Yuri Opanasovich Slastion (18 (31) January 1903, Mirgorod, Poltava Province, Russian Empire - 22 July 1980, Denver, Colorado, USA) was a Ukrainian and American religious figure, a priest of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) in the United States. He is an architect, painter and composer. Author of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom for mixed choir.
Son of Ukrainian art historian Opanas Slastion.
Biography.
From an early age, he had a wide range of hobbies. He was interested in history, mathematics, geography, painting, and music. However, when it came time to pursue a profession, he preferred architecture and after graduating from high school in 1921, he studied architecture in Kharkiv (he entered the architectural department of the Kharkiv Art Institute), and in 1924-1928 he also studied at the Lysenko Music and Drama Institute in the composition class of the famous teacher Semen Bohatyrev. At the same time, Yurii tried to write music. It is known that in his student years he wrote several songs based on Taras Shevchenko's texts.
After the death of his father Opanas Slaston, Yurii took care of the family, which barely survived during the Holodomor, the devastation and total destruction of Ukrainian culture. Perhaps that is why the pre-war and war periods of the artist's activity remained unexplored. It is known that he lived in Kharkiv and worked in the field of architecture and construction, and in the spring of 1943, he and his wife Sofia left for the West. In 1944, they arrived in Germany, where after the war Yurii worked at Yevhen Arkhypenko's Ukrainian Pedigree Institution for the study and research of coat of arms heraldry, and from 1947 - at the Institute of Genealogy and Banner Studies, headed by the famous archaeologist M. Miller.
In 1949, Yurii and Sofia Slastion emigrated to the United States and settled in Denver, Colorado. The artist began his new life by making architectural designs for private houses and sketches of the nature of the picturesque suburban surroundings. His paintings were eagerly bought by locals and new immigrants: Germans, Serbs, and Poles. Soon, the number of Ukrainians also increased. This made it possible to establish branches of the UCCA, the Ukrainian National Union, Providence, the Golden Cross, a sports club, and Plast in the city. By the end of 1953, 600 Ukrainian settlers lived here.
Significant changes occurred in 1956, when the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of the Intercession was founded in Denver, where Yurii organised a church choir. In the same year, the Orthodox Ukrainian Publishing House in Chicago published his Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.
The social life of Ukrainians in Denver was further enhanced by the arrival of Yevhenia Vynnychenko-Mozgova, a former soloist at the Royal Opera House. Her voice was first heard here on 13 March 1955 at a Shevchenko concert held at the Ukrainian Club. The singer performed "A Cherry Orchard near the House", Ukrainian folk songs "Rain", "I bought myself a trouble" and her original song "Ukraine". Since then, and for many years, Yurii Slastion has been her accompanist.
Later, the parishioners bought a new building for the church, and he began to decorate its walls and iconostasis.
But not only joy filled the artist's life. On 10 April 1957, after a long illness, his wife Sofia died. This tragedy was a great pain in his heart. But life went on. The man lived in his house, which he kept clean. Thus, the public and political activist Ivan Svit, who visited the artist in August 1962 with his wife Mariia, wrote in his article "Journey to the West": "We went to Yurii Slastion. In a quiet street, we found his house in perfect order, and crossing the threshold, we felt something especially pleasant: carpets on the floors, stylish furniture, paintings on the walls, all this testified to the fact that a person with artistic preferences lives here. The owner showed us several paintings of his famous father and his own works - picturesque landscapes of Colorado, works on church architecture and various projects. On the second floor of the house, in a small studio room, we started talking. "In Ukrainian churches on this continent," Mr Slastion said, "they rarely pay attention to the artistic side of iconostasis construction and its architectural style. In the Denver Orthodox Church, the royal gate in particular has distinct signs of the Ukrainian style. There are more than 20 icons in the iconostasis and on the walls, and they are in the same style because they were painted by the same artist. They are harmoniously connected in form, placement and character."
It was no coincidence that the host spoke about the iconostasis, as it was his work. Yurii showed his guests copies of icons from the ancient Byzantine, Western European, medieval, Italian, German and Flemish Renaissance. As for the Ukrainian style of church painting, the experienced researcher assured that "it remained undeveloped because it requires great care when one part of the clergy wants this style in our churches, while the other rejects it."
In October 1965, Yuri Slastion married for the second time. His second wife was Halyna Zavadovych-Shulha, the daughter of the painter and illustrator Ilya Shulha, who was shot in 1938. It was she who, together with her mother Lidiia, in February 1944, having packed 75 of her father's paintings, set off on a long journey to Germany, and from there to the United States, where they settled in Denver. In 1965, Yurii Slastion was ordained a priest of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and served in the Church of the Intercession until the end of his life.
Yurii and Halyna Slastion jointly organised art exhibitions and musical evenings in the city, which were always attended by Yevheniia Vynnychenko-Mozgova, Halyna's son Oleh Zavadovych, her grandchildren Nataliia and Marko, and her daughter-in-law Barbara, an American who learned Ukrainian and learned to play the bandura. Over the course of 30 years, they have held dozens of musical evenings to mark the anniversaries of Taras Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, Ivan Franko, traditional performances to celebrate the anniversary of Ukraine's independence, and more. Stefaniia Levchenko wrote about one of them in the magazine "Our Life": "On 28 February 1971, our department, together with the 226th department of the UNSoyuz, organised an evening with a report on the immortality of Lesya Ukrainka, delivered by Halyna Slastion. The singer Yevheniia Mozgova performed four songs based on the poetess's lyrics, Barbara Zavadovych sang "A Cloud Rises from Behind the Estuary," and then a duet with her husband Oleh. A group of girls sang "Go away, you autumn clouds!" and "Hey, hey, how fast the boat is sailing".
Among the artist's architectural works, we should highlight the projects of iconostases for the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Winnipeg, St. Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Minneapolis, and the tomb of Hetman of Ukraine Pavlo Skoropadskyi in Wiesbaden (Germany). Among his portrait works, the portraits of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and the Supreme Archbishop Josyf Slipyj are noteworthy. He is the author of icons commissioned by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Los Angeles.
Yurii Slastion has been a full member of the Ukrainian Universalist Association since its inception, and at its conferences he has presented scientifically based reports on the works of his father Opanas Slastion and Ilya Shulga (1899-1938). Particularly noteworthy are his studies "Ways of Architecture of Ukrainian Churches on American Soil" (1956), "On the Form of the Ukrainian National Cross", "Historical Artistic and Religious Study", "On Bohdan's Church in Subotiv as a Remarkable Historical and Artistic Monument of the XVIIth Century" (1964), "Should We Have a Church in Subotiv? " (1964), "Do we have the likeness of Jesus Christ?", "On the Iconography of the Crucifixion", "On the Tomb of Hetman P. Skoropadskyi" (1966), and others. Some of these reports were published in the form of brochures.
A significant contribution to children's literature is his illustrations to the books "Oh, Who's There" by Kateryna Perelisna (1954) and "Adventures of the Ukrainian Book" by Hanna Cheryn. The latter was published by the Ukrainian American Publishing Association in Chicago in 1972.
In 1973, Yurii published a monograph about his father Opanas Slastion in Kyiv. He also intended to thoroughly study the huge body of work of 1.2 thousand paintings by the painter Ilya Shulha, his wife's father. But his unexpected death cut short his plans and hopes. Yuri Slastion's earthly life ended on 22 July 1980 in Denver at the age of 78. His remains were buried next to the grave of his first wife, Sofia Slastion.
Yurii Slastion's works include church paintings, portraits, landscapes, and graphics. He also drew illustrations for books and designed covers. He was the author of a tomb project for Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi, but the project remained unrealised.
His music includes secular and church choirs ("Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom" for mixed choir, 1956) and solo vocal works.
