11/07/2025
Father Nestor Dmytriw is Honored by Hillside, NJ Parish on the 100th Anniversary of His Passing
On Sunday, October 19, 2025, several parishioners of Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church in Hillside (Union County), NJ and their pastor, Father Vasyl Vladyka, traveled 5 minutes from the church to the gravesite of Father Nestor Dmytriw to celebrate a panachyda (memorial service) and to honor him on the 100th Anniversary of his death. Father Dmytriw was the first Ukrainian Catholic priest to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in Canada which he did so at Terebolvia, Manitoba in April 1897.
Additionally, Father Dmytriw was a passionate historian, editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian language newspaper Svoboda and a supreme secretary and auditor of the Ukrainian National Association (then known as the Ruthenian National Association). Members of the Ukrainian community at that time called Father Dmytriw “the best researcher of the Ukrainian past in America”.
Father Dmytriw died on May 25, 1925 and is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, NJ. His grave was unmarked for over 60 years and for that reason was known as the “Forgotten Priest” who had dedicated his life to spiritually leading and helping early Ukrainian settlers in Canada and in the USA.
The local Hillside, NJ community became aware of Father Dmytriw in 1981 when a parishioner of Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church in Hillside, Olga Shatynski, was visiting Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin, Manitoba with her family. Mrs. Shatynski picked up a brochure that mentioned that Father Dmytriw was buried in Hillside/Elizabeth, NJ.
After returning from vacation, Mrs. Shatynski visited Fr. Dmytriw’s gravesite at Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, NJ and was surprised to see no marker. Mrs. Shatynski launched a four year effort to find surviving relatives of Father Dmytriw to gain their permission to have a monument placed on his gravesite. Since this was before the days of the internet searching, this research was very tedious and required traveling to numerous records offices in several towns. Mrs. Shatynski found a surviving direct relative of Father Dmytriw and was given permission to have a monument installed.
The Hillside, NJ parish led the efforts to erect a seven-foot monument of Portuguese black marble on Father Dmytriw’s grave while the Ukrainian National Association provided the financial funding. The monument was dedicated on October 24, 1985. Note: Due to the spelling on the death certificate, Father Dmytriw’s tombstone had to utilize the “Dmytrow” spelling.
It is interesting to note that while Father Dmytriw was pastor of nearby St. John’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Newark, NJ and also St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Elizabeth, NJ, he had no ties to the Hillside parish. In fact, the Hillside, NJ parish was founded in 1957 – 32 years after he died. To this day, the Hillside, NJ parishioners visit Father Dmytriw’s gravesite and pray for the repose of his soul.
It is hard to imagine the sacrifices that Father Dmytriw experienced as he provided spiritual support to the early Ukrainian settlers in Canada. He wrote in Svoboda about traveling barefoot through swamps in Canada to visit the various Ukrainian settlements in Canada and having to walk great distances because wagons could not be used on the narrow and hazardous trails.
Father Dmytriw challenged the Ukrainian settlers to focus on their faith, practice good grooming, organize and lift themselves out of poverty. Father Dmytriw wrote “…..that it is as if our people do not have a clear idea about their faith, the proof of which is the fact that our people are abandoning their “ancestral” faith for frivolous and materialistic – social reasons”.
Father Dmytriw truly was an extraordinary, selfless and pioneering priest. It is ironic that Father Dmytriw gave so much of himself but yet he was buried essentially unnoticed for over 60 years. However, it is truly fitting that he now continues to be remembered, prayed for and honored at his gravesite! Vichnaya Pamyat! Eternal Memory!
