Metropolitan John (Theodorovych)

Metropolitan John (Theodorovych) of Philadelphia (1887-1971)

John may be written Ioann or Ivan.

Theodorovych may be spelt Teodorovych, Teodorovich, Theodorovich, Theodorovych.

What is concretely available on the internet about Archbishop John (Theodorovych) is not plentiful. Therefore, there are details missing.

Early life of Ivan Theodorovych

On 6 October, 1887, Ivan Theodorovych was born into the family of a priest in Krupets, Krupetsky volost, Dubno district, Volyn province, Russian Empire.

He was raised within the Russian Orthodox Church.

Higher education

Ivan studied theology first in a preparatory school in Kyiv, and then at the seminary in Zhitomir.

He continued his education, and he prepared to be a teacher. After completing the courses, he taught for 5 years.

During these years, Ivan was also married.

Ordinations, 1914 ; 1915 ; widowhood

Ivan Theodorovych was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in 1914, and then to the Holy Priesthood in 1915.

At some time soon afterwards, his wife reposed in the Lord.

Pastoral service

Priest Ivan Theodorovych then became a military chaplain in the Imperial Army.

After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, during the First Liberation Struggle in Ukraine, he served as Chaplain of the Grey Division of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

Later, he served in a parish in Mitinsk, and he began working towards the establishment of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Background : Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church ; Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA had its beginning in 1915, when several already-existing parishes and clergy of other Orthodox and Roman Catholic dioceses decided that the Ukrainian population of the USA had reached such a level that this distinctive ethnic group should have its own “jurisdiction”. There were many spiritual and political concerns which inspired this decision, and it immediately prospered in terms of the number of parishes and people who joined the movement.

The group sought and received spiritual protection under the omophor of Bishop Germanos (Shehadi) of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the USA. Bishop Germanos provided the necessary guidance for the fledgling jurisdiction until a petition asking for a bishop was sent to the newly independent Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which had formed in October 1921 under the leadership of Metropolitan Vasyl (Lypkivskyj) following the first declaration of Ukrainian Independence in 1918.

Episcopal ordination, 1918

In that same year, 1918, the Priest John Theodorovych was ordained to be a bishop by Metropolitan Vasyl (Lypkivskyj) and Archbishop Nestor (Sharayivsky).

Episcopal service

He had been ordained to be the Bishop of the Podilsk Diocese.

In 1921, the Sobor of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Kyiv assigned Metropolitan Vasyl (Lypkivskyj) to be the head of the UAOC. Persecutions from the Soviet government (and resistance from the Russian Orthodox Church) deterred the UAOC from permanently establishing ecclesiastical order. Almost from the moment that Sobor concluded, the struggle for continued existence was doomed. Archbishop John (Theodorovych) rejected the claim of jurisdiction by the Moscow Patriarchate, which had replaced the Autocephalous Church in Ukraine.

Archbishop John (Theodorovych) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1924

Transfer to the USA, 1924

In response to the request from the USA for a bishop, Archbishop John (Theodorovych) was assigned in 1924 to care for the spiritual needs of the Ukrainian Orthodox faithful in the USA, and also of those in Canada. He was not able immediately to take up the responsibility.

Archbishop John (Theodorovych)

In 1924, Archbishop John arrived in the USA, and he immediately convoked a Sobor, which would formalise the establishment of the Archdiocese as the American-Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA. At this time, Bishop Germanos (Shehadi) officially relinquished his authority over the Church, in favour of Archbishop John. Following the Sobor, under the guidance of Archbishop John, the life of the American-Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA began to take form. Although he did not live in Canada, he visited the parishes there and he supervised parish life there from the USA. The Archbishop remained in contact to some extent with the Church in Ukraine.

In 1924, a tomos was issued by Patriarch Gregorios VII, of Constantinople, which re-established the former Kyivan-Rus (Ukrainian) Metropolitanate as an autocephalous Church. It placed the responsibility of establishing a new Synod of Bishops upon Metropolitan-Archbishop Dionisij (Waledynskyj) of Warsaw. However, by 1927 it was clear that the communist government would not stop its persecution of this church. By that year, the Communist government had arrested all of the Church’s hierarchs and most of its clergy, and it had destroyed most of the ecclesiastical properties.

By 1937, all the bishops had been executed, and there were no signs of the Church’s life perceivable. The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church had had no opportunity to plead its case for canonical recognition to world Orthodoxy.

The American-Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA was deeply affected by these events. One significant fact was that Archbishop John had been ordained as one of the first 3 bishops of the Autocephalous Church in Ukraine, and he and the UAOC had not received canonical recognition by the rest of the Orthodox Church throughout the world. This ordination was called uncanonical. Despite several attempts to plead his case before the Ecumenical Patriarchate, no progress was made on the matter. All his correspondence went unanswered.

The clergy and faithful of the American-Ukrainian Orthodox Church of USA, however, were undaunted in their conviction and their commitment to build their own independent church, which continued to grow and develop spiritually and materially. The Archdiocesan Centre was located in Philadelphia, a seminary was established, and the clergy required for serving the spiritual needs of the faithful were educated and assigned. They all worked hard in the establishment and building of new parishes all over the USA.

In 1928, a second group of Ukrainian Orthodox Faithful in the USA initiated a movement towards canonical Orthodoxy. Because of the questions surrounding the status of Archbishop John (Theodorovych), this group hesitated in affiliating itself with his already established jurisdiction, even though it was thriving. The first Sobor of this group met in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the spring of 1929, and established itself as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America. The Archpriest Dr. Joseph Zuk was elected to be the administrator in order to organise the diocese, and at its 2nd Sobor in 1931 in New York City, he was chosen to be the first bishop.

In 1932, 2 hierarchs of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the USA ordained the Archpriest Joseph Zuk to the Holy Episcopate at Saint Volodymyr’s Cathedral, on 14th Street in New York City. Bishop Joseph lived less than 2 years following his ordination.

1936, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America accepted by the Patriarchate of Constantinople

In 1936, the Ecumenical Patriarch Benjamin (Psomas) accepted the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America under his omophor.

In 1937, Bohdan (Shpylka) was ordained to the Holy Episcopate to be the bishop of the diocese.

Under the guidance of Bishop Bohdan (Shpylka), the jurisdiction also began to thrive. The number of parishes and faithful grew, almost rivalling the growth of the American-Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA under Archbishop John (Theodorovych).

Renewal of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, 1941-1942

In the autumn of 1941, Metropolitan Feofil (Buldovsky) of Kharkiv (ordained in 1923 to be a bishop of the Moscow Patriarchate), joined the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC). In 1942, he became head of the UAOC in Left-Bank (Eastern) Ukraine. Poor health prevented Metropolitan Feofil from leaving Ukraine when the Bolsheviks retook Ukraine from the Germans in 1944.

On 24 December, 1941, Metropolitan Dionisij (Waledynskyj) (also spelt Dionizy (Waledyński)), who was of the Polish Orthodox Church-Ecumenical Patriarchate, and whose primary ordaining bishop in 1913 was Patriarch Gregory IV (Haddad) of Antioch, designated Bishop Polikarp (Sikorski) (ordained in 1932 by Metropolitan Dionisij) to be the Temporary Administrator of the German-occupied Ukrainian lands, and gave him the title “Archbishop of Lutsk and Kovel”.

Also in 1941, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church convened a Sobor. The participants in the Synod, many of whom were Russian-oriented, decided to keep the Ukrainian Church in German-occupied Ukraine in canonical dependence upon the Moscow Patriarchate. Archbishop Oleksiy (Hromadsky) was declared by the Synod to be Metropolitan of this church which came to be known as the “Autonomous Church”.

In 1942, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine was re-established during the period when there was a brief relaxation of religious persecution during the German occupation of Ukraine. On 9-10 February, 1942, Metropolitan Dionisij (Waledynskyj) blessed the meeting of the Ukrainian Episcopate in Pinsk (Byelorussia) at the First Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), which restored canonical ties and unity with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. During this notable meeting, on 9 February, Archimandrite Nikanor (Abramovych), and then on 10 February also, Archimandrite Ihor (Huba) were ordained to the Holy Episcopate by Archbishop Polikarp (Sikorski), Archbishop Olexander (Inozemtsev) and Bishop Yuri (Korenastov), who later became the Metropolitan of Warsaw. Metropolitan Dionisiy assigned them to serve as joint Vicar-Bishops of Archbishop Polikarp, with responsibilities in Kyiv.

Between 9 May and 17 May, 1942, the ordination of these new bishops of the UAOC occurred, with the permission of Metropolitan Dionisij, in the Cathedral of Saint Andrew in Kyiv under the presidencies of the Vicars of the Metropolitan, Archbishops Nikanor and Ihor.

Developments in Canada

One of the bishops ordained for the renewed church in 1942 in Kyiv was Bishop Mstyslav (Skrypnyk), who eventually went to Canada to lead the Ukrainian Orthodox Church there.

Bishop Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) succeeded Archbishop John (Theodorovych) in Canada. However, Bishop Mstyslav left Canada within a few years and went to the United States to join the jurisdiction of Bishop Bohdan (Shpylka) of Evkarpia. He had a great desire to unite the 2 existing jurisdictions in the USA. Bishop Mstyslav (Skrypnyk), who was a validly ordained bishop, persuaded Archbishop John to submit to a new ordination in order to resolve all the canonical questions about his episcopal status, and as a prerequisite to the unification of the 2 churches. It was in 1949 that Archbishop John (Theodorovych) agreed to the new ordination.

Corrections by Constantinople, 1949

On 27 August, 1949, Archbishop John (Theodorovych) was ordained privately to the Holy Episcopate by Bishop Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) and Metropolitan Christopher (Contogeorge) of Pentapolis (Exarch to the USA of the Alexandrian Patriarchate from 1947 until his repose in 1950).

This act resolved some of the questions regarding his previous ordination, and thus attracted a number of the parishes of Bishop Bohdan into his flock. Nevertheless, these 2 bishops (Archbishop John and Bishop Bohdan) were, themselves, considered by some to be of dubious canonicity, and both groups continued on independently. The 2 Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdictions under their separate leaderships co-existed in the USA for many years, and they both expanded. Archbishop John (Theodorovych) headed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada as well as the Church in the USA, and Bishop Bohdan (Shpylka) also established several parishes in Canada. However, despite becoming the largest Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdiction in the USA at that time, the diocese was still not recognised as canonical by the rest of the Orthodox Christian Church.

In 1950, the 2 rival jurisdictions held sobors (in the same cathedral in New York), at which unification was approved by both. On 13-16 October, 1950, a combined unification sobor was held, at which both groups signed the act of union. However, the merger between those led by Archbishop John (Theodorovych) and Archbishop Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) was not achieved completely At this time, the NKVD/KGB "conducted 'operational surveillance' of the UAOC Bishop J Theodorovych, because in their opinion he had a harmful 'goal to unite Ukrainian emigrants in the struggle for Ukraine's independence'". Their activities may have had some effect. Some of the clergy and parishes under Bishop Bohdan were unconvinced of the sincerity of the UOAC group, and they convinced Bishop Bohdan to reject the union. Therefore, Archbishop Mstyslav essentially returned to the UAOC jurisdiction, along with some of Bishop Bohdan's parishes. Otherwise, the union was celebrated by those who actually participated.

On Sunday, 10 October, 1965, Metropolitan John (Theodorovych), accompanied by Archbishops Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) and Volodomyr (Maletz), blessed and sanctified the newly-constructed Saint Andrew Memorial Church in South Bound Brook, New Jersey. There were hundreds of clergy and thousands of faithful people in attendance for this service, as reported by the "Ukrainian Weekly". The Temple was constructed as a memorial to the Ukrainian Orthodox Christian clergy and faithful who gave their lives in their multitudes for the defence of their homeland and of their Faith.

Repose, 1971

On 3 May, 1971, Archbishop John (Theodorovych) reposed in the Lord in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

After the Funeral Services for the Burial of a Hierarch, his body was interred in the Saint Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery at South Bound Brook, New Jersey.

— Bishop of the American-Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA 1924-1971.

— Bishop of Winnipeg and the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada 1924-1944. Preceded by : Metropolitan Germanos (Shehadeh). Succeeded by : Metropolitan Mstyslav (Skrypnyk).

Reflections

Writings

• "The Grace of the Hierarchy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church" (Vinnitsa, 1922).

• “American-Ukrainian Prayer Book” (Philadelphia : American-Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, 1942).

Writings by various authors about the archbishop :

• Chaplin, Valentin, ‘The Orthodox Church in Ukraine and Poland in the 20th Century 1917-1950’, vol. 14 of “Collection of Church Histories” (Moscow : Krutitsky Patriarchal Representation, 1997). ISBN : 5787300068 ; 9785787300062.

• (Fedchenkov), Metropolitan Benjamin, "At the Turn of Two Eras" (Moscow: Otchiy Dom, 1994) p. 309.

• Nikolaev, K N, "Eastern Rite" (Paris : YMCA-Press, 1950) pp. 287-288, 296.

• Petrushko, V, "Autocephalist Schisms in Ukraine in the Post-Soviet Period (1989-1997)" (Moscow : Saint Tikhon Theological Institute, 1998) 254 pp.

References

"The Orthodox Church in Canada : A Chronology" (Ottawa, Ontario : Archdiocese of Canada (OCA), 1988).

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA History

"A Brief History of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada"

Ukrainian Wikipedia biography

Russian Wikipedia biography

Additional information :

Bilyaiv, Volodymyr, "On the Uniterrupted Wing (Touches to literary Portraits of the Western Diaspora)" (Donetsk : Oriental Publishing House, 2003) ISBN : 966-7804-57-7.

Tynchenko, Yaroslav Y, "Officer Corps of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917-1921)", Book 2 (Kyiv : Tempora, 2011) (in Ukrainian). ISBN 978-617-569-041-3.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA web-site

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada web-site

Orthodoxwiki article about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA

Article about the establishment of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine

Wikipedia article about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

Orthodoxwiki article about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

Article about Metropolitan John in the Internet Encyclopaedia of Ukraine

Archive of the Ukrainian Weekly Newspaper beginning in 1933

‘Ukrainians Abroad’ in “The Ukrainian Weekly”, pp. 26-27

'Thousands Attend Memorial Church Blessing in Bound Brook' In "Ukrainian Weekly" vol. 72, no. 193

History of Saint Vladimir's Cathedral, Philadelphia