Council of Lviv 1946
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Council of Lviv (Ukrainian: Льві́вський собор 1946 ро́ку, romanized: Lvivskyi sobor 1946 roku), or Pseudo-Council of Lviv[1] (Ukrainian: Льві́вський псевдособор, romanized: Lvivskyi psevdosobor) was Council (March 8–10, 1946), convened in Lviv in accordance with the plan of the NKVD of the USSR to liquidate the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, an initiative group of three priests: Havriil Kostelnyk, Mykhailo Melnyk, Antonii Pelvetskyii as representatives of the three dioceses of the Galician metropolitanate: Lviv, Przemyśl and Stanislaviv, not recognized by the Holy See. Since there were no bishops of the UGCC at this council, due to which, according to canon law, the Lviv "Council" was only a non-canonical assembly. That is why both the UGCC and the entire Catholic Church consider this meeting a pseudo-council.
The decision of the Initiative Group and the convening of the "council" was preceded by mass physical and moral terror of the NKVD in 1944–1946 against all hierarchs of the Greek Catholic Church in Galicia led by Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj — and their conviction by secret trial in Kyiv in 1946 imprisonment or exile to forced labor camps.
The initiative group was formed on May 28, 1945. Fr. dr. Gavriil Kostelnyk, who was appointed administrator of the Lviv Archdiocese by the KGB in April 1945.[2]
The vicar of the Przemyśl eparchy, Fr. Mykhailo Melnyk and the parson of Kopychyntsi, Stanislaviv Eparchy, Fr. Antin (Anthonyi) Pelvetskyii. Subsequently, the initiative group asked for permission to officially conduct its activities:
| “ | Our Church is in a state of powerlessness and disorientation […] Therefore, we, the undersigned, leading representatives of our three dioceses, decided to bring our Church from anarchy to a state of consolidation to transform it into the Orthodox Church […] Namely, we decided to lead the Initiative Group of the Greek Catholic Church for Reunification with the Orthodox Church […] So, please approve our Initiative Group and recognize its right to carry out the planned work.[3] | ” |
Subsequently, the members of the Initiative Group began "urging the Ukrainian Catholic clergy to follow the example of" Ukraine's political union with Russia "to join the ROC.".
After some time, the Initiative Group receives permission to lead the Church in Galicia as a single Church body: “On June 18, 1945, at the direction of the government, the activities of the Central Initiative Group were sanctioned by Pavel Khodchenko, an authorized representative of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR”.
And in early 1946, Kostelnyk asked the local authorities to allow the council to be held from March 8 to 10 of the same year in St. George's Cathedral. On February 12 of the same year, Patriarch Alexy sent Kostelnyk a telegram blessing the council in Lviv, and a meeting of the initiative group in Lviv on February 18 to approve the lists of participants in the council.[2]
The council, attended by 216 representatives of the local clergy and a delegation from the Moscow Patriarchate, unanimously decided to liquidate the Union of Brest 1596, to break with the Vatican and reunite with the Russian Orthodox Church.
In fact, the "council" was uncanonical, because its convocations and decisions violated church canons; Even before the council, three members of the Initiative Group converted to Russian Orthodoxy (two of them, M. Melnyk and J. Pelvetskyi, were secretly ordained bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church). The "council" itself was prepared and governed by the directives of Patriarch Alexy I of the Russian Orthodox Church and Soviet authorities.
In the spirit of the decrees of this "council", the Greek Catholic Church was gradually liquidated in the Zakarpattia Oblast of Ukraine (1946-1949) and in the Presov region (1950).
The consequences of the Lviv Pseudo-Council from the point of view of Greek Catholics were eliminated in 1989–1990, although a certain part of the population of Galicia remained in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Resolution of the Council[edit]
March 8, 1946
Gathering in St. George's Cathedral in Lviv, for the first time in the history of freedom-loving peoples, fraternally united in the Great Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, united in a single Ukrainian Soviet state and the Ukrainian people united, after hearing the report of the head of the Greek Initiative Group Church of the Reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church Fr. Dr. Gavriil Kostelnyk and after the translated discussion, the Council states:
1. That Rome was artificially broken in the eleventh century from the original fraternal Orthodox-Conciliar Church in order to impose its dictatorship on the whole Church; that the church union was imposed on our people in. In the 16th century, Roman Catholic aggressive Poland, as a bridge to the unification and Zlatinization of our Ukrainian (and Belarusian) people; that in our present situation, when thanks to the heroic deeds and glorious victory of the Soviet Union, all Ukrainian lands came together and the Ukrainian people became masters of all their lands, it would be unwise to continue Uniate tendencies and it would be an unforgivable sin to continue hatred and brotherhood in our people. the struggle caused by the history of the union and always must be.
Based on these principles, the Council decided to reject the decisions of the Brest Council of 1596, to liquidate the union, to break away from the Vatican and return to our paternal holy Orthodox faith and the Russian Orthodox Church.
2. In view of Christ's words "that all may be one," that is, that Christians should unite in love and worship, deciding to join the Russian Holy Orthodox Church, the Council considers it necessary to send a request to His Holiness Alexy, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and to inform the Soviet People's Commissar of the Ukrainian SSR, as well as the Chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
3. Given that the popes of history have always pursued a selfish policy, the council is convinced that in an environment where freedom-loving peoples around the world fought for their existence, the Vatican was fully on the side of bloody fascism and opposed the Soviet Union, which Through the efforts of all fraternally united peoples, he protected our Ukrainian people from slavery and destruction and united all our lands into a single Conciliar Ukrainian Soviet State, and thus freed us from national and ecclesiastical and religious enslavement.
On behalf of all the clergy and the faithful, the Council expresses its deep gratitude for this liberation to the statesmen of the Great Soviet Union and the Ukrainian State, whose trust was so unanimously demonstrated by all nations during the elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
4. On the occasion of the return to the Holy Orthodox Church, the Council decided to send telegrams to His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, to His Holiness Alexy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, to His Eminence John, Metropolitan of Kyiv and Halych, His Excellency the Exarch from the council to all the clergy and the faithful of the Uniate Church to return to the faith of their ancestors.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Звернення Синоду єпископів Києво-Галицького Верховного Архиєпископства з приводу 60-ї річниці Львівського псевдособору 1946 року". Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Боцюрків 2005.
- ↑ Боцюрків 2005, p. 110.
- ↑ Постанова так званого Львівського собору 1946 р. щодо ліквідації Берестейської унії 1596 року Archived 2017-06-18 at the Wayback Machine // Сайт УГКЦ
Sources[edit]
- Bohdan R. Bociurkiw (2005). Oleh Turiĭ, ed. Українська Греко-католицька церква і радянська держава, 1939-1950 [Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Soviet State, 1939-1950] (in українська). Ukrainian Catholic University. ISBN 966-7034-55-0. Search this book on
- Н. С. Рубльова Львівський собор 1946 // Енциклопедія історії України : у 10 т. / редкол.: В. А. Смолій (голова) та ін. ; Інститут історії України НАН України. — К. : Наукова думка, 2009. — Т. 6 : Ла — Мі. — С. 365. — 784 с. : іл. — ISBN 978-966-00-1028-1.
- Н. С. Рубльова Львівський собор 1946 // Енциклопедія сучасної України : у 30 т. / ред. кол. І. М. Дзюба [та ін.] ; НАН України, НТШ. — К. : Інститут енциклопедичних досліджень НАН України, 2001–2020. — 10 000 прим. — ISBN 944-02-3354-X.
- Енциклопедія українознавства : Словникова частина : [в 11 т.] / Наукове товариство імені Шевченка ; гол. ред. проф., д-р Володимир Кубійович. — Париж—Нью-Йорк : Молоде життя, 1976. — Т. Кн. 2, [т. 8] : Символізм — Технічні рослини. — С. 2928.
- Діяння Собору Греко-католицької церкви у Львові 8–10 березня 1946 р. Видання Президії Собору. — Львів, 1946.
- First victims of Communism. — Roma, 1953.(англ.)(італ.)(нім.)
- Galter A. Le communisme et l'Eglise catholique. — Paris, 1956.
- Hrynioch I. Die Zerstörung der Ukrainisch-Katholischen Kirche. Ostkirchliche Studien, ч. 2. — Würzburg, 1963. (нім.)
External links[edit]
- Собор Львівський // Українська Релігієзнавча Енциклопедія
- (по російськи) Яков Кротов. Собор агентів. Яков Кротов – про чекістів і истово віруючих (Собор агентов. Яков Кротов – о чекистах и истово верующих). www.svoboda.org (Радіо Свобода). 9 липня 2018
- (по російськи) Марк Крутов. Єпископи на службі Луб'янки (Епископы на службе Лубянки). www.svoboda.org (Радіо Свобода). 23 січня 2018
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