During World War I, following Russia's defeat in 05.1915 at the Battle of Gorlice by the armies of the Central Powers (the German Empire and the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy), evacuated, along with teachers from the Real School in Sosnowiec and 3 million Russian officials, teachers, military personnel, etc., i.e., members of the Russian administration in Russian‐occupied part of partitioned Poland and their families, deep into Russia (the so‐called bezhenstvo). Settled in the St Andronicus monastery in Moscow. Taught then religion in the town of Valday near Moscow. In 1917, after the fall of Tsar in 02.1917, lost this job and earned extra money unloading railway wagons. After the Bolshevik putsch in Russia in 11.1917 and the separatist Bolshevik–German–Austrian peace treaty of 03.03.1918 in Brest‐Litovsk, returned to Poland (this may have happened in early 1919, after Poland regained its independence).

Chaplain of the Polish Army from 25.09.1919.

In 1936, after ending his service and ministry in the Polish Army, retired and settled in his home village of Teratyn, c. 15 km north of Hrubieszów in the Lublin Voivodeship. In 1939, it had an estimated population of c. 930 inhabitants, of whom c. 820, or c. 88%, were Ukrainians of the Orthodox faith, c. 4% Poles, and c. 6%, i.e. c. 55 Jews. In the entire Hrubieszów district, Poles constituted c. 50%, Ukrainians c. 43%, Jews c. 6% of the population. In Teratyn, the of St Nicholas Orthodox church had been continuously functioning since 1882, even though the Orthodox priests and a large part of the parishioners fled into Russia in 1915. Most of them did not return, but Teratyn was not deprived of pastoral ministry, so in 1920‐1923, after the war damage, the church was renovated.

In the meantime, however, events took place that left their mark on the fate of the region, particularly during World War II. On 09.02.1918, at the end of World War I, in the aforementioned Brest‐Litovsk, the occupying Central Powers concluded a treaty with the fledgling, seasonal Ukrainian state, with its capital in Kiev, under which they granted Polish lands, including the Chełm region with Hrubieszów County, to Ukraine — bypassing the Poles (as a result, the Ukrainian delegation at the Versailles peace conference in 1919, after the defeat of the Central Powers, laid claim to the Chełm region and Zamość region). This led to an escalation of the Polish–Ukrainian conflict.

Was residing in Teratyn when in 09.1939 Germany and Russia attacked Poland, carried out its Fourth Partition, and World War II began. Defeat of isolated Poland in the fight against the two totalitarian states meant that found himself — as a result of friendly agreements between the two invaders, known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact — in the area occupied by the Germans. His village became part of the Germ. Landkreis Hrubieszów (Eng. Hrubieszów County) within the Germ. Distrikt Lublin (Eng. Lublin District), which was part of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG. The Germ. SS‐ und Polizeiführer (Eng. SS and Police Commander) in the Germ. Distrikt Lublin, and de facto deputy governor of this district, was one of the greatest criminals in human history, the Austrian, Odilo Lotario Globočnik, whom one historian described as „the most vile individual in the most vile organization that has ever existed”. The Germans immediately introduced terror against the Polish population. They restored the policy of Ukrainization, which had its roots in the aforementioned Treaty of Brest–Litovsk of 1918. It manifested itself, among other things, in taking schools from Polish hands and handing them over to Ukrainians, as well as expelling Catholic priests from parishes and converting churches into Orthodox ones.

The sources do not provide information about its fate in the first three years of the German occupation. And this was a period marked primarily by criminal repressions against the Polish population, and starting from 1941 — especially after the German attack on 22.06.1941 on their erstwhile ally, the Russians — by the genocide of the Jews. From 03.1942, in the village of Bełżec, c. 60 km south of Teratyn, the German Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. Extermination camp) VL Belzec began its genocidal operations, and in 05.1942, in Sobibór, c. 65 km north, the extermination camp VL Sobibór. In both of them, the Germans — as part of the German genocidal plan called Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), which in the Germ. Distrikt Lublin was implemented under the codename Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt) — murdered i.a. Jews. In this genocide the Germans were aided by units of the German Gendarmerie, the Germ. Sonderdienst (Eng. Special Service), i.e. the auxiliary police of the GG Governor, and trainees brought from the Germ. SS‐Ausbildungslager (Eng. SS Training Camp) in Trawniki. In all these units, a large part, if not the majority, were Ukrainians. The fourth group helping the Germans in the deportations of Jews were the units of the Germ. Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst (Eng. Jewish Order Service), organized by the Germans in the ghettos.

The ghetto in Hrubieszów, to which Jews from Teratyn were i.a. herded, was established at the beginning of 1942. From 06.1942 to 10.1942 the Germans deported 7,000‐9,000 Jews from there to VL Sobibór, where they were murdered. C. 1,000 were murdered in Hrubieszów itself.

The end of the Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» did not mean the end of the ordeal of the local Polish civilian population. On the contrary, it coincided with the beginning of the Germ. Aktion Zamość (Eng. Operation Zamość), i.e. the German displacement and pacification action, which was part of the broader Germ. Generalplan Ost (Eng. General Plan Wschodni), the German settlement and Germanization plan for the territories of Central and Eastern Europe. Germ. Aktion Zamość was led by the aforementioned genocidal perpetrator, SS‐Gruppenführer Odilo Globočnik. As part of it, the Germans displaced 100,000‐110,000 Poles, including 30,000 children, intending to settle 60,000 German colonists in their place. The displaced were taken to concentration camps, where many were murdered. Some of the children — the „racially purest” — were literally robbed and given to German families.

At the end of 12.1942, Polish partisans — soldiers of the resistance Home Army AK and the Peasant Battalions BCh (part of the Polish Clandestine State) — began an armed struggle against the Germans in defense of displaced Poles, which went down in history as the Zamość Uprising. As a result, the Germans stopped the displacement operation for six months. However, the resettlement with German colonists of already displaced Polish villages continued, as did the Germ. Ukraineraktion (Eng. Ukrainian Operation), i.e. the creation of a „protective belt” for German colonists from a number of villages, settled by Orthodox Ukrainians. This was manifested i.a. by the looting of Catholic churches and their transfer to Orthodox Christians. Teratyn, which had a population of c. 743 in 1943, was likely part of this „protective belt”.

These events coincided with another one, taking place several hundred kilometers to the east, somewhere in Volyn, which was part of the German–occupied territory bordering the GG and the Germ. Distrikt Lublin, called Germ. Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Eng. Reichskommissariat Ukraine). In 02.1943, namely 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 (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), collaborating with Germans, in some regions also referred to as the Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Eng. Protection Battalions), i.e. Schuma, which co‐participated in the German genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage», to desert and join the UPA. Perhaps as many as 10,000 Ukrainians did so.

In the first half and summer of 1943, the OUN/UPA carried out hundreds of genocidal attacks on Polish villages and hamlets in Volyn, murdering tens of thousands of Poles with unprecedented cruelty. At the end of 1943, it decided to expand its mass genocidal campaign to the GG, including the Germ. Distrikt Lublin. At the turn of 1943 and 1944, units of the genocidal UPA began to infiltrate the area — across the Bug River from Volyn. Some reached the area around Teratyn, north of Hrubieszów.

The Polish Clandestine State was observing the situation. In the Germ. Distrikt Lublin, traumatized Polish refugees began to appear, telling details of the «Genocidium Atrox» in Volyn. The penetration of the UPA genocidal agents across the Bug River was observed. And so, at the end of 02.1944, the Bug River was crossed by a UPA group, commanded by génocidaire Miroslav Onyshkevych, nom de guerre „Orest”, then the so‐called „Chief of Staff” of Military District WO‐4 „Bug”, which was part of the OUN/UPA „UPA‐West” operational group established in 12.1943. On 06.04.1944, Onyshkevych specified the tasks of the UPA units under his command: „I order the immediate purging of my region of the Polish element […] The purging should be carried out in the sparsely populated areas by Poles. For this purpose, a militia group composed of our members should be established in the area, whose task would be to eliminate the above‐mentioned. Larger areas will be purged of this element by our military units even in broad daylight […] Fight them hard and ruthlessly. Spare no one, even in the case of mixed marriages. Pull the Poles out of their homes, but do not eliminate the Ukrainians and children in these houses […] Take out your weapons. Death to the Poles”. The increasing activity of collaborative Ukrainian formations, de facto deprived of German supervision, was also observed.

This happened literally on the eve of the next Russian offensive in the east, known as the Lviv–Sandomierz Operation. As a result, the Russians entered his village on c. 22.07.1944. The Russian occupation began.

A few days later, however, the German–Russian frontline stopped. Faced with the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in Warsaw on 01.08.1944 — in accordance with the Polish Clandestine State's plan to take control of Polish lands just before the German withdrawal, codenamed Pl. „Burza”(Eng. „Tempest”) — the Russians made a genocidal decision to halt the entire offensive in the east, in order to allow the Germans to crush the Uprising and murder the inhabitants of the Polish capital. Most of the units of the Polish Clandestine, especially the AK, were involved in Operation Pl. „Burza”. According to the order of the AK commander, some of them tried to break through to Warsaw to support the fighting capital. This was also the case in Hrubieszów region. The AK Hrubieszów regional command gathered c. 900‐1,200 partisan soldiers. But just before the attempt to break through to Warsaw, the Russians reported to the command, proposing a joint action against the UPA in Hrubieszów. Therefore, on 26.08.1944, AK units set off towards Hrubieszów. The inhabitants of the city poured out on the streets to welcome them. The Russian tanks however appeared as well. AK soldiers, warned, stopped at gates to the town and spread out. The Russians responded by organizing a manhunt for them. They captured c. 120 soldiers and deported them, according to standard Russian practice, „to Siberia”.

The Polish partisans went underground again. Even after the disbandment of the AK on 19.01.1945, a large portion of the partisan soldiers remained hidden and continued to fight, this time against the Russian occupiers. History has dubbed them „cursed soldiers”, who for years of war fought ruthlessly against the Russians and Germans, and after its end were considered German collaborators by the Russians and Polish traitors–collaborators, and forgotten by the Western Allies.

This was the situation around Hrubieszów in early 1945. Russians and Commie‐Nazi traitors collaborating with them were rampant in the cities and towns. Polish partisans from organizations formed after the dissolution of the AK and the National Armed Forces NSZ hid in the forests and villages. Genocidal OUN/UPA bands prowled the area.

At the same time, preparations were underway for the deportation of Ukrainians eastward, beyond the Bug River — according to Russian plans, Hrubieszów was to be incorporated into the Commie‐Nazi Polish Russian Republic prl, while the territories beyond the Bug River were to belong directly to the Russian state as its Ukrainian republic. Already at the turn of 1944/1945, c. 20,000 Ukrainians „voluntarily” left their homelands as part of the so‐called 1. repatration — de facto being a forced deportation, in accordance with the traditional Russian method of resolving socio‐political conflicts.

And then was murdered in his home in Teratyn. Orthodox sources describe his death as follows: „The torturers came at night, entering through the window. With inhuman cruelty they tormented the defenseless priest Basil, whose only crime was being Orthodox. His daughter Helena was also beaten, even though she was pregnant. She later miscarried. The priest was tortured for four hours. When he lost consciousness, water was poured on him and the beatings continued. Brutally tortured, died from a pistol shot. The bandits wanted to do the same to his daughter, but when she knelt before an icon of Christ and began to pray, the torturer's hand dropped. He did not kill her, but told her they would come for her later, after which the whole group left”.

Orthodox sources provide neither the nationality nor the organizational affiliation of the perpetrators. In the case of other Orthodox clergy who died at that time — i.e. Fr Michael Borowik, Fr Nicholas Holc, Fr Leo Korobczuk, Fr Peter Ohryzko — they are not so reticent, attributing the murders to Polish partisan organizations.

The collections of the State Archives in Lublin contain a document purported to be a Russian translation of a report by Zbigniew Góra, nom de guerre „Yatsek”, commander of the NSZ subunit, which was part of Leonard Zub‐Zdanowicz's nom de guerre „Ząb” unit. It reads as follows: Rus. „РАПОРТ. 4.5.45 г. в 23.50 подвергнут Ѝгзекуции украинец МАРТЧШ Вазилий. При этом привезено зерно для korma лошадей. Подписал командир отдела. Яцек” (Eng. „RAPORT. 4.5.45. At 23:50 the Ukrainian MARTCZSZ Basil was shot. Grain for horse feed was also brought. Signature of the unit commander. Yatsek”). The provenance of this document, apparently prepared on the basis of a register taken over by the genocidal Russian NKVD organization, under unknown circumstances, is unknown. The Polish version of the report is unknown. Wikipedia, based on the work of scholars, comments that „the credibility of [similar] documents cannot be unequivocally confirmed, as such materials were often prepared for use by the communist authorities against activists of the independence underground in show trials after the war”.

In 06.1945, the „cursed soldier” Zbigniew Góra, nom de guerre „Yatsek”, commanded a unit of c. 30 soldiers of the National Armed Forces NSZ, operating in the Polish districts of Hrubieszów, Chełm and Krasnystaw. Joined then the Special Action Emergency Group PAS, the 4th Department of the National Military Union NZW, cooperating with the NSZ, commanded by Captain Mechislav Pazderski, , nom de guerre „Szary” (Eng. „Gray”). „Szary”, as part of the so‐called Operation „Beyond Bug River”, on 06.06.1945 carried out an attack on the village of Wierzchowiny, c. 27 km northwest of Teratyn, inhabited in 95% by Ukrainians. During this operation, in unclear circumstances, c. 196 people were killed. In response, the 98th Regiment of the genocidal Russian NKVD, supported by Polish collaborationist criminal units of the Security Service UB and the Internal Security Corps KBW, with a strength of 2,000‐4,000, surrounded „Szary's” group and on 10.06.1945, near the village of Huta, inhabited in c. 95% by Poles, in one of the bloodiest battles of the anti‐Soviet uprising, for many hours — using artillery and attack aircraft — systematically murdered most of the Polish partisans. The wounded were murdered. The female couriers were raped and finished off „with rifle butts and boots”. C. 166 Polish soldiers were murdered, including „Szary” and „Yatsek,” and c. 164 peasant huts were burned, and „the number of murdered victims exceeded the number of victims of the Wierzchowiny incident”, according to partisan sources.

It is also possible that was murdered by Ukrainians themselves from one of the units of the genocidal OUN/UPA, as one of the victims of «Genocidium Atrox».