Archbishop
He was born on April 2, 1889, in the village of Posad-Opole, Novo-Alexandriya district of the Lublin province, and was baptized with the name Anthony. His father, Maxim Gagaluk, served as a private in the serf artillery and later became a forester. The family had six children. At the age of five, Anthony witnessed a tragedy: his father was wounded while trying to stop illegal logging, and their house was subsequently burned down. His mother, Catherine, saved the children, and soon Anthony was taken to an orphanage in Lublin, where he studied well and entered the Kholm Theological Seminary.
In the seminary, he encountered Catholicism and its methods, which strengthened his Orthodox faith. Initially, he dreamed of becoming a doctor, then a teacher, but after a serious illness, during which an elder appeared to him, he promised to serve God. On October 5, 1913, he was tonsured into monasticism with the name Onuphrius. Soon he was ordained as a hierodeacon and then as a hieromonk.
Hieromonk Onuphrius actively participated in missionary work and served in the church of the village of Mikhailovka. In 1914, during World War I, he removed the cross from his brother Andrew and placed it on him, warning him of the importance of faith. Andrew, being at the front, was saved thanks to this cross.
After the revolution and the civil war, hieromonk Onuphrius became the rector of the Assumption Church in the city of Berislav. He continued to serve despite difficulties and wrote to his brother about his life and ministry. In 1917, during the looting, the monastery was defended by peasants, and hieromonk Onuphrius continued his pastoral work.
The mother of hieromonk Onuphrius, Catherine, was lost among the refugees, but miraculously met her son with the help of Bishop Procopius. She was moved to learn about his ministry and that he had become a hieromonk.
