Sawchuk, Semen

Sawchuk, Semen (Савчук, Семен; Savčuk), b 14 February 1895 in Volkivtsi, Borshchiv county, Galicia, d 28 October 1983 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Orthodox priest and community leader. Sawchuk emigrated to Canada with his parents in 1899. Active at the Mohyla Ukrainian Institute in Saskatoon, he took part in the founding conference of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada in 1918 and later was instrumental in establishing the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League. He was ordained in 1920 and played a leading role in the development of the church as administrator of the consistory (1933–51) and head of its presidium (1955–63). He organized and oversaw a seminary that was attached to the consistory in 1932–45, and he helped found Saint Andrew's College in 1946 and served as its rector in 1952–5. Prominent in the formation of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee, he was its vice-president (1940–56) and an honorary president after 1980. He was president of the Ethnic Press Club of Canada (1964–7) and author of Iak postala Ukraïns'ka pravoslavna tserkva v Kanadi (How the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada Was Formed, 1924), Tserkovni kanony v teorii i praktytsi (Church Canons in Theory and Practice, 1955), and Istoriia Ukraïns'koï hreko-pravoslavnoï tserkvy v Kanadi (History of the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Canada, 1985). His plays and short stories appeared under the pseudonym Matveiv Semen.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]