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Petro Pavlo Oros served God all his life. He is a shining example of deep spiritual love for Jesus to Christ.   - Bishop Milan Sasik, CM

 

The Servant of God Petro (Peter) Oros was born on July 14, 1917 in the village of Biri (Hungary) in the family of a Greek Catholic priest. In 1919, the family moved to Transcarpathia. He was orphaned at age nine, and taken in by another priestly family, the Sabovs, in Skoarstke. In 1937, Peter entered the Uzhgorod Theological Seminary, and on June 28, 1942, he was ordained as a celibate priest. He began his pastoral activity in the village of Veliki Komyati in Vinohradiv district. On December 19, 1944, Bishop Theodore Romzha consecrated him as one of the secret auxiliary bishops of the Mukachevo eparchy; he was only twenty-seven years old.

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In 1946, he was appointed to a parish in the village of Bilky in the Irshava district. In 1948, the local authorities resorted to various methods of influence in order to persuade Father Peter to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. Because he was one of the few celibate priests, they suspected that he might be a secret bishop. He, like all other priests who did not give in to their convictions, was forbidden to perform pastoral work. But he remained faithful to his vocation, and created a group of

priests who took refuge in the mountains and continued to secretly serve the Greek-Catholic believers in Irshava and Vinohradiv districts. For five years the young bishop carried on his work, sometimes completely alone, from a cabin in the

forest. His co-workers included Father Ivan Margitič (later auxiliary bishop of Mukachevo), Ivan Roman and Ivan Čengeri.

 

At the beginning of 1953, he was caught, arrested and sent to Uzhhorod, to the KGB detention center, where he was detained for more than two weeks. Due to Stalin’s death and the rapid changes in the USSR, the police were not sure if they should hold him, and he was released. In the summer of 1953, a policeman tried to arrest Father Peter near Imstichevo, but he was lucky enough to escape. In constant danger, without rest, sleep and safe shelter, the tragic day of martyrdom was approaching for Father Peter.

 

On the eve of the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 27, 1953, (Old Calendar) in the village of Veliki Komyati, he served a well-attended Holy Liturgy in the cemetery. On the same day, he went on foot to the railway station, with Catherine Stanko, who went to buy his ticket. Here he was arrested by a fanatic communist policeman who began to take him in the direction of the village. This policeman executed the bishop near a roadside cross. At the foot of the cross, the militiaman ordered the young bishop, who was only thirty-six, "Pray, because it is your end." Father Petro knelt down and partook of the Eucharist, which he had with him. Two shots followed: first he shot the priest in his knee, and then in the head. Mrs. Stanko ran to call people for help. The mayor also came running, and denounced the militiaman for assassinating the bishop. He, told the mayor, "Shut up, because I'll do the same to you." The militiaman later boasted to his friends that he had received a reward of 500 rubles for this brutal execution. While he lay dying the bishop gave Catherine Stanko a list of liturgy intentions from his pocket; the last one read “soul of Petro Pavlo Oros” for he had known his death was coming.

 

Today Blessed Petro Oros’ relics repose in a chapel next to the church in Bilky, his last parish. A youth pilgrimage comes to the site every year. The ceremony of his beatification, which was to be held in Khust in June of 2023, has been delayed as the government was fearful of a Russian attack.

 

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