Zynoviy Kovalyk

Blessed Zynoviy Kovalyk (Ukrainian: Зиновій Ковалик - sometimes spelled Zenon or Zenobius; 18 August 1903 - ? 1941) was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest and martyr.

Zynoviy Kovalyk was born in the village of Ivachiv Dolishniy, near Ternopil in Austrian Galicia (western Ukraine). His family were peasant workers and like many of that time and place, were devout Christians. Perhaps it was due to his family’s devotion that Zynoviy developed a vocation to the Catholic priesthood while he was still young. He was known to have a good singing voice and a joyful temperament but also to be a person of strong character.

After teaching in a primary school for a short period of time, he entered the novitiate of the Redemptorists (Congregation of the Holy Redeemer) when he was 25 which made him older than most novices of that period; he made his first religious profession on 26 August 1926.

After the novitiate, he studied philosophy and theology in Belgium. He returned to Ukraine and was ordained a priest on 9 August 1932, celebrating his first Liturgy in his village of Ivachiv on 4 September 1932.

Father Zynoviy then travelled with Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky (who was also to become a martyr) to Volhynia to work amongst the Ukrainians of the Orthodox Church in order to promote ecumenism. Father Zynoviy was a good singer and a preacher. Indeed, it is said he had a golden mouth, and that his preaching drew thousands of people and led them to a greater devotion to Jesus Christ and His mother the Virgin Mary. After several years he went to Stanislaviv (today Ivano-Frankivsk) to take up the post of provincial bursar although he was also very engaged in the traditional Redemptorist practice of conducting missions through the area.

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