Kassian Dmitrievich Bogatyrets, or Kasyan Dmytrovych Bohatyrets (Rusyn and ; ; , Bogatireț, Bohatereț, or Bohatyretz; November 5, 1868 – July 28, 1960), was an Eastern Orthodox priest, church historian, and Rusyn community leader in Bukovina. Born a national of Austria-Hungary, he studied theology and history, and served the parish of Sadhora. He drew the suspicion of Austrian authorities attention with his open support for Russophile politics, and was persecuted after visiting the Russian Empire in 1908. He was arrested during the first days of World War I and deported to Sankt Marien, then tried for sedition in Vienna. He was scheduled to be executed by hanging in early 1917, but was freed by a general amnesty shortly before the Austrian monarchy crumbled.
Caught between Romanian and Ukrainian nationalisms, Bogatyrets hoped to obstruct Bukovina's incorporation into Greater Romania, or at least to preserve its autonomy. He eventually joined the Romanian Orthodox Church together with the whole Diocese of Bukovina, including his new parish at Coțmani (Kitsman). His ambitions to improve the standing of Romanian Rusyns were challenged by the Ukrainian National Party, and he remained the leader of a Russophile minority within the larger Ukrainian one. Bogatyrets championed the use of Slavic vernaculars in both education and church services, and did missionary work among the Ukrainians of Maramureș/Maramorosh. He also helped organize the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church on the other side of the border, in Carpathian Ruthenia.
World War II again challenged Bogatyrets' national affiliations, leading him to support reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church. He stayed behind in Soviet territory after the occupation of northern Bukovina but was eventually forced into exile. He lived in Nazi Germany and Romania to 1941, when the German–led invasion allowed him back to Cernăuți (Chernivtsi). For three years, he assisted Metropolitan Tit Simedrea and took over effective leadership of the Diocese when Simedrea left Bukovina. He joined the Ukrainian Exarchate in late 1944, welcoming back the Soviets, but was marginalized from 1949. His final work was as a historiographer of the regional church through its various administrative avatars.
Biography
Russophile leader Bogatyrets was born in Kabivtsi–Kabin village, in the northern half of the Duchy of Bukovina (now in Chernivtsi Raion, Ukraine).Chuchko & Sulyak, p. 147; Yaremchuk, p. 275 His family was attested there from the era before the Austrian annexation, when the whole of Bukovina was part of Moldavia. The Bogatyretses had belonged to the rich Moldavian yeomanry (răzeși), but their lands had been scattered between male inheritors before Kassian's birth—his parents, Dmitry and Xenia, were officially registered as "farmers" or "peasants".Chuchko & Sulyak, p. 145 Like several of his ancestors, Kassian was destined for a priestly career. He studied at the Volksschule and the gymnasium of Czernowitz (Chernivtsi), graduating with honors in 1889, then attended the Orthodox Theology Department of Franz Joseph I University, taking his diploma cum laude in 1893.Chuchko & Sulyak, p. 145. See also Yaremchuk, p. 275 He also had an interest in Ukrainian folklore, presenting his finds to the (mainly Romanian) Academia Ortodocsă Society of Czernowitz."Teatru și musică. Societatea Academia ortodocsă", in Familia, Issue 5/1891, p. 58
On May 11, 1897, he married Stefanida Veligorska, daughter of Priest Alexander from Oshyhliby. In June of the same year he was consecrated a deacon by Arcadie Ciupercovici, the Metropolitan of Bukovina and Dalmatia, taking an administrative position in Sadhora. In September, he officiated alongside Galician Romanian priests at a ceremony in Lemberg (Lviv)—praying for the successful completion of a Romanian church, which had been paid for by ethnographer Teodor Burada."D. Burada la Lemberg. Punerea pietrei fundamentale bisericei ortodoxe Sf. Treime din Lemberg — De la corespondentul nostru special", in Evenimentul, October 2, 1897, p. 1353 In 1898, Bogatyrets became a Doctor of Divinity from the same Franz Joseph I University, having also taken advanced courses in Slavistics. He was moved from Sadhora to Orshivtsi in 1898, and in the following year to Stanivtsi.Yaremchuk, p. 275
Within that context, Bogatyrets emerged as a figure of importance among the Bukovina Russophiles (or "Old Ruthenians"). The faction was led by Orthodox theologian Eugene Hakman and scholar Jevhen Kozak; its adversaries were "Ukrainophiles", Greek Catholics, and modernizing "Young Ruthenians" such as Hierotheus Pihuliak and Nikolai von Wassilko.Mihai, p. 79 The Russophile movement as a whole was discouraged by the Austrian administrators, who backed the Pihuliak faction. When Bogatyrets applied for a lecturer's chair at his alma mater, he received a veto from the Austrian officials and Metropolitan Arcadie.Chuchko & Sulyak, pp. 145–146; Yaremchuk, p. 275 He continued his ministry, receiving commendation. In 1901, he rose to the position of parish priest, and, in this capacity, began a long-lasting career in popular education and political activism, establishing reading rooms and cooperative societies, and spreading Russophile ideas among his parishioners.Chuchko & Sulyak, p. 147 During elections for the Diet of Bukovina in mid-1904, he was presented as a candidate of the Russian National Party (RNP) for the rural precinct of Waszkoutz. He lost to a Ukrainophile, Theodor Lewicki, 63 votes to 21."Wahlbericht", in Freie Lehrer-Zeitung, July 29, 1904, p. 4 He was rumored to have conspired with Alexander von Barbier, a figure from the German community, in his attempt at undercutting Lewicki. The allegation was attributed to Mihail Chisanovici of the Democratic Peasants' Party, who nevertheless stated: "I have not disclosed this or similar information to anyone, and I am not aware of any such pact".Mihail Chisanovici, "An die ruthenischen Kollegen", in Freie Lehrer-Zeitung, June 17, 1905, pp. 3–4
In April 1908, having been granted the honorific title of Exarch, Bogatyrets helped establish the Russkij Club, dedicated to "promot[ing] social life in the Russian districts of Bukovina"; he served as its financial auditor."Aus Stadt und Land. Aus Gesellschaftskreisen", in Bukowiner Volksblatt, April 26, 1908, p. 6 Later that year, he visited the Russian Empire. At Saint Petersburg, he gave a controversial lecture, taken up by Novoye Vremya newspaper. It suggested that Bukovina had been an integral part of Kievan Rus' (and, as such, that it was a Russian irredenta),Yaremchuk, p. 276 while also criticizing the Austrian officials for their Ukrainophile policy. He also earned attention by implying that the RNP was fully aligned with Austria's Christian Social Party. According to a notice in the Bukowinaer Post, this was implicit admission of antisemitism, meaning that, as a politician, Bogatyrets could no longer count on Bukovina Jews to support him."Tagespost. Dr. Bohatyretz", in Bukowinaer Post, Issue 2329, January 1909, p. 4 A formal investigation was ordered in Czernowitz. Upon return to Bukovina, which coincided with a major clampdown on Russophile and Rusyn activities, Bogatyrets was demoted to the parish of Verenchanka, west of Zastavna.Chuchko & Sulyak, p. 147; Yaremchuk, p. 276
Clampdown, imprisonment, and return Bogatyrets still contributed to the Rusyn protests of 1909, joining the delegation which petitioned Governor Bourguignon. In early 1910, rumor spread across Austria that he was part of a Russian spy ring, and that he had been deposed by the Metropolitan over this issue."Župnik vohun?", in Stajerc, Issue 14/1910 He ran, again unsuccessfully, in the 1911 elections for the Diet, as a candidate and regional leader of the RNP.Chuchko & Sulyak, pp. 146, 148 On April 17, 1912, he led an RNP delegation to the Diet, voicing and his constituents' loyalty toward the Habsburg monarchy and the Austrian state. According to the Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, Bourguignon was "somewhat surprised" by this apparent change of attitude, which seemed to signal that the Rusyns and Ukrainians were no longer relying on Russian support."Czernowitzer Angelegenheiten. 'Kriegserklärung'", in Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, Issue 2506, June 1912, p. 4
By January 1914, a renewed clampdown on the "Old Ruthenian" movement left Bogatyrets without his parish."Rakúsko. Veci v Bukovine", in Národnie Noviny, February 3, 1914, p. 2 By March, the RNP leadership was facing trial at Lemberg. A sworn witness claimed that Bogatyrets had received 4,000 roubles from his Russian contacts, and had split this sum evenly with an accomplice named Vorobets."Galizische Meldungen. Der Monstre-Spionageprozeß in Lemberg", in Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, Issue 3413, April 1914, p. 4 In August–September, just as World War I broke out, areas of Bukovina fell to a Russian occupation. Before the Austrian evacuation, Czernowitz's police chief, Konstantin Tarangul von Valea Utsei, ordered Bogatyrets' arrest.Chuchko & Sulyak, p. 148. See also Gaysenyuk, p. 450 He was transferred to an internment camp at Sankt Marien, in Upper Austria, then to the prison-garrison of Vienna. Stefanida was also detained some days after her husband, and deported to Talerhof.Chuchko & Sulyak, p. 148; Yaremchuk, p. 276 Bogatyrets was eventually tried, alongside Hilarion Tsurkanovich (Curkanovič) and 20 other defendants, from September 14, 1916, to February 17, 1917. As he himself later recalled, the indictment was 360 pages in length, all of them "fictitious".Gaysenyuk, p. 459; Yaremchuk, p. 276 He was one of 17 sentenced to death by hanging.Gaysenyuk, p. 459; Yaremchuk, p. 276. See also Chuchko & Sulyak, p. 148
An appeal was filed,Chuchko & Sulyak, p. 148 although, allegedly, Bogatyrets had refused to ask for clemency.Nicolae Iorga, Memorii. Vol. 6: Încercarea guvernării peste partide: (1931–2), p. 99. Vălenii de Munte: Datina Românească, 1939 Eventually, under the terms of a general amnesty granted by Emperor Charles, all the defendants were spared punishment, and Bogatyrets was assigned domicile in Graz.Chuchko & Sulyak, p. 148. See also Gaysenyuk, p. 459; Yaremchuk, p. 276 In September 1917, Bogatyrets was allowed back in Verenchanka to resume work as a parson. By November 1918, the Austrian monarchy had collapsed. Bukovina, following skirmishes between the Ukrainian Galician and Romanian armies, was occupied by the latter. As the Romanian provisional military administration negotiated a transition to civilian rule, he reemerged as his community's political organizer; the core Ukrainian leadership, including Pihuliak, Stepan Smal-Stotskyi, and Volodymyr Zalozetsky-Sas, had left the region in protest, confident that the Paris Peace Conference would rule in favor of the Ukrainian People's Republic.Mihai, pp. 82–83