Ioan (Bodnarchuk)

Metropolitan Ioann (secular name Vasyl Mykolayovych Bodnarchuk, Ukrainian: Василь Миколайович Боднарчук, Russian: Василий Николаевич Боднарчук; 12 April 1929 – 9 November 1994) was an Orthodox hierarch born in the Ternopil area of Western Ukraine, which at that time was a territory of Poland. During his life he was successively bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church (1977–1989), in the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (1989–1992) and in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate (1992–1994).

Though he was born into a family of Greek-Catholics, he converted to Orthodoxy early in his childhood.

Arrest

In 1948, he was arrested for his pro-Ukrainian nationalistic rhetoric and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor in the copper mines of Steplag Karaganda. His family was deported to Kazakhstan, where they lived until 1953. Later that year he was released on amnesty.

Education

In 1956, he was accepted into the Leningrad Theological Seminary and in 1958 he became a deacon. After graduating the Seminary in 1960, he was accepted into the Leningrad Theological Academy and in 1961 he became a priest. In 1964 he graduated the Academy with a PhD in Divinity. He was sent to the Lviv and Ternopil diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate. He served as a priest in the village of Striivka, Zbarazhskiy which is in the Ternopil region. In 1968 he served in a parish in the Lviv region.

Clergy experience

In 1977 he took his monastic vows and was awarded the title of Archimandrite. Later this year, by the decision of the Holy Synod of Moscow Patriarchate, he became a bishop of Zhitomir and Ovruch. In 1989 he was released from management of the diocese on the basis of health problems and granted a leave of absence. In the same year he left the clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate he created the Ukrainian Autocephalic Apostolic Orthodox Church. He became Primate of this jurisdiction.

In 1992 he was excluded from the clergy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, where he repented and submitted an application on returning to the Moscow Patriarchate. But, before the decision was made on his behalf, Metropolitan Ioann changed his mind and recalled his petition. Instead, he joined the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate and was appointed as Metropolitan of Drahobych and Sambor. Later he would be appointed Metropolitan of Lutsk and Volyn.

Death

He died in a car accident in 1994.

References

• Religious Information Service of Ukraine