Eminent Armenian archbishop reburied in Lviv

An eminent pre-war archbishop will be reburied in Lviv, Ukraine, following a long-running campaign by Polish authorities.

Jozef Teodorowicz (1864-1938) was the Armenian Catholic archbishop of the city, noted for his social work and for his role as a determined advocate of the re-emergence of the Polish state following World War I after over a century of partitions by Russia, Prussia and Austria. Prior to 1914, Teodorowicz held a seat in Austria's House of Lords, when Lviv – then Lemberg - was the capital of the Austro-Hungarian kingdom of Galicia.

The archbishop was initially buried in the so-called Eaglets Cemetery, a pantheon that was constructed during the successive Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Soviet wars (1918-1921). The necropolis was conceived in tribute to the defenders of the city.

In 1939, the archbishop's remains were moved to a private grave in the adjoining public cemetery, for fear of desecration.

Ultimately, following Ukraine's Orange Revolution, the Eaglets Cemetery was formally reopened in June 2005, after extensive renovation.

The mass was led by Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, Roman Catholic Archbishop for Warsaw, who also holds the post of ordinary for the city's Armenian congregation.

The Armenian community had lived in Lviv since the medieval era, and it became assimilated amongst the Polish one. The majority of those that survived the war were resettled after Poland's borders were moved west in 1945.

The Armenian Cathedral itself, built in the fourteenth century, and used as a warehouse during much of the communist era, was reopened in 1997, prior to the visit of Pope John Paul II, thenews.pl reported.