In 1949, the Soviet administration forbade the use of the catholic Church of St. Bartholomew in Drohobych. In 1972, the small cemetery chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was restored in Truskavetska street. During each funeral, pastor Mickiewicz confessed and worshiped in the chapel and thus enabled church services again. There were cases when some participants took part in services for the first time since 1949.
On August 24, 1973, the solemn St. Liturgy was held in the chapel on the holiday of the patron Bartholomew without the permission of the authorities. Hundreds of believers, both Poles and Ukrainians, Greek Catholics gathered. They did not agree to convert to Orthodoxy. (The Soviet administration banned the Greek Catholic Church - only the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was allowed.) The atheistic Soviet authorities could not permit Greek-Catholic religious celebrations and hence persecutions began. The priest and the believers were checked and wiretapped. Mickiewicz himself, among others, supported others either from the pulpit, or in the confessional, or in private conversations. However, the fate of the chapel was decided. On November 1, 1973, the last St. Liturgy was held. Authorities closed the chapel soon, and over a period, „unknown criminals“ stole all its poor interior equipment. On December 21, 1973, Mickiewicz was arrested and convicted of religious activity. His sentence was served in Drohobych prison. For the first time since 1949, a Catholic priest was permanently in Drohobych - but imprisoned.

(Pavlo Vytrykush, Lviv Polytechnic National University, 2021)