Remembering Academician Leonid Rudnytzky: A Life of Faith, Scholarship, and Service
A remarkable man has passed away — a Christian, a devoted family man, a scholar, and a respected public and spiritual leader — Professor Leonid Rudnytzky.
Just two weeks ago, Academician Leonid Rudnytzky and his wife, Professor Irene Rudnytzky, received the Metropolitan Lifetime Service Award for their dedicated service. The ceremony offered a beautiful evening with the Rudnytzky Family — a moment that will remain a warm and lasting memory.
We thank you, dear Academician, for your faith, integrity, and our final meeting.
Eternal memory!
Professor Leonid Rudnytzky was a renowned Germanist, Ukrainianist, specialist in comparative literature, and a remarkable organizer of academic life. His achievements earned him one of the highest honors for a scholar outside Ukraine—membership in the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences. The community held academician Rudnytzky in high esteem for his initiatives in theology, history, art, and literature.
He was an intellectual who nurtured his faith. In the past few centuries, faith and reason have often been viewed as disconnected. Yet, Leonid Rudnytzky and his wife, Irene, exemplified their harmonious union. Together, they were deeply engaged in the most active phases of lay involvement in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, particularly after the Second Vatican Council and the arrival of Patriarch Joseph Slipyj in the West. Patriarch Joseph became a beacon for them—a spiritual father and leader whose vision they embraced wholeheartedly.
Rudnytzky’s leadership extended across numerous roles: serving in the Shevchenko Scientific Society, being a founding member of the Saint Sophia Society, active participation in the Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences, and heading the Philadelphia branch of the Ukrainian Catholic University. He taught at various universities, led institutions in several countries, and served as rector of the Ukrainian Free University in Munich. These contributions embodied his lifelong dedication to service and leadership.
His life, shared with Irene, was marked by joy, prayer, and hospitality. The Rudnytzkys welcomed Ukrainian writers during the Soviet era, even when segments of the Ukrainian diaspora avoided contact with those from communist-controlled Ukraine. This openness fostered friendships and resulted in the translation of some of Ukraine’s most significant literary works into English.
Leonid Rudnytzky also played a crucial role in defending the Underground Church, advocating for its recognition, and contributing to the commemoration of the millennium of Christianity in Ukraine. His legacy, shared with Irene, is one of intellectual excellence, deep faith, and steadfast commitment to the Ukrainian Church and cultural heritage.
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Bio from the family:
Leonid Rudnytzky was born on September 8, 1935, in Lviv, into the family of Ivan Teodor Rudnytzky, a lawyer, officer in the Ukrainian Galician Army, co-creator of the Listopadovy rank (1918) and military attaché of the West Ukraine People’s Republic, and Yulia Rudnytzky (née Luzhnytsky.)
During the Second World War in 1944, the Rudnytzky family escaped from the oncoming Soviet forces to Germany. The year following his father’s death in 1951, at the age of 16, Leonid moved with his mother to the United States America and in 1958 he completed his undergraduate studies at La Salle College (now University) in Philadelphia, PA. In 1960, he obtained an MA in German studies at the University of Pennsylvania and, in 1965, he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation Ivan Franko and German Literature at the Ukrainian Free University in Munich, West Germany.
Leonid began his multi-decade professorial career teaching at La Salle College in 1959 as a professor of German studies, quickly expanding to Slavic studies and comparative literature. He received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1966, and, from 1990 until 1999, he was the co-founder and director of the La Salle University’s Central and Eastern European Studies Program. He was awarded the Ivan Franko Literary Prize of the Union of Writers of Ukraine for Research in Franko studies in 1993. He received the Award of the President of Ukraine for his personal contribution to the development of the Ukrainian state in 1996 and the Basilian Humanitarian Award from the Order of the Basilian Sisters in 1997. He was named Professor emeritus in 1998 at La Salle University and received the Order of Yaroslav the Wise IV degree in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2003. In 2004, he became a Knight of the Sovereign Order of Malta, and in 2005 he received the Pro Universitate Medal of the Ukrainian Free University in Munich, Germany as well as the Diploma of Laureate and Medal of Mykhailo Hrushevsky in Lviv, Ukraine.
While La Salle University served as his academic home throughout his professional career, Leonid also taught Slavic Languages and Literature at numerous institutions of higher learning including the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, Ludwig Maximilian University, the University of Vienna, as well as at various universities in Ukraine. In 1974 he became part of the original group of faithful gathered by His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Josyf Slipyj when St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics, USA, was founded and appointed by the Patriarch as the director of the Ukrainian Catholic University affiliate in Philadelphia (Elkins Park). In 1985-1986 and 1989-1990, he was the chairman of the Ivan Franko International Society in the United States. Since 1992 he is President of the World Council of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. From 1996 to 1999 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Philology and from 1998 until 2004 he was Rector of the Ukrainian Free University in Munich, Germany.
From 2004 until 2018, Dr. Rudnytzky served as the 5th President of St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics, USA. Before him, the Society was headed by Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, Bishop Ivan Khoma, Dr. Romana Nawrotska, and Prof. Albert Kipa. He has devoted more than five fruitful decades to the development of the ideas of the founder of the Society, Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, who remains his moral authority.
In 1959 he met the love of his life Irene Ieviņš while a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. The couple married in 1964 and welcomed three children: Kateryna Alexandra (Schray), Larysa Oksana (Dragonetti), and Nicholas Gregory Rudnytzky. He and Irene are the proud grandparents of ten grandchildren.
