On November 17, 1869, Klymentiy (Casimir) Sheptytsky, archimandrite of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Righteous among the Nations, was born. Casimir Sheptytsky, born in the Sheptytsky aristocratic family, received a first-class European education, studying in Munich, Krakow, Paris. He received his Doctor of Law degree from the famous Jagiellonian University in Krakow in 1892.
In adulthood, a 42-year-old, Casimir Sheptytsky decided to serve God and chose the monastic name of Clement (in honor of the Pope).
Klymentiy Sheptytsky as archimandrite of the Univ Holy Dormition Lavra was a permanent assistant and adviser to his older brother – Andrey Sheptytsky, metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Thanks to the Sheptytsky brothers, a unique system was organized to rescue the Galicia Jews during the Nazi genocide. Thanks to their efforts, the lives of more than 200 people were rescued.
After the restoration of Soviet rule in Western Ukraine in 1944, a new wave of repression against the Greek Catholic clergy began. Thousands of clerics and monks became its victims. This fate did not pass by Klymentiy Sheptytsky. In 1947 he was arrested and accused of “anti-Soviet activity and relations with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Vatican”, and in 1948 he was sentenced to 8 years in prison in Soviet camps.
His last place of stay was the infamous “Vladimir Central Prison”, a transit prison in the Russian city of the same name. There, on May 1, 1951, the earthly path of this outstanding man ended. Unfortunately, to date, the exact burial place of archimandrite Klymentiy Sheptytsky is unknown. However, memory of his activities continues to live. In 1996, the State of Israel honored the feat of rescuing people during the Holocaust, noting Klymentiy Sheptytsky with the title of Righteous among the Nations.
For many years the Univ Holy Dormition Lavra, where Klymentiy Sheptytsky was a prior, has been welcoming participants in the “Ark” Youth Inter-religious Seminar. During the week Jewish, Ukrainian, Polish and Crimean Tatar youths learn dialogue, acquire new knowledge and create a way of understanding between different cultures, religions and peoples.
Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” has unique exhibits in its permanent exhibition - books from the personal library of metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky with his autographs, examples of Soviet propaganda journalism designed to cynically denigrate the name and memory of the Sheptytsky brothers. Everyone who visits the museum library will be able to get acquainted with the selection of the latest literature dedicated to these outstanding Ukrainians.