Zhuk, Yosyf

Zhuk, Yosyf [Жук, Йосиф; Žuk, Josyf], b 24 December 1872 in Pidkamin, Rohatyn county, Galicia, d 23 February 1934 in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Orthodox bishop. He completed a D TH and was ordained a Greek Catholic priest in 1899. He served as prefect (from 1902) and then rector (1907–8) of the Greek Catholic Theological Seminary in Lviv before becoming Greek Catholic vicar-general in Bosnia (1908–14) and then pastor of Saint Barbara's Church in Vienna (1914–20). He emigrated to North America, where he served as a priest in Toronto (1921–2), Montreal, and Philadelphia (1923–4). A popular priest with a large following, he rejected the Latinizing policies of Bishop Constantine Bohachevsky and in 1927 led a group of 26 priests in demanding Bohachevsky’s removal. He subsequently concentrated on organizing the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America, which recognized the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople. In 1932 he was consecrated as the first bishop of the jurisdiction by two Syrian bishops.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]