This year Ukrainians throughout the whole world have suffered a great loss. For on 7th September, 1984, His Beatitude Josyf Cardinal Slipyj, Head and Patriarch of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, died in Rome, aged 92.
Patriarch Josyf was a man of strong character and unbending loyalty — a staunch defender of the faith. On account of this he suffered 18 years of imprisonment in Russian prison camps but continued, throughout his life, to fight undauntedly for the rights of his Church and nation. During his 21 years in freedom, Patriarch Josyf consistently strived for the establishment of a Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and its formal recognition by the Vatican.