Bidnov, Vasyl

Bidnov, Vasyl [Бідньов, Василь; Bidn'ov, Vasyl'], b 2 January 1874 in the town of Shyroka, Kherson gubernia, d 1 April 1935 in Warsaw. Church historian, educator, and civic leader. Bidnov graduated from the Kyiv Theological Academy in 1902. In 1910 he lectured at the Katerynoslav seminary, conducted historical research, edited and contributed to the Letopis of the Katerynoslav Archival Commission, which was devoted to the history of Cossack Ukraine, and directed the local Prosvita society. In 1911 he was appointed professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy and Kharkiv University, but because of his civic activities the Russian authorities refused to confirm the appointment. In 1918–20 Bidnov was a professor at the Kamianets-Podilskyi Ukrainian State University, and in 1922–9 he was professor of church history at the Ukrainian Free University in Prague and professor of history at the Ukrainian Husbandry Academy in Poděbrady. He was a founding member of the Ukrainian Historical-Philological Society in Prague. In 1929–35 he was professor of church history at Warsaw University. Bidnov was a full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the editor of Pravoslavna Volyn’ abroad. He wrote almost 70 scholarly works on the history of the Ukrainian church and of education in Ukraine. His most important contributions are Materialy po istorii tserkovnago ustroistva na Zaporozhe (Materials on the History of the Church Structure at the Zaporizhia, 1907), Pravoslavnaia Tserkov v Pol'she i Litve (The Orthodox Church in Poland and Lithuania, 1908), and Tserkovna sprava na Ukraïni (Church Affairs in Ukraine, 1921).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pam'iati Professora Vasylia Bidn'ova (Prague 1936)

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]