Joseph Sokolsky

[1] Sokolsky was born as Todor Petrovich around 1786 in an Eastern Orthodox family in the village of Nova Mahala, today a quarter of Gabrovo.

In the 1820s he visited Mount Athos, where he brought the collection of works containing the life of Gabrovo's Bulgarian Saint Onuphrius.

In April 1861 in the Sistine Chapel, Joseph Sokolsky was consecrated Archbishop, and appointed apostolic vicar for the Catholic Bulgarians of the Byzantine Rite.

[3] Those events drew the attention of Russian officials in Istanbul, who feared that a union movement would have substantial influence on Bulgarians.

Later Sokolsky was exiled to a specifically built place for him near Holosiievo Forest (southern outskirts of Kiev, near modern Holosiivskyi National Nature Park) belonging to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, where he lived until his death.

After the Polish uprising of 1863, in the Eparchy of Chełm–Belz (Ruthenian Uniate Church) almost all Greek Catholic priests were suspended or expelled.

With the permission of the Emperor Alexander II, in 1873-74 Joseph Sokolsky visited that region several times, and a total of 72 Greek Catholic priest were ordained.