PITTSBURGH, PA — A Ukrainian priest who shot and wounded his wife and killed himself yesterday had railed against God in a suicide note over her "living death" with Alzheimer's disease.

The Rev. Wolodymyr J. Jaworskyj, 69, shot his wife, Vera, 56, in the head in the living room of the rectory at St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the city's South Side, police said. Wolodymyr Jaworskyj, a pastor for 11 years, then fatally shot himself.

The pastor left a five-page note blaming God for his wife's illness.

Vera Jaworskyj, who was found lying on a couch, was in critical condition in the trauma intensive care unit of Mercy Hospital, spokesman Kirk Dodson said.

Police said Pastor Jaworskyj left a five-page note blaming God for the illness he said left his wife of 40 years "burning down like a candle."

"In this condition, a person is living death day by day. I lost hope in the Christian World ... I lost everything," he wrote.

Pastor Jaworskyj asked Jesus to forgive him. "Do not judge me for how I died, but how I lived," he said.

Vera Jaworskyj was diagnosed about 18 months ago with Alzheimer's disease, a deteriorating mental condition. The disease had worsened to the point that she recently was not able to recall her husband's name, according to the note.