New Martyr 20th century

New Hieromartyr Maximus Sandovich

1886 – 1914

Also known as Maxim Sandovich of Lemkovina

A priest of the Lemko people of the Carpathians, imprisoned and shot for his Orthodox faith (1914)

Feast Day

September 6

Draft

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Commemorated as

The Holy New Hieromartyr Maximus Sandovich, Protomartyr of the Lemkos

Life

Maximus (Maxim) Sandovich was a priest of the Lemko people of the Carpathians who was imprisoned and shot for his Orthodox faith in 1914. He is regarded as the protomartyr of the Lemkos, the Carpatho-Russian (Rusyn) population of Galicia, then under the rule of Austria-Hungary. He is commemorated on September 6 and is counted among the Carpatho-Russian saints.

He was born in 1886 in the village of Zdynia, in the Lemko region of Galicia, to the family of a farmer, Timothy Sandovich, and his wife Christina; his father served as a choir director in the local parish. According to the sources, after studying at the high school in Nowy Sacz he sought to enter Orthodox monastic and clerical life, crossing into the Russian empire to become a novice at the Pochaev Lavra in Volhynia, and was afterward enrolled by Bishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) in the Orthodox seminary at Zhitomir.

Completing his studies in 1911, he married an Orthodox woman, Pelagia, and was ordained deacon and then priest before returning to his homeland to serve the Orthodox communities of the Lemko villages, among them Hrab. Because the region's population was officially under the Greek Catholic Union (the Unia), and the Austrian authorities regarded Orthodoxy as a marker of Russian sympathies, his ministry was treated as politically suspect. After he served his first Divine Liturgy in Hrab on December 2, 1911, the authorities issued an order forbidding further Orthodox services, which he disregarded.

Arrested in 1912 and held for two years at Lviv on a charge of treason, he was tried and acquitted in 1914. After the outbreak of the First World War he was re-arrested together with his family, and on September 6, 1914 he was shot without trial at Gorlice. He was glorified by the Polish Orthodox Church in 1994.

Timeline 8 moments Read Hide

1886 Birth Born in the village of Zdynia in the Lemko region of Galicia.
1911 Seminary and ordination Completed the Orthodox seminary at Zhitomir, married, and was ordained priest.
Dec 2, 1911 First Liturgy at Hrab Served his first Divine Liturgy at Hrab; Austrian authorities then forbade further Orthodox services.
1912 Arrested for treason Imprisoned at Lviv for about two years on a charge of treason.
Mar 1914 Tried and acquitted Tried with Father Ignatij Hudyma and found not guilty.
Aug 4, 1914 Re-arrested with family Arrested again after the outbreak of the First World War; taken to the prison at Gorlice.
Sep 6, 1914 Martyrdom Shot without trial in the prison courtyard at Gorlice, aged twenty-eight.
1994 Glorification Glorified by the Polish Orthodox Church.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributions Read Hide

Background and formation

Sandovich belonged to the Lemkos, the westernmost of the Carpatho-Russian (Rusyn) communities, who in the early twentieth century lived within the Habsburg crownland of Galicia and were officially attached to the Greek Catholic Church. A movement of return to Orthodoxy among these communities was viewed by the Austro-Hungarian authorities with suspicion, as evidence of pro-Russian political sentiment.

Drawn to Orthodoxy, Sandovich pursued his formation across the border in the Russian empire. The sources relate that he became a novice at the Pochaev Lavra in Volhynia and was enrolled in the Orthodox seminary at Zhitomir under the patronage of Bishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky). He completed the seminary in 1911.

Ministry and persecution

Ordained priest in 1911, Sandovich married Pelagia and returned to minister to the Orthodox Lemko villages, including Hrab. The Austrian authorities, treating Orthodox worship as a sign of disloyalty, forbade his services after his first Liturgy at Hrab on December 2, 1911; he continued to serve nonetheless.

He was arrested in 1912 and imprisoned at Lviv for roughly two years on a charge of treason, held together with the priest Ignatij Hudyma. Their trial concluded with an acquittal in 1914.

Martyrdom and glorification

With the outbreak of the First World War, Sandovich was arrested again on August 4, 1914, together with members of his family, who were taken to the prison at Gorlice. On September 6, 1914 he was shot by firing squad in the prison courtyard without trial; the sources relate that an officer tore the priestly cross from his chest and marked his garment over the heart as a target, and that he died proclaiming his faith and his people. He was twenty-eight years old.

Maximus Sandovich was glorified by the Polish Orthodox Church in 1994. His relics were transferred and enshrined in the Holy Trinity Church at Gorlice, in present-day Poland, in 2007.

Notes

Of Lemkovina (Carpatho-Rus'); among the Carpatho-Russian saints

Sources: Synaxarion