The Greek Catholic Theological Academy in Lviv in the conditions of the persecution of the Church by the Soviet government

Abstract

The activities of the Greek Catholic Theological Academy in Lviv are examined. It is stated that this higher educational institution was founded by Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi in 1928. Despite the difficult relationship between the Ukrainians of Galicia and the Polish government, the Theological Academy was able to exist and quite quickly developed. The situation changed in 1939, after the partition of Poland between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Thus, Galicia came under Soviet rule. In 1941, after the beginning of the German-Soviet war, all Ukrainian lands were quickly occupied by the Germans. However, already in 1944, the Bolsheviks came to Galicia again, finally joining it to the Ukrainian SSR. As a matter of fact, this research is focused on studying the state of Greek Catholic theological education during the first Soviet occupation of Galicia in 1939–1941 and after the return of communist power in 1944. It is shown that, despite the openly anti-religious policy of the new government, the leaders of the Church tried to ensure the continuity of the development of theological science and the training of new clergy. In the conditions of the ban on the official activities of any theological educational institutions during 1939–1941, Metropolitan Sheptytskyi managed to organize illegal theological courses for his students and sought to restore the activities of a full-fledged educational institution. Instead, it is researched that after the return in 1944, the Bolsheviks became more cautious in their attitude towards Greek Catholics and did not close the Theological Academy, which resumed normal activities during the Nazi occupation. The management of the academy used this time to expand its activities, in particular to open new faculties. However, this policy of the Bolsheviks in relation to the Greek Catholics turned out to be temporary. A few months later, the persecution of this Church began. Among other measures, the work of the Theological Academy in Lviv was finally stopped. Keywords: Theological Academy, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Andrei Sheptytskyi, Josyf Slipyi, Second World War, Soviet occupation