At the first Chapter of the Basilian Sisters in Slovita in August 1902, under the leadership of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, it was decided to respond positively to the request of the Society of Ukrainian Women from Przemyśl to establish a monastery and boarding school for Greek Catholic girls who were studying in various schools in the city of Przemyśl that used to be a center of the mediaeval principality. Four Sisters were sent there from the Yavoriv monastery: M. Josaphata Theodorovych, OSBM, Sister Helena Langevych, OSBM, Sister Sophia Kozorowska, OSBM and Sister Makariya Matviyiv, OSBM.
During World War II, the educational activities of the Basilian Sisters in Przemyśl were interrupted. In order to save the house, the then superior, M. Vasylia Sivch (originally from Yugoslavia), welcomed to the monastery in June 1945, the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, who came from Lviv with orphans.
The Basilian Sisters were threatened with imprisonment and deportation to Siberia, so in August 1946, M. Vasylia in agreement with Fr. Pavlo Pushkarskyi, OSBM placed three Sisters in the monastery of the Benedictine Samaritan Sisters in Niegów-Samaria near Warsaw and she herself left for Yugoslavia in 1947. Only Sr. Dionysia Mizymchuk remained in the monastery in Przemyśl with the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, who ran an orphanage.
The Second World War caused enormous losses for the Basilian Sisters. The communist authorities in Soviet Ukraine (and other countries) deprived the Sisters of community life in their monasteries, the opportunity to educate in their schools and confiscated the monastery property for their own use. Some of the Sisters were imprisoned and exiled to Siberia, while others were placed under the supervision of the NKVD.
In 1949, two Sisters, Sister Agneta Halamay and Sister Helena Sładek (who belonged to the Slovita monastery), came to Poland, but during the war they left for Czechoslovakia. From there they were transported as prisoners to Sosnowiec in Poland. After 9 months in prison, the Sisters were released. After two years of staying with the Sister Servants and working at a hospital in Katowice, the Sisters settled in Lubań Śląski. Sr. Agneta Halamay taught children religion and Sr. Elena Sładek worked as a nurse in the hospital.
In 1955, M. Onysyma Shushkevych, who belonged to the Lviv monastery, came out of exile from the far-eastern city of Komsomolsk by Amur to Poland. In 1950 she had been exiled and deported to Siberia with her mother.
In 1957, Sister Anisia Sarna from Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk) went to her parents in Poland. In 1957, M. Markiana Wojnarowska, OSBM, who also came from the Lviv monastery, arrived in Warsaw.
The year 1958 was a turning point in the history of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great in Poland. Thanks to the help of the Basilian Fathers from Warsaw, especially Frs. Pavlo Petro Pushkarskyi and Fr. Rodion Roman Barabash, the first female Basilian community was organized after the change of borders in 1945.
God’s Providence took care of the accommodation for the Sisters. In July 1958, the Archbishop of Wroclaw, Bolesław Kominek gave the Sisters the monastery in Lubomierz. The monastery was the property of the Ursuline Sisters, who had moved to Germany permanently. The first community in Lubomierz was formed by representatives of four monasteries: from Lviv, M. Markiana Wojnarowska, from the Slovita monastery, Sr. Agneta Halamay, from the Yavoriv Monastery, Sr. Elisaveta Motsiak, and from Stanislav Monastery, Sr. Anisia Sarna. The Lord blessed that community with vocations, for three candidates entered that year and three more the following year. The Novitiate of the Basilian Sisters in Lubomierz was canonically recognized by a decree of the Wroclaw Archbishop’s Curia. The first Novice Mistress was M. Markiana Wojnarowska, OSBM. The Sisters were engaged in work at the church, catechesis, gardening and farm work. From time to time, the Sisters went on vacation and sold various religious items, which were both an occupation and a financial support for them.
The General Curia of the Order in Rome, by Decree of February 13, 1959, established in Poland the Delegature of the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great under the protection of the Holy Cross. The first Superior of the Delegature was M. Onysyma Shushkevych. The Delegature then consisted of sixteen members living in four communities (Lubomierz, Luban, Warsaw, and Przemyśl).
In 1960, a new kind of apostolate was opened – the care of disabled children in a state institution in Janowice Wielkie. The first sisters who started this new apostolic ministry were Sister Agneta Halamay and Sister Elisabeth Motsiak, and later more sisters joined this work. The work was not easy, but it provided the Sisters with conditions for living together, material support, and the opportunity to receive an education in secondary and higher schools.
The General Chapter encouraged the Sisters to purchase a house. In 1969, a house was purchased in Zalesie Górne, thirty kilometers south of Warsaw, to assure the novices of Basilian spiritual direction. Four years later, a house in Przemyśl was purchased to better connect with the Sisters in Ukraine.
The Delegature of the Basilian Sisters in Poland also suffered materially. In 1962, the communist authorities forcibly took away the house in Przemyśl. The Sisters were transferred to the convent of the Felician Sisters in Przemyśl and an orphanage was set up in the house under the management of secular workers. Eight years later, the state authorities of the city of Lubomierz confiscated a part of the Sisters’ monastery and a large farm building.
In 1971, at the General Chapter in Rome, the Delegature was elevated to the status of Vice-Province. The Sisters received new Constitutions in the spirit of Vatican II. M. Onysyma Shushkevych became the Provincial. The Vice-Province consisted of twenty-two Sisters.
In 1973, the first Vice-Provincial Chapter was held in Warsaw under the leadership of Mother Archimandriniya Emelia Prokopik from Rome. The members of the Chapter worked out the Directives based on the New Constitutions of 1971.
The year 1974 was a turning point and a blessed year in the work of the Sisters and in the history of our Vice-Province. From that time on, we could work among our people. At the request of our priests, the Sisters began teaching religion in the following parishes: Pasłęk, Pieniężno, and Szprotawa.
For the better development of catechetical work, thanks to the efforts of His Beatitude Cardinal Josyf Slipyj, the Sisters bought a house in Pasłęk (1979) and a house in Gorlice (1983) in Lemkivshchyna ( the Ukrainian ethnic region in eastern Poland).
In 1987, the Vice-Province had twenty-five sisters and five houses of its own.
Since 1979, the number of vocations had gradually increased. The apostolic activity also expanded, and in 1987 it included: catechetical work, educational work among the disabled in a state institution (Janowice Wielke) and parish work.
In 1988, the 1000th Anniversary of the Baptism of Ukraine was celebrated. Celebrations were held in every parish in Poland. The main celebrations were held in Rome on July 10, 1988 under the leadership of Pope John Paul II. From Poland, eight Sisters attended.
In 1990, a house was purchased in Warsaw at 8 Bukowiecka Street, and the house in Zalesie Górne was closed.
In 1990, the seat of the Vice-Province was moved to Gorlice, and in 1991 two houses (Lubomierz and Janowice Wielkie) in western Poland were closed, as well as the work among the disabled. In Warsaw, the Sisters began teaching religion to Greek Catholic children and working in the kitchen of the Basilian Fathers monastery.
The apostolate that the Sisters performed at that time was teaching religion. Five Sister catechists worked in eight parishes. Their teaching included four hundred ten children of the Greek Catholic Church. The Sisters were also engaged in parish work, gaffing crosses and sewing church vestments.
In the area of vocation promotion, the Sisters, together with Basilian Fathers and priests, organized youth retreats for Ukrainian girls from 1981 to 2017.
In 1995, the monastery in Przemyśl was returned to the Sisters as part of the reappraisal of church monasteries and later major repairs were begun on them.
The 2000 Jubilee Holy Year of the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ was solemnly celebrated. The Basilian Sisters from all the Provinces solemnly celebrated the Jubilee in Rome from May 4-8, 2000.
On February 11, 2000, M. Onysyma Olga Shushkevych, OSBM, founder of our Province in Poland and first superior, died in Gorlice. She lived 95 years and 72 years in the Order. A confessor of the faith, she was exiled in Siberia for six years.
The 50th anniversary of the Centralization of our Order was solemnly celebrated during the 8th General Chapter in Rome in 2001. At the 2002 Provincial Chapter in Gorlice, it was decided to move the seat of the Province to Warsaw and the following year the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in Rome recognized the status of a Province to the community of Basilian Sisters in Poland.
In 2008, the Province of the Basilian Sisters in Poland consisted of eighteen professed sisters and one novice. They performed the following apostolic works:
– catechesis of children and youth of the Greek Catholic rite – six catechists taught two hundred ninety-six students in nine parishes and sixteen schools.
– work in parishes – baking prosphora (Gorlice, Pieniężno, Kętrzyn) – feeding priests (Pieniężno) – laundry at the Basilian Fathers (Warsaw, Przemyśl) – Caritas Office (Pieniężno) – retreats for Greek Catholic girls. In 2012, the Provincial Chapter of the Sisters was held in Gorlice, and a new Provincial administration was elected.
The year 2015 was a difficult year in the history of the Basilian Sisters in Poland. Due to the small number of sisters, the houses where the main apostolate was catechesis of children were closed: in January, the house in Pasłęk (1974-2010), and in August, the missionary village in Kętrzyn (1997-2015). In June 2021, the house and apostolic catechetical activities in Pieniężno (1978-2021) were closed.
The greatest hardship was Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
On February 24, 2022 deadly missiles hit peaceful cities in Ukraine. To save their lives, people fled Ukraine to Poland and other countries in droves, leaving their homes behind.
In response to the needs of refugees, a new kind of apostolate was opened. All the monastic communities of the Province rushed to help to secure places to live, send children to school, and arrange governmental affairs related to housing, etc. The Sisters were constantly organizing humanitarian aid for Ukraine. They helped in spiritual development – they taught children religion (Warsaw – Tarсhomin), lead liturgical singing (Krosno), organized camps for children from Ukraine and held meetings with refugee families (Gorlice).
Important events include anniversaries, namely: in December 2018, the Sisters thanked God for 60 years of their existence as a Province of the Holy Cross in Poland, for the first superior, confessor of the faith and prominent Basilian, M. Onysyma Olga Shushkevych, in June 2021 – for the 70th anniversary of the Centralization of the Order of St. Basil the Great (online). The 50th Anniversary of Solemn Profession of Sister Veronica, Sister Paula Lipkiewicz and Sister Teresa Maliniak in 2020 and the 50th Anniversary of the monastic life of Sister Pankratia Dziobko in 2021.
The majestic anniversary of the 400th Anniversary of the existence of the Basilian Sisters’ monastery in Yavoriv was celebrated for three days on October 13-15, 2021.
To better understand the history of all the Provinces of the Order, the Sisters participated in Zoom meetings organized by the Interculturality Commission. These are very valuable meetings, for which we are very grateful to the Most Reverend Mother Archimandriniya and the Interculturality Commission.
The main apostolate of the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great is the glorification of God in the Divine Liturgy, psalmody and the evangelical way of life and service to the needs of the Church.
“As an Order of the Eastern Catholic Church, we educate ourselves in its Traditions. Our way of life is contemplative and apostolic. It is manifested in a life of union with God, which is transformed into love that overflows to our neighbors” (Constitutions. The Kenotic Way, p. 13).