During the German occupation, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and his brother Klymentiy saved and sheltered Jews. There is no exact data on how many people the Sheptytskys saved. Researchers indicate that he saved more than 200, with most of them being children.
Suspilne looked into this on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The head of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Museum and a researcher of this family, father Sevastian, says that for the Sheptytskys, everyone's life was of great value.
"When we speak for the salvation of Jews in Lviv, it is likely that this would not have happened if it had not been for our great Metropolitan Andrey, who was a great friend of the Jewish community in Lviv as well. Metropolitan Andrey had such authority that no one discussed why, what, and why,” says Fr Sevastian Dmitrukh.
Father Sevastian says it is impossible to calculate the exact number of people saved by the Sheptytskys.
"People often ask how many Jews were saved. And then no one made any registration, and no statistics were kept. People came and went into hiding,” says the head of the museum.
The complex of St. George's Cathedral in Lviv is one of the places where Jews were sheltered on the instructions of Metropolitan Andrey. In particular, people were buried in the premises of the metropolitan chambers. As well as in monasteries and orphanages, says Marko Simkin, a researcher of Andrey Sheptytsky's role in saving Jews.
"Shevchenkivskyi Grove, St. Ivan's Lavra, these are the locations where children were also buried. Because the founder of that Lavra was Klimenty Sheptytsky. There was an orphanage nearby. Children were also buried there. In Bryukhovychi, girls were buried in a convent. Together with his brother Klymentiy, he created an underground organization, a unique underground organization that demanded incredible courage from him, from Klymentiy,” says the researcher.
Religious scholar Mykhailo Kobryn says that later, in Soviet times, the figure of the Metropolitan was slandered. In Israel, Metropolitan Andrey is not a recognized Righteous Among the Nations.
“A number of researchers, especially of pro-Russian origin. If they always wanted to desecrate the image of Sheptytsky, especially in Soviet cinema. Even take their films, which showed Sheptytsky as an accomplice of fascism. They deliberately inflated this image to downplay the importance of the Metropolitan,” says Mykhailo Kobryn.
Only his brother Klymentiy received the status of a righteous man. This official title is awarded to those who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.