicism. He studied in Anagni, Rome and Frieburg. Contact with Metropolitan
Andrey Sheptytsky had a great influence on Father Leonid’s spiritual
development. On March 25, 1911, he was ordained a Greek-Catholic priest. In
1913 he became a monk of the Studite order in Bosnia.
After his return to
tsarist Russia, in connection with the beginning of World War One he was exiled
to Tobolsk, Siberia because he was a Catholic. In 1917 he was released and
appointed head of the Russian Greek-Catholic Church, with the title of exarch.
His second imprisonment came in 1923, now by the Bolsheviks, for 10 years. From
1926 to 1929 he served his term in Solovky and later in exile in Pinieza,
Kotlas and Viatka. He died as a martyr for the faith and Church unity on March
7, 1935.
“We expect that the
exarch is on the road to glorification through beatification. Of course, it is
much too early to talk about this, but all of us were strongly impressed by his
holiness, strengthened by the crown of martyrdom and death; this certainly
supports our expectations. On the other hand, as a Russian Catholic, as exarch,
as someone who died at the hands of the Bolsheviks, it seems to us that he will
be right in the centre of attention of the entire Church.” – From
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky’s letter to Prince P. Volkonski of May 4, 1935.
Bloody Unification
Stalin’s attack on the
Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) began immediately after the first
occupation of western Ukraine in September 1939. This occupation was in
accordance with the Soviet-Nazi Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and lasted until June
1941. In this period all UGCC property was confiscated, and schools and
hospitals were nationalized. Church publications and religious organizations
were forbidden, religious educational institutions and presses were closed, the
activities of religious congregations were limited, brutal atheist propaganda and
mass terror, and the deportation of a peaceful population began.
“It is absolutely clear
that under the Bolsheviks we all felt destined for death; they did not conceal
their intention to destroy, to strangle Christianity, to erase its smallest
traces.” – From Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky’s letter to the nuncio,
Rotti, of August 30, 1941.
Patron of Students
Priest and
martyr Father Mykola Konrad was born on May 16, 1876 in the village
of Strusiv, Ternopil District. He finished his philosophical and theological
studies in Rome, where he defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1899, he was
ordained to the priesthood. He taught in a high school in Berezhany and
Terebovlia. In 1929 in Lviv he founded Obnova (Renewal), the first Ukrainian
association of Catholic students.
In 1930 Metropolitan
Andrey Sheptytsky invited him to teach at the Lviv Theological Academy and
later appointed him to be a parish priest in the village of Stradch, near
Yaniv. There, as in previous years, he showed his great diligence and responsibility,
fulfilling his pastoral duties, in particular, spiritual guidance for youth.
Returning from visiting a sick woman, who had requested the sacrament of
reconciliation, he died tragically as a martyr for the faith at the hands of
the NKVD on June 26, 1941, near Stradch.
“Doctor Konrad, a
professor at the academy, my catechist … O, he was a distinguished person. An
ideal man. He was very involved with youth; he had a heart for youth – and for
his people. He wanted us to be patriots, to be good and aware students. That
was Father Konrad…” – From an interview with Father Mykola Markevych.
Sacrificial Cantor
Martyr Volodymyr
Pryima was born on July 17, 1906, in the village of Stradch, Yavoriv
District. After graduating from a school for cantors he became the cantor and
choir director in the local church. He took active part in the life of his
parish. Always and in everything he respected human dignity and built his life
on the principles of the gospel. On June 26, 1941, agents of the NKVD
mercilessly tortured and murdered him along with Father Mykola Konrad.
“Father Konrad went with
the holy sacraments to fulfil his sacred obligation, hearing a woman’s
confession in the neighbouring village. He felt he had to go, though he was
stopped. I know that they stopped him and said: ‘Father, don’t go. Look what’s
happening: the war has started, anything could happen.’ He said that this was
his sacred duty and he had to go. He got dressed and left together with
Volodymyr Pryima, the cantor. They didn’t come back. After a week they were
found there, murdered. People thought something was wrong. So they went to look
for them and they found them there. It was awful. The cantor’s wife had two
children. One was three, the other was four. Mama told me how when they were found
everyone was overcome by what they saw. The cantor was especially cut up, his
chest stabbed with a bayonet many times.” – From an interview with Yuriy
Skavronskyi.
Professor and Pastor
Priest and
martyr Father Andrii Ischak was born on September 20, 1887, in
Mykolaiv, in the Lviv District. He finished his theological studies at the
universities in Lviv and Innsbruck (Austria). In 1914 he received his Ph.D. in
theology and was ordained. Beginning in 1928 he taught dogmatic theology and
canon law at the Lviv Theological Academy.
He was able to combine
his professorial duties with his pastoral work in the village of Sykhiv near
Lviv, where he met his death. Even under the threat of great danger he did not
leave his parishioners without spiritual guidance. He was faithful to the end.
On June 26, 1941, he died a martyr for the faith at the hands of soldiers of
the retreating Soviet army.
“As the war began, the
priest was taken at Persenkivka, the neighbouring station. Sometime in the
afternoon they took him, detained him until the evening, then they let him go.
My dad, because they knew each other well, told him: ‘Father, when they let you
go, I would advise you to hide for a few days.’ Because it was already clear
that the Germans were coming and the Bolsheviks would be fleeing. ‘Hide
yourself and we’ll survive.’ But the priest said: ‘Ivan, the shepherd doesn’t
abandon his flock. And I can’t leave my parishioners and conceal myself.’ In
two days the military came and took him from his home. It was overgrown there
with bushes, some distance from the parish, maybe a half-kilometre. They
brought him there and killed him. They shot him in the stomach, and it looked
like they also stabbed him with a knife.” – From the testimony of Ivan
Kulchytskyi.
Benevolent Prior
Priest and
martyr Father Severian Baranyk was born on July 18, 1889, place of
birth unknown. On September 24, 1904, he entered the monastery of the Basilian
Fathers in Krekhiv. He was ordained to the priesthood on February 14, 1915. In
1932 he became the hegumen (prior) of the monastery in Drohobych. In life he
was noted for his special kindnesses to youth and orphans. He inspired all with
his joy and was famous for his preaching.
On June 26, 1941, the
NKVD arrested him. They brought him to a prison in Drohobych, after which he
was never seen alive again. His body, mutilated by tortures, was found among
other dead prisoners. He died a martyr for the faith at the end of June 1941.
“Behind the prison I saw
a big hole which had been covered up, filled with sand. When the Bolsheviks
retreated the Germans came and people rushed to the prison to find their
relatives. The Germans allowed people into the area of the prison in small
groups to claim their murdered relatives, but most people stood by the gates. I
was a little boy and didn’t see anything from the gates, so I went to the side
and climbed a tree. There was a terrible stink … I saw how the Germans sent
people to uncover the hole which was filled with sand. The hole was new,
because the people uncovered it with their hands. They dragged out the murdered
bodies. There was a little covering near the hole, and under it I saw the dead
body of Father Severian Baranyk, Basilian, with visible marks of his prison
tortures; his body had unnaturally swelled, black, his face terrible. Dad later
said that on his chest the sign of the cross had been slashed.” – From the
testimony of Yosyf Lastoviak.
Loving Monk
Priest and
martyr Father Yakym Senkivskyi was born on May 2, 1896, in the
village of Hayi Velyki, Ternopil District. After completing his theological
studies in Lviv, he was ordained as a priest on December 4, 1921. He received a
Ph.D. in theology in Innsbruck (Austria). In 1923 he became a novice in the
Basilian order in Krekhiv. After professing his first vows he was assigned to
serve in the village of Krasnopuscha, and later in the village of Lavriv, in
the area of Starosambir. From 1931 to 1938 at St. Onufry monastery in Lviv he
was chaplain of the Marian Society, he ministered to children and youth and
organized a Eucharistic Society. In 1939, he was appointed proto-hegumen
(abbot) at the monastery in Drohobych.
He was arrested by the
Bolsheviks on June 26, 1941. According to the testimony of various prisoners,
he was boiled to death in a cauldron in the Drohobych prison on June 29.
Because of his righteous life the faithful held him up as a model of service to
Church and nation. He died a martyr for the faith.
“From the first days of
his time in Drohobych he became the favourite of the whole town. He gained the
affection of the population with his remarkable talent, his ability to speak to
the scholar and the labourer, young and old, and even to the little child. He
was always polite and with a warm smile on his face. In your soul you felt that
this person had no malice, and in addition to the impression of humility and
dignity, a true servant of Christ was evident.” – From the memories of
Father Orest Kupranets.
Fearless Preacher
Priest and
martyr Father Zenovii Kovalyk was born on August 18, 1903, in the
village of Ivakhiv near Ternopil. He entered the Congregation of the
Redemptorists and on August 28, 1926, he made his religious vows. He received
his philosophical and theological education in Belgium. He returned to Ukraine
and on September 4, 1937, was ordained to the priesthood. He served as a
missionary in Volyn.
On December 20, 1940, he
was arrested in church while giving a homily. After terrible tortures he was
murdered by the Communists in a mock crucifixion against a wall in a prison on
Zamarstynivska Street, in Lviv in June 1941. He died a martyr for the faith.
“[His] sermons made an
incredible impression on the listeners. But in the prevailing system of
denunciations and terror this was very dangerous for a preacher. So I often
tried to convince Father Kovalyk … that he needed to be more careful about the
content of his sermons, that he shouldn’t provoke the Bolsheviks, because here
was a question of his own safety. But it was all in vain. Father Kovalyk only
had one answer: ‘If that is God’s will, I will gladly accept death, but as a
preacher I will never act against my conscience.’” – From the memories of
Yaroslav Levytskyi.
A New Order
The beginning of the
Nazi-Soviet war on June 22, 1941, for many western Ukrainians meant, first of
all, the liquidation of the hated Bolshevik domination and led to unfulfilled
expectations for the revival of religious freedom and the achievement of their
national aspirations. However, it was soon apparent that changing one bloody
regime for another would not change the essence of totalitarianism.
“… The terror is growing.
During the last two months in Lviv more than 40,000 Jews were murdered. The
authorities conducted searches in the church, in my residence and in parts of
the monastery … Two monks were imprisoned, and perhaps there will be attempts
to create some ‘show trials.’ The arrests continue. This is a regime of raving
madmen.” – From a letter of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky to Cardinal
Tisserand of December 28, 1942.
Rescuer of the Doomed
Priest and
Martyr Father Emilian Kovch was born on August 20, 1884, in Kosmach
near Kosiv. After graduating from the College of Ss. Sergius and Bacchus in
Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1911. In 1919 he became field
chaplain for the Ukrainian Galician Army. After the war and until his
imprisonment he conducted his priestly ministry in Przemysl (Peremyshl), at the
same time tending to his parishioners’ social and cultural life. He helped the
poor and orphans, though he had six children of his own.
During World War II he
bravely carried out his priestly duties, preaching love to people of all
nationalities and rescuing Jews from destruction. He was arrested by the
Gestapo on December 30, 1942. He displayed heroic bravery in the concentration
camp, protecting the prisoners sentenced to death from falling into despair. He
was burned to death in the ovens of the Majdanek Nazi death camp on March 25,
1944. He was recognized as a “Righteous Ukrainian” by the Jewish Council of
Ukraine on September 9, 1999.
“I understand that you
are trying to free me. But I am asking you not to do anything. Yesterday they
killed 50 persons here. If I were not here, who would help them to endure these
sufferings? I thank God for His kindness to me. Except heaven this is the only
place I would like to be. Here we are all equal: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians,
Russians, Latvians and Estonians. I am the only priest here. I couldn’t even
imagine what would happen here without me. Here I see God, Who is the same for
everybody, regardless of religious distinctions which exist among us. Maybe our
Churches are different, but they are all ruled by the same all-powerful God.
When I am celebrating the Holy Mass, everyone prays … Don’t worry and don’t
despair about my fate. Instead of this, rejoice with me. Pray for those who
created this concentration camp and this system. They are the only ones who
need prayers May God have mercy on them…” – From Father Emilian Kovch’s
letters written in the concentration camp to relatives.
Second Assault
The prospect of the
return of Soviet power to western Ukraine after the defeat of the German Army
on the Eastern Front led the hierarchy and faithful of the UGCC to fear for the
fate of the Church. All too painful were the still fresh memories of the
violence of the Communist regime against the conscience of the faithful during
the previous Soviet conquest of less than two years.
“The Bolshevik Army is
approaching … This news fills all the faithful with fear. Everyone … is
convinced that they are destined for certain death.” – From a letter of
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky to Cardinal Tisserand on March 22, 1944.
“Because she was a nun”
Nun and
Martyr Sister Tarsykiya Matskiv was born on March 23, 1919 in the
village of Khodoriv, Lviv District. On May 3, 1938 she entered the Sisters
Servants of Mary Immaculate. After professing her first vows on November 5,
1940, she worked in the convent, sewing clothes for the sisters and teaching
the skill to others. Even prior to the Bolshevik arrival in Lviv, Sister
Tarsykiya had made a private oath to her spiritual director, Father Volodymyr
Kovalyk OSBM, that she would sacrifice her life for the conversion of Russia
and for the good of the Catholic Church.
On July 17, 1944 Soviet
soldiers surrounded the monastery, determined to destroy it. At 8 a.m. Sister
opened the door, expecting a priest who was supposed to celebrate the liturgy.
Without warning an automatic shot her dead. All her life she witnessed to the
authenticity of the consecrated life. She died a martyr for the faith.
“Suddenly the bell at the
gate rang. We thought it was the priest. Sister Tarsykia opened the door, asked
Sister Maria for the key to the front door and went to the main entrance. Then
a shot rang out and Sister Tarsykia fell down dead. The soldier who shot her
did not really explain why he did it. Later they said that he said he killed
her because she was a nun.” – From the testimony of Sister Daria Hradiuk.
Friendly missionary
Priest and
Martyr Father Vitalii Bairak was born on February 24, 1907 in the
village of Shvaikivtsy, Ternopil District. In 1924 he entered the Basilian
monastery. He was ordained a priest on August 13, 1933. In 1941 he was
appointed superior of the Drohobych monastery, in place of the recently
martyred Father Yakym (Senkivskyi).
On September 17, 1945 the
NKVD arrested Father Vitalii and on November 13 sentenced him to eight years’
imprisonment “with confiscation of property” (though he had none). In life he
was distinguished for his friendliness, his activeness in mission and
preaching. He possessed the gift of spiritual direction. He died a martyr for
the faith just before Easter 1946 after having been severely beaten in the
Drohobych prison.
“Living in the territory
that had been temporarily occupied by German forces…, he wrote an article with
a negative position towards the Bolshevik Party, which had been published in
the anti-Soviet calendar Misionar [“Missionary”] in 1942.” – From the
personal file of V. V. Bairak in the archives of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs.
Father-Psalmist
Priest and
Martyr Father Roman Lysko was born on August 14, 1914 in Horodok,
Lviv District. He finished his theological studies at the Lviv Theological
Academy. Possessing special poetic and artistic talents, he and his wife
joyfully conducted youth ministry together. On August 28, 1941 he was ordained
to the priesthood by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.
He refused to sign a
statement of conversion to Orthodoxy, remaining faithful to his Church and his
people. On September 9, 1949 he was arrested by the NKVD and imprisoned in Lviv.
Until 1956, according to information given after his family had been turned
away many times, it was said that he died on October 14, 1949 from paralysis of
the heart. But many witnesses report that they saw him in prison later, or they
heard him singing psalms at the top of his lungs. It was reported that they
sealed him up, alive, in a wall. He gave his life as a martyr for the faith.
“He was imprisoned on Lontskyi Street. His mother brought him some packages.
Sometimes his grandmother came from Zhulychi to visit him. At first the
packages were accepted. The prisoner always had a right to thank the giver with
the same card [with which the package was sent]. These cards were always sent
back, even the bags in which they usually put packages. And there were always
those cards, on which he wrote, ‘Thank you. Many kisses,’ and signed it.
“After the murder of
Galan [a Communist agitator], they refused to accept the packages. But after
six months when they started to accept packages again, then the relatives found
a card with ‘Thanks’ and a signature written, but in a stranger’s hand. It was
a completely different handwriting.” – From an interview with his niece
Lidia Kupchyk.
Liquidation by the State
Immediately after the Red
Army returned to western Ukraine in the summer of 1944 the previous limitations
imposed on the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church were renewed. But the great
authority possessed by the whole Church and its head, Metropolitan Andrey
Sheptytsky, forced the state during the first period to avoid direct
confrontation. The war with Nazi Germany was finishing, and the spiritual
father of the Church and the people, Servant of God Andrey, passed into
eternity in the odor of sanctity on November 1, 1944.
Then the Soviet security
services prepared a special plan “for detachment of parishes of the
Greek-Catholic (Uniate) Church in the USSR from the Vatican and their
subsequent unification with the Russian Orthodox Church.” This plan carried out
Stalin’s direct order and received his praise. On April 11, 1945 with no proof
of guilt, Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj, Bishops Hryhorii Khomyshyn, Nykyta Budka,
Mykola Charnetskyi and Ivan Liatyshevskyi were arrested. Soon after that the
Bishops of Przemsyl, Josaphat Kotsylovsky and Hryhory Lakota, about 500 priests
all over western Ukraine, in addition, almost all eparchial officials,
professors of the Theological Academy and seminaries, the most gifted pastors.
With the combined efforts
of party and government structures, the police organs and the Orthodox
hierarchy, by means of open terror and false demagoguery, the “liquidation of
the union” was proclaimed in 1946 in western Ukraine in the so-called “Lviv
pseudo-Sobor [“Council”]” and in 1949 in Transcarpathia. Regardless of the
persecution, the authorities were not able to break the will of the bishops and
to convince one of them to renounce his Church for a career in the Church of
the “regime,” the Russian Orthodox Church. “…Then you will be handed over to be
persecuted and put to death … At that time many will turn away from the faith
and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and
deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness the love of most
will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Gospel of St.
Matthew 24: 9-14)
Unbending Fighter
Bishop and
Martyr Hryhorii Khomyshyn was born on March 25, 1867 in the village
of Hadynkivtsi, Ternopil District. After graduating from the Lviv seminary in
1893, he was ordained to the priesthood. He continued his theological studies
in Vienna (1894-1899), earning a doctorate. In 1902, Metropolitan Andrey
Sheptytsky appointed Father Hryhorii rector of the Seminary in Lviv, and in
1904 he was ordained bishop of Ivano-Frankivsk.
In 1939, he was arrested
for the first time by the NKVD. His second arrest was in April of 1945, after
which he was taken to Kyiv’s Lukianivska prison. Bishop Hryhorii remained an
example for the Church of the bravery of a soldier of Christ, showing
perseverance in God’s truth in the most difficult moments of life. He died a
martyr for the faith in the infirmary of the NKVD prison in Kyiv on January 17,
1947.
“At the Kyiv prison the
interrogations were conducted by Interrogator Dubok. He was a horrible sadist.
He investigated my case too This Dubok told me himself how he had killed the
bishop: ‘So you, Khomyshyn, spoke out against communism?’ The bishop, as
always, replied resolutely: ‘I did and I will’. ‘Did you fight against the
Soviet authority? “Yes, I did and I will!’ Then Dubok became outraged and
grabbed some books written by the bishop, which lay on the table in front of
him, and started cruelly beating His Excellency with them, on his head and
everywhere else.” – From the testimony of Father Petro
Heryliuk-Kupchynskyi.
Undying Spirit of the Carpathians
Bishop and
Martyr Theodore Romzha was born on April 14, 1911, in the village of
Velykyi Bychkiv, Zakarpattia to a family of railroad workers. He finished his
theological studies at the Papal Gregorian University in Rome. In 1938 he
became pastor in the mountain villages of Berezevo and Nyzhnii Bystryi outside
of Khust. Beginning with the fall of 1939 he taught philosophy and was
spiritual director at the Uzhorod seminary. On September 24, 1944, soon after
the arrival of the Soviet Army, he was ordained to the episcopacy.
Because Bishop Theodore
bravely refused to cooperate with the authorities in the liquidation of the
Greek-Catholic Church and separate from the Roman Apostolic See, government
organs decided to destroy him. On October 27, 1947 a military vehicle ran into
the bishop’s horse-carriage. When the soldiers saw that he didn’t die in the
accident, they beat him and his companions into unconsciousness. On November 1
of that year when Bishop Theodore was beginning to recover, he was poisoned in
the Mukachiv hospital by workers cooperating with the security services. He
died a martyr for the faith.
“According to the
instructions of Khruschev, a member of the Politburo (Central Committee of the
Communist Party) of Ukraine and the first secretary of the same, according to
the plan developed by the Ministry of State Security in Ukraine and approved by
Khruschev, Romzha was eliminated in Mukachiv. As the head of the Greek-Catholic
Church, he had actively opposed the uniting of Greek-Catholics to Orthodoxy.” –
From a letter of Pavlo Sudoplatov, general of state security, to delegates of
the 23rd Assembly of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
“Deported” into Eternity
Bishop and
Martyr Josaphat Kotsylovsky was born on March 3, 1876 in the village of
Pakoshivka, Lemkiv District. He graduated with a degree in Theology from Rome
in 1907, and later on October 9 of that year he was ordained to the priesthood.
Not long after that he was appointed vice-rector and professor of Theology at
the Ivano-Frankivsk seminary. In 1911 he entered the novitiate of the Basilian
order. He was ordained a bishop on September 23, 1917 in Przemysl (Peremyshl)
upon the return of Metropolitan Andrey (Sheptytsky) from captivity in Russia.
In September of 1945 the
Polish Communist authorities arrested him and on June 26, 1946, after his next
arrest, they forcibly took him to the USSR and placed him in a prison in Kyiv.
Throughout his life he showed his perseverance of service, to make the
Christian faith firm and to grow in human souls. He died a martyr for the faith
on November 17, 1947 in the Chapaivka concentration camp near Kyiv.
“I came to Protection
Monastery and the hegumena [prioress] told me the story. When they arrested
Bishop Kotsylovsky they arrested their Orthodox bishop of Kyiv at the same
time. When they brought a package to Chapaivka, that Orthodox bishop said:
‘Uniate Bishop Josaphat Kotsylovsky is confined in the same camp with me.’ And
he asked those nuns, if they could, to bring a package to Bishop Josaphat as well.
So they brought a package for the one bishop and for the other … Once when she
brought a package, the bishop said that Kotsylovsky had died. And he asked her,
because the dead were all thrown into one hole, if they could borrow some money
or get some money somewhere. He asked her ‘to bury him in a separate grave,
because this was a holy man.” – From the testimony of Father Josaphat
Kavatsivo.
Archpastor in Three Parts
of the World
Bishop and
martyr Nykyta Budka was born on June 7, 1877, in the village of
Dobomirka, Zbarazh District. In 1905 after finishing theological studies in
Vienna and Innsbruck he was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Andrey
Sheptytsky. From the very beginning he gave great attention to the ministry for
Ukrainian emigrants. The Holy See appointed him first bishop for Ukrainian
Catholics in Canada in July 1912, and he was ordained bishop on October 14,
1912. In 1928 he returned to Lviv and became vicar general of the Metropolitan
Curia in Lviv.
[Editor’s note: Since his
beatification, more information has been discovered regarding the arrest and
death of Nykyta Budka. Hence we have removed the orginal text of Fr. Borys
Gudziak. Based on recent research, we present the following account by Rev. Dr.
Athanasius McVay of the Eparchy of Edmonton who has spent years research the
life and works of Budka. Fr. Athanasius updates his work on his personal blog]
Blessed Nykyta Budka was
arrested in Lviv by the Soviets on 11 April 1945 and transported to Kyiv the
following day. For the next twelve months he was interrogated and tried for
‘crimes’ against the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. A military tribunal
sentenced him to five-years imprisonment on 29 May 1946. After that he vanished
and, for over ten years, no one knew his whereabouts or even if he was alive.
It was rumoured that Budka was being held in Siberia. Instead, he was among the
many innocent people who had been sent to prison camps near Karaganda, Kazahstan.
After Stalin’s death, Soviet authorities began to release the survivors. These
men and women were finally able to tell the stories about those who had lived
and died in the gulag. Among the survivors from Kazakhstan were Blessed Bishops
Ivan Liatyshevsky and Aleksander Khira, and future-archbishop, Father Volodymyr
Sterniuk. In 1958 Soviet authorities finally confirmed that Nykyta Budka had
died close to 1 October 1949, but more precise dates and details are still
lacking to this day.
Budka and other Ukrainian
Catholics who had been criminalized by a criminal regime were politically
rehabilitated in September 1991. This occurred less than a month after
Ukrainian independence, with the Soviet ‘Union’ still officially in existence
and the Communist Party having been declared illegal. Yet no official follow-up
to the case has ever occurred, even though Canadian Ukrainians had asked their
government for a redress to the Budka case in 1989.
Kazahstani authorities
have only recently confirmed that Budka served out his sentence at the
Karadzhar prison camp near Karaganda, where he died of heart disease on 28
September 1949. Additional documentation, obtained unofficially in 1995,
further specifies that Budka arrived at the camp on 5 July 1946 and was admitted
to a nearby hospital on 14 October 1947, the feast-day of his patron, the
Protection of the Mother of God according to the Julian calendar. That day was
also the forty-second anniversary of his priestly ordination and the
thirty-fifth of his episcopal ordination. Even the date of his death occurred
on the forty-second anniversary of his ordination to the diaconate.
Angelic Bishop
Bishop and
Martyr Hryhorii Lakota was born on January 31,1883, in the village of
Holodivka, in Lviv District. He studied theology in Lviv. He was ordained to
the priesthood in 1908 in Przemsyl (Peremyshl). In Vienna in 1911 he received
his Ph.D. in theology. In 1913 he became a professor at the Przemysl seminary,
later becoming its rector. On May 16, 1926, he was ordained to the episcopacy
and was appointed auxiliary bishop of Przemysl.
On June 9, 1946, he was
arrested and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. In exile in Vorkuta, Russia,
he was distinguished for his great humanness, his humility, his desire to take
the most difficult labour on himself and to make the unbearable conditions of
life easier for others. He died a martyr for the faith on November 12, 1950, in
the village of Abez near Vorkuta.
“Exiled to a labour camp,
in the middle of human misery, I also met real angels in human bodies, who by
their lives were the earthly representatives of the cherubim, glorifying
Christ, the King of Glory. Among them was the confessor of the faith, Hryhorii
Lakota, auxiliary bishop of Przemysl. From 1949 to 1950, by his example of Christian
virtues, his life witnessed to us who were weakened by life in the labour
camp.” – From the written account of Father Alfrysas Svarinskas.
Aristocrat of the Spirit
Priest and
Martyr Archimandrite Klymentii Sheptytsky, the younger brother of the Servant
of God Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, was born on November 17, 1869, in the
village of Prylbychi, Yavoriv region. He studied law in Munich and Paris and
received a doctorate at the University of Krakow. He was a legate of the
Austrian Parliament and member of the National Council. In 1912 he entered the
Studite monastery as a late vocation; by so doing he renounced his successful
secular career. He completed his theological studies in Innsbruck. On August
28, 1915, he was ordained to the priesthood. For many years he was the hegumen
(prior) of the Studite monastery at Univ, and in 1944 he became the
archimandrite (abbot).
During World War II, he
gave refuge to persecuted Jews. On June 5, 1947, he was arrested and sentenced
to eight years’ imprisonment by a special meeting of the NKVD in Kyiv. He died
a martyr for the faith on May 1, 1951, in a harsh prison in Vladimir, Russia.
“Tall, 180-185
centimetres, rather thin, with a long white beard, a little stooped, with a
cane. Arms relaxed, calm, face and eyes friendly. He reminded me of St.
Nicholas We never expected such a rascal in our room Some sisters had passed
three apples to him, real rosy red and ripe. And he gave one apple to Roman
Novosad, who often had stomach problems. He said: ‘You need to take care of
your stomach,’ and the others he divided among us.” – From the memories of
Ivan Kryvytskyi.
Apostles of the Gulag
The unbending
faithfulness to Christ and His Church of Confessor of the Faith Metropolitan
Josyf Slipyj and all the Greek-Catholic hierarchy, their deep certainty in the
victory over evil and their special witness of fidelity to the Roman Apostolic
See served as an inspiring example and supported the faith and hope of laity
and clergy alike who had avoided arrest and exile and had not spent time in
prison.
Prayerful Parent
Priest and
Martyr Father Mykola Tsehelskyi was born on December 17, 1896, in the
village of Strusiv, Ternopil District. In 1923 he graduated from the
Theological Faculty of Lviv University. On April 5, 1925, Metropolitan Andrey
Sheptytsky ordained him to the priesthood. He was a zealous priest who cared
for the spirituality, education and welfare of his parishioners.
After the war he was
repressed by the Bolsheviks because he refused to convert to Orthodoxy. Father
Tsehelskyi drank deep from the bitter cup of intimidation, threats and
beatings. On October 28, 1946, he was arrested, and on January 27, 1947, he was
sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. He was deported to Mordovia, Russia, but
his wife, three children and daughter-in-law were taken to Russia’s Chytynska
region. He lived in extremely horrid conditions, in a camp that was notoriously
strict and cruel. He suffered from severe pain due to illness, but this did not
break his strong spirit. He died a martyr for the faith on May 25, 1951, and is
buried in the camp cemetery.
“My dearest wife: the
feast of the Dormition was our 25th wedding anniversary. I recall fondly our
family life together, and every day in my dreams I am with you and the
children, and this makes me happy I give a fatherly kiss to all their
foreheads, and I hope to live honestly, behaving blamelessly, keeping far from
everything that is foul. I pray for this most of all.” – From the letters
of Father Mykola Tsehelskyi written in Mordovia.
Suffered on Good Friday
Priest and
Martyr Father Ivan Ziatyk was born on December 26, 1899, in the
village of Odrekhiv, near Sianok. After finishing his theology studies in
Przemysl (Peremyshl) seminary in 1923, he was ordained to the priesthood. In
1935 he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists). He
was a teacher of dogmatic theology and holy scripture, and also known as a good
administrator. During the Nazi occupation he was acting superior of the
monastery in Ternopil and later in Zboiski near Lviv. After the official
liquidation of the UGCC and the exile of Protohegumen Yosyf de Vokhta, Father
Ivan took on his duties.
On January 5, 1950, he
was arrested and found guilty of “preaching the ideas of the pope of Rome
regarding the spread of the Catholic faith among nations of the whole world.”
At first he was imprisoned in Zolochiv and later was sent to Ozerlah, Irkhutsk
region, Russia. In all he lived through 72 interrogations. On Good Friday in
1952 he was severely beaten, drenched with water and left to lie in the cold.
He died in the prison infirmary on May 17, 1952, a martyr for the faith.
“He stood and prayed the
whole day; for whole days he prayed every moment. He was such a pleasant person
to talk to. You could hear many wise and instructive words from him; this was
especially so in my case, as at that time I was a youngster.” – From an
interview with fellow prisoner Anatolii Medelian.
A Mother to Her Sisters
Nun and
Martyr Sister Olympia Olha Bida was born in 1903 in the village of
Tsebliv, Lviv District. At a young age she entered the congregation of the
Sisters of St. Joseph. In 1938 she was assigned to the town of Khyriv where she
became superior of the house. After the establishment of the Soviet regime, she
and the other sisters suffered a number of attacks on the convent. She,
nevertheless, continued to care for children, to catechize and organize
underground religious services (often without a priest).
In 1950 she was arrested
by soldiers of the NKVD and taken to a hard labour camp in Boryslav. Eventually
she was sentenced to lifelong exile in the Tomsk region of Siberia for
“anti-Soviet activities.” Even in exile, Sister Olympia tried to perform her
duties as superior. She provided support for her fellow sisters. She patiently
endured inhuman living conditions. She died a martyr’s death on January 23,
1952.
“God Almighty, God’s
Providence will not allow His little children to perish in a foreign land. For
He is with us here, in the midst of these forests and waters. He doesn’t forget
about us Because of our faith, because of a divine matter, we suffer, and what
could be better than this? Let’s follow Him bravely. Not only when all is well,
but even when times are bitter, let us say: Glory to God in all
matters.” – From Sister Olympia’s letter to her provincial superior,
Sister Neonylia.
Faith Amid Hopelessness
Nun and
Martyr Sister Lavrentia Herasymiv was born on September 31, 1911, in
the village of Rudnyky, Lviv District. In 1931 she entered the congregation of
the Sisters of St. Joseph in Tsebliv. In 1933 she made her first vows. Together
with Sister Olympia, in 1938 she went to the house in Khyriv, and their fates
were crossed until death. In 1950 she was arrested by the agents of the NKVD
and sent to Boryslav.
Eventually, together with
her fellow sister she was sentenced to lifelong exile in the Tomsk region. She
was sick with tuberculosis when she arrived to her designated place of exile
and so only one family would agree to give her a roof over her head. This was
in a room where a paralyzed man lay behind a partition. She prayed much and
performed various forms of manual labor. She patiently endured the inhuman
living conditions and the lack of medical attention. She died on August 28,
1952, as a martyr for the faith in the village of Kharsk in Siberia’s Tomsk
Region.
“The NKVD agents attacked
our convent. They spent a long time breaking down the door. It was night-time;
the sisters were terrified. Sister Lavrentia ran to the cellar and escaped into
the garden through a little window. A cold rain started to fall. When the NKVD
broke into the house they immediately noticed the open window and ran to look
for her. It was dark and with their bayonets they poked every bush. A few times
the bayonet was right in front of Sister’s eyes. Not finding her, the NKVD went
away, but sister was out in the rain until the morning. She came to the house
exhausted and frozen. After this incident she got seriously ill, and lay in
bed. They took her to prison when she was infirm.” – From the memories of a
relative, Anna Harasymiv.
Berlin Founder
Priest and
Martyr Father Petro Verhun was born on November 18, 1890, in Horodok,
Lviv District. He held a Ph.D. in philosophy. On October 30, 1927, he was
ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky at St. George’s
Cathedral and was appointed to be the pastor and later the apostolic visitator
for Ukrainian Catholics in Germany. Priests and all the faithful, whom fate had
brought to a foreign land, gravitated to Father Verhun because they felt he was
a good shepherd who would give his life for his sheep.
In June 1945 he was
arrested by the Soviet security services in Berlin and sent to Siberia,
sentenced to eight years of hard labour. But even there, amid unbearable living
conditions, he knew how to gather the faithful around him, giving his own
personal example of perseverance in the faith. He died as a martyr for the
faith on February 7, 1957, in exile in the village of Anharsk, in the Krasnoyar
territory.
“My life is very
monotonous. I have enough to eat. I cook for myself. My greatest joy is that I
can pray every day without disturbances Finally I don’t need anything. I feel
that my head is tending little by little to my eternal rest. But I really would
rather die in the monastery.” – From the letters of Father Petro Verhun
written in Siberian exile.
Pastor of the East
Priest and
Martyr Father Oleksii Zarytskyi was born in 1912 in the village of
Bilche, in the Lviv District. From 1931 to 1934 he studied at the Lviv
Theological Academy. He was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Andrey
Sheptytsky in 1936. During his ministry in the village of Strutyna near
Zolochiv he gained the special favour of his parishioners. In 1948 he was
sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in the camps of Siberia and Kazakstan for
refusing to convert to Orthodoxy.
After his rehabilitation
in 1957, he returned to western Ukraine a number of times but again returned to
the east. Amid inhuman conditions Father Zarytskyi had a wide field for
pastoral ministry to people in a foreign land. He tirelessly took care not only
of Ukrainians but Poles, Germans, Russians, Greek and Roman Catholics. He
visited Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj in exile.
Father Zarytskyi was
sentenced a second time: two years for “vagrancy.” The guardian of children,
youth, the poor, he will forever remain in people’s memory an example of the
embodiment in life of the commandments to love God and neighbour. He died a
martyr for the faith on October 30, 1963, in a labour camp in a village in
Karaganda. His mortal remains were reburied in 1990 in the village of
Riasna-Ruska near Lviv.
“That was in 1957 during
Lent, on Palm Sunday. Almost the whole village was waiting for him. There were
even people who went to the Orthodox Church, who hadn’t made their confession; they
were still waiting … And they waited until he came. When we told them that
Father Zarytskyi was here, everyone came to us to confess. Confessions started
in the evening and lasted almost to the morning. At dawn Father Zarytskyi
celebrated the divine liturgy. Very many people took advantage of the
opportunity: young and old. They got married, children were baptized. Father
Zarytskyi stayed with us the whole summer. But on September 21 he had to leave
for Karaganda; he had to return because they were waiting for him there” –
From an interview with Sister Konstantsia Seniuk.
Light in the Catacombs
Stalin’s death in March
1953 and Khruschev’s “thaw” began a new period in the way of the cross of the
UGCC: the catacombs. The main protagonists of this period of the Church’s life
were the bishops, priests, monks, nuns and faithful who had returned home from
the camps and exile. Having survived unspeakable physical and moral tortures,
they encountered a different western Ukraine: bloodless, frightened by the terror,
deceived by the atheist-communist ideology, but in spite of all that it was
still alive and waiting for the resurrection.
These people who knew how
to preserve in their hearts faith in Christ and faithfulness to their Church
became little islands around which the gradual renewal of Church structures
began. Thanks to the unbending character of the martyr bishops, the
perseverance of the clergy and the faithfulness of the laity, the UGCC survived
the period of official “liquidation,” organized the underground and gave birth
to a new generation of Church leaders. For almost half a century it was the
largest illegal Christian community in the world and at the same time the
largest organism of social opposition to the totalitarian system of the USSR.
“And so take up every
divine weapon so that you can stand fast during the storms and, overcoming
everything, survive. Stand up, therefore, girding your thigh with truth and
clothing yourself with the armour of justice … But above all take in your hands
the shield of faith, with which you will be able to defeat the fiery arrows of
the Evil One. And take up the helmet of salvation and the spiritual sword,
which is the word of God.” – From a letter of Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj,
written in exile, February 17, 1961.
Healer of Souls
Bishop and
Martyr Mykola Charnetskyi was born on September 14, 1884, in the
village of Semakivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk District. After he completed his studies
at the local seminary in Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1909. He
obtained his doctorate in dogmatic theology from Rome and became a spiritual
director and professor at the seminary in Ivano-Frankivsk. In 1919 he entered
the novitiate of the Redemptorist Fathers in Lviv, and in 1926 he was appointed
apostolic visitator for Ukrainian Catholics in Volyn, Polissia, Kholm and
Pidliashia. A model religious leader and missionary, he zealously worked for
the union of the Holy Church. He was ordained to the episcopacy by Bishop
Hryhorii Khomyshyn in Rome on February 2, 1931.
He was arrested by the
NKVD on April 11, 1945, and sentenced to six years of hard labour in Siberia.
According to official data, he underwent 600 hours of interrogation and torture
and spent time in 30 different prisons and camps. Terminally ill, in 1956 he
was permitted to return to western Ukraine, where he secretly continued to
fulfil his episcopal obligations. In the midst of the cruelty and oppression
which he suffered in imprisonment and in exile, he was distinguished for his
evangelical patience, gentleness and limitless goodness; already during his
life he was considered a holy man. As a consequence of his sufferings, he died
a martyr for the faith on April 2, 1959, in Lviv.
“I saw him. He was a very
humble person. The first time I came for instruction from the bishop, he was
sweeping the house. I wanted to help him, to take the broom, but he didn’t let
me. He himself swept. ‘Have a seat,’ he said. I was embarrassed that the bishop
was sweeping, but I was sitting, because he wouldn’t let me. He told how many
priests who had signed over to Orthodoxy, came to him to confess nearly 300
priests, they repented and came to him.” – From an interview with Father
Vasyl Voronovskyi.
Discrete Member of the
Underground
Bishop and
Martyr Semeon Lukach was born on July 7, 1893, in the village of
Starunia, Ivano-Frankivsk District. In 1913 he entered the seminary. He
finished the seminary in Ivano-Frankivsk and was ordained a priest in 1919. In
December 1920 he was appointed professor of moral theology at the seminary
where he had earlier studied. He secretly received episcopal ordination in the
spring of 1945 before the arrest of Bishop Hryhorii Khomyshyn. On October 26,
1949, he was arrested by the Soviet secret police. Sentenced in August 1950 to
10 years of imprisonment, he carried out hard labour in a lumber camp in
Krasnoyarsk. He was freed on February 11, 1955, and returned to his native
land. In July 1962 he was arrested for a second time and was sentenced to five
years in a severe colony. During his interrogations he showed his unbroken
perseverance, discretion and faithfulness to the Catholic Church. In March 1964
because of his critical condition, tuberculosis of the lungs, he was taken to
his native village, Starunia. He died a martyr for the faith on August 22,
1964.
“I celebrated divine
liturgy in an apartment and in a few houses. From one to 30 people took part in
the services I also baptized and celebrated marriages But conscience does not
allow me to mention their names, so that my mistake will not cause those people
who sought spiritual help from me to suffer. I acted in good faith, serving
God’s will, so I was in danger of colliding with state laws. If the state finds
me guilty, I myself will take the responsibility.” – From the
autobiography in the court case written after his arrest in 1949.
Unbroken
“Conversationalist”
Bishop and
Martyr Ivan Sleziuk was born on January 14, 1896, in the village of
Zhyvachiv, Ivano-Frankivsk District. After graduating from the eparchial
seminary in 1923 he was ordained to the priesthood. He served as a catechist
and spiritual director in Ivano-Frankivsk. In April of 1945 Bishop Hryhory
Khomyshyn secretly ordained him a bishop. On June 2, 1945, Bishop Sleziuk was
arrested, and a year later he was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. He served
his sentence in camps in Vorkuta and Mordovia, Russia. Released from prison, he
returned to Ivano-Frankivsk and carried out the duties of administrator of the
eparchy.
In 1962 he was arrested
for the second time, together with Bishop Semeon Lukach, and was sentenced to
five years’ imprisonment in harsh camps. After his release in 1968 he ordained
Basilian Sofron Dmyterko a bishop. Bishop Dmyterko succeeded him in guiding the
eparchy. In his final years Bishop Sleziuk was often called to the KGB for regular
“conversations.” After one of these “conversations” he fell ill and never
recovered. He died a martyr for the faith on December 2, 1973, in
Ivano-Frankivsk.
“As the deceased himself
said, they locked him in a separate isolated area, and no one visited him. He
stayed there for two hours. Then they told him: ‘You’re free to go.’ It was
difficult for him to walk because, as he himself said, after this he felt
dizzy, as if he had a fever, his skin was burning. The Sisters of St. Vincent,
who helped him out, also said that the bishop returned from this ‘conversation’
with a very red face, he felt exhausted, stayed in bed and died two weeks
later. There was and still is a suspicion that the KGB used radiation to get
rid of one more Uniate bishop.” – From the testimony of Bishop Sofron
Dmyterko.
Worthy Acting Head
Bishop and
Martyr Vasyl Velychkovsky was born June 1, 1903, in Ivano-Frankivsk. In
1920 he entered the seminary in Lviv. In 1925 in Holosko, near Lviv, he took
his first religious vows in the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer and was
ordained a priest. Father Vasyl became a missionary in Volyn. In 1942 he became
the hegumen (prior) of the monastery in Ternopil, where he was arrested in
1945. He was then taken to Kyiv. His death sentence was soon commuted to 10
years of imprisonment and hard labor. He returned to Lviv in 1955, where he
continued his pastoral work.
In 1963 he was secretly
ordained an archbishop in a Moscow hotel by Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj, who, on
his way to exile in Rome, passed Bishop Velychkovsky the responsibility for the
catacomb Church. Predicting his own possible arrest, he ordained new
underground bishops in 1964. Among them was his successor, Archbishop Volodymyr
Sterniuk, who eventually led the Church out of the underground. In 1969 Bishop
Velychkovsky was arrested a second time, but after three years of imprisonment
he was deported outside the USSR. He died in Winnipeg on June 30, 1973, as a
consequence of serious heart disease which began when he was in prison.
“After many years spent
in prisons and labour camps, how pleasant it is to be free with my fellow
Ukrainians. What joy to go to pray freely in a Ukrainian church, where no one
will send you to the camps or prison because of your prayers The prisons and
camps ruined my health and my strength, but this was my fate, the Lord God
placed this cross on my shoulders.” – From the last speech of Bishop Vasyl
Velychkovsky to the faithful in Canada, June 17, 1973.
In Lieu of an Epilogue
“The metropolitan lay
calmly with eyes shut and breathed with difficulty, as he had previously. Then
he began to pray again. He opened his eyes and began to talk to us: ‘Our Church
will be ruined, destroyed by the Bolsheviks, but you will hold on, do not
renounce the faith, the Catholic Church. A difficult trial will fall on our
Church, but it is passing. I see the rebirth of our Church, it will be more
beautiful, more glorious than of old, and it will embrace all our people.
‘Ukraine,’ the metropolitan continued, ‘will rise again from her destruction and
will become a mighty state, united, great, comparable to other highly-developed
countries. Peace, well-being, happiness, high culture, mutual love and harmony
will rule here. It will all be as I say. It is only necessary to pray that the
Lord God and the mother of God will care for our poor tired people, who have
suffered so much and that God’s care will last forever.’” – From an
interview with Father Yosyf Kladochnyi about Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky’s
last moments of earthly life.
Source
The official website of
the papal visit to Ukraine, http://www.papalvisit.org.ua. Oleh Turii, candidate of
historical studies and acting director of the Institute of Church History at
the Lviv Theological Academy, prepared this text on the basis of materials of
the Postulation Center for the Beatification and Canonization of Saints of the
UGCC and the archives of the Institute of Church History at the LTA.
The Beatified
Sister Josaphata
(Michaelina) Hordashevska
Father Leonid Feodorov
Father Mykola Konrad
Volodymyr Pryima
Father Andrii Ischak
Father Severian Baranyk
Father Yakym Senkivskyi
Father Zenovii Kovalyk
Father Emilian Kovch
Sister Tarsykia Matskiv
Father Vitalii Bairak
Father Roman Lysko
Bishop Hryhorii Khomyshyn
Bishop Theodore Romzha
Bishop Josaphat
Kotsylovsky
Bishop Mykyta Budka
Bishop Hryhorii Lakota
Archimandrite Klymentii
Sheptytsky
Father Mykola Tsehelskyi
Father Ivan Ziatyk
Sister Olympia Olha Bida
Sister Lavrentia
Herasymiv
Fahter Petro Verhun
Father Oleksii Zarytskyi
Bishop Mykola Charnetskyi
Bishop Semeon Lukach
Bishop Ivan Sleziuk
Bishop Vasyl Velychkovsky
SOURCE : https://icshrine.org/new-martyrs-of-ukrainian-church/
Beata Olimpia
(Olga) Bidà Vergine e martire
>>> Visualizza la
Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
Tsebliv, Lviv, 1903 -
Kharsk, Siberia, 28 gennaio 1952
Olimpia (Olha) Bidà,
religiosa ucraina, è stata beatificata da Giovanni Paolo II a Leopoli (Lviv)
insieme ad altri 24 martiri del comunismo il 27 giugno 2001. Nata nel 1903 in
un villaggio della regione di Leopoli, apparteneva alla comunità greco-cattolica.
Divenuta suora della Congregazione di San Giuseppe, operò come catechista,
maestra delle novizie e nell'assistenza ad anziani e malati. Un'attività di
sostegno ai fedeli che divenne ancor più preziosa dopo il 1945, sotto la
persecuzione comunista, che spedì nei lager molti sacerdoti. Anche lei subì
controlli repressivi come superiora del convento di Kheriv. Nell'aprile del
1950, mentre accompagnava un funerale, venne arrestata con una consorella. Capo
d'accusa: attività antisovietica. Deportata nel lager di Kharsk, in Siberia,
continuò a esercitare il suo apostolato, organizzando con altre religiose
gruppi di preghiera e supporto ai prigionieri. Morì nel 1952 di stenti e per le
mancate cure mediche. (Avvenire)
Emblema: Palma
Martirologio
Romano: Nel campo di prigionia di Kharsk presso Tomsk nella Siberia in
Russia, beata Olimpia (Olga) Bidà, vergine della Congregazione delle Suore di
San Giuseppe e martire, che in regime di persecuzione contro la fede sopportò
ogni avversità per amore di Cristo.
Ol’ga nasce nel villaggio Cebliv, regione di Leopoli. Ancor giovane entra nel monastero delle suore della Congregazione di San Giuseppe, che si trova nel suo villaggio. Prende i voti con il nome di Olimpija e lavora nella scuola, dedicandosi all’educazione cristiana delle ragazze nel villaggio Žužel’. Nel 1938 è nominata superiora del monastero della città di Chyrov.
Nel 1939, con l’invasione dell’esercito sovietico nell’Ucraina Occidentale, iniziano le repressioni in massa contro l’intelligencija del luogo. Le monache vengono avvertite che per evitare l’arresto devono svestire l’abito religioso e disperdersi in vari appartamenti. Durante l’occupazione tedesca, con l’infuriare della fame, le suore si preoccupano di trovare i generi alimentari necessari e di distribuirli ai più bisognosi. Al tempo stesso organizzano momenti di preghiera comune.
Dopo l’unione della Ucraina occidentale con l’URSS, inizia il processo di liquidazione della chiesa greco-cattolica e la deportazione in massa della popolazione locale in Siberia, con l’accusa di aver sostenuto il movimento nazionalistico. Suor Olimpia, assieme alle altre suore, organizza una raccolta di viveri per le famiglie con bambini piccoli. Durante la repressione, quando tutti i monasteri vengono chiusi, le suore del convento di Chyrov decidono di passare alla clandestinità. La comunità monastica e la parrocchia procurano segretamente alimenti al sacerdote greco cattolico Taras Bobkovič, che era stato arrestato nel 1949. La vigilia di Natale le suore preparano le prosfore (pane benedetto che può servire anche per la celebrazione liturgica), che poi i bambini portano nelle case dei contadini con l’augurio: «Vi preghiamo di accettare la prosfora che la Chiesa vi dona e di mangiarla in onore della Natività di Cristo». A questo punto l’NKVD incomincia a sorvegliare le suore, sottoponendole a frequenti perquisizioni e invitandole ad andarsene. La chiesa greco-cattolica viene chiusa e le suore frequentano la chiesa cattolica di rito latino nella vicina città di Dobromil’.
Nel 1950 tutte le suore del monastero vengono arrestate mentre ritornano dalla messa. Sono accusate di attività illegali e, in cambio della liberazione, gli agenti propongono loro di passare alla Chiesa ortodossa. Le suore rifiutano. Vengono liberate, ma dopo pochi giorni, mentre suor Olimpija assieme alle altre suore ed un centinaio di fedeli pregano insieme al cimitero, interviene la polizia. Suor Olimpija e le altre suore vengono arrestate e trasportate direttamente nel lager di Borislav. Nel lager le suore dormono sul pavimento, i primi dieci giorni non ricevono nulla da mangiare e poi sono nutrite a pane e acqua. Il processo viene celebrato il 18 marzo 1950. Suor Olimpia viene condannata al «confino perpetuo» nella regione di Tomsk (Siberia) «per attività antisovietica e propaganda religiosa». La stessa sorte tocca alle suore Lavrentija, Glikerija, Areta e Makrina. Il 12 giugno 1950 le suore vengono caricate su vagoni merci alla volta di Tomsk. Il viaggio dura due settimane. Da Tomsk a Čerkasov vengono trasportate per nave. Qui si fermano quattro giorni, poi vengono caricate su un motoscafo e finalmente scaricate a Charsk, nelle vicinanze di un vero e proprio plesso di lager (il «SibULON»), dove i detenuti vivono in condizioni insostenibili. Nel villaggio abitano invece i condannati al confino. Le suore vengono collocate in una piccola casa e ogni giorno portate al lavoro: d’inverno ad abbattere alberi e d’estate a tagliare il fieno. Per ottenere il permesso di essere esonerati dal lavoro per malattia, bisogna percorrere a piedi 12 chilometri per raggiungere l’infermeria più vicina.
Suor Olimpija Bida muore di stenti il 28 gennaio 1952 a 49 anni. Dopo sei mesi muore di tubercolosi suor Lavrentija. La terza, suor Glikerija, percorre 80 chilometri a piedi per trovare un sacerdote greco-cattolico al confino che possa celebrare una funzione in suffragio delle due consorelle morte.
Suor Olimpija Bida viene beatificata il 27 giugno 2001 in occasione della
visita di papa Giovanni Paolo II in Ucraina.
Fonte : www.russiacristiana.org
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90655
Den
salige Olympia Bidà (1903-1952)
Minnedag: 2.
april
Den salige Olympia ble født som Olga Bidà (Olha) i
1903 i landsbyen Tsebliv i oblast (distriktet) Lviv i Vest-Ukraina. Hun
tilhørte den gresk-katolske «unerte» Kirken i landet. Hun sluttet seg til St.
Josefssøstrene og tjenestegjorde i ulike byer og landsbyer som katekismelærer
og novisemester, og i tillegg pleide hun de gamle og syke. Hun hadde en
spesiell nådegave for ungdom og sørget personlig for at en rekke unge kvinner
fikk oppdragelse og utdannelse.
I 1938 ble hun overført
til klosteret i byen Khyriv sammen med den salige sr. Laurentia Herasymiv,
og deretter var deres skjebner knyttet sammen til døden. Olympia ble utnevnt
til superior. Hun gjorde sitt beste for å dekke folkets åndelige og sosiale
behov, til tross for det kommunistiske presset mot deres arbeid etter
etableringen av Sovjetregimet. Hun og andre søstre led under en rekke angrep på
klosteret. Likevel fortsatte hun å ta seg av barna, drive katekese og
organisere gudstjenester under jorden, ofte uten prest.
I 1950 ble hun arrestert
sammen med to andre søstre av soldater fra NKVD (forløperen til KGB). Hun satt
en tid i en hard arbeidsleir i Boryslav før hun sammen med sr. Laurentia ble
dømt til livsvarig forvisning til regionen Tomsk i Sibir for «anti-sovjetisk
virksomhet». Hun ble satt til hardt tvangsarbeid, men selv under disse
forholdene prøvde hun å utføre sine plikter som superior. Hun organiserte sine
søstre og andre søstre i andre leirer for å komme sammen og be og støtte
hverandre. Hun fikk en alvorlig sykdom, og etter relativt kort tid døde hun den
23. januar 1952.
Den 24. april 2001 ble
dekretet som anerkjente hennes og andre ukraineres martyrium (gruppen den salige Nikolas Carneckyj og
hans 24 ledsagere) promulgert i Vatikanet av Helligkåringskongregasjonen i
nærvær av pave Johannes Paul II (1978-2005). Dermed fikk de
tittelen Venerabilis, «Ærverdige», og veien til saligkåring var åpnet.
Gruppen består av åtte biskoper, seks sekularprester, syv ordensprester, tre
ordenssøstre og en legmann.
De ble saligkåret den 27.
juni 2001 av pave Johannes Paul II under hans besøk i Ukraina. Deres minnedag
er 2. april, Nikolas Carneckyjs dødsdag. Samtidig ble to andre gresk-katolske
ukrainere, en rutensk biskop og to latinske katolikker også saligkåret.
Kilder: Patron
Saints SQPN, papalvisit.org.ua, vatican.va, EWTN/OR - Kompilasjon og
oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden -
Sist oppdatert: 2005-07-04 23:52
SOURCE : https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/obida
Voir aussi : http://www.swzygmunt.knc.pl/MARTYROLOGIUM/POLISHRELIGIOUS/vENGLISH/HTMs/POLISHRELIGIOUSmartyr0117.htm
