A series of treaties signed between 1919 and 1921, ending World War I and the Polish-Soviet War, respectively, gave the Second Polish Republic territories that included approximately four to five million Ukrainians. Heavily Ukrainian territories acquired by the Second Polish Republic included the eastern half of the formerly Austrian Galicia and parts of regions further north, including Volhynia and Polissia. With these acquisitions, the number of Greek Catholics in Poland expanded to approximately three million, making up about 11.2 percent of the nation’s population, according to the 1921 census. This population was highly concentrated in Galicia, which was then divided into three dioceses — Lwow, Stanislawow and Przemysl. Greek Catholics outnumbered Roman Catholics in Stanislawow, where they constituted 72.9% of the Catholic population, and Przemysl, where they constituted 54.5% of the Catholic population, and had a major presence in Lwow, where they made up 41.7% of the Catholic population.
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who served as the Archbishop of Lviv from 1901 to 1944, oversaw the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Poland during the interwar period. Sheptytsky, whose brother, Stanislaw, served as a general in the Polish army until 1926, found himself in trouble with the Polish for his views on an independent Ukraine — he was sentenced to house arrest in Lviv from November 1918 to December 1919 for his support of the recognition of the Western Ukrainian National Republic. In September 1923, upon returning from a two-year tour of Ukrainian communities worldwide, he was arrested upon re-entering Poland and only allowed to return to Lviv in January 1924. Just one year later, Poland and the Vatican signed a concordat, or an agreement, recognizing the Greek Catholic Metropolinate of Halych, of which Sheptysky was the leader. While this agreement essentially confined the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Poland to eastern Galicia, it generally allowed Greek Catholics to continue living as they wished. Scholarship in the Ukrainian Catholic Church continued to evolve, with many journals being published and a Greek Catholic Theological Academy even being established in Lviv in 1928.
While Greek Catholics were largely able to carry on in the interwar period, the period nonetheless featured tense Polish-Ukrainian relations. In his role as a mediator between the Polish state and the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Sheptysky advocated for a moderate stance that emphasized an allegiance to the Polish state as long as Poland kept within its bounds and fairly treated members of his faith. At the same time, his patience was tested by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), a right-wing organization compared to the moderate Greek Catholic-supported Ukrainian National Democratic Union (UNDO) that carried out series of attacks against Poles throughout the 1930s. Sheptysky strongly condemned their attacks as blatantly violating Christian morality and as the decade moved along, became more willing to acquiesce to the demands of the Polish government, in spite of its unwillingness to grant full Ukrainian freedom.
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who served as the Archbishop of Lviv from 1901 to 1944, oversaw the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Poland during the interwar period. Sheptytsky, whose brother, Stanislaw, served as a general in the Polish army until 1926, found himself in trouble with the Polish for his views on an independent Ukraine — he was sentenced to house arrest in Lviv from November 1918 to December 1919 for his support of the recognition of the Western Ukrainian National Republic. In September 1923, upon returning from a two-year tour of Ukrainian communities worldwide, he was arrested upon re-entering Poland and only allowed to return to Lviv in January 1924. Just one year later, Poland and the Vatican signed a concordat, or an agreement, recognizing the Greek Catholic Metropolinate of Halych, of which Sheptysky was the leader. While this agreement essentially confined the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Poland to eastern Galicia, it generally allowed Greek Catholics to continue living as they wished. Scholarship in the Ukrainian Catholic Church continued to evolve, with many journals being published and a Greek Catholic Theological Academy even being established in Lviv in 1928.
While Greek Catholics were largely able to carry on in the interwar period, the period nonetheless featured tense Polish-Ukrainian relations. In his role as a mediator between the Polish state and the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Sheptysky advocated for a moderate stance that emphasized an allegiance to the Polish state as long as Poland kept within its bounds and fairly treated members of his faith. At the same time, his patience was tested by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), a right-wing organization compared to the moderate Greek Catholic-supported Ukrainian National Democratic Union (UNDO) that carried out series of attacks against Poles throughout the 1930s. Sheptysky strongly condemned their attacks as blatantly violating Christian morality and as the decade moved along, became more willing to acquiesce to the demands of the Polish government, in spite of its unwillingness to grant full Ukrainian freedom.