1865–1944

Andrei Sheptytskyi

Metropolitan of the UGCC

Religious leader

A count from a Polonized family became a monk and led the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for 43 years. Under Nazi occupation, Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi hid Jews in monasteries and condemned the killings in his letter “Thou Shalt Not Kill”.

Key accomplishments

  • Metropolitan of Halych and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (1901–1944)
  • Founded the National Museum in Lviv, schools, a hospital and other institutions
  • Pastoral letter “Thou Shalt Not Kill” (1942)
  • Sheltered Jews in Greek Catholic monasteries during the Holocaust

How Count Roman became Metropolitan Andrei

Roman Sheptytskyi was born in 1865 in the village of Prylbychi in the Lviv region, into a family of counts from an old Ukrainian lineage that had become Polonized over time. He served briefly in the Austrian army and left because of illness. Then the young count chose the monastery: he became a Basilian monk and took the name Andrei. In 1901 he became Metropolitan of Halych, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

A pastor under four regimes

Sheptytskyi led the church for 43 years: under Austria-Hungary, under Poland, and under Soviet and Nazi occupation. His work went beyond faith. He founded the National Museum in Lviv and a hospital, and he supported schools. In 1914 the Russian authorities arrested him and took him to Russia. He was released only in 1917.

A letter to Himmler and “Thou Shalt Not Kill”

Under Nazi occupation, in February 1942, Sheptytskyi wrote to Himmler protesting the killing of Jews. That November he issued the pastoral letter “Thou Shalt Not Kill”, condemning the killings. Together with his brother Klymentii, he organized the hiding of Jews, mostly children, in the church’s monasteries. Estimates put the number saved at 150 to 200 people.

Debates and assessments

In 1941 Sheptytskyi welcomed the German army and the proclamation of the Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State, and in 1943 he appointed chaplains to the Galicia Division. This early support for the German authorities is the main reason Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial has not recognized him as Righteous Among the Nations. His brother Klymentii has been given the title. In 2015 Pope Francis declared the Metropolitan Venerable, the first step toward beatification.

Why he is remembered

Sheptytskyi showed how a church can stand by its people, by education and by humanity, even in the darkest times.