This thesis concerns Blessed Vasyl’ Velychkovs’kyi’s first arrest and imprisonment in the years 1945-1955. Based on the evidence in two volumes of SBU archival documents which were obtained in 2009 from the Kyiv SBU archives, it tells the story of his arrest, the investigation process, interrogation, trial and sentencing. The thesis provides the reader with a short introduction to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and its clergy in Galicia. It describes how the Soviet government, after it invaded Galicia in 1939, began to persecute the Catholic population, which was unwilling to switch to Russian Orthodoxy. A close examination of the SBU archival documents proves Velychkovs’kyi’s innocence and provides evidence of fabricated accusations, forced confessions, the use of physical and psychological abuse. These violations of criminal law and human rights were done in order to compel him to cooperate with the Soviet authorities. Velychkovs’kyi’s treatment is an example of what many prisoners who died for their faith suffered. In most cases their life stories will never be told.

The diploma thesis entitled Prerequisites for the Restoration of the Greek Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia in the second half of the 20th century deals with the fate of this church in the period of communist regime. The main part of the work is devoted to the years 1950-1968, the stage from its abolition to its partial restoration. In this period, factors and key events that contributed to the restoration are sought. Important moments in the history of the Greek Catholic church are interpreted in the historical political-religious context. The conclusion outlined the life and activities of the restored, but limited, Greek Catholic Church in the period of normalization.

This work examines and analyses the reform attempts undertaken by the Greek Orthodox and Uniate Bishop of Lviv, Iosyf Shumliansky, during his episcopacy (1668-1708). These reforms are seen as a means of facing the intensified confessionalising pressures at state and regional levels in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The analysis focuses on the Bishop’s model priest as illustrated in his handbook for the clergy; the influence the Bishop and the Consistorial Court had over the parish clergy; the types of litigation and the categories of plaintiff in the cases concerning the parish clergy; and the clergy’s behaviour. Iosyf Shumliansky required the clergy to adjust its behaviour and educational standards to be similar to those of the nobility and Roman Catholic clergy. The parish clergy should refrain from dressing like peasants, becoming too close to the villagers and from participating too enthusiastically in village festivities. They should learn Polish and Latin. The Bishop expected the clergy to adopt a style of dress and behaviour that would distinguish and elevate it as a group above the mass of the peasantry. Included in the analysis, are cases from the Lviv and Halych main deaneries but not the main deanery of Kamianets Podilsky. The Bishop and the Consistorial Court had good control over most of the western and central regions of the Diocese. The Court could not control the situation in the eastern territories, as it was unsafe because of wars, Tatar raids and occupation by Ottoman forces. The possibility for Shumliansky to influence the parish clergy through the Court in these regions was limited. Their participation in court proceedings was negligible. The most common type of litigation was official misconduct by the priests. After that came violence, finance and defamation. The most common category of plaintiff was parish priests, followed by nobles and honest/reputable/townsmen. In the study, violence has been treated as a means of interaction and communication. It would appear that the status of the parish clergy was often frail and had to be publicly, vigorously and violently defended. Many of the clergy could not live up to the demands of the Bishop because they lived as and among peasants.

Nikita Khrouchtchev est surtout connu en Occident comme étant celui qui a permis le relatif soulagement de la déstalinisation. Cette image est d’ailleurs aussi persistante dans les anciens pays de l’URSS. Lorsque Khrouchtchev accède au pouvoir, il aspire en effet à des modifications ambitieuses dans des domaines extrêmement variés. La dénonciation des crimes de Staline lors du XXème Congrès du PCUS ouvre la voie à l’expression d’un certain pluralisme intellectuel et artistique qualifié de « dégel » dont les effets seront irréversibles pour la société soviétique dans son ensemble. Le volontarisme du premier secrétaire conduit à une politique de réformes économiques et politiques aussi impromptues que déstabilisatrices. Cependant la déstalinisation sera pour les peuples soviétiques (tout spécialement pour les ukrainiens) une ère de déceptions autant que d’espoirs. En effet, l’Ukraine, un des plus solides bastions de la vie religieuse en Union soviétique, tiendra une place particulière dans cette campagne. Entre autres, les régions de l’ouest de l’Ukraine avaient échappées à la répression des années trente et constituaient un phénomène singulier avec leur vie religieuse vivace et leur refus de rejoindre l’orthodoxie. Ainsi la campagne antireligieuse de Khrouchtchev est une facette méconnue de la politique du successeur de Staline. Le comportement du nouveau premier secrétaire va ainsi être encore plus dur que celui de Staline l’ancien séminariste à l’égard de la religion. Ce dernier avait fait des concessions aux Eglises après 1943, alors que dès 1958, quelques années après l’accession au pouvoir de Khrouchtchev, la propagande antireligieuse redevient virulente. / Nikita Khrushchev is mainly known in the western countries as the one who has allowed a relative relief of the dictatorship thanks to the destalinization process. This opinion is also persistent in the former countries of the USSR. Indeed when Khrushchev seizes power, he wishes to proceed with many ambitious reforms in various areas. Nevertheless, he remains a convinced communist who tries this way to give a new start to the soviet ideological adventure. The denunciation of the crimes of Stalin during the XXth Congress of the Soviet Union Communist Party (SUCP) opens path to some intellectual and artistic pluralism often called « unfreezing ». Furthermore, the wills of the first secretary will lead to a policy of unexpected and unbalancing politic and economic reforms. But in fact the destalinization times will also be times of disappointments, especially for the Ukrainians. Indeed Ukraine will have a special place in the antireligious campaign, as one of the healthiest strongholds of the religious life of the Soviet Union. Since the western regions had not suffered the repression of the thirties, they were a singular phenomenon in the Soviet Union with their vivid religious life and their refusal to become uniformly orthodox. Thus the antireligious campaign of Khrushchev is one of the poorly known sides of the policy of Stalin’s successor. The behaviour of the new first secretary as regards the religions will be indeed even harsher than the one of Stalin (the former were-be priest). Stalin had made concessions to the churches after 1943; but as soon as 1958, few years after Khrushchev’s rise to power, the antireligious propaganda becomes strong and efficient again.

The master's thesis "The Greek Catholic Parish of St. Clement in Prague - Development and Identity" presents the history of Greek Catholic Church in relationship to the history of the church as a whole and to the matters of Eastern and Western Christian traditions up to the reunification of the Latin Church with several Eastern Churches in the form of so-called Unions. The thesis also familiarizes readers with the development and impact of these unions. This also describes the identity and traditions of the Greek Catholic Church, consisting in the tradition of Eastern Christianity fully united in communion with the Catholic Church (chapter 1). Following the general introduction into the matter, the thesis focuses on the circumstances of the parish origin, its development and life in the course of history and in context of the Czech church history in the 20th century. The next milestone described in the thesis is the year 1989 and subsequent changes (chapter 2). Furthermore, the thesis presents the organization of the Greek Catholic Church in the region of contemporary Czech Republic and its development up to the present state (chapter 3). The final part of the thesis shows the contemporary practice of pastoral work in close interconnection with the national and cultural diversity of the parish...