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Ivan Hrynokh (Ukrainian:Іван Гриьох; 28 December 1907 – 14 October 1994) was aUkrainian Greek-Catholicpriest and Ukrainian community activist.
Born in the village ofPavliv nearLviv to Mykhailo and Anastiya Hrynokh on 28 December 1907, his parents immigrated to the United States in 1909 and settled inPhiladelphia where his brother Stepan was born in 1911. The family returned to their home village in 1911.
Ivan received his high school education in Lviv and commenced theological studies there, which he completed with a doctorate studying inInnsbruck,Munich andParis. He took on priestly vows in September 1932 from MetropolitanAndrei Sheptytsky and taughtphilosophy andtheology at the Theological Academy in Lviv. He was arrested by the Polish government in 1938 and remained incarcerated at theBereza Kartuska detention camp until the fall of Poland.
With theannexation of Western Ukraine by the Soviets, Hrynokh traveled toKraków where he preached and was active in Ukrainian politics. He became thechaplain to theNachtigall Battalion. After the dissolution of the Battalion, he participated in the 3rd Great Conference of theOrganization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which took place in Ukraine in 1943 and was one of the instigators of theUkrainian Supreme Liberation Council, where he was elected Vice President in July 1944.
In this position, he fulfilled a diplomatic mission in talks with the Romanian and Hungarian governments. He was sent to the West to find alliances for theUPA with the Allied forces and traveled viaPrague to Germany settling inMunich. In 1950, he became the head of the foreign section of the UHVR which he chaired until 1980. At the same time, he was the head of the Society for Foreign Studies and founded the newspaper "Suchasna Ukraina" (Contemporary Ukraine), "Ukrainska Literaturna hazeta" (The Ukrainian literary newspaper) and the magazine "Suchasnist'" (Today).
He continued teaching theology and philosophy in seminaries inHischberg andKulenburg and was aprofessor at theUkrainian Free University in Munich.
With the release by the Soviets ofMetropolitanJoseph Slipyj in 1963, aUkrainian Catholic University was established inRome, where he became professor. He was one of the founders of thepatriarchal movement for the Ukrainian-Catholic Church.
Hrynokh died on 14 October 1994 in Munich, at the age of 87. He was buried inPennsylvania.
