Bp. Soter Ortynsky The First Greek Catholic Bishop of the United States Casey Dudek Mission Institute of the St. Nicholas Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Eparchy of Chicago History of the Ukrainian Church in America April 26, 2023 The Greek Catholic Church in America The history of Catholicism in the United States is a tale of drama and intrigue. The Founding Fathers of the Catholic Church in America faced persecution and setback on levels foreign to many of their spiritual descendants. Thanks to their labors, the Catholic Church became firmly established as a spiritual authority in America. Faithfully departed Catholics of this country who saved their souls have them to thank for it. The history of the American Church is one that the faithful should familiarize themselves with. When this history is recounted, however, there is a crucial element that is often omitted – the history of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Latin Catholics often forget – or simply aren’t aware – that the Catholic Church is a communion of two dozen sui juris churches with traditions dating back to the early centuries of Christianity. The Eastern Catholic Churches collectively consist of 18 million members worldwide.1 Dwarfed by their Latin Catholic counterparts – who number 1.345 billion2 – Eastern Catholics often go unnoticed by theologians and historians. By the end of the 19th century, in spite of pressure from Protestantism, the Latin Catholic Church had firmly established itself in American society and had founded numerous parishes, religious orders, and charitable organizations. But a new challenge awaited the American Catholic Church. Greek Catholics from Eastern Europe and the Middle East began immigrating to the United States en masse, seeking greater economic opportunities and fleeing from Islamic aggression.3 These Greek Catholics brought with them their own unique customs, which included different Liturgies, devotions, languages, canon law… and married priests. More than anything else, Latin Catholics were scandalized seeing Catholic priests with wives and children. Latin laity and clergy were not properly educated about Eastern Rite customs and theology, nor had they had any contact with Byzantines until the immigrations which began in the late 19th century. It was a situation that the Church in the Western Hemisphere had never faced before. Tragically, the Latin clergy of America didn’t handle it much better than Latins in other nations and ages did under similar circumstances. The lack of understanding and appreciation of the beauties and intricacies of Eastern tradition on the part of Latin Catholics – especially their hierarchs – has long been a thorn in the side of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Whenever Orthodox schismatics have come back into communion with Rome, Latin customs have been imposed on them by Latin hierarchs. These changes to Eastern practices were carried out for two main reasons: a lack of understanding of and reverence for those practices on the part of those hierarchs, and doubts about the validity of Orthodox sacraments. These latinizations were often done heavy-handedly, much to the frustration of Eastern Catholics. Conflicts often resulted due to these latinizations. Tragically, many Greek Catholics chose to return to schism rather than forfeit their legitimate customs. It is a story that has repeated itself in many lands since the eastern schismatics began answering Rome’s call for reunion centuries ago. Despite everything that Vatican II tried to do for the Eastern Catholic Churches, many if not most Latin Catholics still remain disinterested in entering into their Liturgies, learning their histories, or laboring for their growth and spread. Men who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The Latin bishops – the majority of whom were Italians and Irishmen4 – wanted uniformity of jurisdiction and canon law;5 if there was one structure of authority with everyone in the Church following the same agenda things would go smoothly, or so they believed. But arriving at this uniformity proved to be a far rougher ride than the Latins expected, as the Easterners refused to go along with this. They wanted to follow their own customs and be under bishops of their own Rite. Unfortunately, the Latin hierarchy did not grant adequate episcopal headship to Greek Catholics in America when they first began immigrating there, and this appears to be the primary cause of external and internal conflicts – and apostasy – for many Eastern Catholics. Mistakenly believing that Eastern Catholics “weren’t fully Catholic,” many Latins set out on a misguided quest to convert them to Latin Catholicism. This fatal theological misunderstanding was complicated by the ethnic diversity of Greek Catholics: Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Russians, and other ethnic groups – along with their respective customs and national loyalties – counted themselves as members of the Greek Catholic Church of America.6 Latin and Greek Catholics in the United States and Ireland were under the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith until 1908. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops – as well as its predecessor, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops – had not yet been established. As a precursor to the later bishops’ conferences, the United States bishops held non-canonical meetings from the 1890s to 1919. One such meeting took place in Chicago from September 12-13, 1893. The archbishop of New York had received a letter from the Cardinal Prefect for the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith which said that married priests should “[…] be retained pro tempore on account of the danger of Schism that now threatened, but that as far as possible Greek monks should be procured [for Greek priests in the U.S.].”7 Rome thus tells the American Latin bishops to allow Greek Catholics to keep their married clergy, otherwise their laity won’t have proper spiritual care. But instead, the American bishops made the following decision: It is the solemn judgment of the Archbishops of the United States that the presence of married priests of the Greek rite in our midst is a constant menace to the chastity of our unmarried clergy, a source of scandal to the laity and therefore the sooner this point of discipline is abolished before these evils obtain large proportions, the better for religion, because the possible loss of a few souls of the Greek rite, bears no proportion to the blessings resulting from uniformity of discipline.8 This short-sighted and unfatherly decision is frequently cited in a negative sense against the Catholic Church and has served as a source of embarrassment to the hierarchy ever since. Similar events – such as the conflict between Bp. John Ireland and Fr. Alexis Toth, and Ea Semper, which prohibited married priests from emigrating to America – resulted in the loss of approximately 163 Eastern Catholic parishes and over 100,000 laypeople to Russian Orthodoxy, forming the sects now known as the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of North America (ACROD).9 Long-standing discipline requires that Latin priests be celibate, and for good reason, as celibacy has produced many a saint.10 Latin Catholics do well to assert that clerical celibacy should be maintained, but their zeal to change Eastern Rite discipline along similar lines has ultimately been disastrous. Those who take an objective look at Church history should see that the hierarchy’s inept handling of clerical marriage was far more problematic than clerical marriage itself. Let them take to heart the words of Montesquieu: “The perfect is often the enemy of the good.” The situation improved when the Holy See finally appointed a Greek Catholic bishop for the Western Hemisphere. A hierarch had been found, but he had the immense task of caring for all the Greek Catholic faithful on both American continents. The man chosen for this duty was Bp. Soter Ortynsky, O.S.B.M.11 (1866-1916). Early Life and Religious Profession Ortynsky was born on January 29, 1866 in Ortynychi, in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, which was part of the Austrian Empire.12 At baptism, he was given the name Stephen. He attended high school at the Drohobych Gymnasium at first, but because his parents had misgivings about the pro-Polish views espoused by the administration, they had him transferred to the Stryi Gymnasium.13 He entered the Basilian novitiate in Dobromyl in the Lviv Region in February 1884. In 1882, Pope Leo XIII and the Jesuits began to reform the Basilian order, which was in decline until that time. Bps. Sheptytsky and Ortynsky were among the fruits of those reforms, as were the many liturgical hymns composed by the Basilian fathers.14 On January 1, 1889, he took vows with the Basilian Order and received a new name – Soter.15 Fr. Soter studied at various Basilian schools before finishing his ThD in Krakow.16 On July 18, 1891, he was ordained to the priesthood by the Very Rev. Sylvester Sembratovych, Metropolitan of Lviv, and celebrated his first Divine Liturgy at the monastery church in Dobromyl.17 Fr. Soter had originally prepared for missionary service to Ukrainian immigrants living in South America, but God and his superiors had other plans. Greek Catholics in America before Ortynsky In the 19th century, the United States was classified as “mission territory” by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.18 Ukrainians came to America in sizable numbers during that time and formed themselves into communities. In the face of an alien American culture and a hierarchy that treated them as second-class citizens within the Church, Greek Catholics clung to their customs, both religious and cultural. Before bishops were appointed for Eastern Catholics in the U.S., there were only individual parishes that were initially run by laypeople. There was no chancery, so the parish assignments and salaries of priests were determined by a committee. The Greek faithful didn’t trust the Latin hierarchy, so they didn’t want to deed their churches over to them.19 Many difficulties resulted from this lack of structure. The Greek Catholics in Shenandoah, PA wrote a letter of appeal to Bp. Sylvester Sembratovych of Lviv, requesting priests to be sent to minister to them in America. In response, the metropolitan assigned Fr. Ivan Volansky to the faithful in Shenandoah. Fr. Volansky arrived there in 1884 and erected the first Eastern Catholic parish in America – St. Michael the Archangel Church.20 Fr. Volansky had to deal with both internal and external problems. The internal issues consisted of conflicts between Ukrainian immigrants from Galicia and those from Transcarpathia.21 Greek Catholic immigrants viewed themselves ethnically as attached to their Old-World eparchies, and this was one of the causes of the rivalries among the various ethnic groups, even though they shared the same Rite. External problems occurred because the Latin hierarchs of America didn’t like that Fr. Volansky was a married priest.22 After numerous complaints and misunderstandings, Fr. Volansky was recalled to Ukraine in 1889.23 Yet in his brief time in America, this dynamic priest accomplished much in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and beyond. Fr. Volansky played a key role in bringing some celibate Greek Catholic priests over from Ukraine to assist him in his ministry. These priests were allowed to stay. He also organized the faithful into a cohesive unit, establishing parishes, choirs, evening heritage schools, cooperative general stores, and fraternal organizations.24 From 1889 to 1907, American Greek Catholics had an Apostolic Visitor, but no principal administrator for church matters. As a result, challenges and misunderstandings among parishes, clergy, and faithful increased. Eastern Catholic priests in America repeatedly appealed to the Vatican asking to be given a bishop, but to no avail.25 Bp. Ortynsky’s Pastorship On March 26, 1907, following the recommendation of Metropolitan Sheptytsky, Pope St. Pius X appointed Ortynsky as the first bishop for Greek Catholics in the United States and named him titular Bishop of Daulia. On May 12, 1907, he was consecrated bishop by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, Bp. Konstantyn Chekhovych, and Bp. Hryhory Khomyshyn in St. George’s Cathedral in Lviv.26 Originally expecting to be sent to Brazil, Bp. Ortynsky was surprised by the change to his appointment. In one of his letters, he says the following being sent to the United States: The power of obedience stopped me on the way to Brazil, where my heart desired, to carry assistance to the poorest of our Ruthenian immigrants. The power of obedience put upon me the hands of the episcopacy, anchoring me with this very act to the fate and suffering of the Ruthenian Church in the United States. The power of obedience told me, “Take this hard and most difficult cross and crucify upon it your own [ego], and with the suffering which you will know, save both yourself and the flock under your care.”27 The motif of sacrifice and suffering ran throughout his pastoral letters. The unexpected change in appointment also explains why his English wasn’t very good. Before coming to America, Bp. Ortynsky visited Budapest and wrote his first pastoral letter. He also visited Rome and had an audience with Pope St. Pius X.28 The 10th Convention of the Ruthenian National Union29 was held from July 1-8, 1907, and named Bp. Ortynsky as an honorary member and benefactor. Vladyka arrived in America on August 28, 1907, which was the Feast of the Dormition according to the Old Calendar. Because of this, the observance of the feast was moved to the following day.30 When the bishop arrived, most of the Greek Catholic priests didn’t want to provide a residence for him out of fear that he would take control of their parish. Eventually, he was invited to the Greek Catholic parish in South Fork, PA, and there he set up the first Greek Catholic Chancery of the United States.31 Bp. Ortynsky’s mission was no easy task. Animosity and misunderstandings between Ukrainian laity and clergy from Halychyna and their Carpatho-Ruthenian counterparts had not subsided. The Russian Orthodox, funded by the tsarist government, pulled out all the stops to convince Catholic faithful from both groups to apostatize. The bishop once lamented: [T]hat his work is interfered with by members of the [schismatic] Russian Church, whose representatives at times attend the religious services of the Ruthenians and create disturbances. The motives of the schismatics, the Bishop says[,] are not religious, but political. They owe, first of all, allegiance to the Czar, and hence try to increase Russian influence by winning over the various Slav nationalities to the State Church.32 These factors resulted in no small amount of confusion and conflict amongst the various Slavic immigrant groups, making Bp. Ortynsky’s work difficult. Vladyka was also emigrating from an empire to a constitutional republic (and one that was viewed as a backwater by Europeans during that period), and at the time his English wasn’t very good. He wouldn’t become an American citizen until January 3, 1913.33 Nevertheless, Vladyka labored tirelessly for the organizational and administrative development of the Greek Catholic Church in America, fighting for the Greek Church’s rightful autonomy and mission to preach the Gospel to all peoples.34 His episcopate was brief but astonishingly dynamic. In 1908, Vladyka purchased a Methodist chapel in Philadelphia and began making renovations. Eventually it would become the first Ukrainian Cathedral in Philadelphia – the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. In 1909, Metropolitan Sheptytsky visited America the following year, and on September 28, 1910, the cornerstone for the seminary building and orphanage was blessed in Yorktown, PA. The Ukrainian Cathedral in Philadelphia was consecrated by Metropolitan Sheptytsky on October 2 of the same year.35 Vladyka would not live to see the completion of the seminary, however. Bp. Soter labored greatly for Eastern Catholic education. In 1909, he founded the Enlightenment Association (a branch of the Prosvita society) and donated a building for its headquarters. Serving as its head, he used this Association for the advancement of parochial education.36 He also established night schools for deacons, as well as a Greek Catholic school for cantors, who in turn were charged with organizing parish evening schools for teaching catechism, and Ukrainian history and culture.37 In 1911, the bishop started an orphanage and school in Philadelphia, paying out of pocket to buy the property. Vladyka then brought Basilian sisters from Halychyna to finance and run these institutions. They arrived in America on November 28, 1911, the first from their order to do so. A few years later, 131 children were being cared for there. Around that same time, the sisters also opened up a publishing house and began printing Misionar (Missionary).38 To fund the orphanage and school, Vladyka organized a church supply store, a bookstore, and a rug and carpet-making shop. Bp. Ortynsky also bought an Explore and Experience Our Past farm in Chesapeake, MD for orphan children aged 2 to 6.39 Bp. Ortynsky also founded a number of church organizations and publications. He established the Union of the Ruthenian Greek-Catholics’ Brotherhoods – Chrystyianska Lubov (Christian Love) – as well as the Brotherhood of Saint Hryhoriy.40 From 1908 to 1914, he published the monthly magazine Dushpastyr (Pastor of Souls), which was devoted to religious, national, and social concerns. In 1912, the bishop organized a Catholic Beneficial Association named Provydinnia (Providence), with the newspaper Ameryka – based in Philadelphia – as its official organ. From 1914 onward, he began publishing Eparkhiial’ni visty (Eparchial News).41 In 1915, Bp. Ortynsky started a Rusyn bank. The laity put in deposits that were used to purchase and upgrade properties. Bp. Ortynsky’s brother Joseph used his insurance money to pay off bills and creditors following Vladyka’s death, saving the eparchy from bankruptcy.42 When World War I broke out, Vladyka Soter actively provided aid for war victims in Halychyna. In particular, he delegated all his pastors to raise funds for orphans and widows there. He masterfully evoked the patriotic loyalty of his people, emphasizing the need for Ukrainians to aid their enslaved and suffering kinsmen. He coined the phrase: “Let us stand all as one in giving aid.”43 Vladyka also took care of his clergy; he held retreats for his priests that he preached himself. Metropolitan Sheptytsky said that he was the best preacher the Basilians ever produced. Bp. Ortynsky purchased 222 acres of land in Yorktown, VA to serve as a seminary.44 He had planned to construct a cultural center as well, but his untimely death prevented him from completing either project. Fortunately, from 1924 onward, his successor Metropolitan Constantine Bohachevsky fulfilled these projects.45 St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in Washington, D.C. would open in 1941. The Organization of the Greek Catholic Church in America The canonical organization of the Greek-Catholic Church of America occurred during the early 20th century, but a flash point occurred in September 1907, when Pope Pius X issued the apostolic letter Ea Semper. This document stated that Bp. Ortynsky didn’t have any diocesan authority following his appointment and no married priests were to be ordained in America or sent to America. The letter also introduced certain latinizations into the Byzantine Rite and made changes to the regulations governing marriages between persons of different Rites.46 In an instance of Vatican intrigue, Bp. Ortynsky wasn’t informed about the decree until he arrived in America on August 27, 1907. But after his consecration, he was expected to go along with it. Eastern Catholics in America reacted strongly against this decree. Married Greek deacons in America who were on the verge of ordination were told to give up their vocations or go back to Europe to be ordained. The traditions that were promised to Greek Catholics at the Union of Brest in 1595-1596 were now being revoked. Bp. Ortynsky was placed under the authority of the Latin Rite bishops, some of whom were openly antagonistic toward Greek Catholicism. Many Greek Catholics chose to go into schism rather than obey the decree. Due to the anti-Catholicism present in America at the time, the U.S. bishops wanted to be as loyal to Rome as possible – they didn’t want to publicly criticize the decrees of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. The American episcopacy was also more compliant with Vatican decrees than some of the European conferences were.47 Bp. Ortynsky was different. In his first pastoral letter, he told his priests and faithful that he was a bishop without an eparchy – he was consecrated and given a mission but wasn’t given the authority to fulfill it. On January 11, 1908, Vladyka Soter wrote a 29-page letter from Philadelphia against the apostolic letter. He wrote his response in Ukrainian, Hungarian, and Slovak so that all the faithful would understand it, as he did for other proclamations.48 Bp. Ortynsky was the only Greek Catholic bishop in the hemisphere, but he was not afraid to publicly proclaim that the letter was an insult to his church and that he wasn’t going to follow it. In November 1908, Bp. Ortynsky later wrote in a letter to Metropolitan Sheptytsky: If I knew about the bull before my departure, I would not have left for America for anything in the world. But it happened. Two Irish bishops instigated by Hungarians who were candidates behave atrociously towards me. The situation is arduous but from day to day it is becoming more clear and it is dissipating. It has to do with what to do with the bull. [We] have to lodge a protest. Can you with the bishops in the old country protest both in Galicia and in Hungary? All my priests will lodge a protest because the entire people will go into schism. This is no joke.49 Vladyka resisted the decree until the day he died. He was given ordinary jurisdiction by Ea Semper, but he was still under the Latin bishops. Because of Bp. Ortynsky’s status from 1907 to 1914, he was often called “the sacristan for the Latin bishops.”50 Upon realizing the damage caused by Ea Semper, the Vatican attempted to rectify the situation. On May 28, 1913, the Holy See established the Exarchate for Greek-Catholics in America, naming Bp. Ortynsky exarch, establishing his see in Philadelphia, and granting him full ordinary jurisdiction and independence from Latin hierarchs. This Exarchate would set the stage for the establishment of other Eastern Catholic Churches in America. As the nation’s first Greek Catholic bishop, Bp. Ortynsky played a crucial role in the formation of the structure of the American Byzantine Church. On August 17, 1914, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith issued Cum Episcopo, which dictated the governance of the Greek Catholic Church for the next decade.51 This new decree made Bp. Ortynsky subject only to the Holy See. It also stated that Greek Catholics should establish a seminary and their faithful should belong to their own church.52 Despite canonical issues and conflicts with Latin Catholics and Orthodox schismatics, under Vladyka Soter the Greek Catholic Exarchate grew from 86 parishes to 296 and the number of priests increased from 120 to 220. In 1905, there were around 300,000 Greek Catholics in the United States, and by the time Bp. Ortynsky died there were half a million, making his diocese the seventh largest in the country.53 For all his trailblazing labors, he was called the “bishop-pioneer.”54 Death and Succession Vladyka Soter contracted pneumonia for the fourth time and died in Philadelphia on March 24, 1916. He was just 50 years old. The constant conflicts, accusations, and difficulties took their toll on the bishop, resulting in his premature death. Approximately 15,000 people attended his funeral,55 which was celebrated by the Very Rev. Aleksander Dzubay,56 Vicar General of the Philadelphia Eparchy. President Woodrow Wilson was in Philadelphia when the bishop died and he sent a wreath for the funeral procession.57 One of the bishop’s secretaries donated a wreath of flowers that said “Killed By His Own.”58 He is buried in the crypt of Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia.59 Following Bp. Ortynsky’s death, the Exarchate was divided into two separate eparchies – one for Greek Catholics from Galicia and the other for those from Transcarpathia. Unable to resolve the ethnic rivalry between the Ukrainians and sub-Carpathians and unite his faithful, Bp. Ortynsky had asked the Vatican to appoint another bishop from Zakarpattia. The Holy See eventually decided that the two groups would function better as separate dioceses. However, it would be another eight years after Bp. Ortynsky’s death until additional bishops would be appointed for Greek Catholics in America.60 Following the appointment of an apostolic administrator for each group, Bps. Constantine Bohachevsky and Basil Takach were consecrated at St. Athanasius Church in Rome on June 15, 1924 and assigned to minister to the Ukrainians and Ruthenians, respectively.61 When Bps. Bohachevsky and Takach came to America, their respective designations were Ruthenian-Greek Catholic for the Galicians and Ruthenian-Greek Catholic for the Transcarpathians. The term “Ruthenian” wasn’t applied to the Byzantine Catholic Church, as distinct from the Ukrainian Church, until later.62 Their sees eventually became what are now the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and the Byzantine Catholic Metropolis of Pittsburgh. Because of the separation, Bp. Ortynsky was the only Greek Catholic bishop to include both Ukrainians and Ruthenians under his jurisdiction. Bp. Ortynsky led the Byzantine Church as best he could, but despite all of his labors and sacrifices, he ended up as “a target and scapegoat for much of the dissension within his church, and the lack of understanding from without.”63 Bp. Ortynsky was also ethnically Galician, and Galicians at that time were subjects of the Hungarians within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Certain of the Hungarian clergy and laity may have thought that they should not be under a Galician bishop.64 Vladyka Soter is sometimes criticized for attempting to extend his episcopal authority over almost all aspects of Ukrainian life in America, and this often led to conflicts. His desire to place the Ukrainian National Association under church control caused a split in the organization. Having failed, he founded the rival Providence Association of Ukrainian Catholics in America in 1912.65 Conclusion Men who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Bad theology and unwillingness to get along with one’s neighbors are among the main causes for the schisms and apostasies that took place in the American Catholic Church in the 19th and 20th centuries. If Latin and Greek Catholics possessed a proper ecclesiology and were willing to bear one another’s wrongs, then these unfortunate events likely would not have happened. The Eastern Catholic Churches in America are still misunderstood to this day. Through catechism and charity, similar errors can be prevented in the future. The faithful, by the decisions they make in the present, are writing the next chapter of the history of the American Catholic Church. May God grant that future decades of the Catholic Church be more prosperous than previous ones. Yet in spite of all these misfortunes and shortcomings, Vladyka Soter and his faithful persevered. Greek Catholics were maligned and misunderstood by all sides; Latin Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, and nonbelievers all launched their share of attacks. But the Slavic peoples are no strangers to hardship, and they weathered the storm manfully. With Vladyka Soter at the helm, the Greek Catholic Church in America survived and spread, building churches and schools, increasing religious vocations, and preserving their way of life. Even a cursory look at what he was able to accomplish in just nine years as the sole Greek Catholic bishop in the United States despite all the many obstacles he faced is a source of inspiration. He laid the foundations for the survival and spread of Eastern Catholicism in America, and for that, credit is due him.66 If Ruthenian and Ukrainian priests and faithful today enjoy freedom from infringement by Latin bishops, unity and growth in their eparchies, and well-established church organizations, they owe it in large part to Bp. Soter Ortynsky.