Bishop Cyril S. Terlecki (, Kyrylo Terletsky; , Kiryla Ciarlecki; ; died May 1607) was a religious and political figure and one of the initiators of the conclusion of the

Union of Brest The Union of Brest took place in 1595–1596 and represented an agreement by Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Ruthenian portions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to accept the Pope's authority while maintaining Eastern Orthodox liturgical ...

in 1596. He served as the

eparch Eparchy ( ''eparchía'' "overlordship") is an Ecclesiology, 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 administra ...

of the Eparchy of Lutsk–Ostroh as both an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

and

Ruthenian Uniate Church The Ruthenian Uniate Church (; ; ; ) was a Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, 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 Ea ...

Life

Cyril came from a noble family whose roots were out of Przemysl Land. The members of this family held high ecclesiastical positions in the first half of the 15th century. In the 1560s, he was the archpriest of the church of St. Dmitry in

Pinsk Pinsk (; , ; ; ; ) is a city in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Pinsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is located in the historical region of Polesia, at the confluence of t ...

. In 1572, the then-Bishop of Turov-Pinsk, Brest, Andrew Rusin, died. In 1575, Terlecki, who at that time was a widower and could accept monastic tonsure, began campaigning to become bishop of the Turov-Pinsk Diocese and, during the interregnum, received a diploma in the Turov-Pinsk diocese. Terlecki supported Prince

Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski (; ; ; 2 February 1526 – 13 or 23 February 1608) was a Ruthenian Orthodox magnate of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a prince, starost of Volodymyr, marshal of Volhynia and voivode of the Kiev Voivodeship. O ...

, who had land holdings in Pinsk county. After becoming bishop, Terlecki demanded the rights and privileges of the clergy, collected documents from the historical past of his predecessor, and compiled the diocesan archives. Furthermore, he paid special attention to strengthening the economic situation of the church. Around this time, he sponsored the building of the Church of the Holy Spirit in

and cared for the poor. In 1585, the bishop of Lutsko Ostrozhsky, John-Borzobahatyy Krasenskyy, died, and in May of that year, King Stefan Batory appointed Terlecki his successor. In August 1589, Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremias II appointed Terlecki as Exarch – the first for a Ukrainian bishop. Church career * 1575 – 1585 – Turov-Pinsk Orthodox bishop * 1585 – 1595 – Lutsk-Ostrog Orthodox bishop * 1596 – 1607 – Lutsk-Ostrog Uniate Bishop Union The decline of the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

in the lands of the Commonwealth led Terlecki and other bishops to seek a rapprochement with the Catholic Church. In June 1590, the congress of bishops in Belha, Terlecki, together with other bishops, first raised the issue of the necessity of the Orthodox and Catholic churches. In 1594, at the Congress in the Zocalo, Terlecki instructed to negotiate the conclusion of a future union. In June 1595, members of the Council of Brest agreed on texts of the appeals to the Polish King

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...

and the Pope

Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominen ...

and decided to send a delegation consisting of Terlecki and Ipatii Potii to Rome. In 1596, Terlecki participated in the Council of Brest, which solemnly proclaimed the ecclesiastical union of the Metropolis of Kyiv and the Roman Catholic Church. In 1598, King

bestowed the title of

archimandrite The title archimandrite (; ), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot ('' hegumenos'', , present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") whom a bishop appointed to supervise several "ordinary" abbots and monaste ...

upon him. Following his death, he was buried at the Cathedral of

Lutsk Lutsk (, ; see #Names and etymology, below for other names) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Volyn Oblast and the administrative center of Lutsk Raion within the oblast. Lutsk has a populati ...

External links

Kyrylo Terletsky
at

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' (), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was created under the auspices of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Europe (Sarcelles, near Paris). As the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Terlecki, Cyril Converts to Eastern Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy Ukrainian Eastern Catholics Former Ukrainian Orthodox Christians Ruthenian nobility of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Eastern Orthodox bishops in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Bishops of the Ruthenian Uniate Church 1607 deaths Year of birth unknown People from Brest Litovsk Voivodeship Eastern Orthodox bishops of Lutsk

Life

Further reading

External links