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Patriarch Mstyslav (Stepan Skrypnyk)
Encyclopedia
Patriarch Mstyslav, secular name Stepan Ivanovych Skrypnyk (10 April 1898 - 11 June 1993), was a Ukrainian Orthodox
Church hierarch.
Born in Poltava
(Russian Empire
, now Ukraine
), Stepan Skrypnyk was the nephew of Symon Petlura
, a prominent Ukrainian military and political figure. Skrypnyk attended the Poltava First Classical Gymnasium
and dreamt of a military career through his youth. During the Great War
years he studied at the Officers' school in Orenburg
located in the Russian Ural Mountains
.
Following the 1917 Russian Revolution
Skrypnyk became a diplomatic courier for the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic
. He then served as first sergeant for special missions for Petlura.
In the early 1920s he was interned
by Poland
to an internment camp in Kalisz
. Later, he briefly settled in Volhynia
but had to leave under the pressure of the Polish authorities. He then moved to Galicia and became an activist for the Ukrainian movement in Poland
which controlled the ethnically Ukrainian territories of Galicia and Volhynia
between the world wars. Following his attendance of the Warsaw School of Political Sciences he was elected in 1930
to the Polish Sejm from the Ukrainian population of Volhynia. He also served as vice-mayor of Rivne
in the 1930s. In this period Skrypnyk collaborated with the Polish voivode of Volhynia
, Henryk Józewski
in his Prometheist
policies supporting moderate Ukrainians as a counterweight to Soviet communism. Serving in Sejm until 1939 Skrypnyk attained the reputation of the defender of the Ukrainian minority rights in Poland, especially of the Orthodox Faith in the predominantly Orthodox Volhynia against the assimilationist policies of Polish authorities.
At the beginning of the Second World War
, the Ukrainian life in some Nazi-occupied territories of Poland
initially experienced a significant degree of revival as the Nazi
policies played with pitting the ethnic groups with a historically complicated relationship
against each other, giving an upper hand to Poles or Ukrainians in different regions as the Nazis saw fit.
When the Ukrainian Committee and the Temporary Church Council was formed in Cholm (Chełm), Skrypnyk was elected a council deputy head (1940). In April 1942 Skrypnyk, by then a widower, entered the priesthood. He took monastic vows in the following month and soon after was ordained (May 14) as the Bishop
Mstyslav of Pereiaslav
by the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
(UAOC). The consecration took place in the Church of St Andrew in Kyiv.
In August 1942, the German occupational authorities
banned Mstyslav from Kiev General-Governorate
. As Mstyslav disobeyed the order, he was arrested in Rivne
. On Gestapo
accusations he spent half a year imprisoned in Chernihiv
and Pryluky
. He was freed in spring 1943 but was ordered not to leave Kiev and banned from conducting religious services.
In 1944 he moved to Warsaw
and later to Germany, where he was the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox eparchies in Hessen and Württemberg. In 1947 he left for Canada where he was elected the first resident hierarch of the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church
(UGOC) as an archbishop
of Winnipeg
. He left the UGOC due to conflict about the balance of power between the bishop and church administrators. The focal point of this conflict was between Mstyslav and Fr. Semen Sawchuk, who was the administrator of the UGOC consistory.
In 1949 he moved to the USA and joined the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America (UOC in America), then headed by Bishop Bohdan (Zhuk). At the 1950 Council (Sobor) in New York City
he succeeded in bringing about unification of the UOC in America with the much larger Archdiocese eparchy
of Archbishop John (Theodorovich), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA (UOC of USA). Archbishop John was elected as Metropolitan of the newly united UOC of USA. Archbishop Mstyslav became his deputy and the head of the Consistory
. In the US, Bishop Mstyslav began extensive church activity with the Ukrainian Orthodox Center, a publishing house, library and seminary being built in South Bound Brook, New Jersey
. After the death of Metropolitan Nikanor (Abramovych) in 1969 his authority was extended over the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Churches of Europe and Australia. During his meetings with Ecumenical Patriarch in 1963 and 1971 he brought up the issue of the canonical recognition of the Ukrainian Diaspora churches (UAOC was banned in the USSR, and hence in Soviet Ukraine at that time).
In 1990 at the age of 92 he was elected in absentia as the first Patriarch of Kyiv and all Ukraine of the UAOC
. He was enthroned as Patriarch Mstyslav I, on November 6, 1990 in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv
.
As the status of the new church as well as the overall situation with the Orthodox faith in Ukraine became a subject of the wide controversy, following the 1991 attainment of Ukrainian independence (and continued to this day; see History of Christianity in Ukraine
), the newly-elected ailing patriarch was unable to alleviate any of the problems. He soon died (June 11, 1993) at his daughter's home in Canada at the age of 95 and was buried in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
center in South Bound Brook, New Jersey
.
After his death, a part of UAOC united with UOC to form the UOC-KP with Volodomyr (Romaniuk) as Patriarch, while another part of UOC refused the union and elected Patriarch Dymytriy (Yarema) as his successor. Church matters and unity remain largely in disarray. The issue of repatriating Mstyslav's relics to Ukraine is occasionally raised but no firm plans for this exist.
History of Christianity in Ukraine
The History of Christianity in Ukraine dates back to the earliest centuries of the apostolic church. It has remained the dominant religion in the country since its acceptance in 988 by Vladimir the Great , who instated it as the state religion of Kievan Rus', a medieval East Slavic state.Although...
Church hierarch.
Born in Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
(Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, now Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
), Stepan Skrypnyk was the nephew of Symon Petlura
Symon Petlura
Symon Vasylyovych Petliura was a publicist, writer, journalist, Ukrainian politician, statesman, and national leader who led Ukraine's struggle for independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917....
, a prominent Ukrainian military and political figure. Skrypnyk attended the Poltava First Classical Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
and dreamt of a military career through his youth. During the Great War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
years he studied at the Officers' school in Orenburg
Orenburg
Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...
located in the Russian Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
.
Following the 1917 Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
Skrypnyk became a diplomatic courier for the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
. He then served as first sergeant for special missions for Petlura.
In the early 1920s he was interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
by Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
to an internment camp in Kalisz
Kalisz
Kalisz is a city in central Poland with 106,857 inhabitants , the capital city of the Kalisz Region. Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, the city forms a conurbation with the nearby towns of Ostrów Wielkopolski and Nowe Skalmierzyce...
. Later, he briefly settled in Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
but had to leave under the pressure of the Polish authorities. He then moved to Galicia and became an activist for the Ukrainian movement in Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
which controlled the ethnically Ukrainian territories of Galicia and Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
between the world wars. Following his attendance of the Warsaw School of Political Sciences he was elected in 1930
Polish legislative election, 1930
Polish legislative election, 1930, also known as the Brest elections , were the elections to the Sejm on 16 November 1930. The pro-Sanacja Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem party took 56% of the votes...
to the Polish Sejm from the Ukrainian population of Volhynia. He also served as vice-mayor of Rivne
Rivne
Rivne or Rovno is a historic city in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Rivne Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Rivne Raion within the oblast...
in the 1930s. In this period Skrypnyk collaborated with the Polish voivode of Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
, Henryk Józewski
Henryk Józewski
Henryk Józewski was a Polish visual artist, politician, a member of government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, later an administrator during the Second Polish Republic....
in his Prometheist
Prometheism
Prometheism or Prometheanism was a political project initiated by Poland's Józef Piłsudski. Its aim was to weaken the Russian Empire and its successor states, including the Soviet Union, by supporting nationalist independence movements among the major non-Russian peoples that lived within the...
policies supporting moderate Ukrainians as a counterweight to Soviet communism. Serving in Sejm until 1939 Skrypnyk attained the reputation of the defender of the Ukrainian minority rights in Poland, especially of the Orthodox Faith in the predominantly Orthodox Volhynia against the assimilationist policies of Polish authorities.
At the beginning of the Second World War
World 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 Ukrainian life in some Nazi-occupied territories of Poland
Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany
At the beginning of World War II, nearly a quarter of the pre-war Polish areas were annexed by Nazi Germany and placed directly under German civil administration, while the rest of Nazi occupied Poland was named as General Government...
initially experienced a significant degree of revival as the Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
policies played with pitting the ethnic groups with a historically complicated relationship
Polonization
Polonization was the acquisition or imposition of elements of Polish culture, in particular, Polish language, as experienced in some historic periods by non-Polish populations of territories controlled or substantially influenced by Poland...
against each other, giving an upper hand to Poles or Ukrainians in different regions as the Nazis saw fit.
When the Ukrainian Committee and the Temporary Church Council was formed in Cholm (Chełm), Skrypnyk was elected a council deputy head (1940). In April 1942 Skrypnyk, by then a widower, entered the priesthood. He took monastic vows in the following month and soon after was ordained (May 14) as the Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
Mstyslav of Pereiaslav
Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi
Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi is a town located where Alta River flows into Trubizh River in the Kiev Oblast in central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi Raion , the town itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast...
by the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is one of the three major Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. Close to ten percent of the Christian population claim to be members of the UAOC. The other Churches are the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Russophile Orthodox...
(UAOC). The consecration took place in the Church of St Andrew in Kyiv.
In August 1942, the German occupational authorities
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
Reichskommissariat Ukraine , literally "Reich Commissariat of Ukraine", was the civilian occupation regime of much of German-occupied Ukraine during World War II. Between September 1941 and March 1944, the Reichskommissariat was administered by Reichskommissar Erich Koch as a colony...
banned Mstyslav from Kiev General-Governorate
Governorate
A governorate is an administrative division of a country. It is headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states, provinces, or colonies, the term governorate is often used in translation from non-English-speaking administrations.The...
. As Mstyslav disobeyed the order, he was arrested in Rivne
Rivne
Rivne or Rovno is a historic city in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Rivne Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Rivne Raion within the oblast...
. On Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
accusations he spent half a year imprisoned in Chernihiv
Chernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
and Pryluky
Pryluky
Pryluky or Priluki is a city located on the Udai River in the Chernihiv Oblast, north-central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Prylutsky Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate municipality within the oblast...
. He was freed in spring 1943 but was ordered not to leave Kiev and banned from conducting religious services.
In 1944 he moved to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
and later to Germany, where he was the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox eparchies in Hessen and Württemberg. In 1947 he left for Canada where he was elected the first resident hierarch of the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada is an Eastern Orthodox Church in Canada, primarily serving Ukrainian Canadians. Its former name was the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada ...
(UGOC) as an archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
. He left the UGOC due to conflict about the balance of power between the bishop and church administrators. The focal point of this conflict was between Mstyslav and Fr. Semen Sawchuk, who was the administrator of the UGOC consistory.
In 1949 he moved to the USA and joined the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America (UOC in America), then headed by Bishop Bohdan (Zhuk). At the 1950 Council (Sobor) in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
he succeeded in bringing about unification of the UOC in America with the much larger Archdiocese eparchy
Eparchy
Eparchy is an anglicized Greek word , authentically Latinized as eparchia and loosely translating as 'rule over something,' like province, prefecture, or territory, to have the jurisdiction over, it has specific meanings both in politics, history and in the hierarchy of the Eastern Christian...
of Archbishop John (Theodorovich), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA (UOC of USA). Archbishop John was elected as Metropolitan of the newly united UOC of USA. Archbishop Mstyslav became his deputy and the head of the Consistory
Consistory
-Antiquity:Originally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek synedrion ....
. In the US, Bishop Mstyslav began extensive church activity with the Ukrainian Orthodox Center, a publishing house, library and seminary being built in South Bound Brook, New Jersey
South Bound Brook, New Jersey
South Bound Brook is a Borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 4,563.What is now South Bound Brook was originally formed as a town within Franklin Township...
. After the death of Metropolitan Nikanor (Abramovych) in 1969 his authority was extended over the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Churches of Europe and Australia. During his meetings with Ecumenical Patriarch in 1963 and 1971 he brought up the issue of the canonical recognition of the Ukrainian Diaspora churches (UAOC was banned in the USSR, and hence in Soviet Ukraine at that time).
In 1990 at the age of 92 he was elected in absentia as the first Patriarch of Kyiv and all Ukraine of the UAOC
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is one of the three major Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. Close to ten percent of the Christian population claim to be members of the UAOC. The other Churches are the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Russophile Orthodox...
. He was enthroned as Patriarch Mstyslav I, on November 6, 1990 in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev is an outstanding architectural monument of Kievan Rus'. Today, it is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first Ukrainian patrimony to be inscribed on the World Heritage List along with the Kiev Cave Monastery complex...
.
As the status of the new church as well as the overall situation with the Orthodox faith in Ukraine became a subject of the wide controversy, following the 1991 attainment of Ukrainian independence (and continued to this day; see History of Christianity in Ukraine
History of Christianity in Ukraine
The History of Christianity in Ukraine dates back to the earliest centuries of the apostolic church. It has remained the dominant religion in the country since its acceptance in 988 by Vladimir the Great , who instated it as the state religion of Kievan Rus', a medieval East Slavic state.Although...
), the newly-elected ailing patriarch was unable to alleviate any of the problems. He soon died (June 11, 1993) at his daughter's home in Canada at the age of 95 and was buried in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA is a jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the United States. It consists of three eparchies , ruled by two diocesan bishops, including about 85 active parishes and missions. The Church's current primate is Metropolitan Constantine...
center in South Bound Brook, New Jersey
South Bound Brook, New Jersey
South Bound Brook is a Borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 4,563.What is now South Bound Brook was originally formed as a town within Franklin Township...
.
After his death, a part of UAOC united with UOC to form the UOC-KP with Volodomyr (Romaniuk) as Patriarch, while another part of UOC refused the union and elected Patriarch Dymytriy (Yarema) as his successor. Church matters and unity remain largely in disarray. The issue of repatriating Mstyslav's relics to Ukraine is occasionally raised but no firm plans for this exist.