Bishop Sipovich new file

10 in 1926, in his reminiscences about Father Tsikota is more explicit. According to him, Tsikota "was always exactly informed, one does not know how and by whom, about the whereabouts of each pupil and what was he doing there. He always appeared when he was least expected but where he was needed to forestall a dangerous situation. No boy succeded in writing a letter to a girl, or receive one from her, without such a ‘document’ falling immediately in the hands of Father Andrew. On entering the room he used to go directly the the place where this unfortunate work of youthful imagination was hidden, as if he had put it there himself. He reached unerringly to the pocket which contained the love letter" 12 . Father Padziava writes about it approvingly, but to an outside observer it may suggest something far from admirable... It seems that boys from poor families, who could not afford school fees, were required instead to do work in the monastery. Malecki was one such boy. He writes: "His (i.e. Tsikota’s – A.N .) attitude towards me was not the most friendly, because he thought that I was not working hard enough, while in my opinion I was working pretty hard; he often threatened me with demands for payment for school, which for me was not easy". Later Malecki wrote that he was able to finish school only thanks to the help of Father Hermanovich. The first two decades of the 20th century were a period of Belarusian national revival, both political and cultural. The focal point was the newspaper Nasha Niva which appeared in Vilna from 1906 till 1915, when it fell victim of the First World War hostilities and was closed. The appearance of the great poets and writers, such as Ianka Kupala, Iakub Kolas, Maksim Bahdanovich, Ales Harun, Iadvihin Sh., and many other writers lead to the rapid development of modern Belarusian literary language. This process culminated in the appearance in 1918 of the first Belarusian Grammar, by B. Tarashkevich. It was followed in 1920 by Maksim Haretski’s History of Belarusian Literature which even npw retains iits value. Ten years earlier, in 1910, Vatslau Lastouski published his History of Belarus. Belarusian Catholics, and in particular Catholic priests, played an important part in the Belarusian national revival. Of course, their primary concern was to defend the right of Belarusians, in the face of strong opposition from the Polish clergy, to hear the Message of Salvation in their native tongue. But there were also among them talented poets and writers. Such were Jan Siemashkievich (writing under the pen- name Janka Bylina), Alexander Astramovich (Andrej Ziaziula), Ildefons Bobich (Piotra Prosty) and the greatest of them all, Constantine Stepovich (Kazimier Svajak). Tsikota, while student of the Catholic Theological Academy in St Petersbourg in 1913-17, was a member of the Belarusian circle there alongside Adam Stankievich, Vincent Hadleuski, Anthony Niemantsevich, Viktar Shutovich, Michael Piatrouski and others. Some of them became known in 1920s and 30s for their contribution not only to religious but also to general national life. Unlike them, Tsikota seemed to keep in mind always article 180 of the Marian Constitution which forbids members "to be involved in any administrative, political or national activities... They must stand apart from and above all political and party affairs, and their concern must be the cause of Christ and the Catholic Church". However, in religious matters he was not slow to make his voice heard. Thus his signature figures under the letter of Belarusian priests of 18 May 1925 to the Conference of Polish Bishops on the problems of pastoral care of Belarusian Catholics in the Polish Republic. In November 1926 Tsikota, on behalf of all Druia fathers, presented a Memorandum to 12 Tomasz Podziawo, Ojciec Andrzej Cikoto, p.22. A typescript revised version, made by the author after 1969 in London (the first version was writen in 1959 in Poland).