THORNY ROAD OF PROTOHEGUMEN VITALY GRADYUK (OSBM): FROM MONK SERVICE TO POLITICAL PERSECUTION (1872 – 1961)

Abstract

Due to the relevance of the study, due to the rehabilitation of Basilian monasticism, which was subjected to political repression and persecution. The historiography of biographical studies of repressed monks is analyzed. The documentary base of biographical investigations is outlined. The basic biographical information of the protohegumen Vitaliy Gradyuk has been reconstructed. The main points of the accusations and the court decision on the investigative case of the suspect are presented. The stability of the religious views of Fr. Vitaly on the assessment of communist ideology. The political context of baseless accusations is revealed.The investigative case of Volodymyr (Vitaliy) Pavlovych Hradyuk, discovered and processed, is a valuable source both for the reconstruction of the biography of the protohegumen of the Basilian Order and for the socio-political circumstances of persecution of Greek Catholic monasticism and clergy and liquidation of their church institutions. Typically, Fr. Vitaly was sentenced to many years in prison on biased political charges for not committing any crimes. After all, the Soviet atheistic totalitarian system, for its establishment in Western Ukraine, placed the main emphasis on the liquidation of spiritual leaders (the arrest and conviction of the protohegumen of the Galician Basilian province was to weaken and intimidate Uniate monks in resisting the return of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church). Gradyuk’s life took place during the period of upheavals (First and Second World Wars) and persecution of Basilian monasticism. During his life he was able to see the renewal and rise of the Basilian Order, as well as its decline and transition to the underground. All these turbulent periods of administrative work the protohegumen managed to pass with due dignity and not break under the pressure of the Soviet totalitarian system.