Bishop Sipovich new file

23 did not understand Belarusians either, seeing in them only apt instruments for the "conversion of Russia". On 27 June 1954 Father Haroshka wrote to Father Sipovich, asking "whether all Marian fathers and clerics, who were expelled from Druia, belonged to the Eastern rite, or there were (among them) also those who were of Latin rite". Father Sipovich answered on 29 June 1954: "The Druia monastery was entirely of Latin (i.e. Roman) rite. There was no Eastern chapel or vestments. Only some fathers (Abrantovich, Hermanovich, Tsikota, Nailovich K., Padziava Thomas) assumed the Eastern rite, but they worked in Harbin and not in Druia. All expelled clerics, like the fathers, belonged to the Latin rite. From the clerics I alone remained of Eastern rite, and from the fathers J. Hermanovich". Father Leo Haroshka, himself a priest who, like Druia Fathers, was expelled from his parish by the Polish authorities, obviously knew little or nothing about the existence of the "Belarusian religious centre", of which, according to Sipovich, the whole Western Belarus was conscious. Druia needed more priests, but Harbin not only weakened the existing community, it also frightened off potential candidates. There were young clerics studying for the priesthood, but of the first three who graduated in 1935, two were sent immediately to Harbin. The five new clerics who started their studies in the same year were not expected to complete them till 1941. The opinion among Belarusians seems to have been that Father Tsikota gave in too easily to the demands of the Polish authorities. On 7 October 1938 Adam Stankievich wrote to Hermanovich : "When he (Tsikota – A.N .) was in Vilna, we argued that his policy had failed to achieve its aim. True, it was I who was talking, and he did not agree, but the (subsequent) events seem to have proved me right. It is therefore necessary (for him) to reconsider the policy and make some changes". Father Victor Shutovich was more categorical. On 15 October 1938 he wrote to Fr John Tarasevitch in Lisle near Chicago: "At this moment I doubt whether the Belarusian members of religious congregations can do anything good for Belarus. I have in mind the example of the Marian Fathers. Tsikota is my friend, he is full of life and energy. He did much for the Belarusians before he entered the (Marian) Congregation. The Congregation broke him and made a cosmopolitan out of him. In Druia he did more for the Poles than for Belarusians. And they repaid him with derision and mudslinging. Now he, like you, is an exile, far from his native country, with no fixed abode in the world. Other Belarusian members (of the Congregation) are also dispersed, not one of them remained in their native land. That’s religious life for Belarusians!" In 1938 very little remained of the original idea of Druia. Thus the expulsion of Belarusian priests was the coup de grace for something which for all intents and purposes had already ceased to exist. This, of course, in no way excuses the behaviour of the Polish authorities. The sad irony was that while the Poles were engaged in combatting Belarusian Catholic priests, the fate of the Polish state hung in the balance. One year later the Second World War broke out, Poland fell, and Western Belarus was reunited with its Eastern part within the Belarusian Soviet Republic. Whatever trials and tribulations were in store for Belarusians in the years that followed, of Polish rule there remained nothing except unpleasant memories.