Markiyan Shashkevych

Markiyan Shashkevych (November 6, 1811 in Pidlyssia, Złoczów powiat, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria – June 7, 1843 in Nowosiółki, Lesko powiat, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria) was a priest of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, a poet, a translator, and the leader of the literary revival in Right Bank Ukraine.

Markiyan Shashkevych
Pencil portrait of Markiyan Shashkevych by Ivan Trush
Born	(1811-11-06)November 6, 1811 Pidlyssia, Zolochiv district, Halychyna
Died	June 7, 1843(1843-06-07) (aged 31) Nowosilky, Zolochiv district, Halychyna
Occupation	writer, poet, priest, translator
Nationality	Ukrainian
Citizenship	Austria-Hungary
Education	Greek Catholic Theological Seminary
Alma mater	University of Lviv (1838)
Genre	vernacular folklore
Literary movement	Ruthenian Triad

Shashkevych's parents were Simon Shaskevych (Szaszkiewicz) and Elizabeth Audykowska, who was the daughter of Rev. Romanus Audykowski, the Greek Catholic parish priest in Pidlyssia. In 1832, Shashkevych and fellow students organized a group aimed at the rise of the Ukrainian dialect free of Church Slavonic and alien 'styles' up to the literary language.[1] He graduated from the Greek Catholic Theological Seminary at University of Lviv in 1838 and worked as a priest in the rural Lwow powiat. During his studies he met Yakiv Holovatsky and Ivan Vahylevych, with whom he formed the Ruthenian Triad (aka Ruska Triytsia).

He also organized nationally conscious Ukrainian young people to work for national and cultural revival in Western Ukrainian lands, particularly to reintroduce the use of spoken Ukrainian language in writing and sermons. The activities of the Shashkevych circle constituted not only a literary phenomenon, but a social and democratic movement. Its greatest achievement was the publication of an almanac entitled Rusalka Dnistrova ('The Mermaid of the Dniester'), which was the first collection of Ukrainian literature to appear in Western Ukraine (1837).[2] The almanac had a decisive effect on the revival and development of Ukrainian literature in Galicia.

After a short life, he was first buried at a Nowosilky in 1843, present Busk Raion of the Lviv Oblast, Ukraine, and then in 1891 his mortal remains were transferred to the Lychakivskiy Cemetery.