The role and place of the magazine "Missionary" in the founding of the secular order of St. Basil the Great in the UGCC
Authors: Holomidova Mariia Khrystyiana 
Published: May 2021

The article is intended to acquaint a reader with that important role and place of the Basilian periodical Misionar which it played in the foundation of the Lay Order of Saint Basil the Great in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church by the Righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. The article investigates the initial period of the foundation of the Lay Order of Saint Basil the Great, which was covered in the pages of the periodical Misionar in 1897-1898.

The Lay Order of Saint Basil the Great, the earliest name of which is the Brotherhood of Law of Saint Basil the Great, was founded at the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in the time of the Dobromil's reform of the Basilian Order in 1897 by the hegumen of the monastery of Saint Onuphrius in Lviv, father Andrey Sheptytsky, the Order of Saint Basil the Great, the future metropolitan. In the pages of the periodical Misionar, which was also founded by the hegumen and father Andrey Sheptytsky, the Order of Saint Basil the Great, in May in the year of 1897, within June 1897 - December 1898 the materials were published relating to the earliest period of the foundation of the Lay Order of Saint Basil the Great. This is the period when the father A. Sheptytsky, the Order of Saint Basil the Great, fulfilled the duties of the hegumen of Lviv Monastery until August 26, 1898 and later was appointed as a Professor of moral and dogmatic theology at Krystynopol. The first editor of the periodical was the father Platonid Filias, the Order of Saint Basil the Great. By the time the father A. Sheptytsky, the Order of Saint Basil the Great, became the Stanislavsky bishop (1899), he was also the responsible editor of the periodical Misionar.

The hegumen and father Andrey Sheptytsky, the Order of Saint Basil the Great, having founded Misionar and having founded the centres of the Brotherhood of Law, used the periodical to popularize the Brotherhood of Law and its development, thus encouraging readers to the perfect Christian life in the world in the community of Brotherhood in order to do good deeds for the benefit of all “Russ community” by joint efforts.

The periodical provided information about the formation of centres of the Brotherhood of Law in localities, where the Basilian missions took place. The articles were printed that contributed to the formation of new centres and spiritual formation of community members. In particular, under the heading “The Life of the Saints”, the Basilian fathers, telling about the life of Saint Dalmat, his son Favstva and Saint Isaac, encouraged readers of Misionar to imitate the life of these Saints, the monastic life in the world and the formation of monasteries in villages, like the monastery of St. Isaac. They advised how this could be done. In the heading of the periodical “Misionarski Visti” [Missionary News], it was reported in which localities the centres of the Brotherhood of Law were founded. From May till December 1898, the story “The Christian community” was printed in 12 issues of the periodical that described the life of the law and the Christian life in general. These articles contributed to the spiritual formation of the members of the founded Brotherhood of Law and all readers of the periodical as well as the introduction of the “Rules of St. Father N. Vasyl V. for Mirsky people”, which were concluded by the hegumen and father Andrey Sheptytsky, the Order of Saint Basil the Great for the Brotherhood. Thus, favourable conditions were created for the foundation and development of the Lay Order of Saint Basil the Great, and the periodical Misionar played a special role in this. We can assert that the periodical Misionar occupies an honourable place in the entire now more than 120-year history of the existence and activities of the Lay Order of Saint Basil the Great in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.