Ozarkevych, Ivan

Ozarkevych, Ivan [Озаркевич, Іван; Ozarkevyč], b 1794 in Beleluia, Galicia, d 20 August 1854 in Kolomyia, Galicia. Ukrainian Catholic priest, community figure, and writer in Galicia; father of Ivan I. Ozarkevych. He contributed to Zoria halytska. In 1848 he was the first to stage Ukrainian plays in Kolomyia and Lviv—Divka na viddanniu, abo Na myluvannia nema syluvannia (A Nubile Maiden, or Affection Cannot Be Forced, his adaptation of Ivan Kotliarevsky’s Natalka Poltavka [Natalka from Poltava] in the Pokutia dialect and Zhovniar-charivnyk (his adaptation of Kotliarevsky’s Moskal'-charivnyk [The Soldier-Sorcerer]). In 1850 he staged Svatannia, abo Zhenykh navizhenyi (Matchmaking, or the Crazy Bridegroom, his adaptation of Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko’s Svatannia na Honcharivtsi [Matchmaking at Honcharivka]) and Vesillia, abo Nad tsyhana Shmahaila nema rozumnishoho (The Wedding, or There’s No One Smarter Than Shmahailo the Gypsy, his adaptation of Stepan Pysarevsky’s Kupala na Ivana [On Saint John’s Eve]). He also translated a book of Aesop's fables into Ukrainian (1852) and wrote the historical plays Dary predkiv (The Ancestors’ Gifts) and Rozvida (Reconnaissance) and a collection of poetry.

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