Hromadsky, Oleksii

Hromadsky, Oleksii [Громадський, Олексій; Hromads'kyj, Oleksij], b 13 November 1882 in Dokudiv, northern Kholm region, d 7 May 1943 near Smyha, Volhynia. Orthodox church leader and metropolitan. A graduate of the Kyiv Theological Academy (1908), he served as lecturer and rector of the Kremianets Theological Seminary (1918–22). In 1922 he became bishop of Lutsk, Hrodna, and Navahrudak and in 1928 archbishop. Appointed archbishop of Kremianets and Volhynia in 1934, he supported the de-Russification of the local church and its independence from the Moscow patriarchate. Under German rule, on 18 August 1941 a sobor of bishops at Pochaiv proclaimed him metropolitan of the new Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox church. He then reversed his previous policy and recognized the canonical jurisdiction of the Moscow patriarchate. On 8 October 1942 he met in Pochaiv with representatives of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church and worked out the conditions for the union of the two churches. A few months later, he was killed unintentionally in an Ukrainian Insurgent Army ambush. His publications include theological studies, two volumes of sermons in Ukrainian, and a historical monograph K istorii Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi v Pol'she ... (1922–1933) (Toward the History of the Orthodox Church in Poland ... [1922–1933], 1937).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]