ln London, Wolodymyr. Shayan was well known for his ency-clopaedic knowledge, diverse intereats ond untiring work in the Ukrain-ian Community. Не spent many years working in London as Director °f the Taras Shevchenko Library at the Association of Vkrainians in
7 Great Britain and lield various offices within the organization. This was a very active period in his Ще, during which he did much writing and public speaking, in London and at intematiorwl conventions of PEN (Poets, Essayists and Novelists) їп defense of imprisoned Ukrain-ian members of the Resistance movement in Ukraine (notably dissident Valentyn Moroz); was published in the Free World Press; was a mern-ber of the European branch of UFAS (Vkrainian Free Academy of Science) and was its President; was Chairman of the Orientalists and President of the Associalion of Free Journalists; and was Vice-President of both the British League of Freedom and of PEN-
The above biographical information tvas iaken from an article by M. Rusich in the journal Svitannya after the death of Wolodymyr Shayan in 1974 and from several Letters to Friends. The quarterly publication Svitannya has been published in Toronto, Canada since 1968. Most of the editors and co-workers on staff held a high regard for tlie works of Wolodymyr Shayan and for his research into the faith of our ancestors, but only one staff member was actually a member o/ the "Order of Knights". То some friends u-ho wrote Prof. Shatjcm asking questions about the Order, he replied that "a full understanding would require 20 years of training, but he tvas a Uttle pressed for time-" From his Letters to Friends, which spanned over the years 1968-1974, it appears that Prof. Shayan first organized the "Order of Knights Boha Sotitzia (God of The Sun)" in November, 1943 in Lviv as a semi-reli-gious, semi-political venture. The members made knightly oaths of aUegiance. То those Knights (membera) who did not join the ranks of evacuees to Western Europe, he gave the order to join the Ukrainian lnsurgent Army — VPA.
Studying the archives of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the author of this foreword unexpectedly found in the eight volume, on page 173, the following section:
"The insurgent group, by the пате of Perun, between the villages of Hrabyne and Pidzvi-rynetz, in ifie Komarniansky region, on 04/09/1944, rescued seven arrested from the village Poverhiv. Of 57 Soviet escorts, 45 were killed and one was taken prisoner."
How proud Wolodytnyr Shayan would have been had he lived long enought to read for himself ihat section in the eight vohtme of ihe archiv-e» of the UPA, of what must mrely have been his most honowable Knights! We believe this group must certctinly have been comprised of
8 Knights of the Order because who ehe would have gone under the пате Perun, an ancient diety? lt is very possible that in the Free World, among those emigrated from the Vkrainian lnsurgent Army, someone might have contributed this information.
In Augsburg, Germany, Professor Wolodymyr Shayan organized a second contingent of the "Order of Boha Sontzia" which took inembers from the displaced persons camps. However, as these mem-bers moved overseas, this contingent became inactive. In spite of the distance, from 1971 un, Prof. Shayan called on its members several times to return. When his attempts tvere unsuccesful, he wrote in his Letters to Friends, that he was "forced to become a lone soldier on the field of battle". Almost simultaneously, he sent us a message in an unusual 'telegram style that "a squabble has arisen and that he asks tis not lo become involved, because he has по friends there". A few years later, he wrote "How very fortunate that you did not become а part of that squabble'. Perhaps, without any concrete evidence, such messages indicated, if only to hiis prophetic vision, "the fields of battle".
Prof. Shayan tvas a mystic and it must be emphasized thai he judged "unknightly means of struggle as slanderuus and so forth". However, due to his failing health and high blood pressure, ive were all concerned about him and sincerely wished to assist him without involving ourselves in vague situations. Thus on the initiative of pdejt Levko Romen, Engineer Nestor Rohowsky and myself, the quarterly Sviitamiya in 1972 evolved into the lnstitute of Wolodymyr Shayan, which we officially incorporated in Canada. This was probably the first lnstitute in Vkrainian history founded during the і Ufetime of an individual it would commemorate. Funded by the Instittste and 28 members-founders, including the author Mikola Ponedilok and patron of Lilerature and Arts, CounseUor Theodore Humeniuk, several works of Professor Wolodymyr Shayan were published, among them Htyhoriy Skovoroda — the Knight of the Saored Battie.
TJte Institute ilself was a great joy to the Professor as tvas the fact that in 1972 a group of younger generation Ukrainians joined him, among tliem Engineer Vyshata Svyatoslavych (pseudonym) who shared his ideaU. The Professor grew very fond of him and made him hia desig-nated protege, in the event that some unforeseen misfortune befeU him. [The engineer] Vyshata Scyatoslavych tvrote a nutnber of investigative articles on the subject of pre-Christian times and our ancestral faith, but, to our deepest regrct, died prematurely on May 7, 1981. We refer any future researchers oj the professor's works to his article Source af 'Strength of Ukrainian Culture, which has been included in this col
9 lection. The names of all his works are listed at ihe end of the volume. Otdy one article, entitled Volodar Bohiv і Vsesvitu — Viroznavcha slu-dia p« Решпа-Ішіш, could not be included as it could not be located in ihe archives. The professor often mentioned working on it in his Letters t Friends. It is highly possible that he eighter did not have time to complete it, от thai his reference tp 'writing' the arlicle was to be understood as being written by sorne mystical means, perfmps in one of his former lives, as he devoutly believed in reincarnation. Such practices belong in the sphere of 'Sacred Knowledge.
The works of Prof. Shayan wtll be of significant literary interest to educators and academics in a future free Vkraine- ln current times, such an undertaking may have been attempted by someone such ae Oles Berdnyk, who shared Ms spiritual ideals, but tvere there freedam of the press. Prof. R. W. Kuchar (author R. Wolodymyr) from Huys, Kansas, U.S.A., who was co-editor of Svitaraiya, made tbe following comments about the late professor in the journal Vyzvolnyj Shliaeh tn London, July-August 1975 issue, pp. 839-840: "The toorks of Wolodymyr Shayan are notable in their ideological, nationaUstic and philosophical content. The originality in the style of his poetry and his prose is dis-tinctive in its strong individualistic tone, its highly spiritual and inteU lectual emphasis and its richness in national symbolism and pathos, and in its use of metaphors, poetic hyperboles, and histo-riosophical baroque ornamentation. The ihoughts and ideas contained overwhelm the lyrical incUnations and expressions. His poetry, ideo-logy and prose are equally consistent and logical as he concentrates on content and his works are basically devoted to the Vkrainian nationalistic spiritual beliefs in pre-Christian times.
.... Wolodymyr Shayan was a unique practician and theorist of Ukrainian nationalism but in his philosophical concepts, he was а foUower of H. Skovoroda. On both subjects of research and interpre-tation of Ukrainian mythology and ancient legends, he left significant tvorks, marked with mysticism of his unique individuality. The follow-ing is a typical Shayan "Creed":
New Order's Myth — New WorlcTs Sun, — On the towers of blue horizon let shine upon the world. The golden shield of the Knight fasten, fasten in the sky, ln the Universe a new Sun, the one you will create! (Excerpt from Ballad about the Sun, loose translation) Profes8or Wolodymyr Shayan found himself in a more fortunate situation, as did philosopher Hryhoriy Skovoroda, when 118 years following his death, a patriotic Vkrainian villager-philanthropist, Ra-dzikhovsky, approached publisher Bonch-Bruyevich tvith a sum of 2,000
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rubek for ihe purpose of publishing a collection of the works of Hry-horiy Skovoroda. Nou, a veteran of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the Rev. Slavyn Уaworsky of the Ukrdinian Native Faith (nee Stefan lhtia-tevich-Уaworsky) donated $14,500 for the publication of this great volume, The Faith of Our Ancestors. The generosity of Rev. Уaworsky will certainhj be of great value to the preservation of Ihe history of Ukrainian culture and especially of the history of the Ukrainian Native Faith.
Prof. Shayan repeatedly emphasized, that "in his myth about Perun, the Order cultivated a tnanifestation of Being. In Being, there are stronger efforts, some more complicaied, some tnore significant ihan the Word. A Knightly Deed is regarded in the Order as possess-' ing such strength." The Rev. Уaworsky is not a very wealthy man, and l it is likely that he gave all that he had set aside- While he was not personally acquainted with Prof. Shayan, and tvas not a member of his Order, he instinclively felt within the Law of the Order regarding the Manifestation of Being. Simultaneously, he chivalrously surpassed his fight as a UPA soldier in carrying out his Knightly Deed.
A sincere ihanks is also due to the Council of the Vkrainian Native Faith in Hamilton, Canada, headed by the Very Rev. Myroahiv Sitnik, for undertaking the monumental task of preparing this «rcut volume for publication and to Mrs. Lada Sitnik and Mrs. Vera () Braga for their assistance in transcribing old handwritten artulrs, editing, etc.
In closing, I offer the following account regarding the archivtt of Professor Wolodymyr Shayan: his expansive library has been doiuil ed for the use of the Ukrainian community at the Research Institut-'Vkrainica' at ihe Ukrainian Ctdiural Centre on Christie Street, Toronto, Canada, under the direction of Dr. Oleh Romanyshyn. There wiU be kept a registry containing clippings of aU printed publicity regarding Professor Wolodymyr Shayan.
Translations of the Orders publications, correspondence and original manuscripts, on the advice of the late Senator Paul Уuzyk and Prof. Komtantine Bida, friends of Prof. Shayan, have been placed in the Canadian Federal Archives, in Ottawa at 395 WelKngton Street, in twelve cartons coded MG-31-H-100.
Therefore, for publication in futurc volumes are left a poetic legacy, publicity, publications of the Order, and perhaps some other works which Prof. Wolodymyr Shayan did not forward to us. ETERNAL GLORУ ТО Н1М.
Laryssu Murovych
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