Oleksa Volianskyi

Oleksa Volianskyi was born on 7 October 1862, in Zvyniach, now Bilobozhnytsia rural hromada in the Chortkiv Raion of the Ternopil Oblast, to at. Mykola Volianskyi and Pavlina of Borovskyi's family.[2]

Graduated from the Lviv Theological Seminary. He served in parishes in the town of Tovste (1887–1889, employee, now a village in Chortkiv Raion),[3] Siret (1889–1893, administrator, now Romania),[4] Kryvorivnia (1893–1923, now Verkhovyna Raion), and Sokolivka (since 1923, now Kosiv Raion).[5]

Head of the Prosvita reading society in Kryvorivnia. It is known that at. Oleksa Volianskyi helped Volodymyr Shukhevych collect materials for a book about the Hutsul region. He had a large library and archive, which were burned by Russian officers during World War I.[5]

His home in Kryvorivnia was visited by Ivan Franko, Lesya Ukrainka, Mykhailo Hrushevsky,[2] Volodymyr Hnatiuk, Hnat Khotkevych, Vasyl Stefanyk,[2] Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Olha Kobylianska, Antin Krushelnytsky,[2] Ivan Krypiakevych, Oleksandr Oles, Marko Cheremshyna, Yevhen Tymchenko, Ivan Trush, Andrey Sheptytsky,[6] Hryhoriy Khomyshyn,[2] and others.[5]

He corresponded with I. Franko, V. Hnatiuk, and M. Kotsiubynsky. He left memories of I. Franko, M. Kotsiubynsky and others.[5] Letters to V. Hnatiuk are kept in the Vasyl Stefanyk Lviv National Scientific Library of Ukraine.[1]

Died on 2 March 1947 in Sokolivka, Kosiv Raion, where he was buried.[2]

In 1886, he married Mariia Burachynska, the daughter of a priest, at. Andrii Burachynskyi from Kryvorivnia.[2] They had three children – Volodymyra, Roman, and Kekyliia.[7]

Memorial plaques in honor of at. Oleksa Volianskyi were installed on the facades of churches in Kryvorivnia and Sokolivka.[2]

On the occasion of the 155th anniversary of the birth of Oleksa Volianskyi:[2]

• 2012 was proclaimed the "Year of Oleksa Volianskyi" in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast;
• At the initiative of the NGO Zelenyi Svit, a Carpathian yew tree was planted in honor of at. Volianskyi in Zvyniach, Chortkiv Raion, as well as linden trees in Kryvorivnia and Sokolivka.