In this thesis the major directions and forms of cultural and creative activity of Greek Catholic clergy of Eastern Galicia in 1921–1946 are determined, namely: the influence of priests on the development of the pictorial, musical, theatrical, film and photo arts of the region, the writers’ heritage of spiritual fathers, in the context of culture aesthetic advancement, publication and distribution of periodicals, creation and development of archival and library institutions as the main institutes for the preservation of national memory.
In the first section the state of the scientific development of the problem, its source base and methodology are analyzed. The historiography of the research is divided into 3 periods (pre-war, Soviet, modern) due to different positions of scientists, who studied the role of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (hereinafter – UGCC) and its representatives in the spiritual and cultural life of Ukrainians. So, in the 20–30ies of the XXth cent., certain data on the above topic were obtained from the works of the representatives of UGCC ff. G. Kostelnyk, Y. Slipyi, A. Sheptytskyi, as well as scientific works of coevals of the studied period – V. Lypynskyi, I. Sventsytskyi, Y. Pasternak, a. o. The next period is represented by the works of Y. Galan, V. Dobrychev, O. Utkin, A. Shysh a. o., which are aimed at establishing in the memory of Ukrainians a negative, harmful stamp on the activity of the priests. The third period of the historiography includes the works of M. Bandrivskyi, A. Vaskiv, O. Gaidukevych, S. Gnot, A. Yereshii, V. Ivanyshyn, V. Marchuk, f. P. Melnychuk, I. Paslavskyi, V. Serhiichuk, V. Chornopyska, Y. Shcherbyak a. o.
The source base of the study consists of materials, collected from the funds of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv, the State Archives of the Ternopil region, Lviv National Scientific Library named after V. Stefanyk, National Scientific Library named after V. Vernadskyi, and is divided into official proclamations, pastoral messages of the leadership of UGCC, epistolary of the clergy with religious, cultural and public associations, private persons, documents, statutes, information reports on the activities of the church and cultural institutions, articles of periodical and nonperiodical publications, memoirs of direct participants and witnesses of events, literary works of priests, imaging documents.
In this thesis the interdisciplinary approach is used, which consists of specific scientific methods symbiosis: cultural, dialectical, systemic, activity, axiological, semiotic, hermeneutic, which expanded the problem-thematic field of the research and provided the concreteness of the results.
The second section reveals that Greek Catholic clergy actively collaborated with well-known artists and played a leading role in the development of fine arts, in particular, in Galician iconography, which featured a combination of old Byzantine traditions with the style of Modernism, church canons with pronounced national folklore features. With the efforts of clergy, in the villages of the region, the branches of the Society “Prosvita” began to be restored, in which choruses and orchestras were organized, singers-amateurs made performances, who participated in national celebrations, concerts devoted to religious holidays, declarative evenings, county competitions. Theatrical art was actively developing both in the cities and in the villages of Eastern Galicia, especially, in the reading rooms of the Society “Prosvita”, there were amateur groups, whose initiators were predominantly local parishes, in particular, ff. S. Garasovskyi, I. Kashubynskyi, I. Naberezhnyi, V. Sukhyi, P. Chekhut, V. Shevchuk, I. Yavorskyi a. o.
The third section explores in detail the literary work of Greek Catholic clergy and establishes that their specific feature is the national context, that manifested itself in the artistic interpretation of the historical past of Ukraine, biblical texts, and the life situations of the Galician population. The thesis analyzes the writing activities of talented priests: ff. T. Bordulyak, V. Herasymovych, M. Derlytsia, Y. Kmit a. o. An attempt was made to outline the peculiarities, problems, typology of the Greek Catholic press, which, as an important part of mass communication, became a distributor of spiritual values, tastes, life priorities, samples of linguistic behavior in Galician society, focusing on the religious-national look of the cultural process. The main stages of formation and development of the largest archives and libraries of UGCC, which for a long period remained the main centers of knowledge for Greek Catholic clergy and secular people, were investigated.
The paper emphasizes that the ruling regimes, under which Eastern Galicia was in 1921–1946, prevented the diverse cultural and creative activity of the priests, viewing the Church as a major threat to their domination. Consequently, literary works of priests with
