The Head of the UGCC thanked the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine for the initiative of awarding the title the Righteous Among the Nations to Andrey Sheptytsky

Thursday, 13 February 2020, 20:52

The Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, thanked the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Azman, for the initiative to assign Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

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"I thank you very much for your appeal to the head of the Yad Vashem Memorial Complex Avner Shalev to resume consideration of Andrey Sheptytsky's nomination for the title of the Righteous Among the Nations and for your deep understanding of the role of Metropolitan Andrey as one of the greatest Ukrainians of the 20^th century,” the letter says.

The Head of the UGCC also thanked for the recognition of Sheptytsky's merits and the symbolically planted tree in his honor at the Brodsky Synagogue.

In January, the chief rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Reuven Azman addressed the chairman of the memorial complex "Yad Vashem" (Israel) Avner Shalev with a request for awarding the title "Righteous Among the Nations” to Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.

“Metropolitan Andrei led an operation to rescue over 150 Jewish children during the Holocaust in Western Ukraine. He not only gave orders to hide Jewish children in monasteries, but also forbade to baptize those children in order to preserve them for the Jewish nation. Some of these children are still alive today - and I watched their memoirs, they say that they owe their lives to Andrey Sheptytsky,” the statement reads.

Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Joel Lyon informed that he would contact the Yad Vashem leadership to see if Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky could be given the title of the Righteous Among the Nations.

Avad Shalev, the head of Yad Vashem, replied to the Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman that "a special commission, established in 1963, has considered Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky's candidacy several times and found the case very difficult."

Press service of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC