WIFE OF UKRAINIAN MYSTIC AND ACTIVIST DIES
From Michael Brown (
www.spiritdaily.com [
spiritdaily.com]):
With deep sadness did we receive a call last night (November 18) from our dear friend Josyp Terelya, the Ukrainian mystic, informing us that his wife Olena had finally succumbed to cancer.
Olena, in her fifties, had struggled with ovarian cancer that had spread to her stomach. In the final weeks, one of the few things she was able to ingest was the Eucharist.
This was in keeping with such a devout and brave soul. Olena, a doctor, had an extremely hard, suffering life, waiting years for her future husband to be released from the Soviet jails and gulags -- yet never wavering in her dedication to him.
Nor did she waver in aiding the cause. Like her husband, Olena worked at spreading Catholicism despite official bans on it, and helped get the Eucharist to those in the underground who wanted it -- in this nation where at one time priests had to hold Mass and conduct Confession deep in the woods.
Thousands of nuns and priests, as well as Catholic activists like Josyp and Olena, were killed.
And yet that never deterred either Josyp or Olena. They worked tirelessly for Christ, at their own personal risk. Terelya himself spent twenty years in various prisons, where he allegedly experienced apparitions of the Blessed Mother.
One of the last times we saw Olena (besides a quick visit last summer) was at a conference in the Midwest. Olena had driven Josyp all the way to Notre Dame, Indiana, from Toronto, using back roads (she was a new driver).
Her request for prayers at the end was simply that she go to a good place. May we all join in that, and may we send best wishes to Josyp at 73 Claymore Drive, Toronto, Ont. Canada M8Z 2S5.
May she rest in the peace of Christ!
John
