Description

Oil Dedicated to Blessed Symeon Lukach (Martyr)

Blessed Symeon Lukach born in Starunya, Ukraine, and raised in the Greek Catholic Church. Entered the seminary in 1913 but his studies were interrupted by World War I. Believed to have been secretly ordained a bishop in April 1945. He was appointed a teacher in his native Stanislaviv Seminary.

Bishop Symeon Lukach became one of the most active leaders of the underground UGCC. He was arrested by NKVD in October 1949. In the beginning of 1950, he was sentenced to 10 years. Despite his poor health, he was sent to unbearable labour to the camps of the Krasnoyarsk Region.

He decided when he was young to enter the seminary to become a priest. Was ordained a priest and spent the first part of his life teaching. He was ordained a bishop and shortly after was arrested by the Soviet police in 1949. Deported to Siberia for ten years of hard labor, because he was a Catholic leader.

In 1962, he was arrested again for underground Catholic activity. Sentenced to five more years of hard labor at the age of 69 years old. While he was in prison, he developed tuberculosis and he died in 1964.