The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the USSR refers to the period in its history between 1939 and 1991, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.
Tensions in the pre-Soviet period
Soviet policy toward the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church cannot be understood simply in terms of Marxist–Leninist ideology. The precedent for Stalinist church policy in Western Ukraine can be found in the treatment of the Greek-Catholic Church during centuries of tsarist rule and the pattern of relations between the Russian state and the Orthodox Church.
Hostility toward the so-called "Uniate Church" dates back to the Union of Brest in 1596, when the majority of Orthodox bishops in Ukraine and Belarus (then part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) recognized the primacy of the Holy See. In return, papal guarantees recognized that the Uniates retained their Byzantine (Eastern) rite, the Church-Slavonic liturgical language, Eastern canon law, a married clergy and administrative autonomy.
Coming only seven years after the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate (which claimed jurisdiction over the Orthodox in the Commonwealth), this union was viewed by Muscovy not only as an ecclesiastical obstacle to its claim as the "Third Rome," but also as an attempt to permanently separate Ukraine and Belarus from Muscovy.
This opposition continued after the second and third partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, when the Russian Empire systematically carried out attempts to liquidate the Union of Brest that was realized in the Synod of Polotsk in 1839 when all the Greek-Catholic Bishops in Russia joined the Russian Orthodox Church but the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (then "Ruthenian Uniate Church") continued in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (a crownland in the Austrian Empire of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine).
The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church's incompatibility with Soviet Russian policy and social order stems from the church's title. As a "Ukrainian" church, the UGCC not only managed to maintain its ethnic individuality under foreign domination but also helped forge a modern national self-identity. As a "Catholic" church, the UGCC was closely tied to Rome and to other Catholic Churches.
Attempts to liquidate the church in 1939-41
Without any efforts to conceal its intentions, the Soviet regime renewed earlier attempts to liquidate the Union of Brest following its occupation of Western Ukrainian lands in September 1939, prior to which they were occupied by Poland.
A propaganda campaign against the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church was initiated by the magazine "Communist", which, in its 9 October 1939 issue, accused the church's infrastructure of Anti-Soviet agitation and collaboration with the "Polish Bourgeoisie." At this same time, 20 Ukrainian Greek-Catholic publications were shut down by Soviet authorities who subsequently began confiscating religious literature from libraries and bookstores. Seminaries and monastic novitiates also witnessed the forced closure of their institutions. On 22 October 1939, the Peoples' Committees of Ukraine voted on and passed a decree calling for the nationalization of all Greek-Catholic property, including churches and monasteries. The day-to-day operations of all Greek-Catholic organizations were prohibited. Priests were deemed "unfit for society" and levied with exorbitant taxes, amounting up to 15,000 roubles per year. Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky personally met with Nikita Khrushchev regarding the tax burdens, and managed to secure a slight mitigation.
On 9 October 9, 1939, Sheptytsky issued a pastoral letter in which he underscored the difficulty of the new situation for the church and emphasized the necessity of rearing children and youth in the spirit of the Greek-Catholic faith. A few months later, the metropolitan addressed the priests of the UGCC, requesting that they refrain from openly endorsing any political power to avoid further repressions. But, unsatisfied with the rate at which atheism was being implemented, the regime increased its anti-religious campaign by supplementing the budgets of the media and such organizations as the Komsomol and Association of Military Non-Believers. Schools became targets of increased pressure to introduce curricula featuring subjects on atheism, while traditional religious holidays were officially declared work days.
The atheism campaign was augmented by the simultaneous attempt to introduce and embed the influence and authority of the Russian Orthodox Church on the territory of Galicia. On 17 October 1939, Panteleymon Rozhnovsky was appointed bishop of Grodno and authorized to conduct missionary work in Western Belarus and Ukraine. In the middle of the following year, Mykola Yarushevych became the exarch of Volhynia. On 28 October 1940, despite disapproval even from Orthodox hierarchs, who warned of possible difficulties stemming from planned religious conversions, the Moscow Patriarchate openly declared its desire to liquidate Greek-Catholicism.
The expansion of the Russian Orthodox Church and the process of implementing atheism throughout the Ukrainian territories were interrupted by the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War of 22 June 1941. From the summer of 1941 until the summer of 1944, Western Ukraine was under Nazi occupation.
Renewed pressure on the UGCC in 1944-1945
In the summer and fall of 1944, the Soviet Red Army re-occupied Eastern Galicia, as well as Transcarpathia, the seat of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Mukachiv-Uzhhorod. In time, Communist forces extended their rule on all neighboring territories settled by ethnic Ukrainians-Uniates, including the Riashiv, Lemko and Priashiv regions of present-day Poland and Slovakia. In his letter to Cardinal Tisserant (March 22nd, 1944), Sheptytsky expressed his deep concern over the return of Soviet occupying forces, in which he stated that, "The Bolshevik Army is approaching... This news fills all the faithful with fear. Everyone... is convinced they are destined for certain death."
At first, the Soviet regime did not openly concern itself with the question of implementing atheism in Western Ukraine. The authority of Church and Metropolitan Sheptysky forced the state to avoid a direct conflict. In fact, Sheptytsky, who died on 1 November 1944, was granted a solemn yet momentous funeral, the ceremony of which was attended by members of the new regime.
At the close of World War II, the Greek-Catholic Church in the Ukrainian S.S.R. consisted of 4 eparchies with 2,326 parishes, over 4,000 structures and approximately 3.5 – 4 million faithful. Pastoral duties were being fulfilled by 8 bishops and close 2,400 priests. The 4 eparchies administered theological academies, 4 seminaries with 565 seminarians, as well as 35 monasteries with 155 monks and 347 brotherhoods, and 123 convents with 979 nuns.
By April 1945, Iosyf Stalin approved a 10-point plan – developed by leaders of the Ukrainian Communist Party – which called for the liquidation of the Greek-Catholic Church and the augmentation of Orthodox infrastructures in Ukraine. The Soviet press began to slander the priesthood and unleashed a campaign attacking the Greek-Catholic Church's history. In addition, the press renewed its accusations of Nationalism vis-à-vis the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and organizing anti-Soviet resistance. The pro-Soviet articles of the Galician journalist Yaroslav Halan, a correspondent for the daily newspaper Vil'na Ukraina (A Free Ukraine), were particularly effective in harming the church's reputation.
On 11 April 1945, the NKGB arrested Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj, Sheptytsky's successor, as well as 4 Galician bishops: Hryhory Khomyshyn, Ivan Liatyshevsky, Nikita Budka and Mykola Charnetsky. At a time when bishops and other members of the religious community who refused to "convert" to Orthodoxy were accused of fabricated political crimes and deported to concentration camps (where only Metropolitan Slipyj, and Bishops Charnetsky and Liatyshevsky, survived), the NKVD created a "voluntary" movement for the "reunion" (Rus. vossoiedyneniia) with the Russian Orthodox Church. This movement, in addition to the support of those priests who voluntarily strived for reunion, also relied on the official support of priests who were forced into such a position, often by torture. Almost immediately following the wave of arrests of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic hierarchs, the Russian Orthodox Church appointed Mykhailo Oksiiuk bishop of Lviv and Ternopil, expressly advising him to coordinate his actions with the "people's movement for the union of the Church."
"The Initiative Group"
The so-called "Initiative Group for the Reunion of the Greek-Catholic Church with the Orthodox Church" was created on 28 May 1945, with the Rev. Havryil Kostelnyk at its helm. Two official letters were written on this day. The first letter was addressed to the government of Soviet Ukraine, requesting the Initiative Group's formal recognition as well as its authorization for the right to carry out the "reunion" campaign. The second letter informed the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic clergy that the group was created "by the will of the people" and that the group did not recognize any other administrative leadership of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. On 18 June 1945, Pavlo Khodchenko, the republican plenipotentiary of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, replied on behalf of the government of the Ukrainian S.S.R., recognizing the "Initiative Group" as the sole provisional organ of church administration, authorized to conduct all affairs of the Greek-Catholic parishes situated on the territory of Western Ukraine. This paved the way for proceeding in all matters concerning the reunion with the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Initiative Group was authorized to "coordinate and comply with the government on all legal affairs pertaining to the administration of Greek-Catholic parishes." The reply also instructed the Initiative Group to dispatch to Khodchenko "lists of all deans, parish priests and hegumens [superiors] of monasteries who refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the Initiative Group." Khodchenko's letter is the only officially publicized document confirming the government's direct participation in the process of destroying the Uniate Church.
A group of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic hierarchs who were not yet incarcerated – under the leadership of Archimandrite Klymentiy Sheptytsky – issued a formal protest against Khodchenko's directives. In their letter to Vyacheslav Molotov, they referred to specific clauses in Soviet law which guaranteed the freedom of religion and conscience. In addition, the letter of protest denoted the manipulative nature of the "Initiative Group" in its attempt to falsify the history of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. They demanded the release of Metropolitan Slipyj and other imprisoned clergy, while at the same time offering their assurance that Greek-Catholics have no intention to engage in anti-Soviet activity. However, none of these acts of protest were able to garner any positive results. In fact, the NKGB proceeded to arrest priests, particularly focusing its attention on members of the Order of St. Basil the Great. By the end of June 1945, the number of those incarcerated exceeded 200.