ARCHIVE ONLINE

Period of compiling the archive: 1992 - 2004
Since 1992, the Institute of Church History has been creating an archive and a museum. The main goal of the project is to collect material on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the underground. The project concentrates on systematic gathering and critical analysis of oral testimonies about the religious life of Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the underground. The compilation of the archive of the ICH is based on the "oral" or "living" history method. In due course, a traditional history of religion in Marxist totalitarian societies will be written on the basis of written documents which are kept in the archives of the state organs of repression and even now only partially accessible. But the present moment offers historians a unique opportunity to collect oral materials.
All incoming material at ICH goes through certain stages of registration and organization.

Organization of incoming material at ICH includes:
  • Sorting materials
  • Filing cases in the archives
  • Scanning and photocopying photographs, documents
  • Transcribing interview tapes


Collections:



Audiotapes of recorded interviews
Each cassette includes a description and stock number. There is also a summary of each side of the tape, included on a respective data card "Phonogram inventory card."
To date, 2810 interview audiotapes (60 and 90 minutes long) have been recorded.




Interview collection
The collection currently contains 1653 interviews with bishops, priests, laity, and representatives of men's and women's religious orders and congregations.
The interviews were conducted on the basis of nine different questionnaires, each with 150 questions. Every interview is kept in a separate folder containing all the documentation regarding the content and processing of the interview. ICH plans to have 2000 interviews by the year 2006.

Interview texts. Interviews recorded on audiotapes are transcribed. Transcribing entails the detailed (word for word) entry onto computer of a recorded interview. A printout of the transcribed interview is kept in a personal file folder and belongs to the interview collection. Additionally, each interview is edited. Editing is performed according to editorial rules which ensure minimal intervention in the transcribed text. That is to say, the texts are checked against the recordings, and also standardized and checked for punctuation.

Cassettes transcribed - 2794
Interviews edited - 1100

Photos. In addition to transcribed interview texts, the interview collection also includes photos and documents received by ICH as additional material. Each picture is photocopied and scanned. If necessary, originals are returned to interviewed persons (at the owner's request). A register of incoming photo materials and a catalogue of negatives are kept, which will allow additional copies to be made. Each photo is duly described in the data card "Photograph inventory card."
The archive contains photos dating from 1900 to 2003. They mainly concern religious and historical subjects.

Photos collected and organized - 5000

Documents. The interview collection also contains documents. The document collection includes materials from the archives of the Communist Party, KGB, Soviet governmental bodies on religion. It also includes numerous personal documents of citizens, school diplomas, ordination certificates, arrest warrants, imprisonment sentences, deportation verdicts, property search and confiscation decisions, rehabilitation documents, and so on.
Each document is scanned and duly described according to the "Document inventory card."
The archive contains documents from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Documents gathered and organized - over 2000




Museum collection
Museum items - over 250
The initial collection of museum items includes liturgical accessories and vestments, manuscripts, photocopied missals and other prayer books used in the underground church.

The museum collection now contains over 250 museum pieces. This allowed the opening of a permanent exposition "The UGCC Underground" in the UCU seminar room in June 2001.




Videotape collection
The video project was launched in 2002 to supplement the ICH archive with video recordings of testimonies of the confessors of the faith. The rapid development of visual means of communication stimulates the use of these technological achievements to enlarge the source collection and familiarize more of the public (especially the younger generation) with the tragic and heroic experience of the underground church. Interviews are recorded on professional cassettes. This will also allow a documentary about the UGCC underground to be made. Because of financial limitations, it was only possible to record 100 interviews with the oldest representatives of the underground.

List of persons giving testimonies
1. Fr. Vasyl Voronovskyi, Studite, Lviv
2. Fr. Ivan Kubai, village of Zymna Voda
3. Fr. Damyan Bohun, Order of Saint Basil the Great, Lviv
4. Fr. Mykola Prystai, UGCC Seminary in Rudno
5. Fr. Roman Lohinskyi, town of Stryi
6. Sr. Onufriia Maiik, Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, town of Stryi
7. Fr. Volodymyr Senkivskyi, Lviv
8. [priest's wife] Mrs. Olha Konyk, Lviv
9. Mrs. Emiliia Baitala, town of Stryi
10. Mrs. Lidiia Zelenchuk-Lopatynska, town of Morshyn
11. Sr. Khryzantiia Hnativ, Studite, Lviv
12. [priest's wife] Mrs. Neonila Lysko, Lviv
13. [priest's wife] Mrs. Kateryna Moravska, Lviv
14. [priest's wife] Mrs. Mariia Mykytka, Lviv
15. Mrs. Olha Buchkovska, town of Drohobych
16. Fr. Markiian Okhrymovych, town of Drohobych
17. Sr. Mariia Liakher, Studite, town of Peremyshliany
18. Sr. Yosafata Shopska, Lviv
19. Mrs. Anna Uryn, Lviv
20. Mr. Vasyl Zvarych, Lviv
21. Mrs. Anna Shkoropad, Lviv
22. Sr. Inokentiia Sytko, Order of Saint Basil the Great, Lviv
23. Mrs. Marta Tsehelska, Lviv
24. Sr. Mariia Kachmar, Lviv
25. Sr. Nykolaya Pandrak, Lviv
26. Sr. Anna Chaika, Order of Saint Basil the Great, Lviv,
27. Mrs. Mariia Skrobach, Lviv region, village of Stare Selo
28. Fr. Mykola Volosianko, Order of the Most Holy Redeemer, Lviv
29. Mrs. Anastasiia Rohulia, Lviv
30. Fr. Myron Pidlisetskyi, Ivano-Frankivsk city
31. Mrs. Liubomyra Venhrynovych, Lviv
32. Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk, town of Kolomyiia
33. Bishop Ivan Marhitych, Transcarpathia region, village of Borzhavske
34. Mrs. Iryna Yatskanych, town of Mukachevo
35. Fr. Volodymyr Marhitych, town of Berehove
36. Fr. Yosyf Uihelii, Transcarpathia region, village of Serednie
37. [priest's wife] Mrs. Mariia Kyiak, Ivano-Frankivsk city
38. Bishop Sofron Dmyterko, Ivano-Frankivsk city
39. Fr. Mykola Shavaryn, Ternopil city
40. [priest's wife] Mrs. Mariia Kravchuk, Ternopil city
41. Fr. Yosyf Shtylikha, Transcarpathia region, Uzhhorod city
42. Fr. Pavlo Sabov, Transcarpathia region, Uzhhorod city
43. Mrs. Yelysaveta Mateiko, Transcarpathia region, Uzhhorod city
44. Mrs. Iryna Maryna, Transcarpathia region, Uzhhorod city
45. Bishop Ivan Semedii, Transcarpathia region, Uzhhorod city
46. Fr. Meletii Malynych, Order of Saint Basil the Great, Transcarpathia region, town of Malyi Bereznyi
47. Fr. Yurii Krasnoborodskyi, Order of Saint Basil the Great, Transcarpathia region, town of Malyi Bereznyi
48. Mr. Adolf Vislovskyi, Lviv
49. Sr. Kushneruk, Ivano-Frankivsk city
50. Mrs. Mariia Yizhak, Lviv region, village of Yablunivka





Collection of scholarly works
The collection of scholarly works contains a thematic selection of the best student works on church history and the scholarly research of ICH staff.

List of best student works
LTA 2001:
Roman Vaskiv "Confessor of the Faith Bishop Hryhorii (Gregory) Lakota – Auxiliary of Przemysl, Bishop of Danii, 1883 -1950, Life and Martyr's Death"
Sr. Anastasiia Zabrotska "Short Essay on the History of the Development of the Ukrainian Province of the Compassion of the Mother of God of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate from 1960 to 1986"
Sr. Oresta Pastukh "The Novitiate System in Women's Orders and Congregations during the UGCC Underground Period (1946-1989)"
Sr. Iryna Khomyn "Sr. Diogena Kulynych, Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate: A Testimony of Faith and Holy Life"
Oksana Rybak "Confessor of the Faith Bishop Yosafat Fedoryk – Exarch of Central Asia, Bishop of the Underground Greek Catholic Church, 1897-1979"

Lviv Seminary 2001:
Br. Leontii (Oleksandr Tumovskyi) "Specifics of the Existence of a Monastic Community in the Underground"
Br. Rafaiil (Roman Strontsitskyi) "Legalization of the UGCC in the Stryi District"
Oleh Pravets "Activities of the Lay Association ‘Apostleship of Prayer' in the Zhovkva District"
Br. Onufrii (Oleh Kindratyshyn) "Slanderous Attacks of Soviet Publications against Metropolitan Andrey (Sheptytsky) during the Underground Period of the UGCC (1960-1980)"
Ihor Nykyforuk "Life and Work of Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk"
Vasyl Prokopchuk "History of the Decline of the Krystonopil Novitiate of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate as a Reflection of the Beginning of the UGCC's Decline and Underground Period"

LTA 2002:
Andrii Betsa "The Path of Penal Servitude of Patriarch Josyf (Slipyj) from 11 April 1945 to his Second Arrest on 19 June 1958"
Sr. Ihnatiia Havrylyk "Mariia Shveda: The Story of a Martyrdom in the Context of the Life of the Underground UGCC"
Yuliia Halushka "The Figure of Sister Yosyfa Viter: A Life Given as a Gift to the People"
Ihor Hudzii "The Greek Catholic Parish of the Village of Kolodnytsia in Stryi District"
Mariana Karapinka "Fr. Roman Lysko: Pastor and Martyr for the Faith"
Nadiia Matviiv "Some Aspects of the Spiritual Life of the Laity during the Underground Period of the UGCC"
Oksana Kulyk "The Vorkuta Hard-labor Camp"
Mariana Nadopta "The Path of Penal Servitude of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj (1958-1963)"
Iryna Pukas "Liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Halychyna and Transcarpathia in the Postwar Years"
Mariia Svidryk "Activities of the ‘Apostleship of Prayer' in the 1970s and 1980s during the UGCC Underground Period"
Dmytro Slyzhuk "The Personality of Blessed Theodor Romzha as an Example of Perfect Service in Love"

Lviv Seminary 2001:
Taras Bublyk "The Process of Legalization of the UGCC from the Point of View of the Russian Orthodox Church and Official Factors"
Myroslav Latynnyk "The Life and Death of Blessed Yosafat Kotsylovskyi, Bishop of Przemysl, Sambir, and Sianok"
Ivan Nakonechnyi "Rise and Development of the Movement for the Proclamation of the Ukrainian Patriarchate against the Background of the Figure of Patriarch Josyf (Slipyj)"
Dmytro Rudeiko "Special Settlement Balei"
Taras Sydor "Servant of God Symeon Lukach, ‘Underground' Bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (1893-1964)"
Roman Syrotych "Blessed Tarsykiia Matskiv and the Novitiate of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate"
Andrii Stadnytskyi "The Eparchial Ministry of Bishop Theodor Romzha as an Example of Faithfulness to the Catholic Church"
Antin Sloboda "Life of Fr. Adam Myroslav Moravskyi"
Andrii Chornenkyi "Activities of the Roman Catholic Church aiding the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1946 to 1989"


Subjects of scholarly research on the basis of the ICH archive
  1. Priests and bishops – leadership and church connections
  2. Interpretation of the Lviv Pseudo-Sobor.
  3. The Church and the mass media
  4. Laity - Women - Youth
  5. Pastoral ministry
  6. Spiritual and religious movements
  7. Religion and national identity
  8. Ecumenism
  9. Adaptation and resistance
  10. Monastic congregations
  11. Religious upbringing
  12. Popular piety
  13. Charitable activities




Audio CD collection
Interviews recorded on audiotapes are kept in the ICH archive in a separate collection for 10 years. Unfortunately, the shelf life of the magnetic cassettes is currently approaching the critical mark. In view of the unique value of the information for research, not only by historians but also by linguists and philologists, it has been decided to record the material onto CD.

CDs recorded to date - 1945




Photo CD collection
All photos received at the ICH archive are scanned at 600 dpi in TIF format and recorded onto CD. This will allow them to be printed if the need arises. In addition, photos are entered into the data base at 72 dpi. Thanks to the use of photo technology, it is possible to find any photo in the archive in a matter of minutes.
There are now 965 photos with descriptions entered in the data base. We plan to enter another 1000 more photos by the end of 2005.




CD documents collection
All documents received at the ICH archive are scanned at 600 dpi in TIF format and recorded onto CD. This will allow them to be printed if the need arises. We plan to enter them in the data base at 72 dpi with descriptions. The use of this technology for preserving documents will allow any photo in the archive to be found in a matter of minutes. We plan to enter 500 more documents in the data base in 2005.




Video CD collection
Thanks to the implementation of the video project, the archive was supplemented with 100 more one-hour-long interviews. However, only 6 interviews have been digitalized and recorded on compact disks in MP2 format. These interviews are being used to organize a training seminar "Living History of the UGCC Underground."

Video archive (3 video excerpts)





Internet data base
The main purpose of the archive is to collect material about the Greek Catholic Church in the underground (interview tapes, photos and documents), using the "living history" method.

Subjects of the archive: ecclesiastical and historical

The photo archive is currently being digitalized and entered into a newly-created data base, which will soon be available on the Internet.

Internet Database Demonstration - learn to use the online archive
Internet Archive - access the ICH archive online




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