The Ruthenian Uniate Church (; ; ; ) was a

particular church In metaphysics, particulars or individuals are usually contrasted with ''universals''. Universals concern features that can be exemplified by various different particulars. Particulars are often seen as concrete, spatiotemporal entities as opposed ...

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 territory of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. It was created in 1595/1596 by those clergy 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 ...

who subscribed to 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 the process, they switched their allegiances and

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

from the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is heade ...

to the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. The church had a single metropolitan territory — the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia. The formation of the church led to a high degree of confrontation among

Ruthenians A ''Ruthenian'' and ''Ruthene'' are exonyms of Latin language, Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common Ethnonym, ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term ...

, such as the murder of Archeparch Josaphat Kuntsevych in 1623. Opponents of the union called church members "

Uniate 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 ...

s". Catholic documents today no longer use this term due to its perceived negative overtones.

Background

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

is an ecclesiastical and cultural description of the eastern Rus' lands during the high

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The Greek and Latin equivalents of Rus' were ''Ῥῶς'' ('Rhos'), ''Ruscia'' and ''Ruthenia''. It had been an empire rather than a nation state since it had many principalities and some non-Slavic people. By the time of the Union of Brest, these names covered all the Eastern Slav peoples and lands, regardless of whether they belonged politically to the

Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow until 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as a minor principality in the 13th century, the gra ...

, the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

, the Crown of Poland or the Crown of Hungary. The Rus' accepted Christianity in its Byzantine form at the same time as the Poles accepted it in its Latin form; Lithuanians largely remained

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

to the late

before their nobility embraced the Latin form upon the

political union A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller politics or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal gove ...

with the Poles. The eastward expansion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had been facilitated by amicable treaties and inter-marriages of the nobility when faced with the external threat of the

Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' The Mongol Empire invaded and conquered much of Kievan Rus' in the mid-13th century, sacking numerous cities such as Principality of Ryazan, Ryazan, Principality of Yaroslavl, Yaroslavl, Principality of Pereyaslavl, Pereyaslavl and Vladimi ...

. Ethnically, the Catholics of the Commonwealth were Poles, Germans and Lithuanians. During the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

of the 16th century, both the Catholic Church in the Commonwealth and the Ruthenian Church underwent a period of decay. The Ruthenian Church was the church of a people without statehood. The Poles considered the Ruthenians as a conquered people. Over time, the Lithuanian military and political ascendancy did away with the Ruthenian autonomies. The disadvantageous political status of the Ruthenian people also affected the status of their church and undermined her capacity for reform and renewal. Furthermore, they could not expect support from the Mother Church in Constantinople or from their co-religionists in Moscow. Thus the Ruthenian church was in a weaker position than the Catholic Church in the Commonwealth.

Decay of the Ruthenian Church in the Commonwealth

Both the Catholic and the Ruthenian churches suffered from the policy of nominations to higher

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

s by the King, the indifference of the nobility, and a low state of clerical education and discipline. The monarchs used nominations to bishoprics as rewards to faithful civil servants. After Metropolitan Joseph II Soltan (1509–1522), the names of the great families are missing among the nominees to the bishoprics. While the great families could have obtained the nominations had they cared, since they did not, the nominees came from the poorer gentry and from the burghers. Prelates continued to live the style of life they were used to as laymen: they took part in raids and carried on trade and money lending. The Ruthenian Church had no

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

s to make up for the deficiencies of the bishops. The level of education of the Ruthenian peasantry had been falling during the sixteenth century. This was one of the main reasons for ecclesiastical decay and one of the impediments to renewal. For the common people, their religion was ritualism; attendance was often limited to baptism and church burial.

Church of a conquered people

Poles regarded Ruthenians as a conquered people. As such, Ruthenians became a second class people in society, their culture backward compared to the other ethnic groups in the Commonwealth. This delayed the church in recovering from the predations of the Reformation. While the Ruthenian nobility had equal rights with the Polish nobility, by the fifteenth century their ranks had been thinned by war and waves of emigration to the east. The Poles who took their place came to control the

sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

. If the Ruthenian aristocracy wanted to profit from its equality, it had to become Catholic and Polish. Intermarriage played a great role in the assimilation of the Ruthenian aristocracy; usually the Catholic faith prevailed. As a result, few Orthodox aristocratic families were left in Galicia or

Podilia Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Southern Bug, Boh River. ...

.HRUSHEVSKYI, MICHAEL S., ''Istoria Ukrainy-Rusy'', Volume V, Kiev, p38-40. By the second half of the sixteenth century, Ruthenian nobility had little reason to feel discriminated against. They had kept their wealth, had access to the highest offices, and were socially accepted as equals with the Catholic nobility. By absorbing the Polish form of Western culture, they were also the first to be lost for the Ruthenian people. With the loss of the elite, the Ruthenian Church and people increasingly lost leadership, representation in the government, and benefactors for church-sponsored programmes. While the Catholic Church in the Commonwealth had successfully resisted the appeal of the Reformation, the Ruthenian church continued to decay. The Ruthenian elite looked externally for aid. The Patriarch in Constantinople could send neither aid nor teachers. Protestant aid was unacceptable to many of them. They therefore turned to the Pope in the hope that he would curb the excesses of the Polish Catholics against Catholic Ruthenians. In this way, they also hoped that acceptance of the Ruthenian hierarchy into Catholic communion would also lead to acceptance of the Ruthenian elite into the political structure of the Commonwealth.

Ecclesiastical structure

Administrative divisions of the Greek Catholic Church in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772

Simmler Martyrdom of Josaphat Kuntsevych

Before the partitions of Poland

At the time of the negotiations for union there were eight Ruthenian bishoprics in the Commonwealth:Church Union of Berestia

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 ...

*The Metropolis of Kiev itself which had the following

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 ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

s and

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

s (archeparchies): :* Archeparchy of Polotsk (located in the modern state of

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

) :* Eparchy of Brest-Litovsk. The bishop also held the title of "Bishop of

Volodymyr Volodymyr (, ; ) is a Ukrainian given name of Old East Slavic origin. The related Ancient Slavic, such as Czech, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, etc. form of the name is Володимѣръ ''Volodiměr'', which in other Slavic languages became Vladimi ...

" in Volhynia. :* Eparchy of Lutsk and Ostroh also in the region of Volhynia. During the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

, Volhynia was occupied by Russian troops and the eparchy was converted to Orthodoxy until the troops were withdrawn. :* Eparchy of Turov and Pinsk in the region of

Polesia Polesia, also called Polissia, Polesie, or Polesye, is a natural (geographic) and historical region in Eastern Europe within the East European Plain, including the Belarus–Ukraine border region and part of eastern Poland. This region shou ...

:* Eparchy of Lviv :* Eparchy of Chełm :* Eparchy of

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

and

Sambir Sambir (, ; ; ) is a city in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the Capital city, administrative center of Sambir Raion (Raion, district) and is located close to the border with Poland. Sambir hosts the administration of Sambir urba ...

Later, the Archeparchy of Smolensk was erected.

Carpathian Rus' Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...

did not belong to the Commonwealth.

After the partitions of Poland

Following the partitions, its successor states treated the Uniate Church differently. This is a list of eparchies that followed upon the

partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign ...

(1772–1795): ;Within the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

In the territory annexed by the Russian Empire, the Church was effectively dissolved; most of the eparchies converted to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

. See

Synod of Polotsk The Synod of Polotsk was a local synod held on February 12, 1839, by the clergy of the Ruthenian Uniate Church, Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in the city of Polotsk for Union of Brest, reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church. Polotsk was ...

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

* Eparchy of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

;Within the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

In the territory annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, the Eparchy of

Supraśl Supraśl (; ; ) is a town and former episcopal see in Białystok County, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. It is the seat of the Gmina Supraśl. It is situated on the Supraśl (river), Supraśl River, about northeast of Białyst ...

operated from 1798 to 1809. Following the

Treaties of Tilsit The Treaties of Tilsit (), also collectively known as the Peace of Tilsit (; ), were two peace treaties signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland, at the end of the War o ...

, 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. * Eparchy of

(previously part of the Eparchy of Volodymyr-Brest) ;Within the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

In the territory annexed by the Austrian Empire, the Church continued to operate. It was reorganized as a

Greek Catholic Church Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite: ** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church ** The Belarusian Gre ...

— the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia. * Archeparchy of Lviv, Metropolitan of Galicia * Eparchy of Chełm * Eparchy of Przemyśl and Sambir A similar situation continued in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

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 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 ...

from 1989. Today, the metropolis is styled the Major Archeparchy of Kyiv–Galicia.

List of metropolitan bishops

Metropolitans before the partitions of Poland

Metropolitans of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Galicia and all

Ruthenia ''Ruthenia'' is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Rus'. Originally, the term ''Rus' land'' referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine. ''Ruthenia' ...

: * 1596—1599

Michael Rohoza Michael Rohoza (died 1599) was the Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus' in the Patriarchate of Constantinople of the Eastern Orthodox Church from 1588 to 1596. In 1595, he signed the Union of Brest which moved the metropolis from the eccle ...

(, ) * 1600—1613 Hypatius Pociej (, ) * 1613—1637

Joseph Rutski Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

(, ) * 1637—1640 Raphael Korsak (, ) * 1641—1655 Antonius Sielawa (, ) * 1666—1674 Gabriel Kolenda (, ) * 1674—1693 Cyprian Żochowski (, ) * 1694—1708 Leo Załęski (, ) * 1708—1713 George Winnicki (, ) * 1714—1729 Leo Kiszka (, ) * 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 Bulhak

Successor entities

There are three successor entities: *

whose primate holds the title of

Major archbishop In the Eastern Catholic Churches, major archbishop (sometimes also styled as major archeparch) is a title for the chief hierarch ("Father and Head") of an autonomous ('' sui juris'') particular Church that has not been "endowed with the patriarc ...

. The

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

(or metropolitan) of the Metropolis of Kyiv and Halych is

Sviatoslav Shevchuk Sviatoslav Shevchuk (; born 5 May 1970 in Stryi, Ukrainian SSR) is a Catholic Church in Ukraine, Ukrainian Catholic prelate who has served as the Ukrainian Catholic Major Archeparchy of Kyiv–Galicia, Major Archbishop of Kyiv–Galicia and P ...

. * Belarusian Greek Catholic Church *

Russian Greek Catholic Church The Russian Greek Catholic Church or Russian Byzantine Catholic Church is a ''sui juris, sui iuris'' (self-governing) Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic particular church that is part of the worldwide Catholic Church. Hi ...

Development in Ukraine and Belarus

Today, the Ruthenian Uniate Church has two ecclesiastical jurisdictions: the

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 and San Marino as the Apostolic Exarchate of Italy

Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church The Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, also known in the United States as the Byzantine Catholic Church, is a '' sui iuris'' (autonomous) Eastern Catholic particular church based in Eastern Europe and North America that is part of the worldwide ...

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, is a liturgical rite that is identified with the wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Chri ...

church of

Carpathian Ruthenia Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...

ns (better known as Rusyns). * Uniates of Podlasie in Wohyń

Notes

References

External links

Uniate Churches
Encyclopedia.com

an

at the

* Dzyuba, O.
Kyiv Uniate Metropolitan Eparchy (КИЇВСЬКА УНІЙНА МИТРОПОЛІЯ)
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine {{Development of the Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople 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