BIRTH CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATED

All his adult life was dedicated to the Ukrainian Church, first as a layman and later as a cleric. He was born in Poltava guberniya. Before World War II he served in the Warsaw Sejm (Diet) and was a devout supporter of Orthodoxy. Returning to Ukraine during the Nazi occupation, he immediately joined the process of restoring the Autocephalous Church banned and suppressed by the Soviets over a decade earlier. In 1942 was ordained bishop at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. As bishop, his openly nationalist policy led to his arrest and incarceration by the Gestapo (1942-43). Emigrating to Canada after the war, he eventually became head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Canada. In 1971, Mstyslav Skrypnyk was elected head of this church in the USA.

Metropolitan Mstyslav’s church policy was marked by openness and ecumenism, with emphasis always on the national idea. He was always in support of cooperation among the various churches, particularly Ukrainian ones abroad, confession notwithstanding. He attended the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church as an observer and established contacts with the Ecumenical Patriarch. On learning about his election as UAOC Patriarch in Ukraine, he accepted in spite of his 92 years at the time, with a safe, stable, and prestigious standing in the US, and despite the fact that Patriarch Demetrius of Constantinople refused the UAOC canonical recognition.

Further events, however, took a course of wkich he could not approve. While still in the US, the UAOC united with part of the UOC, on Metropolitan Filaret’s initiative and without Skrypnyk’s knowledge and consent. It was thus that the Kyiv Patriarchate came to be. The Patriarch did not recognize this union and the rift in the Church deepened.

Patriarch Mstyslav passed away in 1993. Buried in Bound Brook, New Jersey at a Ukrainian cultural-religious center founded with his assistance. The Ukrainian Autocephalous Church is holding a number of ceremonies commemorating his jubilee. A commemorative medal will be coined and theological conferences held in various cities, dedicated to independent Ukraine’s first Patriarch. A gala evening will take place at the Lviv Opera. His son is expected from Canada to participate in the festivities.

PORTRAIT OF A SPIRITUAL LEADER

The righteous are seldom happy in this world, especially when also gifted. Even after death their virtues and glory attract like flypaper those who offended them during their lifetime. On April 7 the National Ukrainian Art Museum presented one such righteous man, Patriarch Mstyslav of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. His children, Yaroslav and Tamara, revere their father’s memory. This photo shows them together with the artist, Feodosiy Humeniuk. Of course, all the appropriate laudatory speeches were delivered by those who had scorned the celebrated clergyman in life.
Photo by Viktor Marushchenko, The Day