Today we remember Blessed Paul P. Gojdich, Martyr and Confessor, who was Bishop of the Eparchy of Prešov during the Communist era.
Eternal memory! Vičnaja pamjat, Vladyko!
The Seminary of the Eparchy of Prešov is presently named in his honor and memory.
Born in 1888 in Ruske Perklany in Prjashevschina to a priestly family. Though his family wanted him to go into medicine or law, he felt called to the priesthood and entered the Prešov seminary in 1907. He chose the celibate priesthood and was ordained in 1911. In 1922, he entered the Basilian monastery of St. Nicholas at Chernecha Hora. He was renowned for his long hours of prayer and for his work with the youth of the Church. In 1926, he was appointed as Apostolic Administrator of the Eparchy of Prešov, and was ordained bishop in 1927. Through independence, war, and near famine conditions, he was a good shepherd to his people. In 1949, the Communist government of Czechoslovakia began its liquidation of the Byzantine Catholic Church, and Bishop Gojdich worked through every means at his disposal to keep his priests and people loyal to their Byzantine Catholic Church and to Rome. He was arrested in 1950, tried in a mock trial in 1951. The secret police made every effort to break Bishop Gojdich and have him recant the Union of Uzhgorod, but he remained faithful. However, his health was completely broken by the maltreatment he received, and he died in the penitentiary of Leopoldov, Slovakia (1960).
[source: Byzantine Monthly Menaion - Volume 11 (July), Metropolitan Cantor Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 2005]
Born in 1888 in Ruske Perklany in Prjashevschina to a priestly family. Though his family wanted him to go into medicine or law, he felt called to the priesthood and entered the Prešov seminary in 1907. He chose the celibate priesthood and was ordained in 1911. In 1922, he entered the Basilian monastery of St. Nicholas at Chernecha Hora. He was renowned for his long hours of prayer and for his work with the youth of the Church. In 1926, he was appointed as Apostolic Administrator of the Eparchy of Prešov, and was ordained bishop in 1927. Through independence, war, and near famine conditions, he was a good shepherd to his people. In 1949, the Communist government of Czechoslovakia began its liquidation of the Byzantine Catholic Church, and Bishop Gojdich worked through every means at his disposal to keep his priests and people loyal to their Byzantine Catholic Church and to Rome. He was arrested in 1950, tried in a mock trial in 1951. The secret police made every effort to break Bishop Gojdich and have him recant the Union of Uzhgorod, but he remained faithful. However, his health was completely broken by the maltreatment he received, and he died in the penitentiary of Leopoldov, Slovakia (1960).
[source: Byzantine Monthly Menaion - Volume 11 (July), Metropolitan Cantor Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 2005]
A longer biography of Blessed Paul P. Gojdich, reprinted from the Byzantine Leaflet series, is available on the internet (click here).
Troparion of Blessed Paul Gojdich (Tone 4)
From your youth you loved Christ, the eternal Word. You desired to serve him quietly and in simplicity of heart, but the right hand of the Most High chose you for the bishop's throne, and made you a steadfast shepherd of his people. For the sake of faith and the unity of the Church, you offered yourself to God as a perfect sacrifice. O Father and priest-martyr Paul, pray to Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.
Troparion of Blessed Paul Gojdich (Tone 4)
From your youth you loved Christ, the eternal Word. You desired to serve him quietly and in simplicity of heart, but the right hand of the Most High chose you for the bishop's throne, and made you a steadfast shepherd of his people. For the sake of faith and the unity of the Church, you offered yourself to God as a perfect sacrifice. O Father and priest-martyr Paul, pray to Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.
Eternal memory! Vičnaja pamjat, Vladyko!
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