Bukovyna in the life of metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi

Abstract

Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi earned the love and respect of Ukrainians during his lifetime with his selfless work. He did not only pay great attention to the development of the Greek Catholic Church, but also made every effort to raise the level of education, social importance, and ultimately restore and elevate the national dignity of the Ukrainian people. At the same time, it was equally important for him to carry out his pastoral ministry both in Galicia, where a large part of faithful Greek Catholics lived, and in the outskirts. Bukovyna occupied a special place in Andrei Sheptytskyi’s activities. Here, the Greek Catholic denomination was insignificant and accounted for only 3% of the total population of Bukovyna. But the metropolitan saw the need to support all local Ukrainians in a difficult period of formation of national aspirations. Cultural spaces were gradually filled with real life. But already from the beginning of the 20th century the Ukrainian people entered a difficult period of transformational processes and also needed strong economic and church support. In Bukovyna, where the majority of Ukrainians belonged to the Orthodox faith, the church became a field of confrontation with local Romanian politicians who sought to create a Romanian majority here for their own further political projects. Thus, the bishop saw the need for significant efforts to support the entire Ukrainian population of Bukovyna. At the same time, he believed that such activities should be carried out in full agreement with the authorities, representatives of other faiths and nationalities living in the region.
A careful study of all historical aspects, a living acquaintance with the real capabilities of the people of Bukovyna, the search for the most effective ways of developing the Ukrainian cause – all this became part of his four visits to Bukovyna at the end of the 19th – at the beginning of the 20th century. All of them were filled not only with the performance of pastoral duties, but also with communication with believers, politicians, and scientists of various faiths. This was one of the most important contributions of Metropolitan Sheptytskyi to the development of the Ukrainian cause in the region. Because with each of his visits, he raised the prestige of the entire Greek Catholic Church on the one hand and the Ukrainian people on the other.