A history of the sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great

PART I

In the beginning

Drive down the stretch of Fox Chase Road from Forrest Avenue to Cedar Road in Jenkintown, Pa., and you will see a complex of buildings nestled among the trees. A modest sign in gilt letters on brown wood stands at the entrance to a modest driveway leading to an imposing stone building. The sign says "Basilian Motherhouse, 710 Fox Chase Road."

Peer through the foliage and you might see a pair of nuns walking briskly down the driveway. If they turn left, they may be heading for the residence or the Chapel of the Holy Trinity. If they turn right, they may be heading for the college library or the bookstore. They are Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great, a community of women devoted to serving God through service to humanity.

Wherever the sisters are going, it is likely that they will pass a symbol that is the essence of their ministry. It may be etched in a block of stone or embossed on the official masthead of Gladsome Light, the Province newsletter. It is the personal seal of the founder of the Order they serve, a man of God who long ago set the tone for religious community life that became the standard for Christian monasticism for centuries to come.

The seal of St. Basil the Great shows a pillar of flame, rising from the earth and reaching to heaven. Encircling and framing the flame are two branches, one laurel, the other oak. They are joined at the top by a stylized sun, which partially frames a cross. Below the cross are the Greek letters IXC, which stand for Jesus Christ, Son of God. For the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great, the seal is a symbol of vision and mission. Jesus, the son and the sun, illuminates the road that the sisters follow. The fire signifies the intense love they have for God and neighbor; it embodies the sacrifices and labors that the sisters undertake in God's name. The oak branch stands for fortitude and perseverance; the laurel branch represents victory and eternal glory - the aspiration of each sister - the reward for a life spent in service to God and humanity.

When one looks beyond the symbol of the seal, one finds a community of devout and devoted women with a history and tradition that spans several centuries and several continents. It is a heritage well worth examining.

The Order of St. Basil the Great dates back to the fourth century. Its founders were Basil, the archbishop of Caesarea, Cappadoccia, and his sister, Macrina. It was to St. Macrina that St. Basil entrusted the administration and direction of this first monastery for women. Built on the banks of the Iris River in Asia Minor, the monastery attracted pious women from nearby estates.

Many of these women came from wealthy families, but neither their station in life, nor their wealth, nor their secular importance mattered behind the cloister walls. Each lived simply and modestly in a sparsely furnished cell. Each ate and drank what was provided by the monastic kitchen at designated times. Each dressed modestly in garments provided by the monastic directress. And each was resolved to live a life dedicated to prayer. They were inspired both by the example of St. Macrina and by the words of St. Basil the Great, who had pointed out to them that "while Christ was on earth, he was followed by women as well as by men. Both men and women served Christ."

As the Basilian Order spread from Asia Minor to Africa and Europe, the sisters and their commitment to serving the Lord through prayer became legendary. The legend was magnified by their determination to serve God by serving humanity. Circa 400 AD, the Rules of St. Basil were translated into Latin and were accepted as models for monastic life by the entire Catholic Church.

In the centuries that followed, Christianity was adopted in Ukraine, and by the 11th century, Ukrainian rulers were firmly committed to the religion and to those who lived and worked in religious communities. While other European nations and their rulers routinely neglected the education of girls, Ukraine followed a different path, perhaps because of the growing reputation of the Basilian sisters as educators and mentors for young girls and young women. Thus, it was not entirely surprising, when in 1037, Prince Yaroslav the Wise built the cloister of St. Irene in Kyiv. Administered by the Basilian Rule, the new convent was the prototype for other cloisters, which were soon established throughout the entire country.

In the centuries to follow, the Basilian sisterhood would be alternately buoyed and battered by historical vicissitudes and by the work of reformers. Tatar invasions decimated monasteries on Ukrainian lands during the 11th and 12th centuries, and monastic life declined and nearly disappeared. Like the Christians of an earlier era who had weathered persecution by retreating to the catacombs, the sisters withdrew to isolated communities where they found a temporary haven from political upheaval and military unrest. In time, their prayers for peace and for the survival of their faith and their order were answered.

A renaissance in monasticism began in the 17th century, following the Union of Brest in 1596. It was the reformers of this time who urged a more active and service-oriented role for the sisters who had been living a predominately contemplative life in strictly cloistered communities, having little interaction with the people who lived and toiled nearby. And so the Sisters of St. Basil the Great returned to their mission of teaching. They established schools, which served not only members of their religious communities, but the laity as well.

In 1720, the Synod of Zamose re-imposed on convents a strict cloistered existence. Small religious communities were consolidated as a result the number of women devoting themselves to religious life dwindled. By 1772 most of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great lived in isolated complexes on the outskirts of towns. They supported themselves by manual labor and by charitable donations. The educational endeavors that had brought the sisters into close contact with ordinary people were again curtailed.

The situation was exacerbated in the Ukrainian territories ruled by Russia. During the reign of Catherine II, most of the Basilian convents were closed down; under Nicholas I, the sisters were dispersed, exiled or imprisoned. In territories administered by the Austrian Empire, conditions were not much better. Edicts issued by Emperor Joseph II closed many of the convents in western Ukraine. Yet four monastic centers survived and even flourished until the final years of World War II: Yavoriv, Slovita, Lviv and Stanislaviv. The sisters in these convents continued their spiritual tradition and their work in educating children and young people.

Soviet occupation of western Ukraine brought an end to the work of the Basilian sisters in Ukraine. The remaining convents were disbanded and nearly all of the sisters were martyred, imprisoned or exiled to Siberia. Some managed to escape this fate and served their compatriots in the underground religious movement as spiritual guides and comforters.

But God's plan for the Basilian sisters was not to consign them to oblivion. Even before the Soviet occupation wreaked a nearly terminal havoc on institutionalized religion in Ukraine the Sisters of St. Basil the Great were called upon by Church leaders to serve Eastern Rite Catholics in other lands. And it is in this convoluted and chaotic past that the history of the sisters of the Province of Jesus, Lover of Humanity, of the Order of St. Basil the Great, truly begins. It is a history of renewal and of renewed commitment to all the ideals represented in the seal of the order's founder.

Brave new world

In 1884 a young man named Soter Ortynsky entered the Basilian seminary in Drohobych, Ukraine, with the intention of becoming a missionary. After completing his studies, he taught and preached the word of God while preparing himself for the rigors of missionary life in Brazil. His aspirations were unexpectedly derailed when a letter arrived from the Holy See, advising him that he was being called to other duties. The year was 1907 and Ortynsky had been named as Bishop for all Catholics of the Byzantine Rite in America. Headquartered in Philadelphia, he would be ministering to a flock of Ukrainian immigrants that had left their homeland to pursue better lives in the new world.

Arriving in Philadelphia, Bishop Ortynsky found churches in sad need of repair and reorganization. He found parishioners who were illiterate and desperately poor. He found children who had no one to care for them and no one to teach them the language, culture and religion of their ancestral homeland. They inspired him to seek God's help in seeking solutions, and the solution he found was in the convent of St. Basil the Great in Yavoriv, Ukraine.

A petition for assistance was sent to Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who arranged for the transfer of a group of nuns from the Yavoriv monastery to America. The trio of nuns arrived in Philadelphia on November 28, 1911: Mother Helena Langewych, Sister Paphnutia Timochko and Sister Euphemia Kurylas. They were accompanied by Jeremiah Ewasiechko, a young Basilian postulant.

The sisters made their first home in a building located at Seventh and Parrish streets in Philadelphia. Their residence was adjacent to a house which was to serve as an orphanage. Times were lean. Funds for the needs of the orphanage were meager; the immigrant community was poor and couldn't help much. Bishop Soter and Mother Helena spent countless hours and countless days soliciting funds and helping the other sisters cope with the hardships and deprivation. To alleviate the financial worries, the bishop set up a carpet-weaving business and a printing press. The sisters tended to the needs of the orphans while learning to operate the unfamiliar machinery.

There were days when only the indomitable spirit of Mother Helena held everything together. In time, her deep faith and her spiritual guidance brought the chaos under control. But while she was ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of her sisters and the orphans, she was neglecting her own physical health. Cold and wet weather soon took their toll, and Mother Helena contracted tuberculosis. She continued to work despite the gravity of her illness. While losing weight, she was busily soliciting funds for the orphanage. While a hacking cough prevented her from getting the sleep her body craved, she learned the intricacies of the printing press and worked on a Ukrainian-language reader for the orphans in her charge.

On March 24, 1916, Bishop Soter passed away. This was a blow to everyone in the community. And to Mother Helena, who had found in the bishop a spiritual partner in a great enterprise, it was one heartache and one setback too many. She died on May 17, 1916, leaving the small community of immigrants, orphans, and sisters bereft and rudderless.

In the early 1920s the situation took a dramatic turn for the better. Under the direction of Metropolitan Constantine Bohachevsky, the dream of providing a safe haven for Ukrainian orphans and of providing Ukrainian immigrants and their children with an education was revived. The metropolitan was determined to raise the intellectual and educational status of members of his flock and began by establishing one school, then two, then others that would become the Ukrainian Catholic parochial school system.

Classes at the first school near Seventh and Brown streets were held afternoons and evenings to accommodate the working parents. The sisters, now under the direction of Mother Josaphat Theodorovych, worked tirelessly. Day classes began in September 1925 with three grades taught by three sisters. Soon, new, young postulants entered the community of sisters, many from the immigrant families that the sisters from Ukraine had come to serve.

In 1926 Mother Josaphat bought a piece of property in an area known as Fox Chase. The property consisted of 130 acres of land and a farm cottage, which was to serve the sisters as both motherhouse and novitiate. Mother Josaphat became the first mother superior.

By 1929 there were five schools in the parochial school system envisioned by Metropolitan Bohachevsky, and all of them had eight grades of pupils. In 1930, the sisters laid the cornerstone for the new Motherhouse in Fox Chase. In 1947, the orphanage and the printing press were moved to a property on Lindley Avenue in Philadelphia. An elementary school was opened at this location a few years later.

In 1931 Mother Josaphat and the sisters at the Fox Chase Motherhouse began a tradition that has continued through the decades into the new millennium. Every year in May the sisters have hosted an annual pilgrimage to honor the Mother of God on the beautiful grounds of the Basilian Motherhouse. The event draws hundreds of faithful for holy divine liturgy and the traditional procession to the Grotto where a Devotion Service to the Mother of God is celebrated.

In keeping with another tradition of the Order of St. Basil the Great, Mother Josaphat turned her energy and her prayers to the educational arena. St. Basil Academy, a convent boarding school for girls of Ukrainian ancestry, opened its doors in 1931.

In 1947 Manor College (initially named St. Macrina College) was founded. The first classes were held in the old farm house under the direction of Mother Maria Dolzycka. Sister Bohdanna Podney served as the college's academic dean and registrar. The college, which opened with a student body of 11 young women, was chartered and incorporated into the higher education system of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1959. Unfortunately, Mother Josaphat, whose vision and energy had made the dream of a Basilian college a reality, did not live to see the fruition of her endeavors.

PART I

CONCLUSION

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 4, 2002, No. 31, Vol. LXX

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