# Ilarion Ohienko

Metropolitan Ilarion (secular name Ivan Ivanovych Ohienko; Ukrainian: Іван Іванович Огієнко, romanized: Ohiienko; 2 January (14 January), 1882 in Brusyliv, Kyiv Governorate – 29 March 1972 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) was a Ukrainian Orthodox cleric, linguist, church historian, and historian of Ukrainian culture. In 1940 he was Archimandrite of the St. Onuphrius Monastery in Jableczna; in 1940 he became Bishop of Chełm; in 1944 he became the Metropolitan of Chełm and Lublin (Podlaskie), and in 1951 Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. He was also active in Ukrainian politics, both during the revolution and later in emigration.

## Early life

Ivan Ohienko was born in central Ukraine (Kyiv Gubernia). In 1900 he graduated from the Kyiv military field physician school where he studied along with Russian poet Demyan Bedny. Later Ohienko had been educated at Kyiv University where he studied Slavic philology (see Slavistics) under Vladimir Peretts. By 1915, he was teaching at this same university, and during the revolution became active in the Ukrainianization of higher education. In 1919, he was Minister of Education in the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) which was at that time headed by the Directorate of Ukraine. After the military defeat of Petliura's forces, together with Petliura he went into exile in Tarnów, Poland. He remained in Poland between the wars and remained active in the UPR government in exile. Until 1932, he taught in the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at Warsaw University, but was dismissed under political pressure from Polish nationalist elements.

## Bishop

In 1937 Ohienko became a widower after a death of his wife Dominika.
On 9 October 1940 Ohienko accepted a tonsure of monk in Jabłeczna Orthodox monastery by Metropolitan Dionysius (Waledyński), taking the name Ilarion.
On 20 October 1940 at the Chelm assembly of Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops on Daniel Hill Ilarion (Ohienko) was ordained as Bishop of Chelm and Podlasie. His cheirotonia was carried by Metropolitan Dionysius (Waledyński), Archbishop of Prague Savvatij (Vrabec) and Bishop of Lublin Timothy (Szretter).
In face of the advance of the Red Army, he fled west and in 1947 settled in Winnipeg in Western Canada where shortly afterward he became Metropolitan bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. Throughout his long career, in addition to church work, Ohienko contributed to scholarship and other areas of Ukrainian culture.

## Scholarly work

As a scholar, Ohienko made contributions to Ukrainian linguistics, church history, and the history of Ukrainian culture. He published books on the history of Ukrainian linguistics (1907), the history of Ukrainian printing (1925), the pre-Christian beliefs of the Ukrainian people (1965), the history of the Ukrainian literary language (1950), and published several studies in Ukrainian church history of the Cossack era. He also published a general history of the Ukrainian Church (1942), a two volume work on Saints Cyril and Methodius (1927–28), edited several semi-scholarly journals, and compiled a multi-volume etymological-semantic dictionary of the Ukrainian language which was only published after his death. Most of the works first published in Poland were reprinted in Winnipeg during the Cold War, and then, again, in Ukraine after the re-establishment of independence in 1991.
* The Divine Liturgy of our Holy Father John Chrysostom, in the Ukrainian language — Part I, Text: Proskomidia, Divine Liturgy, Prayers following Holy Communion. (L'viv, 1922);
* The Divine Liturgy of our Holy Father John Chrysostom, in the Ukrainian language — Part II, Explanation of the Text, Translation Methodology of Divine service books into Ukrainian, Explanatory notes on the translation of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Alphabetical list of corresponding Church Slavonic words, List of publications of the Non-profit Publishing House Ukrainian Autocephalous Church under the direction of Prof. Ivan Ohienko. (L'viv, 1922);
* Holy Vespers. (L'viv, 1922);
* Compline and Midnight Service. (L'viv, 1922);
* Holy Matins Service. (L'viv, 1922);
* Little Vespers, Holy All-night Vigil, Saturday Midnight Service, Sunday Midnight Service. (L'viv, 1922);
* First Hour, Third Hour, Sixth Hour, Ninth Hour. (L'viv, 1922);
* Great Compline. (L'viv, 1922);
* Daily Dismissals, Dismissals at Feasts of the Lord, Troparia and Kondakia at Feasts throughout the year, Festal Prokeimena at Orthros Services. (L'viv, 1922);
* Matins Gospels. (L'viv, 1922);
* Prayer of Thanksgiving of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Mediolanum, Nationalisation of theological texts, Afterword, Table of Contents, Errata. (L'viv, 1922);
* Byzantium and Ukraine (1954);

## Political activities

A political moderate, during the revolution, Ohienko was a member of the Ukrainian Party of Socialists-Federalists. He was a populist committed to bringing the church closer to the common people, spreading the achievements of scholarship among wider circles of the public, and narrowing the gap between the literary language and the vernacular. Always firmly committed to Eastern Orthodoxy, some of his works betray a polemical anti-Catholic tone, but he never acceded to the ecclesiastical or political claims of Moscow (see Moscow Patriarchy) and to his death in 1972 remained a strong supporter of Ukrainian church autocephaly and Ukrainian political independence.

## Ohienko Bible

Between 1917 and 1940, he completed a translation of the Bible into the Ukrainian language, finally published in 1958. His translation of the Gospels became available in 1937, and the rest of the New Testament and the Psalms in 1939. His Ukrainian translation is the one most widely used nowadays, with Ukrainian Bible Society starting to publish mass editions in 1995. Before that, his translation was mainly being published in the US, Canada, and Western Europe.