Bilon, Petro

Bilon, Petro [Білон, Петро], b 4 January 1879 in Vasylkiv, Kyiv gubernia, d 7 August 1959 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Archpriest of the Ukrainian Orthodox church, community figure. Bilon was a chaplain at the internment camp for soldiers of the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic in Szczepiórno, Poland, where he edited Religiino-naukovyi vistnyk. He emigrated to Canada in 1924, and to the United States of America in 1930. He became deputy head of the consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA and editor of its organ, Dnipro (USA). His publications include a book on the Christianization of Ukraine 950-litni rokovyny khryshchennia Rusy-Ukraïny (The 950th Anniversary of the Christianization of Rus’-Ukraine, 1938) as well as Pravdyva tserkva ukraïns'koho narodu (The True Church of the Ukrainian People, 1947), Spohady (Memoirs, 1952–6), and Ukrainians and Their Church (1953).

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