Ruthenian Uniate Church

The Ruthenian Uniate Church ( Belarusian: Руская Уніяцкая Царква; Ukrainian: Руська Унійна Церква; la, Ecclesia Ruthena unita; pl, Ruski Kościół Unicki) was a particular church of the Catholic Church in the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was created in 1595/1596 by those clergy of the Eastern Orthodox Church who subscribed to the Union of Brest. In the process, they switched their allegiances and jurisdiction from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Holy See. The formation of the church led to a high degree of confrontation among Ruthenians, such as the murder of the hierarch Josaphat Kuntsevych in 1623. Opponents of the union called church members "Uniates" although Catholic documents no longer use the term due to its perceived negative overtones.

Development

Following the partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772–1795), the various successor authorities treated the Uniates differently:

* In the territory annexed by the Russian Empire, the Church was effectively dissolved; most of the eparchies were forcibly converted to the Russian Orthodox Church.
* In the territory annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, the Eparchy of Supraśl operated from 1798 to 1809. Following the Treaties of Tilsit, the territory was annexed by the Russian Empire. As a result, the Church was effectively dissolved and the eparchy was forcibly converted to the Russian Orthodox Church.
* In the territory annexed by the Austrian Empire, the Church continued to operate. It was reorganized as a Greek Catholic Church under a Galician Metropolitan. A similar situation continued in the Second Polish Republic of 1918 to 1939. Suppressed in the Soviet Union from 1946, the Ruthenian Uniate Church survived to become the core of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1989.

Today, the Ruthenian Uniate Church has two ecclesiastical jurisdictions: the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church. The Ukrainian jurisdiction operates in the following countries under a metropolitan bishop:
* Poland under the Metropolitan of the Archeparchy of Przemyśl–Warsaw
* the United States under the Metropolitan of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia
* Canada under the Metropolitan of the Archeparchy of Winnipeg
* Brazil under the Metropolitan of the Archeparchy of São João Batista em Curitiba
It operates in the following countries as eparchies under the care of the Major Archbishop :
* Argentina as the Eparchy of Santa María del Patrocinio in Buenos Aires
* Australia, New Zealand and Oceania as the Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne
* United Kingdom as the Eparchy of the Holy Family of London
* France, Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Switzerland as the Eparchy of Saint Vladimir the Great of Paris
It operates in the following countries as an exarchate, directly responsible to the Holy See:
* Germany and Scandinavia as the Apostolic Exarchate of Germany and Scandinavia
* Italy an sSan Mariono as the Apostolic Exarchate of Italy

Hierarchy and eparchies

The head of the Church holds the title of Major archbishop. The incumbent Major archbishop (or metropolitan) of the Metropolis of Kyiv and Halych is Sviatoslav Shevchuk.

Eparchies before the partitions of Poland

Within the Commonwealth, the metropolis had the following suffragan dioceses and archdioceses (archeparchies):
* Archeparchy of Polotsk
* Archeparchy of Smolensk
* Eparchy of Lutsk and Ostroh
**During the Great Northern War, Volhynia was occupied by Russian troops and eparchy was converted to Orthodoxy until withdrawal of troops
* Eparchy of Volodymyr and Brest
* Eparchy of Chełm
* Eparchy of Lviv
* Eparchy of Turov and Pinsk
* Eparchy of Przemyśl and Sambir

Eparchies after the partitions of Poland

;Russian Empire

* Archeparchy of Polotsk, Metropolitan of all Byzantine Catholics in Russia
* Eparchy of Brest
* Eparchy of Lutsk
* Eparchy of Lithuania

;Kingdom of Prussia

* Eparchy of Supraśl

;Austrian Empire

* Archeparchy of Lviv, Metropolitan of Galicia
* Eparchy of Chełm
* Eparchy of Przemyśl and Sambir

Metropolitan bishops

Metropolitans before the partitions of Poland

Metropolitans of Kyiv, Galicia and all Ruthenia:
* 1596—1599 Michael Rohoza ( pl, Michał Rahoza, be, Міхаіл Рагоза)
* 1600—1613 Hypatius Pociej ( pl, Hipacy Pociej, be, Іпацій Пацей)
* 1613—1637 Joseph Rutski ( pl, Józef Welamin Rucki, be, Язэп Руцкі)
* 1637—1640 Raphael Korsak ( pl, Rafał Mikołaj Korsak, be, Рафаіл Корсак)
* 1641—1655 Antonius Sielawa ( pl, Antoni Sielawa, be, Антон Сялява)
* 1666—1674 Gabriel Kolenda ( pl, Gabriel Kolenda, be, Гаўрыла Календа)
* 1674—1693 Cyprian Żochowski ( pl, Cyprian Żochowski, be, Кіпрыян Жахоўскі)
* 1694—1708 Leo Załęski ( pl, Lew Ślubicz-Załęski, uk, Лев Слюбич-Заленський)
* 1708—1713 George Winnicki ( pl, Jerzy Winnicki, uk, Юрій Винницький)
* 1714—1729 Leo Kiszka ( pl, Leon Kiszka, uk, Лев Кишка)
* 1729—1746 Athanasius Szeptycki
* 1748—1762 Florian Hrebnicki
* 1762—1778 Philip Wołodkowicz
* 1778—1779 Leo Szeptycki
* 1780—1786 Jason Smogorzewski
* 1787—1805 Theodosius Rostocki

Post-partition administrators in Russia

* Heraclius Lisowski
* Gregory Kochanowicz
* Josaphat Bułhak

Successors

* Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
* Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
* Russian Greek Catholic Church (affiliated with Russian Catholic Church)

Related

* Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, Byzantine Rite church of Carpathian Ruthenians (better known as Rusyns).

Notes

References

Further reading

*
*
*
*
*
*

External links

Uniate Churches
Encyclopedia.com


an

at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
* Dzyuba, O.
Kyiv Uniate Metropolitan Eparchy (КИЇВСЬКА УНІЙНА МИТРОПОЛІЯ)
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine

{{Leaders of Ruthenian Uniate Church

Eastern Catholicism in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
History of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Russian Greek Catholic Church
History of Eastern Catholicism
Rusyn culture