All Catholics should invoke the intercession 
of Bishop Romzha for the same 
loyalty to Christ’s one Church that he had.

Martyr for the Catholic faith

By Thomas Storck 

Although the twentieth century has produced more than its share of Catholic martyrs, one of the most interesting and little known is Bishop Theodore Romzha, Apostolic Administrator from 1944 to 1947 of the Ruthenian Catholic eparchy (diocese) of Mukachevo, presently located in Ukraine, but at the time passed back and forth between Czechoslovakia, Hungary and finally the Soviet Union. But before discussing the heroic life of Bishop Romzha, I should first say a word about the Ruthenian Catholic church and the Eastern Catholic churches in general.

The word “church” can be used with different but related meanings. Thus in the New Testament, St. Paul addresses his letters to the church of Corinth, the churches of Galatia, etc. These local churches are akin to our modern dioceses or parishes. But they are, of course, simply parts of the one Church, the Catholic Church. So we can speak of different dioceses or parishes as being “churches,” and also of the different rites of the Catholic Church as churches.1 It is unfortunate that even today one must explain to many Latin-rite Catholics that there is more than one rite or church within the Catholic Church. The majority of Catholics in the world are of the Latin or Roman rite, but there are millions of Catholics who are of one of the Eastern rites. The origins of the Eastern rites go back to Apostolic times and are generally associated with one of the major ecclesiastical centers of the ancient world, such as Antioch, Alexandria or Constantinople. The Eastern Catholic churches have never used Latin as their liturgical language and their Divine Liturgy (their Mass) is structured somewhat differently from the Roman Mass. They also have different devotional customs and they express the one Faith in different spiritual and theological traditions. 

Naturally Latin rite Catholics are free to fulfill their Sunday obligation at any Eastern Catholic liturgy and receive Holy Communion and vice versa. Some of the Eastern Catholic churches have married priests and some have only celibate priests. Eastern Catholic churches exist in India, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, southern Italy, as well as in many countries of eastern Europe, and as a result of emigration, in the Americas. The Byzantine rite is the largest of the Eastern Catholic rites and is used by a number of different Eastern Catholic churches, including the Ukrainian, Melkite and Ruthenian. It is with this latter that we are concerned in our discussion of Bishop Romzha. 

Byzantine Christians living in eastern Europe began to return to unity with the See of Peter at the time of the Union of Brest in 1595. About fifty years later, in 1646, at the Union of Uzhorod, Byzantine Christians living in the eparchy of Mukachevo returned to Catholic unity. Unfortunately, the record of the Latin-rite clergy in Poland and Hungary toward their Byzantine-rite brethren was sometimes far from that fraternal charity which one night hope for between fellow Catholics. But despite this, and despite a bewildering change of national governments — all or part of this region was at times Polish, Ottoman, Russian, Austrian, Ukrainian, Czechoslovak, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian — the Ruthenian Catholics remained loyal to the Holy See and resisted attempts by the Russian Orthodox to lure them back into schism.

The future bishop, Theodore George Romzha, was born in 1911 in what was then the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Although from a poor family, even as a child he would give away his own food to those poorer than himself. A studious youth, Theodore Romzha was able to attend a secondary school established by the eparch, Bishop Anthony Papp, in the town of Chust (presently in Ukraine). Since the young Theodore Romzha excelled as a student, many looked forward to his brilliant career in politics or the military. But after his graduation in 1930, the future bishop made known his desire to become a priest, and was sent to Rome. He studied at the Gregorian University while he lived at the German-Hungarian College, since St. Josaphat’s Seminary, the usual residence of Byzantine Catholics, was full and unable to take additional students. But in 1933 he went to live and study at the Russicum, the seminary for priests being trained for missionary work in the Soviet Union. As a seminarian at the Russicum, Romzha had to study carefully Communist ideology. Little did he know that he would later have to exercise his ministry in the face of that very ideology.

Theodore Romzha was ordained to the priesthood in Rome on Christmas Day of 1936, during his final year of theological studies. The next summer he returned home to celebrate his first Divine Liturgy. He had intended to begin work on his doctorate in Rome the following year, but instead he was drafted into the army medical corps by the Czechoslovak government.

Discharged in August of 1938, Fr. Romzha was sent by his bishop, Alexander Stojka, to be the priest of the village of Berezovo. He was a model pastor, teaching catechism and chant to his people, repairing the church building and assisting the poor, though there were days when he himself could afford only one meal. But in March of 1939, after Hitler annexed the western part of Czechoslovakia, Fr. Romzha’s region was seized by the Hungarians. In September of that year the Bishop appointed Fr. Romzha as Spiritual Director and Professor of Philosophy at the seminary in Uzhorod. As one would expect, Fr. Romzha was a more than dedicated teacher and spiritual father to the seminarians. One of his students later wrote:

He always was with us in chapel, in the classroom, at recreation, or even on walks. As a professor, he was strict; as a Spiritual Director, he was always kind and considerate. He knew how to inspire and to bring out the best in us. Living in constant contact with us, he was able to transplant into our hearts the main traits of his strong priestly character: dedication, true devotion and self-sacrifice.2

Even while teaching full-time and serving as Spiritual Director, Fr. Romzha found time to preach in neighboring parishes and at the cathedral. Like Don Bosco, he rounded up boys from the town and gave them candy or ice cream while instructing them in the Faith. Bishop Stojka rewarded him for his zeal by obtaining from Rome the honor of monsignor for him in January 1942.

At the end of May 1943, as the political and military circumstances were becoming chaotic, Bishop Stojka suddenly died. With the Germans retreating from Russia and the Red Army approaching the region, Rome appointed a neighboring bishop as Administrator of the Mukachevo eparchy, but when it became clear that the deteriorating situation required a resident bishop, Msgr. Romzha, though only thirty-three years old, was chosen and consecrated September 24, 1944.

He was the youngest bishop in the Catholic Church. He chose as his episcopal motto, “I love you, O Lord, my strength; the Lord is my fortress and the rock of my refuge” (Psalm 18:1-2).
The next month the Soviet Army occupied the territory, including Mukachevo and Uzhorod, where the bishop was resident and where the seminary was located. At first the Soviet authorities promised that the area would be restored to Czechoslovakia; instead in June of 1945 it was annexed by the Soviet Union.

From the beginning Bishop Romzha’s relations with the Soviet authorities were difficult, although he tried to be conciliatory where that was possible. When he was commanded to give a speech during a November 7, 1944 commemoration of the Bolshevik Revolution, the Bishop did not keep to the script that the Soviet officer had given him, but nevertheless, the next day, the press reported his speech exactly according to the Soviet instructions. When Bishop Romzha protested to the editor, he was told, “you did not say these things, but you were supposed to. Don’t blame us; we only corrected your mistakes.”

The next step in the Soviet plan was to liquidate the Ruthenian Catholic church. With the aid of militiamen, Eastern Orthodox seized some Byzantine Catholic churches and several priests were arrested. The Communist press then began a campaign against Byzantine Catholics.
Bishop Romzha personally confronted the authorities, and at first actually managed to convince Soviet General Ivan Petrov of the justice of his cause. The General even ordered Catholic property restored. However, this was not done, and General Petrov was soon replaced by a more politically correct commander.

Shortly afterwards Bishop Romzha was told by a Soviet officer, General Mechlis:

We know about the unfavorable attitude of the Vatican towards the Soviet Union. Therefore, our government cannot tolerate a Church loyal to the Vatican within its borders. There is only one solution. You must recognize and submit to the Patriarch of Moscow.

His reply was simply: “I would rather die than betray my Church!” 

At the end of October 1945 the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow appointed Nestor Sydoruk as bishop of the newly-formed Orthodox eparchy of Mukachevo. Immediately the violence against Byzantine Catholic priests increased. Bishop Romzha began a series of visitations to every parish of his eparchy to personally strengthen his priests and people. He exhorted them to remain faithful and told them, “Our greatest treasure here on earth is our faith for which we should be ready to sacrifice even our own lives.” When the military authorities confiscated his car, he continued his visits with horse and buggy.

Although the Soviets had already executed three Byzantine Catholic priests and deported others to Siberia, Bishop Romzha was able to ordain thirty men to the priesthood and even organize new parishes. And, even more remarkably, at least two Eastern Orthodox parishes, moved by his heroic example, asked to be restored to Catholic unity, even in the midst of persecution!

The Russians therefore decided to kill Bishop Romzha. His carriage was rammed by a Soviet military vehicle, but passersby rescued him and carried him to a hospital, where in a few days he seemed to be improving. To prevent his recovery, the hospital director and an unknown nurse, who later disappeared, entered Bishop Romzha’s room in the middle of the night and he was found dead, apparently of poison, the next morning, November 1, 1947, the Feast of All Saints.

Bishop Theodore Romzha’s cause has been officially introduced at the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Three other Byzantine Catholic bishops of the region, including Bishop Romzha’s immediate successor, Alexander Chira, Bishop Basil Hopko and Bishop Paul Gojdich, suffered long sentences of imprisonment or exile shortly after the death of Bishop Romzha at the hands of the Communist authorities.

Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter of April 18, 1996 commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Union of Uzhorod, wrote:

The events which followed the Union were filled with suffering and sorrow. Nevertheless, the Eparchy . . . later experienced a remarkable development in the period begun by the great Bishop Andrew Bacynskyj. In recent times, unfortunately, the Eparchy has once more been called, in not a few of its members, to walk with Christ the sorrowful path to Calvary in persecution, imprisonment and even the supreme sacrifice of their lives. This witness, sealed in blood, was borne by the Pastor of the Eparchy himself, Bishop Theodore Romzha, who did not hesitate to offer his life for the sheep of his flock.

We cannot forget these shining examples of faithfulness to Christ and his Gospel: they constitute the precious patrimony of the Greek Catholic Church linked to the Union of Uzhorod. Indeed, the children of the entire Catholic Church receive this witness with veneration and treasure this marvellous lesson of faithfulness to Christ’s truth. With grateful hearts they thank the Christians of Murkacheve and all those who showed that they were ready to forsake everything they had in order to purchase the precious pearl of faith.

Bishop Romzha died because he refused to separate himself or his eparchy from the center of unity of Christ’s Church, the See of Rome. His life and martyrdom may serve as a kind of silent rebuke to two groups of Catholics. The first is to those Catholics of the Latin rite who exhibit a certain disdain for Eastern Catholics. In the past, this kind of Latin Catholic seemed to consider the Eastern Catholics and their traditions as somehow less worthy of esteem than those of the Roman rite. They even managed to secure a ban on married Eastern Catholic priests working in the United States. Today, going to the opposite extreme, they exhibit this same disdain for their Catholic brethren by their enthusiasm for the separated schismatic Eastern Orthodox churches, and seem embarrassed by the existence of Byzantine Catholics. In this they appear to adopt the attitude of the Eastern Orthodox, who bitterly resent the fact of the reunion of Byzantine Christians with Rome. But if the Church gathered around the successor of St. Peter is indeed the true Church and the bride of Christ, how can she not endeavor to reestablish communion with groups who have broken away from her unity? The fact that the majority of Byzantine Christians did not join the various unions negotiated over the centuries surely should not inhibit those who did desire to reestablish union with the See of Peter. And if in the future further unions of this kind should be negotiated, the separated Orthodox have no cause for protest, for they have done exactly the same thing when they were able.

The second group of Catholics for whom Bishop Romzha’s life and death may serve as a rebuke is those few among the Eastern churches who seem to regard their unity with Rome as of little importance, and sometimes try to see themselves as both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox at the same time, or downplay the importance of the Council of Trent or the First Vatican Council. While they are rightly jealous for the purity of their own liturgical and theological traditions, they should not forget the incalculable benefit of being in communion with the Vicar of Christ. The fact that the majority of Byzantine Christians are not in union with the Holy See, far from making them feel uneasy about their own position, should make them simply more zealous to reclaim their brothers for the unity of the one flock for which our Lord prayed. Those of us who are Latin Catholics should aid them, not only by our prayers, but by exhibiting an attitude of fraternal charity and justice toward the Eastern Catholic churches, so as to help remove any suspicions on the part of the separated Eastern churches that we are secretly hoping to latinize all Byzantine Christians. Meanwhile, all Catholics, whether Byzantine or Latin or of any other rite, should invoke the intercession of Bishop Romzha, for the same steadfastness of faith and loyalty to Christ’s one Church that he had.

Further information about Bishop Romzha may be obtained from the Byzantine Seminary Press, P.O. Box 7626, Pittsburgh, PA 15214 and from St. Pius X Byzantine Catholic Church, 2336 Brownsville Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15210. Please request prices of materials. 


1 Strictly speaking, a rite is not the same as a church, since more than one church can use the same rite.
2 Athanasius Pekar, OSBM, Our Martyred Bishop Romzha (1911-1947) (Pittsburgh: Byzantine Seminary Press, 1977) p. 16. This booklet was the chief source for this article and all quotes are from it.

Mr. Thomas Storck is the author of Foundations of a Catholic Political Order (1998) and The Catholic Milieu (1987). His articles have appeared in Faith & Reason, Catholic Faith, New Oxford Review and elsewhere. He holds an M.L.S. from Louisiana State University and an M.A. from St. John’s College, Santa Fe, N.M. He is currently employed as a librarian in Washington, D.C. Mr. Storck is a regular contributor to HPR.