The Holy Hiero-Matryr Theodore (Romzha)

Bishop of Mukachevo

As a parish family we are truly blessed to have the relics of one of the new martyrs of our Byzantine Catholic church: The Holy Hieromartyr Theodore. On June 27, 2001, the Servant of God Pope John Paul II beatified 27 martyrs for the Eastern Catholic Church. Amongst them was a heroic young Bishop Theodore. He was born of humble parentage on April 14, 1911 in Velikij Bychkiv, in the heart of the colorful district of Maramorosh, Subcarpathian Rus (now Ukraine). He was a pious and gifted young boy, and his only ambition was to become a priest. He lived at the German-Hungarian College in Rome for the first two years of his seminary formation and then, in 1912, he moved to the Russian Pontifical Seminary, known as the "Russicum." After completing compulsory military service, he was ordained to the priesthood in Rome on December 25, 1936. He was sent to pastor the country parish of Berezova (Czechoslovakia). In 1939 he was appointed the Spiritual Director and Professor of Philosophy at the Eparchial Seminary in Uzhorod. On September 24, 1944, despite his youth, he was ordained bishop for the Mukachevo Eparchy. During the Soviet Army's occupation of CarpathoRussia, he was tireless in his care for his flock and in his defense of the rights of the Byzantine Catholic Church.

On October 27, 1947, returning from a parish visitation, his horse-drawn carriage was rammed by a Soviet military truck. He was severely wounded in the staged accident and was taken to the hospital in Mukachevo, where he appeared to be progressing toward recovery. But, he mysteriously died on November 1, 1947, the result, it is believed, of curare poisoning administered by a nurse assigned to the Bishop and ordered personally by Nikita Krushchev.

Theodore Romzha was a Bishop of action, a defender of the faith, a man of prayer and suffering who possessed a great love for the people he was called to serve and for whom he gave his life. His feast day is November 1.