Lemko Apostolic Administration

Lemko Apostolic Administration (Lemkivska apostolska administratura). A Greek Catholic church administrative unit in the Lemko region of Galicia. It was founded by the Vatican's Congregation for Eastern Churches in 1934, under pressure from the Polish government, to prevent the Ukrainianization of the Lemko region. Consisting of 9 chapters and 121 parishes detached from Peremyshl eparchy, the administrature was under the direct authority of the congregation in Rome. Its seat at first was the township of Rymanów, and then Sianik. The administrators, appointed by the Vatican, were Revs V. Mastsiukh (1934–6), Ya. Medvetsky (1936–40), and Oleksander Malynovsky (1940–6). Until 1940 a pro-Polish, anti-Ukrainian spirit dominated in the administration, which accepted the premise that the Lemkos were distinct from Ukrainians. Theology students from the region were obliged to study in Polish Roman Catholic seminaries in Cracow and Tarnów. The Lemko Apostolic Administration ceased to exist in 1946, when most Ukrainians were deported from the Lemko region.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]