Lytvynovych, Spyrydon

Lytvynovych, Spyrydon [Литвинович, Спиридон; Lytvynovyč], b 6 December 1810 in Dryshchiv, Berezhany circle, Galicia, d 4 June 1869 in Lviv. Ukrainian Catholic metropolitan and political activist. After finishing his studies in Vienna with a doctorate in 1839, he delivered sermons at Saint George's Cathedral in Lviv and served as parish priest of Saint Barbara's Church in Vienna, and then became rector of the theological seminary in Vienna (1852). He was consecrated auxiliary bishop of Lviv in 1857 and elevated to the office of metropolitan of Halych in 1864. Lytvynovych was a prominent member of the Galician Diet and the Reichsrat, in which he defended Ukrainian interests and fought Polish dominance in Galician affairs. He promoted the interests of the Ukrainian Catholic church by seeing through a concordat establishing the equality of the Eastern and Latin rite churches in the Habsburg Empire and by gaining formal recognition for canonical chapters in Lviv eparchy and Peremyshl eparchy. Opposed to Russophilism, in 1859 he issued instructions to his priests to use the Ukrainian language in their pastoral work and to ensure its use in local schools. He was loyal to the Habsburg monarchy, and when administrative control of Galicia was granted to the Poles in 1867, he retired from political life.

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