July 2001

Father Ziatyk was born on December 26 in Ordechova in Poland, and followed the normal path of a candidate for the secular priesthood in the diocese of Peremysyl, being ordained in 1923. From 1925-1935 he was the Prefect of students in the diocesan seminary, also teaching catechism and dogmatic theology. In 1935 he entered the Redemptorist Congregation. Though older than the other novices he was exemplary in his patience and humility, and did not consider manual labour beneath his dignity. After his novitiate he was sent to the monastery on Zublikevych Street in Lviv, where he was named Father Minister.

Though not a great orator, people flocked to hear him preach. His holiness and detachment from all worldly things won the Divine benediction on his sermons. His conversation was usually about some aspect of the Faith and he was an example of prayer, contemplation and the priestly ideal.

During the German occupation, Fr Ziatyk was the superior of the monastery in Ternopil. When the Soviets arrested the entire Ukrainian Greek Catholic episcopate in 1945 Metropolitan Joseph Slipyj delegated the administration of the Church to the Redemptorist Provincial, Fr De Vocht. In 1948 Fr De Vocht was expelled from Ukraine and he chose Fr Ziatyk as his successor.

On January 5, 1950 the day before Christmas Eve on the Julian calendar, Fr Ivan Ziatyk was arrested and charged with belonging to the Redemptorist Congregation, diffusing Papal teaching and working for union with the Catholic Church. At first he was imprisoned in Zolochiv, then transferred to the Oserlag camp in Siberia. Eye-witnesses testify to the brutal treatment he endured, and to his perseverance in refusing to defect from Catholic Church. On Good Friday, 1952 Fr Ziatyk was cruelly beaten and clubbed by the commandant of the camp. On Easter Sunday, after three days of suffering Fr Ivan Ziatyk died from his wounds and was buried at Oserlag.

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