SUPPRESSION OF CHURCHES IN THE WESTERN UKRAINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R000800710002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2000
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: September 2, 1947
• Content Type: IR

Approved For Release 2000/09/01 : CIA-RDP82-00457R000800710002-7
.. , b 106441.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE GROUP
I ITELLIGENCE REPORT
25X1A rV
COUNTRY US (IIk :ine) CONFIDENT '
This document is heresy red aided to 25X1 A
CONFiDEN?'IAL in accodanoe w tit the INPQe
SUBJECT SUPjV*sriion of as orb 1tI&ctober 1078 from the 2 September
Westcarzi Ukr?lso Director of Contra; in`eii'go ~~e to the DIST jqLVjkft 1947
Archivist of t:ie United Sales. PAGES 2
ORIGIN ' 25X1 A next rc ,`. Da'e: ~'?C8 SUPPLEMENT
25X1X
1. Until. 194 5, the Soviets were correct in claiming that they did not bother the
church,, the clerf , or religious ceremonies in the Western Ukraine. However,
1945 r,arked the ':,ginning of anti-church agitation and persecution :)f leading
churebmen. The first anti-church articles arpeared in the Lvov raper, r
and w.,re followed by police troop attacks on the Metropolitan's
palace and oth,z,r incidents. On 9 May 1945, all bishops and assistants In
Galicia were arrested, incarcerated in Lvav, and held incommunicado. Theo-
logical students were arrested and taken to Belays. Tserkov; the youxger ores
gars sent hor!re and the others were enrolled In the Army. Two priests were
murdered In the Lvov area.
DECLMStF,S
Dt ',
ii
Class. CFIANG~ TO:
TS S
CONFIDENT
DDA Memo, 4 Apr 77
Auth: DDA R'C. 771 7,F3
Date: By: _ e17
Approved For Release 2000/09/01 : CIA
In an attempt IT the Soviets to elemi.nate the Greek Catholic Church, a "Group
for the Merger of the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches" was founded on
28 4ay 1945. Founders of the group were: Dr. Gabriel }oasteln5lc of Lvov, a
Greek Catholic priest; Dr. Mikhail Melnik, pastor of Nysharikovich:E (sic);
and &ntonii Pe2.7-etzki3, city chaplain of Kopychyntse. Secretary of the or-
anization was 3ergei Khru.tzkii. The group was officially recoPnizcxd by the
Soviet Government.
3. The group called a con;re of bishor..;s? Since all Greg ir; Catholic b:Lshops had
been arrested,, new ones ,:ere appointed by Patriarch Aleksii. On 24 and 25 'Feb-
ruary 1946 In Kiev, Axatonli Plalve r '~ ii was jade Bishop of 3tan1sUv &r d
Dr- Melnik Bishop of rrve1ry31-b rogob3rch Sa ebor. ?'saril, had been .lade Bishop
25X1 A of Lvov and Tarnopol in April 1945. C cent ? See for
25X1 A these three bis. ops.) At the congress., attended by 216 priests and 3.9 lay-
men but not attended by the opposition, the followirwr resolution8?G.ac ray passed:
1. Annulment of the Beres t Union of 1.596.
2. Separation from the, Church of Roue.
3. Return to the Orthodox Ancestral Church.
4. Mer er with the old Ru asian. Orthodox Churches in the Soviet Unio:i,
CLA.S::iiF'ICATION QVQ
 25X1 A
CONFI
ti Approved For Release 20 / ,9/ A,-I P - rq0457R0008
106441
2-7
Heavy rrocsure tots exerted by the T G3 on priests to join the new church.
An TJKOB representa'tivc: for Church nutters, those task tno to suparvi:se church
cervices, was appointed for the area. -,;any priests fled, mare deported, or
retired to civilian life. The result ~iaW that hardly any priests *. wore loft.
The nc,w Orthodox Church tray boycotted by the por>.tlation.
5. Anti.-church action t-.jas undertaken a!7,ain nt nonks also. The nonastory of the
Order of Redenptionists, located in the suburbs of Lvov, v>ts seized by the
govornnont and the nonke tiara forbidden to hold services. In addition, all
hwanch monasteries of the lodonrtioniats wore con_?icce.ted excei:.t the ITolooko
i'ionastery near Lvov, ,f.-,ich the order -r as d to retzin. Convents also.
were r1ialmded. The mans, however, continued to circulate as nurses in the
Car.atho-IPcraine, ?tun ,ry, Czcicho ilrnra1da, and Poland end brought usoftil in-
fornation .sac': fran their travels.
6. On 1 Tart 1946, there were sixty priests in Lvov 7-&o ha-3 not joined the Ortho-
dox Church. In Septenbor 1946, they tar~ ordered to register with the authorities.
7. In the fall of 1946, c0ur:3os wore strxted in Pocheyev-Volhynian (sic) for the
education of now Orthodox priests for Galician Eighty ' orcent of the Voi) 'nian
priests of the oprosition wore arrested.
Also in the fsll of 1946, a trial .,as instigated in Kiev a.-ainst the croak Catholic
archbishops. $lipii, TSetropolitan of Lvov, eras sentenced to eight years in prison.
The 31. ,'tor of "tarislcav, Chortyshin, died in the Kiev prison. Vie prelate Kunitzkii
and the Priest Galland died in the Lvov prison. In August 1946,12atropoliten Slipii
wrote to Lvov from his exile in Kranoyarck, Siberia, that he tas working in a tractoa
factory picking wool (sic). Abbot K1er:ens Sheptytzkii 'iao forbidden residence in
Lvov and now lives in the Uhniv Cloister. The Abbess of the Studite O:der teas sen-
tenced to twenty years in rrinon.
9. A cinilr r fate 1x)fell the Ronan Catholic Church in Lvov. The Ronan Catholic Arch-
bishop,Tv :rdovskir zse s. ,'c .,ortecT to : olax4, end the Nolen Catholic churches wore
closed.
This document contains information
affecting the national defense of the
United States within the meaning of
the Espionage Act 509 U.S.C. 31 and
32 as amended. Its transmission or
the revelation of its contents in any
manner to an unauthorized person is
prohibited by law.
,IONFIDENTY Ta