Hniliczki affair

Circumstances of the event According to , the entire situation was the result of the involvement of Russophile activists in the conflict between the parson of the Greek Catholic parish in Hniliczki and the residents of the village of Hniliczki Małe. Since 1877, the Greek Catholic population living in this village had been requesting the establishment of a filial parish due to their insufficient number according to the Church regulations (800 people). The former parson in Hniliczki, Jan Herasimowicz (Harasimowicz), advised submitting a request on this matter to the county authorities and the consistory. The application ended with a declaration of loyalty to the Emperor of Austria. A separate letter was addressed to the parish priest of the Orthodox parish of St. George in Lviv. The commission was satisfied with this declaration and did not conduct a deeper investigation to find the inspirators of the conversion. They accepted the version that the transition to Orthodoxy was suggested to the peasants by a local landowner, Count Della Scala, whose mother belonged to that faith. The clergyman himself, according to Włodzimierz Osadczy, wanted to show the consequences of the policies of the Austrian authorities, intervening in the religious life of the Galician Ruthenian population, and thus to force the authorities to choose: promoting the Latin rite or agreeing to the spread of Orthodoxy.The Lviv press extensively covered the Hniliczki affair, accusing Russophiles of an anti-state conspiracy. Bernadetta Wójtowicz-Huber emphasizes that at the time of the scandal, Austro-Russian relations were particularly tense due to conflicting interests of both states in the Balkan region. Therefore, the Austrian authorities decided to use the entire affair as a pretext to eliminate the movement promoting the unification of Galicia with Russia. In late January 1882, Father Ivan Naumovich, the editors of Russophile publications Josyf Markov and Wenedykt Płoszczański, court counselor Adolf Dobrianski (Dobrzański) and his daughter Olha Hrabar, as well as Ivan Szpunder and Oleksa Załuski, were arrested. Ultimately, Father Mykola Ohonowski, Russophile activist Apołon Nyczaj, and journalist Isydor Trembycki also stood accused. According to Stefan Kieniewicz, the Governor of Galicia, Andrzej Kazimierz Potocki, who had hitherto tolerated Russophile activities, now decided to repress them. The police searched the homes of the arrested individuals, finding a number of their letters and writings in which they expressed even more radical criticism of the Union of Brest and the Catholic Church in general than in their published texts, openly expressing their pro-Russian views. These materials were considered sufficient evidence to bring the most serious charges, including treason. Reaction of church authorities Provincial of the Jesuit Order, , in a letter to the papal nuncio in Vienna, Serafino Vannutelli, described the Greek Catholic Church as "riddled with schism". This letter prompted Vannutelli to inform the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, whose prefect, Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni, was perplexed by the attitude of Greek Catholic clergy professing Russophile views. Vannutelli also contacted Metropolitan Joseph Sembratovych, urging him to take decisive action. == Trial of the Russophiles ==

The indictment against the Russophile group included charges of treason, espionage, According to Włodzimierz Osadczy, the charges were entirely unbelievable, and the alleged intentions of the accused went beyond the capabilities of the Russophiles. He emphasized that he was not the organizer of a broader movement for conversion to Orthodoxy but merely hoped that such an act by the inhabitants of one village would prompt the Metropolitan of Lviv to convene a provincial Synod and the Pope to withdraw Jesuit and Resurrectionist orders from Galicia, which, in his opinion, contributed to the Polonization of the Ukrainian population. He also referred to issues not directly related to the trial, claiming that Polish-Ukrainian cooperation in Galicia would be possible if Ukrainians were guaranteed 47 seats in the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria, giving them a real opportunity to defend their own interests. The Russophile press referred to the defendants as martyrs suffering from Polish intrigue. Even newspapers aligned with Ukrainian Russophile factions, usually hostile to Russophiles, expressed solidarity with the defendants and emphasized that the trial concerned the problems of the entire Ruthenian community in Galicia (this support waned after the trial). In some Polish circles, the case was also seen as artificially inflated. The Russian press and diplomacy protested strongly against the trial of the Russophiles. Konstantin Pobedonostsev, Ober-Procurator of the Most Holy Synod, personally lodged a protest letter at the Austro-Hungarian embassy. According to Czesław Partacz, it was only after the Hniliczek trial that the Austrian government realized the significant support the Russophiles received from Russia, the extent of pro-Orthodox and pro-Russian propaganda in their press, and the substantial support the movement received from the Greek Catholic Church hierarchy. According to Osadczy, the stance of the Russian diplomacy, and thus Austria's fear of worsening bilateral relations with Russia, may have influenced the final low sentences in the trial. On 29 July 1882, the court acquitted the defendants of the charge of treason. The evidence of their Russophile views did not support the prosecution's thesis of the existence of a widespread conspiracy to detach Galicia from Austria. Only M. Dobrianski was found guilty of collecting information about Ukrainian nationalists and socialists operating in Galicia. The court upheld the charge of disturbing public order. As a result, Father Naumovich was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment, Płoszczański to five, Szpunder and Załuski to three. The convicted were also burdened with court costs. The Supreme Court in Vienna confirmed the verdict of the lower court. == Aftermath ==

According to Włodzimierz Osadczy:The apostasy to Orthodoxy of the Galician community of Hniliczki in the Zbarazh district shook not only the province but also resonated loudly in the high offices of Vienna and the apostolic halls of Rome. (...) Vienna and Rome took a series of decisive steps to radically influence the condition of the Ruthenians and the Church, or rather the Greek Catholic rite. Together with Joseph Sembratovych from the chapter and consistory of Lviv, two canons with similar views also left, which contributed to the Church adopting a new political course, in line with the views of the newly appointed metropolitan. According to , Olha Hrabar's trial weakened the Russophile movement for the next twenty years. == References ==