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24 OUR LIFE • November 2022 From Lviv to Siberia Artemij Cehelsky was ordained in 1942 by the late Metropolitan An - drij Sheptytsky, who also blessed his wife, Marta, Lesya’s mother. Marta always said that she en - dured all the tortures in prison because Sheptytsky laid his bless - ed hand on her head. When WWII ended, the persecu - tion of the Ukrainian Greek Catho - lic church began. Priests who did not agree to join the russian Ortho - dox church and their patriarchate were arrested. In 1946, Father Cehelsky and Lesya’s grandfather, Ihnatij, also a priest, were arrested and sent to the Lonsky prison in Lviv for one year. From there they were loaded onto cattle-car trains and sent to hard labor camps. Fa - ther Ihnatij was sentenced to 10 years in a prison camp in Mordo - via, while Father Artemij was sen - tenced to five years in Vorkuta, Siberia. At the time, Lesya was two years old, her older brother Andrij was four, and her younger sister Bohdanna was just four months. Lesya’s mother Marta was left with no income to support her fami - ly. Luckily, her grandmother was still with them, which allowed her mother to go to work in order to feed her family. In 1950, the communist writer Yaroslav Halan was murdered. This resulted in another massive wave of arrests by the KGB to avenge his death. Innocent peo - ple were suddenly whisked off the streets, ending up at the Lonsky prison for interrogation, or were simply never heard from again. While on her way home from work one day, Lesya’s mother was accosted by an agent and brought to the prison for questioning. She was accused of being a member of an anti-Soviet nationalist or - ganization, which she denied. “How could I possibly have time to be active in an organization with three small children at home and at work all day?” she pleaded. Regardless, for three months the KGB tortured her, trying to extract a confession; she did not capitu - late until a man she knew from her town identified her as being guilty. It was obvious to Lesya’s mother that he had likely been tortured into submission. She was then sentenced to a hard labor camp in Krasny Yar in Siberia, to work in the taiga, a forest in the LESYA’S STORY Marusia Kvit-Flynn , Branch 75, Maplewood, NJ; NJ Regional Council Museum Chair cold, subarctic region. Marta’s mother and children would ac - company her. Lesya to this day remembers the sound of the soldiers’ boots as they came up the wooden stairs to their apartment to take them away. When her grandmother opened the door, a tall soldier walked in and told them they had a half-hour to get their things. As her grandmother prepared their necessities, the soldier kicked the milk that Lesya’s three-year-old sister Bohdanna was drinking, leaving her in tears. They were then seated in an open car and taken away to join their mother Marta at the prison in Lviv. From there they were loaded onto cattle-car trains headed toward Krasny Yar in Siberia. After a long and tiresome trip on the train and then by boat on the Ob Riv - er, they finally arrived at Krasny Yar. At 7:00 the very next morn - ing, Marta was taken away to the deep taiga forests and assigned to chop down trees to meet the challenging quota required to feed her family. Lesya’s father Artemij, who was sentenced to a hard labor camp in Vorkuta, was 1,000 miles north of Krasny Yar. Although he was a priest, he was also a master vio - linist. He performed for the other exiles at the camp and over time organized a small orchestra with some of the musicians there. He also secretly said Mass and per - formed the sacraments for the prisoners. His violin saved his life “The empire will fall apart, and the enemy will be disgraced.” Father Artemij Cehelsky shared these words with his daughter, my cousin Lesya Krypyakevych, as they returned from Siberia to their home in Lviv in 1956. With today’s world appearing to relive past horrors, I am sharing the story of my cousin Lesya and her courageous family. Lesya’s continuing work in Ukraine is admirable, and I find her an inspiration to all women, especially Ukrainian women. Lesya’s family during their last year in the Gulag, 1956. Lesya is in the lower left-hand corner.
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