Three months of Soviet occupation had brought radical change to the Polish Ukraine. Rigged elections introduced "revolutionary committees" who were given wide-ranging powers to implement the Soviet "liberation" of the Ukraine. At the time this letter was written the NKVD had begun deporting "unreliable" Poles into the USSR.
In his letter to Rome, Andrea Szeptyckyj outlines the fiercely anti-Christian character of the occupation forces. Every dimension of life is under attack and the people of his diocese are suffering according to the Archbishop. The only ones benefiting are greedy Jews who have arrived in the area in great numbers and engaged in money changing zlotys into roubles at exorbitant rates. In the context of the letter, Szeptyckyj's comments are firmly within the rationale of the document, but still reveal a negative bias towards Jews. It is important to keep in mind that this is well before the German slaughters of 1941-1942 that changed his attitude and behaviour towards the Jews.
The life of the Church continues but with a great many restrictions and persecutions. Szeptyckyj proudly points out that the people are not seduced by communism and are remain committed to their faith.
Towards the end of the letter Szeptyckyj asks Cardinal Tisserant to request that the Pope give permission for the Archbishop to offer his life for his people, and for a mass exorcism to be performed to defeat the evil emanating from the Soviet Union's anti-Christian ideology.
ADSS
3.1.79
Reference: AES 1500/40
Location and date: Lvov
[Leopol] 26.12.1939
Summary: Consecration of
Joseph Slipyi (1892-1984) in secret (22.12.1939); Situation in the diocese under the
communists is terrible; all Catholic institutes are subject to the State; the
people are threatened with deportation and death, but resist atheistic
propaganda with courage. A large number
of Jews have arrived escaping the Germans.
In Lwow Jews have a prodigious number in the economic life of the
country, characterised by avarice.
Language: French
Text:
Please accept my sincere
thanks for the favourable response to my letter 10 October [1939]. (1) The
extraordinary faculties given to all the ordinaries of the diocese by the Holy
Father were happily received in duplicate on two different occasions. Bishop de Serre (2) was consecrated in my
chapel; bishops Nykyta Budka and Nicholas Czarneckyj (3) were the only members
of the chapter present. The newly ordained
made his promise of fidelity and obedience to the Sovereign Pontiff and his
successors. The faculties were
communicated to all the bishops, not without difficulty; I could not , and have
still not been able, to find the name or residence of the Vicar General of the
archdiocese of Vilnius.
I am attaching to this
letter a small memorandum concerning requirements for the clergy and faithful
of these regions, after the experience of recent years, to serve as a
complement to those faculties. I also
pray that your Eminence pass on the attached letter to the Holy Father, and ask
that you intercede for us to obtain all the requests in the memorandum for the
bishops, clergy and faithful (the memorandum was written by me without
consulting the bishops because it was impossible to do so), and for my poor
request which I have explained in my letter to the Holy Father. (4)
I also add six copies of
documents I referred to in my letter. I
do not think I gave a copy to the Sacred Congregation; I did not have them in
Rome.
I do not know how I will
send these letters; I will try to do it through the Nuncio in Berlin and I beg
Your Eminence to send your response through him. He will send the letter to the parish priest
of our Rite in Krakow; I hope he is able to do the task. The parish priest will find the means to send
me the letter. But I would also ask that
you reply with a postcard from Rome with just a word that would be a sign that
the letters have reached you (these cards go through Moscow but are forwarded). Finally I would like to give Your Eminence a
brief report on the position of my diocese.
In observing this regime in
peacetime, because their arrival here was peaceful, we understand that they
were in Spain in time of war. It is a
system that absolutely excluded all that is or could be charitable or kind even
toward the poor. Everything that
emanates from the authorities seems to have as its intention to offend, ruin,
destroy, cause pain; and with it a disorder that is almost unbelievable. There are multitudes of jobs, offices,
committees, representatives of all authorities in Moscow and Kiev and all these
authorities have nothing defined or clear but believe they have the power to do
everything.
All orders are given with
the threat of death. Each branch of
these authorities makes requisitions and always with the threat of death, and
it seems that their employees are permitted to kill anyone without risk of
punishment. The former Cheka, now called
the NKVD (Narodnyk Komisariat Vnutrennych Diel) forces and threatens young
people to become secret gents. For the
first time all schools are declared state schools.
Forbidden to teach religion,
there is a systematic tendency to corrupt young people primarily through
dances, music, games and a fanatical atheistic propaganda.
After the farce of a
quasi-plebiscite, a parliament of 1400 delegates voted unanimously to suppress
all monasteries and disperse the communities.
Only a few of the churches and schools remain open and working with some
priests and some religions in secular dress as servants.
Commerce and trade are
almost completely nationalised, that is to say, the businesses of many
merchants has been confiscated without compensation and become the property of
the State. The property of houses in the
cities has been confiscated. All
Catholic schools, orphanages, institutes and societies have been suppressed
without any compensation. All small
business owners are ruined. They have
also begun to confiscate the small properties of the peasants.
No judges, lawyers,
notaries, no contracts, defense, appeals, laws; no representation to the
central authorities, and local authorities who remain in power for a little
time and then change like a kaleidoscope.
In all details manifest
there is enmity, hatred of religion, of the clergy, incredibly it loos as
though it is a hatred of humanity in general.
They all hate each other, they consider everyone their enemy. All this with the ruin of war, there are
thousands upon thousands fleeing the Germans, coming to us from Poland. There are a great number of Jews emigrating,
fleeing the Germans which has made life more than difficult.
At the beginning the Polish
army requisitioned all necessary material and the Red Army exported en masse all
manufactured goods and generally everything you could buy. All the inhabitants live under the threat of
their possessions being taken and they being put in prison. Arrests are increasing, even in the
villages. Of course, no one is able to
count them. From time to time crowds of
people strive with great difficulty to give prisoners some food or clothes (if
they happen to learn of the place of detention).
In every parish (village),
“revolutionary committees” have been established, elected from among the
people. In the committees, the leftist
elements gradually move to the top, and it is on them that the existence of the
parish and the parish priest, depends.
The central authorities say they do not wish to touch the land of the
parishes, but in many cases we seek people to share these lands. The people in most cases defend Church
property and it is not touched. By the
grace of God the people resist with great tenacity the atheistic propaganda
campaigns; a reaction that is characterised by an exclusive religious movement.
They [the Soviets] came to
“liberate and save the Ukrainians”, which in their language means to subjugate
and ruin, they are required to play the comedy of liberators and saviours, in
all the villages the Polish schools were Ukrainian.
In Lvov the authorities
confiscated the buildings of the major and minor seminaries, organising with
great fanfare a Ukrainian university; they promised 35 chairs for studying only
philosophy. The Academy and Faulty of
Theology was suppressed, other high schools are created, in part Ukrainian, but
all these privileges do not prevent people from seeing the whole system as one
complete ruination of Ukrainian national life.
Institutions created and
supported by the offerings and sacrifices of the people (cooperatives, prosvitas,
torhovlas etc) are suppressed or declared bodies of the State one after
another.
Jews in prodigious numbers
have invaded the economic life of the country and give the actions of the
authorities the character of sordid avarice.
We are accustomed to only seeing small dishonest and sleazy Jewish
merchants. For example, for three
months, no state bank would exchange zlotys for roubles. And then one day to
the other it suppresses zlotys in order to give the Jews the opportunity to buy
them for nothing and probably do good business.
Or, all saving deposits in the banks whereby the greatest sum of a few
thousand ended up being about 300 roubles, worth about 30 zlotys before the
war.
Through the good will of our
people, the clergy still work in all parishes and churches. A number of priests without a living, and who
suffered depression of nerves, panicked following the atmosphere and left our
country to move to areas occupied by the Germans. In this way the diocese lost fewer than
thirty priests; this emigration continues, and I give permission for a priest
to leave if he feels that he cannot work fruitfully under this regime, as we
must admit that nervous suffering leads to an inclination to pessimism,
sadness, and discouragement can lead to real diseases and madness. The best priests, paralysed by the fear of
Bolshevik prisons with their drugs, lose their presence of mind. But on the other hand, the diocese is forced
to give priests to parishes that had been administered up until this time by
visiting priests. In my report on the
state of my diocese I explained the circumstances. There are 1267 parishes and 807 priests and
administrators; 400 parishes are currently exposed to intense attacks than
other parishes. Many of them require
priests and I gave them 26. The
priest-monks, Basilians, Redemptorists and Studites, who are busy with the work
of their monasteries, are serving parishes with good fruit for the whole
country. The dispersed religious have
organised to preach and teach the catechism.
Fortunately before the war we printed 50,000 copies of a catechism.
The diocesan paper was
replaced for three months with sheets produced on a cyclostyle. In this way, I have written pastoral letters
to the clergy, the people, Catholic women, cantors of the Church and young
people. The cyclostyle was confiscated
and it is with great sorrow that we are working how to organise communication
with the clergy and faithful. But the
machines, typewriters, are also becoming increasingly rare as are the materials
required to operate them.
All along the line we see
the weakening of the system and the collapse of the army: a great number, it
seems, deserted, and many, when they have the opportunity to speak with someone
they can trust, speak of how they have been deceived and of the great misery at
home. From what we see, it seems that
there are many people who hunger and thirst for religion. Even atheists are always looking for the
opportunity to discuss religion even when they deny that it interests
them. It seems likely that these lands
will become a successful field for the apostolate.
Once again I ask that your
Eminence present to the Holy Father my request that his His Holiness deign to
give me his paternal and Apostolic Blessing allowing me to die for the faith
and the unity of the church. I dare not
present this request directly to the Holy Father, as my letter to His Holiness
is already too long and is a sign of great boldness on my part. The audacity of this request is great as is
the grace requested. And I am unworthy
of it. But I pray Your Eminence to
intercede on my behalf. That His
Holiness deign to consider that the Church has nothing to lose and can only
gain through my death, then it should be someone who is a victim of this
invasion. As the pastor of this poor
people who are suffering so much, have I not the right to die for their
salvation? If the Holy Father does not
agree to this request, I ask you, Eminence to do so as Secretary of the
Congregation of the Eastern Churches.
You are our Superior and you must take care of our Church.
I have one final humble
request. One cannot explain this regime
except by way of a mass demonic possession.
I dare to ask His Holiness to recommend the contemplative orders, (Carmelites,
Trappists, Carthusians, Camaldolese) to exorcise, through the co-operation of
the priests in the monasteries, Soviet Russia.
Church exorcisms are not restricted to location and can be done from
afar. To avoid offending the Russians,
the Holy Father could order this sub secreto
Pontificio.(5)
I also pray the Holy Father
ask communities of women religious and the female contemplative orders to pour
out their prayer for the increase in holy vocations. A great harvest …
Excuse me, Eminence, for
this long letter, my poor writing and spelling mistakes, and please pray for us
all.
PS. I am sending these two letters today, 16
January 1940, through the German Commission who worked in Lvov. I promised to send them to the Apostolic
Nuncio in Berlin. This may be the last
opportunity to send a letter since it is now more difficult to cross the border
than it was when I sent my first post.
There is an on the spot death penalty and frequent cases mean it is
impossible to cross.
This is why I request to change the way I
send responses to the Nuncio and the parish priest of Krakow. The Nuncio may find a way of sending
responses to me via the German authorities (?)
Request: send two copies.
I would also add that the
Archimandrite of Harbin, [Fabian] Abrantowicz is still in prison.(6) It is impossible to learn anything about his
fate. We have five priests in
prison. Request prayers and
benedictions.
Cross references:
(1) See ADSS 3.1.52
(2) Joseph Slipyi
(3) Nyjyta Budka (1877-1949) Auxiliary bishop Lvov; Nicholas (Mykola) Czarneckyj (1884-1959) Auxiliary bishop Lvov.
(4) Not published in
ADSS. The letter referred to faculties
the archbishop obtained through Pope Pius X (1903-1914) because of difficulties
faced in the Russian Empire. Szeptyckyj
wanted confirmation of these same faculties.
“Faculties” is a canonical term that refers to rights and privileges
granted to a person either by means of their office or through the gift of
another who has the authority to grant them.
E.g. bishops have the faculty to ordain priests by virtue of their office;
the pope may grant faculties to army chaplains to grant absolution without
confession on the battlefield – this faculty is limited and not automatic; the
chaplain does not have the right to the faculty. It is usually associated with the granting of
special rights to bishops in special circumstances.
(5) sub secreto Pontificio – literally – “under the secrecy of the
Pontiff”, it is the highest form of confidentiality used by the pope. If something is done “sub secreto” it binds
those involved to total secrecy on pain of mortal sin. The only higher form of “sub secreto” is the
“seal of the confessional”.
(6) Fabian Abrantowicz
(1884-1946) Originally a Latin Rite priest, he joined the Marian congregation
in 1926 and transferred to the Greek Catholic rite. Pius XI appointed him as priest in charge of
the Eastern Rite Catholics in Harbin, China.
He returned to Europe in 1939 and was in Lithuania visiting relatives
when the war broke out. Attempting to
return to Rome he was arrested by the Germans who handed him over to the
Soviets. Imprisoned on charges of
espionage Abrantowicz was sentenced to ten years labour in the gulags, but
remained in the Butyrki prison in Moscow where he died on 02.01.1946. His cause for canonisation was opened in
2003. http://www.padrimariani.org/en/heritage/great_figures/abrantowicz.php
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