21. Writer and Scholar

As has been said before, Bishop Sipovich was a man of considerable intelligence, but not an intellectual, in the sense that problems of a speculative nature were of no interest to him. This is reflected in his writings. If one overlooks his youthful efforts such as correspondence from Rome to Chryscijanskaja dumka  and Krynica  in 1939-40, his serious writing began with his article in the December 1947 issue of Bozhym shliakham, entitled "The Bases of Belarusian Patriotism"[52]. This was a piece of competent but not very inspired writing, reminiscent of a student essay on a set subject. Nevertheless it is important as it shows the direction in which the author's interests lay, namely the practical implications of our faith. His subsequent articles confirm this. Here are a few titles: "The times of Christ and ours"[53], "God and the United Nations"[54], a series of four articles under the general name "Religious aberrations of our intelligentsia (i.e. educated class – A.N.)"[55] and others. Even the article "1054-1954"[56], dealing with the history of and reasons for the Great Schism between Rome and Constantinople, ends with practical conclusions: "Today, thank God, we can feel on all sides an awareness of the need for a united Christian front. Apart from purely religious reasons, which urge people to strive to reestablish unity, there is also a practical, very timely, reason. Godless communism is the enemy of all religions, especially Christianity; it would be much easier to resist this enemy if we were united in spirit, truth and action". The motif of unity is very much present in Bishop Sipovich's later writings, whether they were reports from the Vatican Council (in which he proved himself a talented journalist), his pastoral letters and sermons, as for example the sermon preached at Westminster Cathedral on 19 January 1965 on the occasion of the Octave of Prayers for Christian Unity, "That all may be one"[57], the basis of which was the Vatican II Council's Decree on Ecumenism. Bishop Sipovich was a good preacher, speaking in a simple and lively manner, and establishing a good contact with his listeners from the first word. Some of these qualities are lost in print, but the reader can still feel the author's warm personality and the intense sincerity of his convictions.

At the Pontifical Oriental Institute Bishop Sipovich specialised in Church history. On 19 December 1946 he defended his doctoral thesis entitled Metropolita Jason J. Smogorzevski, 1780-1788. The subject of the thesis was the last period in the life and work of Jason Smogorzewski (1715-1788) who, after 18 years as archbishop of Polatsak, was elected in 1780 to the Greek Catholic (Uniate) metropolitan see of Kiev at a time when the territory of this ancient metropolitan province was partitioned between three political powers: Russia, Austria and what remained of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The thesis received favourable reports from the examiners, but has remained unpublished to the present day, mainly because it was written in Latin, and no one has volunteered to translate it (over 250 typewritten pages) into Belarusian or any other modern language. In 1951 Sipovich himself published in four consecutive issues of Bozhym shliakham an article entitled "The Metropolitan province of Kiev in the second half of the 18th century"[58]. This was based on the first chapter of his thesis, but even the author himself found the work of translating it too daunting and time-consuming, so he stopped there. This is a pity, for, apart from its intrinsic value, the work deals with a little studied period in the history of the Greek Catholic Church in Belarus. Incidentally, in 1965 there appeared in Rome in the Series "Roman Documents of the Catholic Church in the lands of Ukraine and Belarus" a volume entitled Letters of Jason Junosza Smogorzewski, Catholic Metropolitan of Kiev (1780-1788)[59] under the editorship of the Ukrainian Basilian Father Athanasius Velykij (general editor of the series) and Bishop Sipovich.

On 17 March 1968 Bishop Sipovich gave a lecture at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome entitled "Doctor Francis Skaryna and His Biblical Work". The lecture was arranged to mark the 450 years of Belarusian printing by Francis Skaryna and his work on the translation of biblical texts. In fact the anniversary was on the previous year, because the first book by Francis Skaryna, The Psalter, appeared on 6 August 1517. As Bishop Sipovich noted in his diary, the Institute authorities were afraid that no one would come to the lecture. In fact it proved to be a success: the auditorium was full, and the audience included cardinals Eugene Tisserant (who came despite his age) and Joseph Slipyi, as well as the full professorial staff of the Oriental Institute. Father Albert Ammann, Bishop Sipovich's old professor of the Church history in the Slavonic lands, who had earlier been dismissive about the importance of Francis Skaryna and his work, was also present. On 9 April he came to see Bishop Sipovich and asked him whether he could have the text of the lecture for publication. The Bishop had to disappoint him by saying that he already promised it for the journal Unitas[60]. He wrote in his diary: "In my lecture I criticised Father Ammann severely, but this did not affect our good relations".

After his return to London in 1969 Bishop Sipovich wrote two important articles, both written in English and published in The Journal of Byelorussian Studies.. They are "The Diocese of Minsk, its Origin, Extent and Hierarchy" (Vol.II, No.2, London 1970, pp.177-191) and "The Language Problem in the Catholic Church in Byelorussia from 1832 to the First World War" (Vol.III, No.1, London 1973, pp.3-40). The choice of subjects was significant, because it had direct relevance to the problems in which Bishop Sipovich was involved. The first article traces the history of the diocese of Minsk, capital of Belarus, since its establishment in the late 18th century, and shows that it had never been abolished. This fact could be a strong argument in favour of appointing an administrator for the Catholic Church in Belarus rather than make her dependent on Warsaw or Bialystok. The second article shows that the problem of the Belarusian language in the Catholic Church in Belarus has a long history and is not an invention of a few "fanatics" like Sipovich or Charniauski.

Bishop Sipovich was very excited by the acquisition on 27 June 1972 of the manuscript of the Pontifical Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom of 1652, in Church Slavonic (Belarusian redaction) with parallel Latin translation. He became also interested in  the person of Bishop Theodore Skuminovich, Suffragan of Vilna for Belarus, who presented the manuscript to the Church of SS Sergius and Bacchus in Rome (which then belonged to the Belarusian Basilian Fathers) and was probably its author. He began studying it, comparing the text  with the 16-18 th century liturgical texts, published in Belarus, Ukraine and Moscow. He also collected a great amount of hitherto unknown material about Theodore Skuminovich (c.1610-1668), a scion of an old Belarusian noble family, who was born and studied in Vilna, then continued his studies in Cracow and Louvain (Leuven), became an Orthodox priest, in 1643 joined the Catholic Church and on 29 September 1652 was consecrated bishop at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. It took Bishop Sipovich 6 years of work and research. Finally on 15 December 1978 he wrote in his diary: "Today the printers delivered 412 copies of my book, 'The Pontifical Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom... Nobody is an impartial judge of his work, or of his child. And for the author every book is his child... I thank God who gave me time and strength to finish this book! I leave the judgement about its value to others, and can also repeat the well known saying: 'Feci quod potui, potentes faciant meliora (I did what I could, let those who can do better)'". The book is entitled The Pontifical Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. A Manuscript of the 17th century in the Slavonic text and Latin translation. It was published by the Francis Skaryna Library. The book consists of facsimile reproduction of the entire manuscript, followed by the life of Theodore Skuminovich based mainly on hitherto unpublished documents; and what Bishop Sipovich modestly called "Explanatory liturgical notes" but which is in fact a thorough comparative study of liturgical usage in Belarus, Ukraine and Muscovy in the 16-18th centuries. Altogether it is a beautifully produced volume and an impressive work of scholarship, a serious contribution to the Belarusian church history. It is dedicated "to the Apostles and Martyrs for Church Unity in Byelorussia".

Bishop Sipovich always wanted to write the history of the Druia Marian Fathers, and collected materials for years, trying to obtain original documents wherever possible or making photocopies in the Marian archives in Rome. However, he never got round to actually writing it. Bishop Sipovich had spent the best years of his life at Druia, first as a student in high school, then a candidate, novice and professed member of the Marian community, and was forced to leave the place in dramatic circumstances. He was deeply attached to Druia and tended to idealise everything connected with the place. His could have been an interesting personal, often emotional, account of events and people rather than an impartial history.

This conclusion can be arrived at on the basis of Sipovich's lives of Andrew Tsikota (1891-1952) and Fabian Abrantovich (1884-1946). Both these priests were no doubt remarkable men, both died in Soviet prisons, where, according to witnesses, they comported themselves with dignity, having maintained their unshakeable faith to the end. This imposes on their biographer the obligation to treat the subject with sensitivity and respect, but does not excuse him from being impartial.

Bishop Sipovich's life of Father Andrew Tsikota has remained unpublished. On the other hand his life of Father Abrantovich appeared in the 1957 issue of Bozhym shliakham.[61] It begins: "Father archimandrite Fabian Abrantovich is a great son of Belarusian people. His name is written with gold letters also in the history of the Catholic Church, and the Belarusian church in particular, for which he gave all his talents and in the end – his life". The reader, after having read the whole article, may be excused for feeling let down and asking himself why  Abrantovich deserved such high praise. In fact this talented and dedicated priest played a rather modest role in Belarusian religious and national life. As has been said before, Belarusians expected much from him, but their expectations remained unfulfilled.

Sipovich entered the Marian "juniorate" in November 1928, after Abrantovich had left for Harbin. It is therefore highly unlikely that they knew each other at that time. On the other hand Sipovich knew Tsikota, who was superior at Druia until 1933. However, because of the difference of age and position both priests were for him distant figures, and in his attitude towards them there was an element of hero worship. There was a different relationship between him and Father Joseph Hermanovich, his favourite teacher in Druia who taught him to love Belarus, and the head of the house of studies in Vilna. In London, where Father Hermanovich came in 1960, the roles were reversed, and his former pupil became his superior. But, as Father Joseph liked to repeat with a twinkle in his eyes, he had no one to blame for this except himself... There were three articles by the Bishop on Father Hermanovich, two on the occasion of the latter's golden priestly jubilee[62], and the obituary article[63]. All three are a warm tribute to a beloved teacher and friend, and a great man and Belarusian. Bishop Sipovich paid an equally generous tribute to his another close friend, Father Leo Haroshka, with whom he had worked  for over thirty years. The whole issue of Bozhym shliakham (No.149, 1978, 48 pp.), entirely written and edited by Bishop Sipovich, was dedicated to the life and work of Father Haroshka.

There are many other written tributes by Bishop Sipovich to his friends living and dead, showing him to be a loyal friend and generous man, always ready to acknowledge the good in others.

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