In 1920, participated in the Polish–Russian War of 1919‐1921. Was wounded.

From 1933, ministered at the Novosilka‐Bekerów parish curacy, c. 6 km from the district town of Pidhaitsi, in the Polish Ternopil Voivodeship. The parish encompassed on two main villages: the Bekerów colony, where there was a Roman Catholic church, inhabited in 1939 by c. 490 Germans, 60 Poles and 40 Ukrainians, and Novosilka, on the other side of the Koropec River, inhabited by an estimated c. 4,200 people, of whom Roman Catholic Poles constituted c. 38%, Greek Catholic Ukrainians c. 60%, and there were c. 50 Jews.

After the German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939 and the start of World War II — as a result of the genocidal German–Russian agreement of 23.08.1939, known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, confirmed on 28.09.1939 by the so‐called „Treaty on the Borders and Friendship between Germany and Russia”, also known as the 2nd Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact — after the beginning of the Russian occupation, many so‐called Germ. Galiziendeutsche (Eng. Galician Germans), who had been farming there since the 18th century, brought in by the Austrian authorities after the first partition of Poland in 1772. As part of the Germ. Heim ins Reich (Eng. Return to the Reich) operation — carried out on the basis of partnership agreements between the two occupiers of Poland, Russia and Germany — in 1939‐1940, c. 128,000‐136,000 of these Germans were resettled, of whom c. 85,000 were settled in the Germ. Reichsgau Wartheland (Eng. Reichsgau Wartheland), i.e. German‐occupied Greater Poland, to replace Poles expelled from their homeland and deported to the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG. A series of great „ethnic experiments” was beginning — i.e. solving social and national problems through mass deportations — the masters of which, as the future would prove, were the Russians.

The Russians particularly subjected Poles to repression, arresting Polish intelligentsia, teachers, doctors, landowners, government officials, foresters, policemen, and even the families of Polish servicemen. Many other Poles became victims of four large waves of deportations „to Siberia”. Accounts often mention that „they came at night, without warning, and took away entire families, from infants to the elderly”. „When we went out into the yard, they allowed my mother to look into the chest — unfortunately, it was empty, because our neighbors had already emptied it. We took practically nothing with us, because they didn't let us move around the house […] There were large snowdrifts and heavy frosts at that time”. In addition, 150,000–200,000 men were conscripted into the Russian army, and c. 100,000 were forced to work for Russian industry, mainly in the mines of the Donets Basin, in heavy industry plants in the Urals and in Siberia. Then the surveillance of priests and monks began. High taxes were imposed on the clergy, and religious education was removed from schools.

After the German attack on their erstwhile ally, the Russians, on 22.06.1941, and the beginning of the German occupation, his parish found itself in the Germ. Kreishauptmannschaft Brzeżany (Eng. Brzeżany County), within the Germ. Distrikt Galizien (Eng District of Galicia), part of the GG, expanded by Galicia.

The period 1941‐1943 was marked in particular by the extermination of Jews. From the beginning of 1942, the Germans implemented the genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), which in the GG was codenamed «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt). The local center of the Jewish community was the county town of Pidhaitsi, where in 1939 c. 3,400 Jews may have lived, i.e. c. 55% of the inhabitants. Already in 07.1941, the Germans established — in accordance with the German regulations in force in the GG — the Germ. Judenrat (Eng. Jewish Council), responsible for the Jewish community, assisted by the Germ. Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst (Eng. Jewish Order Service). Later, they de facto forbade Jews to leave the town without permission, because from 25.10.1941, a decree issued by the Germ. Generalgouverneur (Eng. General Governor) of the GG, Hans Frank, came into force, according to which „Jews who leave their assigned district without authorization are subject to the death penalty. The same punishment applies to persons who knowingly provide such Jews with a hiding place”, and „Instigators and accomplices are subject to the same punishment as the perpetrator; an attempted act will be punished as a completed act. In less serious cases, hard labor or imprisonment may be imposed”. On 21.09.1942 Germans, with the support of the Ukrainian, collaborationist Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), also operating as Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Eng. Security Battalions), i.e. Schuma — which was to take part in all such Germ. Aktion (Eng. operation) — as well as the Germ. Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst, herded c. 1,000 Jews to the railway station, from where they were deported to their deaths, to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Belzec. Incidentally, c. 50 Jews were murdered in the Jewish cemetery. Immediately afterwards, a ghetto was formally established in Pidhaitsi, initially of an „open” nature, without a boundary fence. On 30.10.1942, the second Germ. Aktion took place. Over 1,200 Jews were deported to VL Belzec, and several dozen were murdered during the roundup. At about the same time, Jews from the surrounding villages were brought to the ghetto, including prob. from Novosilka, and in 12.1942 the ghetto — c. 2,500 people — was „closed”, i.e. surrounded by a wooden fence topped with barbed wire. On 12.04.1943, c. 40‐50 sick Jews were murdered in the Jewish cemetery. The liquidation of the ghetto took place on 06.06.1943. The Germans and the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei murdered c. 1,070 Jews in two ditches dug in the part of Pidhaitsi called the Old Town. On 08.08.1943, c. 750 Jews were lured out of hiding, under promise of transfer to Ternopil. All were taken out of the town and near the village of Zahaytsi, c. 2 km away, the Germans and Ukrainians murdered them. Over the next few months, the Germans and the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei systematically searched the ghetto hunting for Jews. C. 300 were captured and murdered in the Jewish cemetery. The Germans could declare that Pidhaitsi and the surrounding area were Germ. „Judenfrei” (Eng. „free of Jews”).

At the same time, i.e. in 02.1943, in Volyn, c. 150 km to the north, Roman Shukhevych, nom de guerre „Taras Chuprynka”, the chief commander of the Ukrainian, genocidal OUN/UPA organisation, who in 1941 was a member of the Ukrainian Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall (Eng. Special Group Nightingale) — a unit of the Germ. Wehrmacht (Eng. Armed Forces) that took part in the German attack on Russians in 1941, accused of participating in the Jewish pogrom in Lviv in 1941 — and later a member of the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201 (Eng. 201st Protection team Battalion) — responsible for the murder of Jews and civilians in the territory of Belarus — issued an order: „The extermination operation should be carried out according to the following principles: Polish villages are to be burned, and their populations massacred. Attacks on towns will take place in broad daylight, not at night. In mixed villages, the Polish population alone should be liquidated, and farmsteads should be burned only if they are 15 meters away and when there is no risk of the fire spreading to neighboring Ukrainian buildings. The Ukrainian population will receive instructions as to where to gather during the attack […] For every Ukrainian murdered, whether by Poles or Germans, 100 (one hundred) Poles will be executed”.

It was the de facto signal for the commencement of the «Genocidium Atrox» — i.e. the genocide perpetrated by Ukrainians, known as „Volyn genocide”.

Immediately thereafter, in 03.1943, the UPA issued an appeal to members of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei to desert and join the UPA ranks. Perhaps as many as 10,000 Ukrainians did so.

Volyn was drenched in Polish blood. Tens of thousands of Poles were murdered by the Ukrainians — with German passivity — in an extremely barbaric manner. Hundreds of villages were burned.

Although Shukhevych's order was not formally addressed to units of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei in the Germ. Distrikt Galizien — there, in 1943, the genocidal OUN did not establish an armed wing under the name UPA, but formed armed units under a euphemistic name, to „confuse” the Germans, of Ukr. Українська Народна Самооборона (Eng. Ukrainian National Self‐Defense), i.e. UNS — but de facto also there the Ukrainian génocidaires, „unemployed” after the end of the Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt», deserted and joined the UNS. But in 12.1943 — when it became clear that the Germans were losing the war in the East, i.e. on 24.12.1943, the great Russian offensive called the Dnieper–Carpathian Operation began — the UNS was formally transformed into a „UPA‐West” unit of the genocidal OUN/UPA. In 01.1944, its commander was another of the Ukrainian „trainees” of the Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall and the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201, the degenerate Vasyl Sydor, nom de guerre „Shelest”, who almost immediately ordered „to strike continuously at the Poles until they are completely destroyed from these lands”. The «Genocidium Atrox» began in Germ. Distrikt Galizien.

The UNS/UPA had nothing else to do at the time, because — as even the Ukrainian Wikipedia confirms — „during the last months of 1943, UNS units did not conduct military operations in connection with the introduction on 02.10.1943, by the Germans in Galicia of the system [of collective responsibility] of executing 10 hostages for the murder of every German soldier or official”. The Poles remained though a target for were not among these „officials”. And the Germans behaved passively towards the genocidal acts of the UNS/UPA, essentially not undertaking any major operations against Ukrainians.

In the vicinity of Pidhaitsi, the orders of the génocidaire Sydor were carried out by another degenerate, the commander of the UPA Military District WO‐3 „Lysonya”, Emilian (Omelian) Polowy, nom de guerre „Ostap”, whose „career path” was identical to that of his superiors — i.e. through the Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall and the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201, where they gained experience in the extermination of Jews. The murders of Poles began already in the last quarter of 1943 and intensified at the beginning of 1944. Ended with the arrival of the German–Russian battlefront. On c. 01.04.1944, the Russians — as part of the Dnieper–Carpathian Operation — entered Pidhaitsi, but on c. 07.04.1944, faced with a German counterattack, they withdrew c. 25 km to the east. This coincided with the end of the Dnieper–Carpathian Operation by the Russians and the suspension of frontline fighting for the spring period.

The next major Russian offensive, known as the Lviv–Sandomierz Operation, began on 13.07.1944. The Russians entered Pidhaitsi and its parish on c. 21.07.1944. The Russian occupation began.

The OUN/UPA initially suspended its operations against the Poles during the advance of the battlefront and the saturation of the area with thousands of Russian troops. On 01.09.1944 Vasyl Sydor „Shelest”, commander of „UPA‐West”, ordered a halt to the genocidal action, but the order did not include the „Polish element collaborating with the NKVD and the organs of Moscow imperialism”. The OUN/UPA was still to attack „a Polish militia of 20 people in a certain locality. One third or half of them should be destroyed, the rest disarmed and warned that if they do not stop collaborating with the Bolsheviks against us, they will also be destroyed next time”. The suspension was short‐lived, however — at the turn of 1944/1945, Ukrainian génocidaires resumed the murders of Polish civilians.

And just then fell victim to the Ukrainians. Namely, at the beginning of 1945, briefly took over the administration of the nearby parish of Pidhaitsi, whose parish priest, Fr Stanislav Popkiewicz was prob. arrested by the Russian genocidal NKVD. Returned, however, to his parish in Bekerów and Novosilka — prob. after Fr Popkiewicz's release. May have returned only to collect his belongings before the „departure” — i.e. the next stage of the Russian „ethnic experiment”, that is, the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of Poles from Eastern Galicia to the west.

Was warned of the threat posed by Ukrainian génocidaires. As one witness reported, „was urged […] to leave and thus save his life, but […] replied that as long as even one Pole remained in Bekerów, it was his duty to persist”.

On 28.02.1945 the Ukrainians — prob. one of the genocidal OUN/UPA bands belonging to the WO‐3 „Lysonya” of the „UPA‐West” operational group, under the command of a certain Ivan Shanayda, nom de guerre „Stepanowich” — attacked Bekerów.

The attack was reported several years later by Sr Angela Kordej, Stara Wieś Sisters Servants ABMV: „Half an hour before the terrible tragedy unfolded, the late Fr Marian came to the sisters and asked them to come to the rectory and then go to church together to spend the night (as Ukrainian attacks were recurring in the area). The sisters very willingly agreed to the late parish priest's proposal, because they too felt terrible in the house then. They stopped however for a drink and something warm to wear.

As they left the house, they heard a terrible scream; the rectory was already surrounded by about 50 thugs, and a machine gun was positioned in front of the front door. Six of them burst in, grabbed Fr Marian, threw him to the ground, and tied him with barbed wire.

The poor man cried in pain and begged for at least one hand to be freed.

The sisters crawled through the garden closer to the rectory and saw the late Fr Marian carried out and thrown onto a sleigh. A girl (named Mila Stajnerówna) was also taken along with the priest.

After a moment, the Ukrainians fired three shots at Fr Marian, and the sisters heard his moans, which quickly subsided. The girl was murdered in the same way.

Then the bodies were thrown into a pond or river flowing near the rectory.

The residents of Bekerow stood at a distance, screaming and wailing, demanding that they be killed, since their «Father» had been murdered”.

In total, that day, Ukrainian génocidaires murdered c. 8 residents of Bekerow.

The priest's body has not been found. To this day, the Ukrainian authorities have not allowed a search and exhumation to be carried out.

On 12.10.2007, the génocidaire Roman Shukhevych was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. On 10.12.2017, on behalf of the „Coordination Council for the Commemoration of Decorated Knights of the OUN and UPA”, génocidaire Vasyl Sydor was posthumously awarded in Lviv the Silver Cross of Military Merit of the UPA, First Class (No. 009). In several locations, monuments and commemorative plaques have been erected to these Lat. „hostis humani generis”, the schools were named after them.

Lat. „O Tempora! O mores!”

According to other sources bound with a barbed wire was driven out of the village on a sledge. Murdered by three shots. The body was apparently dumped into a nearby village pond. After some time it resurfaced.

It had a cross burnt out on the chest, fingernails and tongue torn out, eyes gouged out.

In the available baptismal certificate he is registered as a female child.