The Greek-Catholic Parish Clergy in Galicia, 1900-1939
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THE GREEK-CATHOLIC PARISH CLERGY IN GALICIA, 1900-1939 Andrew Dennis Sorokowski Ph.D. thesis at the University of London School of Slavonic and East European Studies ABSTRACT Between 1900 and 1939 the Greek-Catholic parish clergy in Galicia underwent a transformation of its social, national, political and cultural consciousness. In part this was the result of the political changes taking place in the province, as its Ruthenian population developed a Ukrainian national consciousness expressed during the interregnum between Austrian and Polish rule by the creation of the Western Ukrainian Popular Republic, and later, in the increasingly restrictive atmosphere of inter-war Poland, by the activity of both moderate and radical nationalist groups. In part this transformation was conditioned by the decline of the priestly caste and the rise of a new type of priest, usually a celibate of village origin. The transformation was also the result of a conscious programme initiated by Metropolitan Andrei Sheptyts'kyi to raise the moral and educational level of the clergy. To this end he reformed the L'viv seminary, established a theological academy, and organised full seminaries in Stanyslaviv and Peremyshi'. This prepared the parish priest to deal with a growingly nationalistic and often anti-clerical intelligentsia, and a village coming increasingly under its influence. At the same time, the parish clergy evolved a new sense of its identity, gradually abandoning the Russophile orientation of the Old Ruthenians and adopting first Ruthenian populism, then Ukrainian nationalism. Thus they found common cause with the secular intelligentsia. However, the Ukrainian orientation forced them to redefine the Eastern Ukrainian tradition in a manner compatible with Catholicism, and to formulate their stance towards Orthodoxy and the Kievan Byzantine tradition. Though split between Byzantinists and Westernisers, the clergy developed a strong sense of their place as leaders of Galician Ukrainian society, albeit in occasional competition with the nationalist intelligentsia, and of their mission as bearers of Catholicism in the East. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE...............................................................................................................5 NoTEON TRANSLATION AND TRANSLITERATION.................................11 INTRODUCTION: SOCIETY AND POLITICS IN GALICIA (1900- 1939)......13 PART ONE: THE EDUCATION OF THE GREEK-CATHOLIC CLERGY........................................................................51 CHAPTERONE: SCHOOL AND SEMINARY.................................................51 1. Primary and Secondary Education...................................................51 2. The Seminaries......................................................................................58 3. The "Galician Monaco" and Seminary Reform............................60 4. Seminary Life.......................................................................................... 65 CHAPTERTwo: STUDENT ATTITUDES ....................................................82 1.Politics and Society................................................................................ 82 2. Celibacy.....................................................................................................92 3. Discovering the West.............................................................................97 PARTTWO: THE PRIEST IN SOCIETY....................................................101 CHAPTER THREE: THE LEGAL, ECONOMIC ANDADMINISTRATIVE CONTEXT.............................................................101 1. The Austrian Period...........................................................................101 2. The Polish Period.................................................................................107 CHAPTERFOUR: THE CLERICAL ESTATE...............................................128 1.Exclusivity..............................................................................................128 2. Celibacy...................................................................................................134 3. Solidarity................................................................................................ 4. Priests and Bishops.............................................................................14 CHAPTERFIVE: CLERGY AND LAITY......................................................151 1. Pastoral Work.......................................................................................151 2. Relations with the Secular Intelligentsia.....................................161 3. Relations with the Countryside........................................................ 169 4 PART THREE: CRISES OF IDENTITY . 182 CHAPTER Six: RELIGIOUS, NATIONAL AND POLITICAL IDENTITY. 182 1. Old Ruthenians, Russophiles, Schismatics..................................183 2. From Ruthenian Populists to Ukrainian Nationalists..............195 CHAPTER SEVEN: RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL IDENTITY................. 1. Byzantinists and Westernisers ........................................................210 2. The Problem of Ukrainian Secular Culture.................................227 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE SENSE OF MISSION OF THE GREEK-CATHOLIC PARISH PRIEST...........................................................233 1. Priest and Intelligentsia: Cooperation or Competition2............233 2. The Challenge of Integral Nationalism........................................238 3. The Clerical Vanguard......................................................................250 CONCLUSION: THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE GREEK-CATHOLIC PARIsH CLERGY.........................................................254 NOTEON SOURCES ........................................................................................256 BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................................................260 AppendixI Chronology of Principal Events.....................................277 AppendixII Survey Questionnaire.....................................................281 TABLES..............................................................................................................284 IGalicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.....................................285 IIDistricts and Eparchies of Galicia.................................................286 IIIThe Ethnogeographic Setting of Galicia.....................................287 IVGreater Ukraine ................................................................................288 PREFACE The original plan of this dissertation was to examine the 'mentality" of the Greek-Catholic parish clergy as it developed in the changing socio-economic, political and cultural circumstances of Galicia between 1900 and 1939. In the process of assembling the necessary material it became evident that much fundamental work had to be done to clarify those changing circumstances themselves, at least insofar as they affected the clergy. It also became clear that the reform of clerical education which took place during this time would have to be dealt with before any assessment could be made of changes in clerical attitudes. The result has been that tthe first two chapters of this dissertation are dedicated to clerical education, the next three to social and economic relations, and the following two to politics and culture, respectively. In all these chapters, however, a discussion of changing conditions is combined with examples of evolving priestly attitudes about these conditions. In this way the question of "mentality" is treated together with the basic conditions that influenced it, and clerical perceptions of these conditions are documented. Only the last chapter deals exclusively with what the Greek-Catholic parish clergy in Galicia thought about themselves. That chapter, however, is in part a reflection on material introduced in earlier chapters, and examines attitudes that arose in reaction to the conditions previously discussed. The fundamental thesis is that over a period of forty years, the Greek-Catholic clergy in Galicia was transformed in several ways, partly by design, partly by circumstance. Metropolitan Sheptyts'kyi, seeking to bring the priesthood back to a position of social leadership, reformed the seminaries and sought to create a new, superior type of priest, prepared to cooperate (or, as necessaary, compete) with the secular intelligentsia and to evangelise the Orthodox East. At the same time, the fall of the Habsburg empire and the advent of Polish rule, the change in the social composition of the clergy, deteriorating economic conditions and other similar factors contributed to the metamorphosis of the priestly class. Geographical and political factors of course must be considered in order to understand the setting in which the mentality of the Greek-Catholic clergy developed. Galicia was the northeasternmost province of the Austro-Hungarian empire. 6 Politicians and military strategists were well aware of its importance as a bulwark against Russia. Peremyshi' (Przemyl) was one of the most heavily fortified towns of Europe, and its successive sieges by Russians and Austrians were major events in the first world war. Perhaps even more keenly felt, however, was the danger of Russian influence among a population that, in Eastern Galicia, mostly spoke an East Slavic language and belonged to a Church which, while Catholic, bore close resemblance to Orthodoxy. The conversion of a few Galician priests and villages to Orthodoxy caused