Blessed Father Omelyan Kovch (1884 – 1944), savior of the doomed

During the Second World War, Father Omelyan Kovch bravely performed his duties as a priest, preaching love for people of all nationalities and saving Jews from the Holocaust. On December 30, 1942, he was arrested by the Gestapo. In prison, he showed heroic courage, supporting his fellow prisoners sentenced to death.

On March 25, 1944, Omelyan Kovch died a martyr's death in the Majdanek concentration camp. In 1999, the Jewish Council of Ukraine awarded him the title "Righteous One of Ukraine".

Father Omelyan Kovch wrote in one of his letters to his relatives: "I understand that you are trying for my liberation. But I am asking you not to do anything in this matter. Yesterday they killed 50 people here. If I am not here, then who will help them overcome this suffering?.. I thank God for His kindness to me. Except for heaven, this is the only place I want to be. We are all equal here: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Russians, Latvians and Estonians. I am the only priest among them. I can't even imagine how it will be here without me. Here I see a God who is one for all of us, regardless of our religious differences. Our churches may be different, but the same Great and Almighty God rules over us all. When I celebrate the Holy Liturgy, they all pray. They die in different ways, and I help them cross this little bridge to eternity. Isn't that a blessing? Is this not the greatest crown that God could place on my head? It really is. I thank God a thousand times a day for sending me here. I don't ask Him for anything more. Don't worry and don't lose faith in what I'm doing. Instead, rejoice in me. Pray for those who created this concentration camp and this system. They are the only ones who need our prayers. May God have mercy on them."