The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia is a

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church (sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's C ...

ecclesiastical territory or

archeparchy Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on t ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in the Eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Its

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, 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, mak ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The Archeparchy of Philadelphia is a

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a t ...

with three suffragan eparchies in its

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

. The Archeparchy of Philadelphia's territorial jurisdiction includes the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, and the eastern and central portions of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. 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 ''

The Right Reverend The Right Reverend (abbreviated The Rt Revd, The Rt Rev'd, The Rt Rev.) is a style (manner of address), style applied to certain religion, religious figures. Overview *In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom, ...

'' Boris Gudziak, reigning since June 4, 2019. Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the United States were given ''

sui iuris ''Sui iuris'' ( or ) also spelled ''sui juris'', is a Latin phrase that literally means "of one's own right". It is used in both secular law and the Catholic Church's canon law. The term church ''sui iuris'' is used in the Catholic ''Code of Can ...

'' status as an

ordinariate for the faithful of eastern rite An ordinariate for the faithful of Eastern rite is a geographical ecclesiastical structure for Eastern Catholic communities in areas where no eparchy of their own particular Church has been established. This structure was introduced by the apostol ...

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio 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 modernist interpretations of C ...

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

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

ordinary. In 1924, the status of the ordinariate was elevated to that of

exarchate An exarchate is any territorial jurisdiction, either secular or ecclesiastical, whose ruler is called an exarch. The term originates from the Greek word ''arkhos'', meaning a leader, ruler, or chief. Byzantine Emperor Justinian I created the firs ...

, 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 ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

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 Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

) Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma erected by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. , 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. The Order of Saint Basil the Great ( uk, Чин Святого Василія Великого, translit=Chyn Sviatoho Vasyliia Velykoho; la, Ordo Sancti Basilii Magni, abbreviated OSBM), also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat, is ...

(1907–1916)

Archeparchs of Philadelphia

# Constantine Bohachevsky (1924–1961) # Ambrozij Andrew Senyshyn, O.S.B.M. (1961–1976) #

Joseph Michael Schmondiuk Joseph Michael Schmondiuk, D.D. (August 6, 1912 - December 25, 1978), born in Wall, Pennsylvania, was an Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. He is the first bishop of the church who was born in the United States. On August 14, 1961, he wa ...

(1977–1978) #

Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky ( uk, Мирослав Іван Любачівський; 24 June 1914, Dolyna, Austria-Hungary – 14 December 2000, Lviv, Ukraine), cardinal, was bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia in the ...

(1979–1980), appointed Coadjutor Archeparch and later Archeparch of Lviv (Ukrainian) #

Stephen Sulyk Stephen Sulyk ( uk, Стефа́н Су́лик; October 2, 1924 – April 6, 2020) was a Ukrainian-American hierarch who was an archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. He died from complications brought on by COVID-19 during the C ...

(1980–2000) # Stephen Soroka (2000–2018) #

Borys Gudziak Borys Gudziak (born 24 November 1960) is the current Archeparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. He founded the Institute of Church History and served as the rector and president of the Ukrainian Catholic University. He wa ...

(2019–present)

Other priests of this eparchy who became bishops

Jaroslav Gabro Jaroslav Gabro (July 31, 1919 - March 28, 1980) was a bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as the first eparch (bishop) of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saint Nicholas of Chicago from 1961 to 1980. Biography Born in ...

, 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 Saint Josaphat in Parma * Michael Kuchmiak, C.Ss.R. (1988–1989), appointed Eparch of Holy Family of London * Wolodymyr Paska (1992–2000) *

John Bura John Bura ( uk, Іван Бура; 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 20 ...

(2006–2019) * Andriy Rabiy (2017–present)

Cathedral

The

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

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

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

, 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 called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of t ...

church in the United States. In addition,

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

President

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. As an informal leader of th ...

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 ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the ...

: Saint Josaphat in Parma, Saint Nicholas of Chicago, and Stamford.

Parishes

The archeparchy governs parishes in the following states: *

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

* 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, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Philadelphia, Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Churches in Philadelphia

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