Opatovych, Stefan

Opatovych, Stefan [Опатович, Стефан; Opatovyč], b 15 December 1831 in Horynhrad, Rivne county, Volhynia gubernia, d 12 April 1892 in Saint Petersburg. Orthodox priest and writer. He graduated from the theological seminary in Kremianets (1853) and from the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy (1857). From 1858 he was a priest in Saint Petersburg, where he was active in the Ukrainian community and assisted students from Ukraine. Opatovych wrote the Russian-language works Sviatyni Kieva (The Churches of Kyiv, 1873) and Pervye veka khristianstva i rasprostranenie ego na Rusi (The First Centuries of Christianity and Its Spread through Rus’, 1873). He also published, in Ukrainian, Opovidannia z sviatoho pysannia (Stories from the Holy Scriptures), a book of religious instruction that appeared in 1863; planned subsequent volumes were not published owing to the ban in the Russian Empire on Ukrainian-language publications (Valuev circular).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]