Vasyl Yosypovych Kovpak—a priest, one of the leaders of the Lefebvrist movement, and the founder of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Josaphat the Martyr.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on January 11, 1967, in the village of Yasnyska in Lviv Oblast.
After graduating from Bryukhovychi High School, he became a candidate for the Order of St. Basil the Great.
Career
From 1986 to 1988, Kovpak served in the military, after which he continued his studies at a seminary.
On November 21, 1989, he was ordained a deacon, and on December 3 of that same year, he was ordained a priest.
On February 10, 2004, in Lviv, Bishop Lubomyr (Husar) stated that “Father Kovpak, of his own free will, ceased to belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) and the Catholic Church in general, and that all liturgical acts performed by Father Kovpak and his followers are invalid in the eyes of the UGCC and the entire Catholic Church.” The latter was accused of establishing a seminary without permission and insisting on conducting divine services exclusively according to the old rite.
On November 14, 2007, Archbishop Ihor Voznyak of Lviv of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church issued a decree stating that the Collegiate Tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had upheld the decision of the Lviv Archdiocese tribunal regarding Kovpak. He was found guilty of the “crime of schism” and sentenced to major excommunication, that is, expulsion from the Church.
Kovpak himself does not accept the decision.
