Fr. Petro Stel'makh papers

Biographical / Historical

Father Petro Stel'makh (Петро Стельмах, also spelled Stelmach) was a Ukrainian Orthodox clergyman who played an active role in the "Conciliar" ("Sobornopravna") faction of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in post-World War II Germany and the United States.

He was born 22 December 1898 in the town of Myropil', Novohrad-Volyns'kyi county, Volyn' governate of the Russian Empire (today Romanivs'kyi raion, Zhytomyrs'ka oblast', Ukraine) to Tryfon Stel'makh and Ahafia Diachenko. He took pastoral courses sponsored by the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) in Kyiv in 1921 and 1922. He married Dina Adamuk on 4 May 1922, and was ordained a priest on the following day by Bishop Hryhorii (Storozhenko). He served as rector of several parishes in Ukraine from 1922 to 1928.

As a refugee in Germany after the war, he served as rector of the St. Michael parish in the Cornberg Displaced Persons Camp (1945-1947) and the St. Nicholas parish in the Somme-Kaserne camp in Augsburg (1948-1951). During this period, there was increasing conflict between the Synod of Bishops of the UAOC that was re-established in 1942 and those who wanted a greater voice for rank-and-file clergy and laity (inspired by the radical democratic and patriotic tradition of the 1921 UAOC under Metropolitan Vasyl' Lypkivs'kyi). The conflict began with the formation of a "Commission for the Convocation of the All-Church Sobor" in 1945, and culminated in the August 1947 "First Church Congress of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Emigration" in Aschaffenburg, which created the break-away "Conciliar" UAOC (UAOC(C)) under the leadership of Fr. Ivan Harashchenko and Bishop Hryhorii (Ohiichuk). As a result of their participation in these events, Fr. Petro Stel'makh, Bishop Hryhorii (Ohiichuk), Fr. Ivan Hubarzhevs'kyi, Fr. Ivan Harashchenko, and others were defrocked by the UAOC Synod of Bishops in the fall of 1947.

Fr. Petro emigrated to the USA in 1951 and served as priest for the UAOC(C) parish of St. Michael in New York, NY from 1951 to 1954. He was accepted into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of USA in 1955 and served at Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Babylon, Long Island (1956-1960), the Pokrova parish in Paterson, NJ (1961-1962), and St. Mary the Protectress parish in Clifton, NJ (1967). He died on 5 August 1973.

Scope and Contents

This collection houses the personal papers of Fr. Petro Stel'makh, a Ukrainian Orthodox clergyman who was active in German displaced persons camps, and played a significant role in the breakaway "Conciliar" Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (the UAOC(C)). It also contains administrative records of the UAOC(C), and records from Ukrainian Orthodox parishes in German displaced persons camps.

The collection contains correspondence, minutes, registers (including sacramental records, sworn baptismal testimonies, employment, housing, and emigration lists), published and unpublished writings by Fr. Petro and others, and photographs.

This collection is significant in that it is one of the largest easily accessible collections documenting the UAOC(C), and provides a useful counterpoint to the viewpoint seen in the records of the main line UAOC. The registers are also of significant genealogical interest.

Зміст фонду

Цей фонд включає в собі особисті документи о. Петра Стельмаха - українського православного священика, який був активний в таборах біженців "Ді-Пі" ви Німеччині. Він також зіграв важливу ролю в Українські Автокефальні Православні Церкві "Соборноправні". Фонд також містить адміністративні матеріали та протоколи засідань УАПЦ (Соборноправної), та документи з українських православних парафій в німецьких таборах біженців.

Фонд містить листування, протоколи, офіційні списки (метричні записи, свідоцтва хрещення, еміграційні та житлові списки, і т.п.), опубліковані і неопубліковані праці о. Петра та інших, і фотографії.

Ця колекція відрізняється тим, що вона онда з найбільших легкодоступних фондів в якій можна знайти документи УАПЦ (Cоборноправної), а офіційні списки також будуть допоміжні генеалогам.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in five series as follows:

File Plan

Originally housed in black 3-ring binders on shelf 1 of tall cabinet "Ж", except for the metrical documents, emigrant lists and sermon copies, which were in tall cabinet "Е".

Status of materials

These materials belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, and are on deposit with the Ukrainian History and Education Center for processing, preservation, and access.