On November 16, participants of the international scientific conference “Father Klymentiy Sheptytsky (1869-1951): the life and spiritual path of the blessed Catholic Church" appealed to the Israeli national memorial of the Holocaust and Heroism of Yad Vashem with a request to recognize the Righteous Metropolitan Andrei as the Righteous Among the Nations.
On November 16, participants of the international scientific conference “Father Klymentiy Sheptytsky (1869-1951): the life and spiritual path of the blessed Catholic Church" appealed to the Israeli national memorial of the Holocaust and Heroism of Yad Vashem with a request to recognize the Righteous Metropolitan Andrei as the Righteous Among the Nations.
The appeal was voiced by synkel for monastic Affairs in the Lviv Archdiocese of the UGCC Yustyn Boyko, Gal-info reports.
Yad Vashem Institute Remembrance Center
We are coming now, as once Rabbi Ezekiel Levin of blessed memory, who in July 1941 came to the Cathedral of St. George in Lviv to seek protection and salvation for his People and who so appealed to Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky:
"You said,' I am a friend of the Jews.' You have always emphasized your benevolence toward us. I ask that now, in a wave of terrible danger, excelence gave proof of his friendship by influencing the indignant masses who began the pogrom. I ask for salvation for hundreds of thousands of Jews. And let the omnipotent and omniscient God reward Your Excellence a hundred times more.
And the proof of his affection was given by Metropolitan Andrei. Rabbi Levin's two sons, Kurt and Nathan, were saved during the Holocaust. Rabbi David Kahane and his family members Nehana and Rufus were also rescued. Cecilia and Lily Stern (Polman) were rescued. Faina Lagher was rescued. Mark Veitrub was rescued. Були врятовані Герберт Хамейдес. Abraham and Anna Fink, and wolf Lam, and Danya and Hasekl and Jakub Geller, and Ludwig and Yuzev and Anna Podoshin, and Oded Amaranth, and Perle Lam, and Solomon Gilfer, and Feiga Fink, and Irina Shpunar, and more than two hundred sons and daughters of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob unknown to us, the salvation of which was testified by the monks under oath - Having conferred the title of the Righteous Among the Nations to the abbess of the Holy Monastery of Mother Josepha (Olena Viter), schema-monks Theodosius (Theodore Tsybrivsky) and Lazarus (Luke Shiyan), hieromonk Nikanorov (Nicholas Deynezi), blessed Hieromartyr Klymentiy (count Casimir Sheptytsky) and Fr. Mark (Mikhail Stek), these merits of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky were not only confirmed, but also highly appreciated. However, they were never referred to aloud.
We come today to ask to honor all those saved during the Holocaust by Metropolitan Andrei, saying his name to the Nations as a Righteous Among the Nations. We believe that Rabbi Levin's prayer of gratitude for a hundred times greater reward of Your Excelence is heard by the Almighty. And let's say one to the other: we believe that this is true.
And let the land of Israel, to which Andrew count Sheptytsky, Metropolitan of Lviv and Galicia has always been an ardent supporter, honor the one who long before its revival had blessed it with such words:
"Building their state on the land of their Fathers, the Jews bring blessings to the land. Replacing the desert land in a flourishing land, the Jews fill a significant historical mission. They become carriers of civilization and prosperity in the Middle East, resurrecting the ancient cultural values of those lands.
The Jewish liberation movement is difficult, and many obstacles stand in their way. But the people who have given so much to human culture will illuminate the world with the beautiful phenomenon of the resurrection of their Fatherland from the ruins and communion with the family of free peoples."
Lviv, November 16, 2019.
Participants of the scientific conference "Father Klymentiy Sheptytsky (1869-1951): the life and spiritual path of the blessed father of the Catholic Church".
Overall, the document was signed by 30 scientists and representatives of the clergy who took part in the conference.