Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine canonizes St. Basil's Martyrs

The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has decided to canonize the following saints: the rector of the Church of the Nativity of Christ in the village of Vasylivka, Mykolaiv region, Priest Serhiy Shtenko, and laymen Kyrylo Pryimak and Prokhor Bunchuk.

The new saints are canonized as locally venerated in the Tavriya Eparchy, and <span>their feast day will be celebrated on April 26.</span>

The rector of the church and the laity were killed by the Bolsheviks on April 26, 1922. Serhiy Shtenko was born in the village of Khondakivka, Kherson district, Kherson province, now the village of Novokondakove, Snihuriv district, Mykolaiv region. After graduating from the Odesa Theological Seminary in 1897, he was sent to the Church of the Nativity as a psalmist, then was ordained a deacon in the same church, and in 1898 - a priest.

According to the publication Blahovist, during the Bolshevik struggle against churches, an authorized official came to the village to seize church property. The church bell was rung, and the villagers came and did not let the commissioner into the church. The latter responded by equating it with a peasant rebellion and called for armed reinforcements. Serhiy Shtenko, Kyrylo Pryimak, and Prokhor Bunchuk were declared leaders of the uprising and arrested.

They were taken to Snihurivka, but on the way, guards with sabers attacked the priest and began to cut him down. Prokhor Bunchuk was shot when he tried to prevent this. In the end, the priest's teeth were knocked out, his ears were cut off, his eyes were gouged out, his face was mutilated, then his stomach was cut open and his insides were wrapped around a well spike. Kyrylo Pryimak's head was cut off. After that, the murderers left, and the villagers collected the remains of the dead and buried them, and installed a tombstone, which was destroyed by the official authorities. In the early 1990s, a monument was erected at the burial site, and in 2004, a cross was placed at the murder site, in the Snihurivska beam.

Кирило Бойко