Oleg Tronko
Oleg Tronko (20 June 1918, Kiev, Ukrainian State – 27 February 1939, Rome, Italy) was a Catholic convert from Orthodoxy and a seminarist from Russicum.
Biography
Oleg Tronko was born in Kiev, and in September of the same year he was baptized as Orthodox. Oleg's father was an officer of the Volunteer Army. In December 1919 the family was forced to leave Kiev. The family settled in Armavir. Because of the approaching Red Army, his family had to move again, this time to Crimea, where the family was evacuated through Constantinople to Gallipoli, where they lived for 13 months.
In December 1921 the family moved to Bulgaria and in March 1922 settled in Turnovo. His father, Vladimir Tronko, became a regent in the Orthodox Cathedral, and his son studied at the Russian school. During the holidays, he was forced to work instead of rest, helping his blinded mother. Oleg was quite often sick. At 10 years old he fell ill with pneumonia, which was complicated by purulent pleurisy. The doctor declared that there was no hope of recovery. But his mother did not cease to pray for Oleg at Saint Therese the Little for the recovery of her son, and a few days later Oleg recovered his health.
In 1934 Oleg went to school in Sofia. During this period, he began a serious spiritual crisis. His mother urged him to go to church more often; however, he resolutely refused, citing the fact he did not understand the “basis” of religion and did not accept the misbehavior of the clergy. But Oleg did not stop believing; he regularly prayed before the icons in his room. During this period, Oleg began to lead a promiscuous life: he often drank, smoked, was fond of music, and then politics. Soon Oleg began to lose his sight and almost completely went blind. His mother, all the while fervently praying, cried out to the Lord and Saint Theresa. From the monastery in Lisieux she obtained an icon and a piece of matter, which was applied to recover her son's health from cancer. She hung an amulet with this matter around his son’s neck and put a pillow under the icon of Saint Teresa. Soon Oleg fully regained his sight. Oleg's mother sent her daughter to study at the Saint Joseph board in Sofia, which was led by Catholic nuns. Her sons strongly protested after learning that their mother was Catholic. Particularly resentful was Oleg, who reproached his mother for sending her daughter to a Catholic school. As a result of familiarity with the Greek-Catholic Bishop Cyril Kurtev, Tronko decided to join the Catholic Church. This decision was also influenced by his attachment to the Catholic Saint Therese of Lisieux. His accession to the Catholic Church took place on February 12, 1938, in the chapel of Bishop Cyril. The next day, to the surprise of friends and relatives who knew him as a fierce opponent of Catholicism, he took communion in the Church of the Carmelite Monastery. After joining the Catholic Church, Oleg every day before going to school attended the morning service at the Carmelite monastery, where he served at the time of the liturgy. He gave up smoking and drinking alcohol and quit involvement in politics. Oleg begged Bishop Cyril to help him become a novice in the Carmelite convent, but the bishop advised him to finish Russicum to become a priest, and only then think about the monastic life. In October 1938, Oleg came to Rome. But immediate problems arose, as many subjects were taught in Latin, which he did not know. With a little knowledge of Italian, he nevertheless tried to learn Latin through courses in classical languages. In January 1939 he was able to find a Latin teacher who knew the Russian language. The morning of February 28, Oleg did not attend the liturgy and breakfast. At nine o'clock in the morning one of the brothers went to his room. The room was in order. Oleg was lying in bed on his left side with a rosary in his hands, showing no signs of life. An autopsy revealed that Oleg was suffering from an incurable childhood disease. The funeral took place on the morning of March 3 by the Byzantine rite.
Sources
- Oleg Tronko ("The Truth", Paris, 1940) prepared by Eugene Gerf
- Magazine "Truth and the Life" No. 5, 1993
External links
This article "Oleg Tronko" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Oleg Tronko. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
