The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia is a

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is a Major archiepiscopal church, major archiepiscopal ''sui iuris'' ("autonomous") Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic church that is based in Ukraine. As a particular church of the Cathol ...

ecclesiastical territory or archeparchy of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in the Eastern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Its

episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The Archeparchy of Philadelphia is a

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ...

with three suffragan eparchies in its

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

. The Archeparchy of Philadelphia's territorial jurisdiction includes the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

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, and the eastern and central portions of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. The current

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the archeparchy is Borys Gudziak, installed on June 4, 2019. Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the United States were given '' sui iuris'' status as an ordinariate for the faithful of eastern rite by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...

in 1914. Prior to that, all Ukrainian Greek Catholics had been under the jurisdiction of the local

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

ordinary. In 1924, the status of the ordinariate was elevated to that of exarchate, known as the ''Apostolic Exarchate of United States of America, Faithful of the Oriental Rite (Ukrainian)''. The Exarchate was then elevated to the status of Archeparchy by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

in 1950. In 1983, the Archeparchy lost part of its territory to the new (though still

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

) Eparchy of Parma erected by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. , the archeparchy has approximately 13,051 Catholics and 64 parishes under its canonical jurisdiction. Ukrainian Cathedral Iconostasis

Bishops

Ordinary of the United States of America

* Soter Stephen Ortynsky de Labetz, O.S.B.M. (1907–1916)

Metropolitans of Philadelphia

# Constantine Bohachevsky (1924–1961) # Ambrozij Andrew Senyshyn, O.S.B.M. (1961–1976) # Joseph Michael Schmondiuk (1977–1978) # Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky (1979–1980), appointed Coadjutor Archeparch and later Archeparch of Lviv (Ukrainian) # Stephen Sulyk (1980–2000) # Stephen Soroka (2000–2018) # Borys Gudziak (2019–present)

Other priests of this eparchy who became bishops

* Jaroslav Gabro, appointed Bishop of Saint Nicholas of Chicago in 1961 * Richard Stephen Seminack, appointed Bishop of Saint Nicholas of Chicago in 2003

Auxiliary Eparchs of Philadelphia

* Ivan Bucko (1940–1945) * Ambrozij Andrew Senyshyn, O.S.B.M. (1942–1956), appointed Eparch of Stamford * Joseph Michael Schmondiuk (1956–1961), appointed Eparch of Stamford * John Stock (1971–1972) * Basil Harry Losten (1971–1977), appointed Eparch of Stamford * Robert Mikhail Moskal (1981–1983), appointed Eparch of Parma * Michael Kuchmiak, C.Ss.R. (1988–1989), appointed Eparch of Holy Family of London * Wolodymyr Paska (1992–2000) *

John Bura John Bura (; June 12, 1944 – January 17, 2023) was a bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the United States. He served as the Auxiliary Bishop of Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia from 2006 to 2019. From 2009 to 2014 ...

(2006–2019) * Andriy Rabiy (2017–2022), appointed auxiliary eparch of

Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg The Archeparchy of Winnipeg is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or archeparchy of the Catholic Church in Manitoba, a province of Canada. Currently, its archeparch is Lawrence Huculak. Its cathedral is the Cathedral of S ...

Cathedral

The

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of the archeparchy is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, built in the style of the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

, and located across the street from the Archeparchy's offices. In 1979, it hosted a papal visit by

, the first time a Roman Pontiff had visited an

Eastern Catholic The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

church in the United States. In addition, Ukrainian President

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriiovych Yushchenko (, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards Western world, the West, European Union, and N ...

and his wife paid a state visit to the Archeparchy and the Cathedral in 2005.

Metropolia of Philadelphia for the Ukrainians

The archeparchy is the metropolitan see of the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolia of Philadelphia. The archeparchy has three suffragan

eparchies Eparchy ( ''eparchía'' "overlordship") is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the administrative structure ...

: Eparchy of Parma, Saint Nicholas of Chicago, and Stamford.

Parishes

The archeparchy governs parishes in the following states: *

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

* Pennsylvania (eastern counties) *

References

Sources

Catholic-Hierarchy.org''History of the Metropolia''
(Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia official website)
Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

External links

Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia Official Site
{{authority control

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Christian organizations established in 1913 Ukrainian-American culture in Pennsylvania Ukrainian-American culture in Maryland Ukrainian-American culture in New Jersey Ukrainian-American culture in Washington, D.C.

Poplar, Philadelphia 1913 establishments in Pennsylvania Ukrainian-American culture in Philadelphia