BL. GREGORY KHOMYSHYN, BISHOP AND MARTYR - 28 DECEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 28th of December

WELCOME!

BLESSED GREGORY KHOMYSHYN, BISHOP AND MARTYR

Blessed Gregory Khomyshyn (Hryhoriy Khomyshyn) was born on March 25, 1867 in the village of Hadynkivtsi, eastern Galicia. He graduated from Lviv seminary and was ordained a priest on November 18, 1893. He continued to study at the University of Vienna, and in 1902, he was appointed the rector of the Greek Catholic Theological Seminary in Lviv. In 1904, he was consecrated as the bishop for Stanyslaviv. 

Throughout his tenure, spanning over four decades, he was considered the second most powerful figure in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Bishop Gregory adopted a more westward orientation, further emphasizing the Uniate Church's relationship with Rome. This meant introducing Latin practices such as the Gregorian calendar and a strict adherence to clerical celibacy, which were met with controversy in his eparchy. 

A critic of the Soviet System, Bishop Gregory was arrested by the NKVD in 1939, having called the occupying forces "fierce beasts animated by... the devil." He was arrested again in April 1945, and was then deported to Kyiv. In prison, he was tortured and advised to renounce the Union of Brest, which he refused to do. Bishop Gregory died in the Lukyanivska Prison hospital in Kyiv on January 17, 1947. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 27, 2001, as one of Nicholas Charnetsky and his 24 companion martyrs. His feast day is December 28.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hryhoriy_Khomyshyn

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Blessed Gregory may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.