On November 1, 1918, the West Ukrainian People's Republic (WUPR) proclaimed its independence as the Ukrainian State, following the occupation of Lviv's most important public buildings and military installations by Ukrainian military units. It was to be a state within the federated Austrian state, in accordance with Emperor Charles I's manifesto of October 16, 1918.

Ukrainian Galician Army (Ukrainian: Українська галицька армія, UHA) 1918The Ukrainian Galician Army, part of the ZURR, attacked Lviv on November 1, 1918, initiating the Polish-Ukrainian War. The army included soldiers of Ukrainian origin from various units of the Austro-Hungarian Army (1,410 soldiers and 60 non-commissioned officers). They were commanded by Dmytro Vitovskyi. Sources indicate that by April 1919, the Ukrainian Galician Army had 1,412 officers, 52,200 soldiers, 533 machine guns, 188 field guns, and 13 heavy guns.

Jewish kuren of the Ukrainian Galician Army, the central figure in the bottom row is the Jewish commander Salomon LajnbergA subunit of the Ukrainian Galician Army, composed primarily of Jews, also participated in the war against the Polish forces. It was formed in July 1919, during the Chortkiv Offensive (June 7–28, 1919), from Jewish militia from Ternopil and the surrounding area. This subunit was called the Jewish Kuren of the Ukrainian Galician Army and was commanded by Lieutenant Salomon Lajnberg. The unit consisted of four rifle companies (200-220 soldiers each), a machine gun company, a cavalry platoon, an engineer platoon, and a signals platoon. The question arises: what role did the Ukrainian Galician Army, or rather its officer corps, play in the acts of genocide perpetrated primarily against Poles, but also Jews and other nationalities, culminating in July 1943? In this article I will also answer the question of what role did the cassock-clad Count Andrzej Szeptycki play in the genocide of Poles?

A contemporary badge with a soldier of the Ukrainian Galician ArmyDuring one of her lectures on the Ukrainian genocide against Poles, Lucyna Michalina Kulińska (born 1955), a Polish historian and PhD in history, spoke about the anti-Polish activities of Andrzej Sheptytsky:
[...] According to documents from that time, during, or after, World War I, the Ukrainian Galician army was withdrawn in 1920 to Czechoslovakia, instead of defending Ukraine and Poland from the Bolshevik onslaught... Metropolitan Andrzej Sheptytsky converted officers of the Galician army into priests. He founded a seminary for this purpose, and after two months of training, newly minted clergy became Greek Catholic parish priests.
According to Dr. Lucyna Kulińska, Andrzej Sheptytsky transformed Ukrainian nationalists and chauvinists into Greek Catholic clergy, spreading hatred towards the Polish population during regular services. Ms. Kulińska also said that
[...] the documents clearly indicate that there is an absolute correlation, i.e., a connection between the places where the officers were appointed, i.e., to which parishes, and the cruelty and intensity of genocidal crimes in the counties belonging to those parishes.

Greek Catholic bishops, 1927 Lviv, Andrzej Sheptytsky sitting in the middleThat is, wherever Ukrainian bandits became parish priests, the greatest and most cruel crimes were committed. This clearly indicates that Sheptytsky, who embraced a nationalist and chauvinistic Ukrainian ideology, sent his agents to spread the work of Satan, acting as Greek Catholic clergy, inciting crimes against innocent and defenseless Polish children, women, and the elderly, in the areas of Volhynia and Eastern Lesser Poland.
The doctor emphasized that:
[...] Not only did these false parish priests spew hatred towards Poland, but they were also placed in their parishes with their families, and then led gangs of Ukrainian peasants who murdered Poles in Eastern Lesser Poland, and there are surviving documents to prove this.

The Orthodox Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Smolnik, Bieszczady CountyHistorical sources confirm that many Greek Catholic clergy operating in eastern Poland, under pressure from the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, became fervent members of this criminal organization. Thus, not only was the Greek Catholic Church used as a propaganda tool to spread the OUN's anti-Polish ideology, but its clergy also actively led gangs of hate-filled Ukrainian peasants, women, and adolescents to murder innocent and defenseless Poles.

Andrzej Szeptycki (1865 Przyłbice - 1944 Lviv)Let's summarize the information about Andrei Sheptytsky so far:
Fact 1: Sheptytsky, who comes from aristocratic roots (he was a former count), suddenly becomes a clergyman, and his career within the Greek Catholic Church is astonishing, brilliant, and downright impossible without the help of outside sponsors.
Fact 2: Sheptytsky is, in unexplained circumstances, promoted as the spiritual leader of the Ukrainians.
Fact 3: Without abandoning the cassock under which he conceals his true intentions, he suddenly becomes a politician, a member of the Sejm, deputy marshal, and a member of the House of Lords of the Reichsrat in Vienna (where his sponsors come from).
Fact 4: He begins to pursue openly anti-Polish policies, espousing Ukrainian nationalism and chauvinism.

Fact 5. When the Ukrainians rose up in arms against the Poles on November 1, 1918, and took over Lviv, they informed Sheptytskyi, which indicates his active involvement in instigating the conflict. The West Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed, and Sheptytskyi became its envoy as a member of the House of Lords.

Fact 6. After the Ukrainian Galician Army withdrew from Lviv, the Metropolitan was placed under house arrest in the Archbishop's Palace.
Fact 7. In April 1920, Andrei Sheptytsky supported the Polish-Ukrainian alliance expressed in the Piłsudski-Petliura Agreement.
Fact 8. Also in 1920, Sheptytsky formed his army of Greek Catholic parish priests from officers of the Ukrainian Galician Army. These false clergy began a propaganda campaign among Ukrainian peasants, preaching slogans of hatred and calling for murder.
Fact 9. After losing the Polish-Ukrainian war, Sheptytsky began anti-Polish propaganda campaigns around the world. These included the Vatican, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, England, Canada, and the United States, proclaiming that Poles were imperialists and were denationalizing Ukrainians. Fact 10. Sheptytsky's foreign efforts fail to gain support, and the Vatican itself is considering removing him from Poland. Ultimately, Sheptytsky is forced to sign an act of loyalty to the Polish state. Despite this, he continues his diabolical plots against Poles.
Fact 11. During the culmination of the genocidal massacre in Volhynia, he fails to respond to Archbishop Twardowski's pleas to halt the genocide perpetrated by Ukrainians. He uses false excuses that Ukrainians are being persecuted and that the murders are being committed by unspecified bands of deserters.
Fact 12. Sheptytsky's satanic army, in conjunction with UPA bandits and Ukrainian peasants, brutally murdered defenseless Polish children, women, and the elderly during World War II.

Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski (1956 Kraków - 2024 Chrzanów)Based on these 12 facts, it can be unequivocally stated that the Metropolitan was no venerable servant of the Church. He chose Satan as his master. His chauvinism and hatred of Poland and Poles, resulting in the genocide in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, never served the Catholic Church. This could be the end of our discussion of Andrei Sheptytsky, a figure who concealed his satanic intentions under a church cassock, were it not for the fact that certain Ukrainian circles strive to make him a saint. Oh, the horror! Making a saint of the devil is already sacrilege!!! Well, the world is strange and incomprehensible until we ourselves discover his intentions...
Regarding the attempts to beatify Andrei Sheptytsky, we read:
[...] Twice, in 1958 and 1962, efforts were made to beatify Andrei Sheptytsky, but the Vatican rejected these applications. The beatification process for Metropolitan Sheptytsky was blocked twice by Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. A few years ago, the Archdiocese of Lviv completed the preparation of a new beatification petition and submitted it to the Vatican. His next beatification process is currently underway. Polish borderland groups, centered around Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, strongly oppose Bishop Sheptytsky's canonization.

Karol Wojtyła, John Paul II (1920 Wadowice - 2005 Vatican)John Paul II spoke of Archbishop Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky and his beatification in a homily delivered on June 27, 2001, at the Hippodrome in Lviv during a Holy Mass, combined with the beatification of martyrs of the Byzantine-Ukrainian Catholic Church, celebrated in the Byzantine-Ukrainian Rite, as follows:
[...] How could we fail to recall the far-sighted and profound pastoral work of the Servant of God, Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky, whose beatification process is progressing and whom we hope to one day see in the glory of the saints? We must refer to his heroic apostolic work if we are to understand the humanly inexplicable fruitfulness of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine during the dark years of persecution. My dears, I am devastated by the words of John Paul II and I think that when he said these words he was not aware of the historical facts about Sheptytsky, although this seems unlikely.

Here is my brief analysis of the Pope's words:
Only two statements in John Paul II's statement are true: farsightedness and profound activity. However, the terms "Servant of God" (it should be "Servant of Satan") and "heroic apostolic activity" (God forbid us from such apostles) are false. I will skip the part about the "inexplicable fruitfulness of the Greek Catholic Church" and move on to the final words: "dark years of persecution," where the Pope did not explain who was persecuted and why these were dark years. We know, however, that these were years of murders committed by Ukrainians against Poles and other nationalities living in the Eastern Borderlands, a cruelty unheard of on a global scale, which CANNOT and SHOULD NEVER BE FORGIVEN, and any reconciliation must be linked to the disclosure of the historical truth, its recognition and UNCONDITIONAL renunciation of the cult of Ukrainian criminals.

Cardinal Angelo Amato, Italian Roman Catholic priest (born June 8, 1938 in Molfetta)Ukrainian groups hostile to Poland continue to pressure the Vatican to beatify Andrei Sheptytsky.
[...] On July 16, 2015, during an audience with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis approved the decree on the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Andrei Sheptytsky.

This concludes Episode 9, in which I spoke about Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky's role in the genocide of Poles committed by Ukrainians during World War II. I cordially invite you to Episode 10, titled "The Polesian Mystery."

Photo source: Wikipedia