Polycarp Sikorsky

Polycarp (Sikorsky)
Primate of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
Church	Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
Installed	1941
Term ended	1953
Predecessor	Ioann (Pavlovsky) (Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, 1919-1937) Anthony (Vinnytsky) (Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 1620–1679)
Successor	Nykanor (Abramovych)
Orders
Ordination	1922
Consecration	10 April 1932 by Metropolitan Dionizy (Waledyński)
Personal details
Born	Petro Dmytrovych Sikorsky (1875-07-02)July 2, 1875 near Myronivka, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	October 22, 1953(1953-10-22) (aged 78) Aulnay-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France
Buried	Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

Metropolitan Polycarp (Ukrainian: Митрополит Полікарп, secular name Petro Dmytrovych Sikorsky, Ukrainian: Петро Дмитрович Сікорський, or Pyotr Dmitriyevich Sikorksy, Russian: Пётр Дмитриевич Сикорский, Polish: Piotr Sikorski; July 2, 1875 - October 22, 1953) was a bishop of the Polish Orthodox Church and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

He was born in 1875 in a village near Myronivka in a family of priest. He graduated from the Kyiv Theological Seminary in 1898. In 1906 he studied at the Kyiv University Law School (Faculty). Following the Ukrainian independence in 1918-21 Sikorsky served as an official and head of department at the Ukrainian People's Ministry of Confessions.

After the Treaty of Riga in 1920 he stayed in Volhynia. In 1922 he made tonsure to monasticism and was elevated to the rank of archimandrite serving in turns as a hegumen for Derman Holy Trinity Monastery, Velyki Zahaitsi Monastery, and Zhyrovichy Monastery. Sikorski was active in political and community life.

He was consecrated as a Bishop of Lutsk, vicar of Eparchy of Volhynia, by bishops including Dionizy (Waledyński). Following Soviet invasion of Poland and annexation of territories what is now western Ukraine and Belarus, Sikorski refused to join the Moscow Patriarchate and was removed from office of Patriarchal see "locum tenens" by Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky).

In September 1941 Sikorsky was heading "Provisional administration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church" in Volhynia as Archbishop of Lutsk and Kovel eparchy (diocese). By decree of Metropolitan Dionizy (Waledyński) of 24 December 1941 he was appointed to the position of provisional administrator of "Orthodox Autocephalous Church on liberated lands of Ukraine". Sikorsky initiated the 1942 Hierarchal Assembly in Pinsk which became important in reforming the Ukrainian Church. He was elected as a Metropolitan at the Assembly. Soon thereafter the Nazi security officials searched his house and arrested and later executed his assistants Maliuzhynsky and Mysechko.

On 6 January 1944 Sikorsky emigrated to Warsaw and later to Germany. After the German capitulation he resided in Gronau, North Rhine-Westphalia and later Bad Kissingen, Bavaria. He organized several hierarchal assemblies of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in exile. In April 1950 Sikorsky moved to France, near Paris where he headed a parish of Saint-Germain.

Further reading

• Dmytro Blazheyovskyi. "Hierarchy of the Kyivan Church, 1861–1996". Lviv, 1996
• Ivan Vlasovsky. "Outline of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church history". Volumes 1–4. Kyiv, 1998
• Yuriy Voloshyn. "Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church: 1941-1944". Poltava, 1999
• "History of Religion in Ukraine". Volume 3: "Orthodoxy in Ukraine". Kyiv, 1999