Fr. Yaroslav Nalysnyk, son of Cornelia (Bulat) and Petro Nalysnyk, was born on August 4th, 1962 in the village of Stankiv, Stryj region, Lviv oblast, Ukraine. On April 30th, 1990 Fr. Yaroslav was secretly ordained by bishop Sophron (Dmyterko) OSBM in the underground Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Lviv, Ukraine. Before his ordination to the priesthood, Fr. Yaroslav studied medicine at the Lviv Medical Institute where he met his wife Luba. He also studied at the Military Medical Academy in Gorkij and served in the army as a military doctor (toxicologist/ epidemiologist of infectious diseases in the military division in Yavoriv/Lviv).

After serving for a short period of time as a pastor in Yavoriv, Prylbychi (the place of birth of Metropolitan Andrew Sheptycky) and later in Zolochiv/Pidhorodne (where he built a new church), Fr. Yaroslav was sent (incognito) by his bishop to the former Yugoslavia to serve as a spiritual director for the students/seminarians from Ukraine at the Dzakovo Theological School of Zagreb University. The war between Croatia and Serbia forced Fr. Yaroslav and the school (all faculty and students) to flee to Mattersburgh, Austria for safety.

Due to this political instability, Fr. Yaroslav was then sent by his bishop to the United States to finish his theological training. Upon arrival to this country in 1992, Fr. Yaroslav began to serve as an administrator of St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Willimantic, CT while pursuing a master’s degree at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell. On July 15th, 1994, Fr. Yaroslav was appointed administrator and later pastor of Christ the King parish and subsequently Dean of Boston for Ukrainian Catholics. In addition to his parish ministry, Fr. Yaroslav serves as a part-time hospital chaplain and as a member of the ethics committee at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. In 2010, Fr. Yaroslav completed his doctoral studies with honors and defended his dissertation “From Brokenness to Wholeness: A Guidebook for Integrating Spiritual Practices and Mind Body Medicine in Congregational Health Ministry” at Andover Newton Theological School of the Boston Theological Institute Consortium.

Fr. Yaroslav and his wife Luba recently celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary. They have two children: Ostap, who graduated from Northeastern University in 2012 and Marta, who graduated from Harvard University in 2008 and lives in New York City with her husband William Colgan. Fr. Yaroslav and his wife Luba live in the parish house along with their friendly golden retriever named Charlie and shy cat adopted from the local shelter named Myshka.