Severian Baranyk

Who was Severian Baranyk?

Blessed Severian Stefan Baranyk was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest and martyr.

Baranyk was born in Austrian Galicia. He entered the monastery of the Order of St Basil the Great in Krekhiv in 1904. On May 16, he took his first monastic vows and then on September 21, 1910 he took his perpetual vows. He was ordained to the priesthood on February 14, 1915. Baranyk was known for his preaching, and his life was noted for his special kindness to youth and orphans. In 1932 he was made the prior of the Basilian monastery in Drohobych.

On 26 June 1941, the NKVD arrested him. He was taken to Drohobych prison and never seen alive again. After the Soviets withdrew from the city his mutilated body was found in the prison with signs of torture, including cross shaped knife slashes across his chest.

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 27, 2001.