Unknown Slovakia´s Schindler: Father Vasilij Ptaschuk Текст научной статьи по специальности «Философия, этика, религиоведение»

Jan Safin

Priest, Ph.D., Professor ThDr. Faculty of Orthodox Theolofy

E-mail: safin@orthodox.sk

The University of Presov

Presovska univerzita v Presove, Ul. 17. novembra c. 15, 080 01 Presov, Slovakia

Unknown Slovakia's Schindler: Father Vasilij Ptaschuk

Questions concerning the recent Slovak history, especially the one concerning the Second World War, the Slovak state and the relationship of the Slovak public as well as official state officials and religious leaders to the Jewish population, are not only not weakening, but on the contrary, are gaining strength among a part of the public. The causes of such a phenomenon are several at once. First of all, the inhabitants of Slovakia are among the most religiously active in Europe. To some, Christianity leads to humility, love, and morality; others see it as a denier of conspirators who, under the guise of piety, sneak into the church. Of course, this is not a new phenomenon. Even the Apostle Paul spoke of those who spy on our freedom... Today, this enslavement is perceived primarily as economic slavery and amoralism. And this is what they most often associate with the Jewish population. This was the way the Slovak public was nourished in the period of the Slovak state, when the Catholic priest Jozef Tiso became the head of the state, and the Hlinka guard derived its name from another Catholic priest Andrej Hlinka. But in Slovakia, in addition to the Latin part of the church, there was and still is an Orthodox Church, whose attitude to the Jewish question during the Second World War was significantly different. And this is also because the Orthodox lived almost completely in the territory of eastern Slovakia, where at the same time the majority of residents of Jewish origin lived in Slovakia, which was condemned for its origin to destruction. One of the least well-known but perhaps the most people of Jewish origin saving was the Orthodox priest otev Vasily Ptashchuk, who for his very sensitive and fearless attitude earned persecution from representatives of local government and parts of the Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic churches. A document that we discovered in the archives of the Presov Orthodox Eparchy and that we are publishing here testifies to what he had to suffer for helping other people.

Keywords: Slovakia, Presov, Presov diocese, Slovak church, Vasily Ptashchuk, Jewish population, World War II, Orthodoxy, Catholicism.

For citation: Safin J. Unknown Slovakia's Schindler: Father Vasilij Ptaschuk. Theology: Theory and Practice, 2022, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 92-98. DOI: 10.24412/2949-3951-2022-0190

Шафин Ян

священник, доктор философии, профессор Православного богословского факультета

E-mail: safin@orthodox.sk

Прешовский университет в Прешове

ул. 17 ноября с. 15, 080 01 Прешов, Словакия

Неизвестный словацкий Шиндлер: священник Василий Птащук

Вопросы недавней словацкой истории, особенно вопросы, относительно Второй мировой войны, словацкого государства и отношения словацкой общественности, а также официальных государственных деятелей и религиозных лидеров к еврейскому населению, не только не ослабевают, но, наоборот, набирают силу среди части населения. Причин такого явления сразу несколько. Прежде всего, жители Словакии являются одними из самых религиозно активных в Европе. Для некоторых христианство является путем к смирению, любви и нравственности; другие видят в нем сообщество заговорщиков, которые под видом благочестия пробираются в церковь. Конечно, это не новое явление. Еще апостол Павел говорил о тех, кто посягает на нашу свободу. Сегодня это порабощение воспринимается прежде всего как экономическое рабство и аморальность. И это то, что чаще всего связывается с еврейским населением. Так формировалась словацкая общественность в период, когда главой государства стал католический священник Йозеф Тисо, а последователи Глинки получили свое название от другого католического священника — Андрея Глинки. Но в Словакии, помимо латинской части церкви, была и есть еще православная церковь, отношение которой к еврейскому вопросу во время Второй мировой войны было существенно иным. И это еще и потому, что православные почти полностью проживали на территории восточной Словакии, где в то же время проживало большинство граждан еврейского происхождения Словакии, обреченных по своему происхождению на уничтожение. Одним из наименее известных, но, пожалуй, наиболее выдающимся словаком еврейского происхождения был православный священник Василий Птащук, который подвергся гонениям со стороны представителей местных властей и части греко-католической и римско-католической церквей. Документ, который мы обнаружен в архивах Прешовской православной епархии и который публикуется здесь, свидетельствует о том, что ему пришлось пострадать за помощь другим людям.

Ключевые слова: Словакия, Прешов, Прешовская епархия, Словацкая церковь, Василий Птащук, еврейское население, Вторая мировая война, православие, католицизм.

Для цитирования: Шафин Я. Неизвестный словацкий Шиндлер: священник Василий Птащук // Теология: теория и практика. 2022. Т. 1. № 3. С. 92-98. DOI: 10.24412/2949-3951-2022-0190

The polemical literature dealing with Judaism and Christianity is multi-faceted. A multiform approach also appears in the attitude of the Christians themselves. Christianity in its substance cannot be negativistic towards Judaism or neglect Judaism. Judaism itself has a lot of characters in its history, who maintained a strong anti-Christian position, which was however changed by their abrupt and unexpected conversion to Christianity, a fact which also left an emphatic seal on the Christian psyche.

Jerusalem witnessed catastrophe's during the reign of Vespasian and his son Titus. Titus destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E. Further during Hadrian, 65 years later when the Romans defeated a rebellion led by Shimon bar Kochba in 135. After this latter event Jerusalem was to be transformed into a new city devoted to Jupiter and called Aelia Capitolina. That which was behind the walls of the City of peace, especially Golgotha, was suddenly located almost in the middle of the city. There were new buildings, pagan temples, and new housing, which covered that which previously constituted open spaces. This was one of the reasons why, saint Helene the mother of Constantine, who gave Christianity freedom, did not know where to look for the cross of Christ. That is why she desired to amass as much information as possible about its whereabouts. One such source explained to her, that if she wanted to find the place, she had to consult with a certain rabbi from Jerusalem, who was called Yehuda i.e. Yuda, and the family of which was guarding the secret as to the location of the cross of Christ. After being persuaded or perhaps tortured, Yuda agreed to divulge the location. Yuda, „is a Jew who knows. He is not a believer, but a seer. His knowledge is exceptional and inherited, so to speak a privilege, and it is hidden from non-Jews. The Jew does not believe, even though he knows, the Christian believes, even if he or she does not know".

The incorporation of Jews into Christian history is not limited only by polemical aims. The Jews in a way legitimize the Christian world rule, and in a paradoxical way affirm the truthfulness of the Christian faith. In a way it is as if the Jews give their historical and spiritual privileges to the Christians. What they themselves possess-that is a long historical memory-this becomes know the possession of the church. The Jews are called to give to the Christians not only the Holy Scriptures, but also knowledge, which is often portrayed as secret or even dangerous, which could have brought about persecution and the spread of rumors.

In line with the overall history of the Jewish question in central and Eastern Europe,

we can mention an important person, who was interested in it and who was a rector of the

Kiev spiritual academy and also the archimandrite of the Chernigov Yeletskiy monastery. His

name was Yoannikiy Galyatovskiy (1620-1688). This Ukrainian orthodox theologian, was in his

period a well known preacher, and wrote a number of polemical and anti-Catholic works, but

also anti-Uniate and anti-Islamic works1. He had also written a work, which had an anti-Judaic

character. It was a work of a compilatory nature, written from the perspective of an Orthodox

theologian. The work was called „Messiya pravdiviy" (The true Messiah), and contained all

the possible commonplace anti-Jewish stereotypes and polemics. Galyatovskiy had also

written that he had written the „Messiah" during a period when he had no place to lay his

head. After the conflict with the Mstislav bishop Methodius, Galyatovskiy had lost his position

1 „Belocerkovanaja beseda" (1663), „Staraja zapadnaja cerkov novemu kostelu rimskomu nischozdenije Svjatogo Ducha pokazyvajet" (1678), „Lebed" (1679), „Fundamenty, na kotorych katoliki utverzdajut jedinstvo Rusi s Rimom" (1683), „Al-Koran" (1683).

as the rector of the Kiev academy and he had to leave Kiev. He initially sought refuge at the bishop of Lvov Arseniy Zhelibovskiy (1644) and then in the monasteries of Lutsk, Minsk and Slutsk. He wrote the „True Messiah" when he was in the Rzecz Pospolita. In 1668 he returned to Kiev, where he commenced work to print his „True Messiah" and which was published in the typography of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery in 1669 in the „minorrussian dialect" i.e. in Ukrainian. Galyatovskiy was also planning to publish his anti-Jewish work in Latin and polish. With the help of the Russian Tsar Alexios Michailovich-a number of sable skins-he was able to publish the „Messiah" in Polish (1672). According to his own words the main reason for the composition of this tractate was the emergence of the Messianic movement of Shabatay Tzvi/Sabbatai Zevi. However the reader would be hard pressed to find any information about this movement in Poland, about which Galyatovskiy probably knew only from second hand sources., which possibly included translated German anti-Sabbatai pamphlets [fflnupT, 2008]. One does not even find any information about the Jewish-Christian relationship in the Rzecz Pospolita. However an anti-Jewish polemic is only one of his goals. The compilatory nature of the tractate presupposes a certain limited scope. In reference to the practices in the Orthodox Church he criticizes the practice of violent conversions of Jews to Christianity, and at the same time he encourages his readership to „balance accounts" with Jews and to expel Jews. The call for extermination or at least the expulsion of Jews, which constitutes one of the main refrains of one of the chapters of the „Messiah"-„discussions about Jewish evils", („Besedy o zlosyach zhidovskich"), is a unique chapter in itself. For the first time in eastern Orthodox literature, we find material take over from polish anti-Jewish literature, which included „witnesses" about the defilement of the Eucharist by the Jews, of Jewish ritual killings of children, the poisoning of wells and other material. In terms of Jewish sources relevant for Christianity or the Hebrew text of the Bible these are not of any consequence for the reflection of Galyatovskiy. He rejects any value in Jewish knowledge or religion, and even rejects the Hebrew language. Referring to the example of the baptized German Jew Joseph Pfefferkorn, who lived on the border between the 15th and 16th centuries, Galyatovskiy exhorts Christians to burn Jewish books (398/399).

At the same time Galyatovskiy is convinced that apart from various false and stupid writings, the Jews are masters of a secret knowledge, which is accessible only to a few: „You keep other books in secrecy and your rabbis hide them not only in front of the Christians, but also in front of all your own people you hide such a book, which writes about Christ the Son of God" (406). This motif of hidden knowledge of the Jews has its strange continuation. The hatred of Jews towards the Christians is explained by their long term knowledge that Christianity is the true faith, and that Jesus Christ is the prophesized Messiah. This knowledge is especially accessible to Jewish elders, rabbis, who as if knew the truth from their books the truth about the Savior, but they keep this truth as a great secret. All this exasperates the sin of the Jews in its substance, and it changes their attitude towards the Christians, since a conscious, willful murder of Christ as the Messiah especially points to the defiled nature of the Jews, and their inherent animosity to everything Christian [Moore, 1992].

The work of Galyatovskiy emerged in a period when the territory of contemporary Ukraine witnessed the bloody rebellion of Bohdan Chmelnitskiy (1596-1657), which as a deluge covered the territory of Belarus, Poland and Lithuania, and in a painful way touched upon the lives

of eastern European Jewry. This rebellion which went on for decades and which has been referred to as the „Great Flood" in the memory of the Polish nation has been especially tragic for the Jews, and in some Jewish sources it is called as „Gzerot tach" due to the massacres of Jews. The cataclysmic character of this tragedy is supported by facts. For example, in the city of Niemirow during the period of one day almost six thousand people perished and Jewish chronicles indicate a 100 000 dead and 300 destroyed villages. Menash ben Israel, claimed that most of the Jews escaped and it is possible that some of the numbers are inaccurate. However it is clear that it was a tragedy of immense proportions and those that survived told stories of horror, which made an impression on listeners and readers. Many interpreted these events which are attested, as some form of „pre-Messianic pangs" (chewle Maschiach) of Israel, sufferings which were associated with the period before the coming of the „Messiah..

While these events did not lead to the coming of the Messiah, they certainly demonstrated that the Jewish nation cannot feel secure and that the period of persecutions is not over. This was again confirmed by the events during the Second World War and the Holocaust Shoa of the Jewish nation.

The passing of time and generations did not mean the eradication of evil, or that humanity had grown any wiser. On the contrary evil developed into a more sinister form, and this time it would emerge out of a civilized area such as Germany, where a concept emerged of „the final solution of the Jewish question", which according to its creators would bring peace and harmony and stability. This „Solution" not only affected the Jewish German population but also other areas with Jewish inhabitants such as the area of Central Europe and Eastern Europe, including Slovakia, especially its eastern part. These events were a test of character for non-Jews, and especially Christians, who had an opportunity to demonstrate how much love did they possess and how much humanity did they possess. This included the Orthodox priests and other leaders. The Orthodox Church in the Eastern part of Slovakia was only being re-established during the period between the wars, but even in this small church there were people who displayed character and humanity.

One such person was Constantine Machlaychik, who in august of 1930 came to serve to the village of Osadne in Eastern Slovakia. We still do not have all the information about this courageous priest. He was not interested about publicity, but we know about him through other historical sources. In the registrars of that period, we know that in the years 1935, 1937, 1938, and 1942 he baptized around sixty Jews, and therefore saved their lives. It is even possible that he did not baptize them ritually but only supplied them with baptismal certificates, which seems to be confirmed by the fact that in the registrar the entries do not have their own individual number in succession but a number of entries are written under one number. In 1935 under the number 183, we have records of twelve adults. In 1937 and 1938 under the number 216 we have 18 adults. In 1942 each entry has its own number and the practice of putting many entries under one number subsides. Further the date of the Baptism is indicated as being effected in 1938. In this way 30 people are indicated. All age groups are indicated; the eldest being from 1875, but also we have infants. Each entry of a baptized Jew is accompanied by a note, when the individual began with his catechetical instruction, for example: „nepHogB orpaneHHH HanaTB

b 1937 r. — Period ohlasenija nacat v 1937 (beginning of catechetical instruction 1937)". Father Constantine appears as a local priest in the registrar until June 1944.

Even more interesting is his successor, who served in Osadne as an Orthodox priest from november 1944 to June 1945, and who was called Vasiliy Ptashchuk. Father Vasiliy, before he replaced father Constantine Machlaychik for a short time, was an Orthodox priest in Svetlice-the name of this village in that time was Vilagi, and here we also have a board commemorating his memory. This priest also showed great courage in the face of terror and danger. From the memorandum of Greek-Catholic and Roman Catholic clergy of the then county of Medzilaborce we find out, that father Vasiliy issued formal baptismal certificates to Jews thereby saving them from transportation. We can quote from the text of this memorandum: „We finally have received information also about how certain Orthodox priests have behaved in our county already during the period of the Slovak republic, when they issued multiple baptismal certificates for Jews in the year 1942, with a previous date, without actually baptizing them. The Orthodox priest in Vilagi issued almost 600 baptismal certificates"2. We will never know the exact number of baptismal certificates or the number of. baptized Jews. However even the number that is confirmed by historical sources is great. It is therefore not surprising that the Jewish community in the Slovak republic had decided to issue an honorary commemorative tablet, and Dr. Alexander, the secretary of the Jewish community in the Slovak republic, had displayed this table on the Orthodox Church in memory of father Vasiliy.

The quoted memorandum was then sent to state officials and to all offices. Due to this fact, the Zhupan (governor) of the Sharish-Zemplin zhupa (region) Mr. Dudas issued on the 28 of january 1943 a secretive order in Presov, „To all heads of the counties of the Sharish-Zemplin Zhupa, and to the police director in Presov" with the following text: „The Catholic priesthood in Medzilaborce and the surrounding areas had issued in December of the previous year a memorandum to effect the destruction of Orthodoxy in Eastern Slovakia. Since the requests of the memorandum-if it was to reach the public- could refresh religious tension, which had already erupted during the former Czecho-Slovakia, I have ordered the local county chiefs and the police director in Presov, not to give attention to the requests of the memorandum in the public domain, or neither to any anti-reactions from the Orthodox side.

As to Orthodox itself, we have to look at it, as a creation, which was created during the former Czecho-Slovakia, to destroy Eastern Slovakia. That is why this creation has not right to exist in the Slovak republic.

I order the local chiefs and the police director:

1. To issue an order to their people in command to subject all Orthodox priests especially monks, to strict surveillance, and to monitor all their activity;

2. No to tolerate any actions by these priests and monks among people of other denominations and not even to tolerate any movements among people of other denominations.

3. To in a inconspicuous way to subject the said priests and monks to surveillance, that is to survey their correspondence and contacts, especially local correspondence, and to observe whether local correspondence is not carried out through the medium of another state.

4. To record all the Orthodox priests and monks in their area of responsibility.

2 Memorandum pod c. SDA Presov Gkb 56/ prez. 1942/.

5. To prepare a good way of how to get rid of these priests and monks from the republic of Slovakia;

6. To inform me in time about any suspicious activities" [Presidium of the Zhupa office of the Sharish Zemplin Zhupa, 1995. P. 24.].

Father Vasiliy Ptashchuk was taken to court on the 5 of May 1944, and was judged by the Regional court in Michalovce for falsifying registrar records and under the paragraph 391, 393, 397, of the penal code, while at the same time the same court on the 3 of jolly accepted the appeal of the state's officer against the decision of this court [Pruzinsky, Horkaj, 1998. P. 229-230].

Regardless of the sufferings, the physical and psychological torture, father Vasiliy was not broken and remained faithful to the spirit of the Gospel and the prophets. „And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart; and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The Second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark. 12, 29-31).

References

Moore R.I. Anti-Semitism and the Birth of Europe. Christianity and Judaism. Ed. by D. Wood. Oxford, 1992, pp. 49-52.

Presidium of the Zhupa office of the Sharish Zemplin Zhupa, Prezidium zupného uradu sarissko-zemplinskej zupy. Number/Cislo 726/IH-f/1942SB. Cit. v Odkaze sv. Cyrila a Metoda rocnik XLI, Presov, 1995, c. 1, pp. 24.

Pruzinsky, S., Horkaj, S. Pravoslavna cirkev na Slovensku v 19. a 20. storoci. Ludia — udalosti — dokumenty. Presov, 1998.

Shpirt, A.M. «The Truthful Messiah» by Ioannikius Galatovsky. Slavic Studies, 2008, no. 4, pp. 37-45. [Шпирт А.М. «Мессия Правдивый» Иоанникия Галятовского // Славяноведение. 2008. № 4. С. 37-45].