Julitta Petrovska

Julitta Petrovska, by family name Pedan, was a Ukrainian ascetic of the twentieth century, a blessed one and a confessor in a time of persecution. She lived from 1885 to 1955. She is a locally venerated saint in the diocese of Oleksandria of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, locally canonized in 2019.

She was born in the village of Petrovo, now in the Oleksandria district of the Kirovohrad region. She married Kirill Pedan and had four children. She led a devout life and gained standing among the local people as a spiritual adviser.

In the 1930s she was persecuted by the Soviet authorities for her religious activity. Between 1930 and 1939 she was summoned to interrogations and arrested several times. The last arrest ended with a sentence of 11 June 1940: eight years of imprisonment, on the charge of organizing a religious sect. After that she was sent to the psychiatric hospital in Kherson. In spite of the persecution, she continued to pray and to receive the people who came to her for spiritual help.

She died on 8 April 1955 in the city of Kryvyi Rih, in her daughter's house, and was buried in her native village, Petrovo.

On 3 April 2019 the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine numbered her among the locally venerated saints of the diocese of Oleksandria. On 17 May 2019 her relics were found at Petrovo, and after the service her honored remains were carried to the church of the Protection of the Mother of God in the village. On 21 June 2021 the solemn glorification took place. Her relics are kept in the cathedral of the Protection in the city of Oleksandria. Her commemoration is on 17 May.