I cordially invite you to watch episode 8 of the Wolf Echoes series, titled "The Faithless Servant." In this episode, I will talk about the Ukrainian Metropolitan of the Greek Catholic Church, Andrei Sheptytsky.

Andrei Sheptytsky (1865-1944 Lviv)161 years ago, on July 29, 1865, in the village of Przyłbice, Andrzej was born, the son of Count Jan Kanty Remigian Szeptycki and Zofia Ludwika Cecylia Konstancja Szeptycki, Countess Fredro, daughter of Aleksander Fredro. The boy was baptized in the Roman Catholic rite at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Bruchnal. In 1883, Szeptycki completed a year of military service in the Austro-Hungarian Army, in a hussar regiment in Kraków. He studied law at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and Wrocław, where he defended his doctorate in 1888. An unexpectedly promising lawyer, at the age of 23, he abandoned his career, and even secular life, and decided to climb high, this time on the church ladder. The reasons for Szeptycki's drastic career change are unknown. His decision may have been influenced by a meeting with Vladimir Solovyov and Volodymyr Antonovych in the winter months of 1887, while traveling through the Russian Empire.
Andrew Sheptytsky's official biography reads:
[...] Andrew Sheptytsky, born Count Roman Maria Alexander Sheptytsky (Ukrainian: Andryy Sheptytsky, born July 29, 1865 in Przyłbice, died November 1, 1944 in Lviv) – Greek Catholic priest, Bishop of Stanisławów from 1899 to 1900, Metropolitan Archbishop of Lviv and Galicia from 1900 to 1944, Bishop of Kamianets-Podilskyi. Venerable Servant of God of the Catholic Church.

While the information about Sheptytsky's church functions is indisputable, this last sentence is not. Using facts from Sheptytsky's biography, I will attempt to answer two questions: First, can this man be called venerable? Second, was he truly a servant of God?

Leo XIII (1810-1903 Vatican)Here are some facts from his biography:
On June 2, 1888, he entered the Basilian novitiate in Dobromil and on July 1, 1888, took the religious name Andrei during his ordination. In 1890—even before his ordination—he became prior. On September 3, 1892, he was ordained by Bishop Julian Peles in Przemyśl. On February 2, 1899, he was appointed Bishop Ordinary of Stanisławów, and on October 31, 1900, he was appointed Metropolitan of Galicia-Lviv by Pope Leo XIII. He advocated the unification of Orthodoxy with Greek Catholicism, as well as the unification of all Ukrainians in a single rite. Andrei Sheptytskyi was the spiritual leader of the Ukrainians.

Meeting of the House of Lords of the Reichsrat, Vienna 1868, Austria-HungaryThe above historical facts point to Sheptytsky's unprecedented and dazzling rise within the church hierarchy and his extraordinary rise to spiritual leader of the Ukrainians. However, subsequent information suggests a completely different direction in his church career to date. From 1901 to 1914, he served as a member of the Galician Landtag and deputy speaker of the chamber until early 1912. From 1903 to 1914, he was a member of the House of Lords of the Cisleithanian Reichsrat in Vienna. From that time on, he was consulted on all major events in Ukrainian political life in Eastern Galicia. Sheptytsky became a politician with ties to Austria-Hungary (Germany), despite holding church positions in the Second Polish Republic. On the morning of November 1, 1918, the Metropolitan was informed by Ukrainian officers of the seizure of power in Lviv and the proclamation of independent Ukrainian statehood in Eastern Galicia. He became a member of the Ukrainian National Council of the ZURR as a member of the House of Lords, and from December 14, 1918 – of the West Ukrainian People's Republic.

Symon Petliura and Józef Piłsudski arrive in Vinnytsia in 1920Let's take a closer look at Sheptytsky's views. Faced with the Polish-Ukrainian conflict, Andrei Sheptytsky sided with Ukraine. This decision was motivated by his national self-determination and the vision that through the creation of an independent Ukraine, the Orthodox Church in Ukraine could be united with the Greek Catholic Church. In April 1920, Andrei Sheptytsky supported the Polish-Ukrainian alliance, as expressed in the Piłsudski-Petliura Agreement. On December 16, 1920, Andrei Sheptytsky traveled to Rome, where he remained until March of the following year. Sheptytsky officially supported Ukraine, which had taken a hostile stand against the Poles.
Questions arise: Why did Sheptytsky spend three months in Rome? Why did he go there, and what did he do during that time?

Here are the answers: The pretext for the trip was an overdue ad limina apostolorum visit, to which the Polish authorities agreed. In reality, the trip was intended to seek recognition (alongside the ZURR government-in-exile) from Western governments for the sovereignty of the West Ukrainian People's Republic in Eastern Galicia. Sheptytsky believed that the Entente was the formal mandateholder of Eastern Galicia, and by handing it over to Poland, it had betrayed the Ukrainians, as this area should have been an independent Ukrainian state. He claimed that the Poles were incapable of defending their independence, and, moreover, were imperialists themselves and were denationalizing Ukrainians. Well, the truth is out; our Sheptytsky is no longer so honorable and has little to do with serving God. He is officially against the Polish state and against Poles.

Józef Teodorowicz (1864-1938 Lviv)What do Polish politicians and clergy say about this? According to Polish diplomats serving in the countries he traveled to (Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and England), his activities were detrimental to the Polish state due to his recognition of Petrushevych's government-in-exile and his efforts to internationalize the issue of Eastern Galicia. Sheptytsky's views abroad were also criticized by Metropolitan Archbishop of Kraków Adam Stefan Sapieha and Armenian Archbishop of Lviv Józef Teofil Teodorowicz.
What does the Vatican say about this? The Vatican even considered removing Metropolitan Sheptytsky from his diocesan ministry and transferring him to Rome, in order to replace him with someone more conciliatory in his relations with the Polish state. Polish MP Władysław Skrzyński suggested appointing Sheptytsky as Greek Catholic Metropolitan in the United States. Another expression of the Vatican’s support for Poland’s position was the denial in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano of Sheptytsky’s accusations of improper treatment of Ukrainians in Poland.

Aristide Briand (1862-1932 Paris)The Vatican considered transferring Sheptytsky to Rome, but ultimately did nothing. The French government reacted more decisively. During an audience with Sheptytsky in 1921, the Prime Minister of Poland's ally, Aristide Briand, declared that the French government considered the issue of Eastern Galicia an internal matter of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and suggested a direct agreement between the Ukrainians and Warsaw, declaring support for such talks.

US President, Warren Harding (1865-1923 San Francisco)After an unsuccessful visit to France, the no longer venerable and no longer serving God, Andrei Sheptytsky, departed for Canada to pursue anti-Polish policies. In August 1921, the Metropolitan traveled to Canada and then to the United States, where he was received in audience by U.S. President Warren Harding. On November 23, 1921, Sheptytsky personally submitted a memorandum to the U.S. Department of State, stating that the Supreme Soviet had handed Eastern Galicia over to Poland under hostile and foreign occupation. Sheptytsky's biography contains the at-least strange and untrue statement that Andrei Sheptytsky: "He did not engage in open political agitation."

Prime Minister of France, Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934 Paris)Further facts contradict this. Some of Sheptytsky's speeches in the United States, however, were political in nature – he unequivocally advocated for Ukrainian independence. In March 1922, he traveled to Brazil to seek aid for the Ukrainian people. Sheptytsky was not received by President da Silva, and Primate Cardinal Cavalcani refused to support him. In August 1922, he returned to Europe via the United States and Canada. In March 1923, at a personal audience with the next French Prime Minister, Raymond Poincaré, he received assurances that the rights of Ukrainians in Galicia would be guaranteed. However, Sheptytsky's further diplomatic efforts to secure guarantees for the autonomy of Eastern Galicia were unsuccessful. After his travels abroad, Andrzej Sheptytsky intended to return to Poland for political purposes, acting against Poland and the Poles.

Yevhen Petrushevych (1863-1940 Berlin)Following the final recognition of Polish sovereignty over Eastern Galicia by the Allied Council of Ambassadors (March 15, 1923) and the subsequent dissolution of Yevhen Petrushevych's government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic, Andrei Sheptytsky decided to return to Poland. Polish public opinion was outraged by Sheptytsky's return, as the Polish press widely reported on his conduct during his trip abroad. The Polish government's condition for granting the Metropolitan (after Vatican intervention) an entry visa to Poland was that he issue a pastoral letter to Greek Catholics, calling for obedience to state authority and a declaration of loyalty to the Polish state.

Marian Seyda (1679-1967 Buenos Aires)Did Sheptytsky sign a declaration of loyalty to the Polish state? The Metropolitan was undoubtedly loyal neither to God nor to the country of which he was a citizen. Here are further facts: The declaration of loyalty to the Polish state was not made, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marian Seyda, who was associated with the National Democrats, tried unsuccessfully to prevent Sheptytsky from leaving Rome. The Metropolitan departed for Poland by train. Consequently, the Political Committee of the Council of Ministers decided to detain Sheptytsky as he crossed the border and submit a declaration of loyalty to him. On the night of August 22-23, 1923, he was detained on the Polish-Czechoslovak border, intending to reach Lviv, and taken to the Sisters of Charity convent in Poznań, where he remained under house arrest for the next two months.
What was Sheptytsky doing in Poznań? While in Poznań, he contacted the Polish government through Bishop Jozafat Kocyłowski. After the announcement of a new pastoral letter in the Lviv Archdiocesan News and the submission of a declaration of loyalty to the Polish state to President Stanisław Wojciechowski during a personal audience on October 4, 1923, the Metropolitan was allowed to return to the Archcathedral of Saint Jur.

Stanisław Grabski (1871-1949 Sulejówek)Was Sheptytsky truly loyal to the Polish state? Despite Sheptytsky's pledges of loyalty to Poland, his political activities continued. Consequently, proposals to remove the Metropolitan from his position continued to emerge from National Democrat politicians. One of the leading activists of the People's National Union, Stanisław Grabski, wrote:
[...] Polish diplomacy should find arguments to explain to the Vatican that, after the bloody battles in Eastern Lesser Poland, a different shepherd for the Lviv metropolis was needed.
What was Andrey Sheptytsky's attitude toward the 14th SS Grenadier Division (SS Galizien) and the UPA? In 1943, the Germans, within the Waffen-SS, formed the 14th SS Grenadier Division, recruited from Ukrainian volunteers. Greek Catholic bishops Josyf Slipyj and Nikita Budka celebrated Mass for the division's soldiers. Sheptytsky delegated Greek Catholic chaplains to the division to enhance pastoral activity and counteract the demoralization of the faithful, but according to Andrzej Zięba, this proved ineffective. Sheptytsky did not condemn those who joined the SS division. The Metropolitan held a similar attitude toward the UPA – he neither condemned nor supported it.

Bolesław Twardowski (1864-1944 Lviv)From 1923, the Archdiocese of Lviv, encompassing the territories of Eastern Lesser Poland, was headed by Metropolitan Archbishop Bolesław Twardowski. He repeatedly appealed to Metropolitan Archbishop Sheptytsky to stop the crimes. On July 30, 1943, amidst the culmination of the Volhynian massacre, Archbishop Twardowski sent a letter to Metropolitan Sheptytsky asking him to prevent similar incidents in Galicia.
In his letters to Archbishop Twardowski, Sheptytsky claimed that the extermination of Poles was preceded by:
[...] very numerous killings of Ukrainians simply because they were Ukrainians in Volhynia, the Lublin region, the Chełm region, and the Leżajsk area. He further pointed out that the murders of Poles were also the work of bands of deserters and vendettas.
According to Fr. Prof. Józef Marecki, similar allegations, unsubstantiated by facts, indicated Szeptycki's deep ignorance or rather cynicism.

According to the facts cited, the alleged ignorance of Andrei Sheptytsky, the spiritual leader of Ukrainians, reflects either complete ignorance and a complete lack of knowledge of the facts, or downright naiveté. Sheptytsky was fully aware of the genocidal murders of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Lesser Poland. What's more, he blessed, though likely in the name of his new God, Satan, the murders committed by the Ukrainian population against Poles. The blessing of murderous weapons such as axes, pitchforks, saws, knives, and others in Greek Catholic churches by supposed clergy there is an undeniable fact. During regular services, these clergy incited a terrifying hatred among Ukrainians, primarily towards Poles, but also towards Jews, Russians, and other nationalities inhabiting eastern Poland. Unfortunately, attempts to distort history and whitewash Andrei Sheptytsky continue.

This concludes episode 8, in which I recounted the astonishing ecclesiastical and political career of Andrzej Szeptycki, who concealed his diabolical intentions beneath his cassock. I cordially invite you to episode 9, titled "The Stained Cassock."

Photo source: Wikipedia