Patriarch Sviatoslav Meets with Political Prisoner Who Was Kept in Same Camp with Patriarch Slipyj

As part of his pastoral visit to the Donetsk-Kharkiv Exarchate, Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) visited Luhansk on May 15. The hierarch met with the local Greek Catholic community in the Church Christ the King and got acquainted with the history of the parish and the church. One of the parishioners, a former political prisoner, Mykola Bielykh, was kept in a concentration camp in Mordovia together with Patriarch Josyf Slipyj of the UGCC.

According the press secretary of the Donetsk-Kharkiv Exarchate, Fr. Serhii Palamarchuk, the 84-year-old parishioner was born in the village of Krasnodar of the Luhansk Oblast near the border with Russia. In the past, the man was persecuted for his faith in God. “I was kept in one camp with Josyf Slipyj and Fr. Hryhorii Tsymbal. They kept in the camp everyone together: Baptists, Orthodox, Catholics, Pentecostals. I remember Josyf Slipyj being always careful, on his guard, constantly praying. He was regularly visited by a Ukrainian. Liturgies were served in the camp, imprisoned priests administered Eucharist to people,” said Mr. Bielykh, the Information Department of the UGCC reported.