Ivan Buchko. 1950s. Central State Audiovisual and Electronic Archive
There is no doubt that Bishop Ivan is our great Bishop. His iron will, unwavering courage, unquenchable enthusiasm, tireless activity, organizational skills, temperamental optimism, cheerful demeanor, deep ascetic life, and supernatural virtues propelled him high.
Iryney Nazarko, priest
Ivan Buchko was a church and public figure, Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; he lived and worked in Italy and the United States.
The Archbishop was born on October 1, 1891, in the village of Hermaniv, Lviv region, in the family of a priest. He got his higher theological education in Rome (1911-1915), where he received the degree of Doctor of Theology. He returned to Lviv, where he headed the Minor Seminary. In 1929, he was appointed Bishop and assistant to Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky of Galicia. He actively participated in public life, co-organized the congress “Ukrainian Youth to Christ” (1933). Buchko opposed the pacification policy carried out in the western part of Ukraine.
In the spring of 1939, the Pope appointed I. Buchko Apostolic Visitor for Ukrainian immigrants in South America. He was to return home in eight months. However, he was unable to do so because of the outbreak of World War II and the occupation of western Ukraine by the USSR. Under these circumstances, Buchko was destined to become the “Archpastor of the wanderers.” During 1940-1941, he lived in the United States, was a vicar general of Philadelphia and a priest in New York.
At the end of 1941, he went to Rome, represented the UGCC at the Vatican. The Pope appointed him as a pastor for Ukrainians in Italy. Buchko organized the Ukrainian Relief Committee, tried to protect the Galician Division’s captured soldiers from repatriation to the USSR.
In 1946, he was appointed by the Pope as Apostolic Visitor for Ukrainians in Western Europe, except for Germany and Austria. He visited Ukrainian immigrants in Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium. He provided pastoral support and collected information about the Ukrainian community abroad, managed appeals from refugees to offer assistance upon returning to Rome.
From 1948, he was an Apostolic Visitor in Germany and supported Greek Catholics and Orthodox in camps for displaced people and refugees. Buchko also helped restoring the Church Archaeological Commission established in Lviv by A. Sheptytsky. He supported the publication of religious literature, the Shevchenko Scientific Society, and the Ukrainian Free University.
He died on September 21, 1974 in Rome.
