Persecution, Arrest and Death
Lipkivsky spent the whole period of his office as Metropolitan travelling to parishes throughout Ukraine. Under Soviet rule the authorities at first viewed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in a positive way as a counterweight to the Russian Orthodox Church, but by the late 1920s, they saw it as a dangerous expression of Ukrainian nationalism. During his office as Metropolitan he was arrested by authorities of the Soviet government several times. The authorities often prohibited his departures from Kiev and travel to parishes in Ukraine. Upon demands of the Soviet government, he was removed from his position as Metropolitan at the Second All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church Council in 1927.
In 1927, he was placed under house arrest, whereby his permission to depart from Kiev and to conduct religious services in the churches of the city of Kiev was withdrawn. His arrest in quarters continued from 1927 to 1937. Under threat of Soviet repression, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church dissolved itself and accepted incorporation into the Russian-dominated Moscow Patriarchate in 1930.
In February 1938, Metropolitan Vasyl (Lypkivsky) was arrested by the Russian Secret Police, the NKVD. In 1937 he was sentenced to death by the decree of an NKVD troika, and was executed on November 27, 1937.
In 1989, he was politically "rehabilitated" by the Soviet government.
| Preceded by - |
Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine (UAOC) 1921–1927 |
Succeeded by Mykola (Boretsky) |
Read more about this topic: Vasyl Lypkivsky
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