Tarsykiya Matskiv

Tarsykiya Matskiv (Ukrainian: Тарсикія Мацьків; 23 March 1919 – 17 July 1944) was an ethnic Ukrainian Soviet Greek Catholic nun and martyr.

Sister Tarsykija Mazkiw at work

Matskiv was born in Khodoriv, Lwów Voivodeship (now Lviv Oblast). She entered the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate on 3 May 1938.[1] She took her first vows on 5 November 1940, and worked in her convent,[2] sewing clothes for the sisters and teaching others the skill.[3] Even before the arrival of the Soviet Army to Lviv, she took vows before her spiritual director, Volodymyr Kovalyk, that she would give up her life for the conversion of Russia and for the Catholic Church.[1][2]

On 17 July 1944 at around 8 a.m., a Russian soldier rang the convent door. When Matskiv answered the door, expecting to see a priest who was supposed to celebrate the liturgy,[3] she was shot without warning and died.[1][2] It was later said that she was shot simply "because she was a nun".[4]

She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 27 June 2001.[1]

Quote

"Suddenly the bell rang. We thought it was the priest. Sister Tarsykiia opened the door, asked Sister Maria for the key to the front door and went to the main entrance. Then a shot rang out and Sister Tarsykiia fell down dead. The soldier who shot her dead did not really explain why he did it. Later they said that he said he killed her because she was a nun." - From the testimony Sister Daria Hradiuk.[3]

References
  1. Biographies of twenty five Greek-Catholic Servants of God at the website of the Vatican
  2. 'Beatification of the Servants of God on June 27, 2001 Archived November 29, 2014, at the Wayback Machine at the website of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
  3. Church of the Martyrs: The New Saints of Ukraine. Turiĭ, Oleh., Lʹvivsʹka bohoslovsʹka akademii︠a︡. Instytut istoriï T︠S︡erkvy., Lʹvivsʹka bohoslovsʹka akademii︠a︡. Lviv, Ukraine: St. John's Monastery, Pub. Division Svichado. 2004. p. 23. ISBN 966-561-345-6. OCLC 55854194.CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. Alan Butler, Paul Burns. Butler's lives of the saints. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. p77
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