Peter Ochryzko

Holy Hieromartyr Peter Ochryzko (in Polish Piotr Ohryzko) was an Orthodox priest in Poland, killed for the faith in 1944. He was born on 18 November 1891 at Tarnawatka, in the province of Chełm, to John and Catherine. For a time he was a teacher, then graduated from the Orthodox seminary at Krzemieniec (1923), where he was also ordained priest. He served at Oryni, Bużkowice, Pieczorne, Horodyszcze and Markowicze, and during the war at Sumin and Moreszyn. His marriage broke down after his wife was arrested in 1927, accused of communist sympathies, and he was wrongly accused of supporting her.

At Moreszyn he was several times the victim of robbery attacks. On 10 April 1944 he was seized during the service, at the village of Czartowiec; he was led out of the church in his vestments, led through the village and killed after torture at a place called Kłakowicka Łąka, where he was also buried. The perpetrators are not known with certainty. On 20 March 2003 the council of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church proclaimed him a saint, and the canonization services were held at Chełm on 7 and 8 June 2003.