The history of Christianity in Ukraine dates back to the earliest centuries of the history of Christianity, to the Apostolic Age, with mission trips along the Black Sea and a legend of Andrew the Apostle even ascending the hills of Kyiv. The first Christian community on territory of modern Ukraine is documented as early as the 9th century with the establishment of the Metropolitanate of Gothia, which was centered in the Crimean peninsula. However, on territory of the Old Rus in Kyiv, Christianity became the dominant religion since its official acceptance in 989 by Vladimir the Great, who brought it from Byzantine Crimea and installed it as the state religion of medieval Kyivan Rus (Ruthenia), with the metropolitan see in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is a major archiepiscopal sui iuris ("autonomous") Eastern Catholic church that is based in Ukraine. As a particular church of the Catholic Church, it is in full communion with the Holy See. It is the second-largest particular church in the Catholic Church after the Latin Church. The major archbishop presides over the entire Church but is not distinguished with the patriarchal title. The incumbent Major Archbishop is Sviatoslav Shevchuk.
The Union of Brest was the 1595–96 decision by the majority of Eastern Orthodox hierarchs in the Ruthenian lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to transfer their ecclesiastical jurisdiction from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the jurisdiction of the Holy See. The Eparchy of Mukachevo that was located in the Kingdom of Hungary was left out of the process. The union established the Ruthenian Uniate Church, which currently exists as the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church.
Josaphat Kuntsevych, OSBM was a Basilian monk and archeparch of the Ruthenian Uniate Church who on 12 November 1623 was killed by an angry mob in Vitebsk, in the eastern peripheries of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He remains one of the best-known victims of anti-Catholic violence related to implementing the Union of Brest, and has been declared a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church.
The Belarusian Greek Catholic Church or the Belarusian Byzantine Catholic Church, is one of the 23 Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular churches that are in full communion with the Holy See. It is the heir within Belarus to the Union of Brest and the Ruthenian Uniate Church.
The Major Archeparchy of Kyiv–Galicia (Kyiv–Halych) is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Major Archeparchy of the Catholic Church, that is located in Ukraine. It was erected on 21 August 2005 with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI. There are other territories of the Church that are not located in Ukraine. The cathedral church — the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ — is situated in the city of Kyiv. The metropolitan bishop is — ex officio — the Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The incumbent major archbishop is Sviatoslav Shevchuk.
The Conversion of Chełm Eparchy was the forced conversion of the Eparchy of Chełm–Belz that took place between January and May 1875. It was the last eparchy of the Ruthenian Uniate Church that remained on the territory of the Russian Empire following the partitions of Poland. The episcopal seat of the eparchy was in the city of Chełm (Kholm) in Congress Poland. Adherants and clergy were forced to join the Russian Orthodox Church — a Caesaropapist entity.
This is a list of leaders of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church which is a sui juris of the Catholic Church that is in full communion with the Holy See. As an Eastern Catholic church, it uses the Byzantine rite in the Church slavonic and Ukrainian languages in its liturgies. Leaders have held several titles over the centuries. The modern primate of the church holds the position of a major archeparch.
The Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' was a metropolis of the Eastern Orthodox Church that was erected on the territory of Kievan Rus'. It existed between 988 AD and 1596 AD. Canonically, it was under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The episcopal seat (cathedra) was located in the city of Kiev.
The Archeparchy of Polotsk-Vitebsk was an archeparchy of the Ruthenian Uniate Church that was situated in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1596 to 1839, it was a suffragan eparchy of the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia. The cathedral church of the archeparchy was Cathedral of Saint Sophia in the city of Polotsk.
The Eparchy of Lutsk–Ostroh was an eparchy in the Ruthenian Uniate Church. It was a suffragan eparchy of the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia. It was situated in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Today, the territory of the eparchy is located in the north-western part of the modern state of Ukraine; it encompassed the oblasts (provinces) of Volyn Oblast and Rivne Oblast. From 1921 to 1973, the eparchy was a titular see of the Eastern Catholic Church.
The Eparchy of Volodymyr–Brest was an eparchy of the Ruthenian Uniate Church from 1596 until 1795. It was situated in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between the rivers Bug and Styr on territory that is today located in parts of the modern states of Ukraine and Belarus. The eparchy was a suffragan of the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia.
The Ruthenian Uniate Church 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.
Heraclius Lisovsky or Heraclius Listovsky was a bishop of the Ruthenian Uniate Church served at first as administrator for Metropolitan see of the Uniate Church in the Russian Empire.
The Synod of Zamość was a Ruthenian Uniate synod held in 1720 in Zamość. It is considered a crucial event that stabilised the Uniate liturgy and organisation after this Church had managed to gain the upper hand among the Eastern Christians of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Having brought the Uniates into line with the Tridentine Catholicism, the synod remains a controversial issue, as its critics claim that it corrupted the Ruthenian Uniate traditions with too many borrowings from the Latins.
Joseph Semashko was an Eastern Catholic priest and bishop who played a central role in the highly controversial conversion of the Ruthenian Uniate Church of the western provinces of the Russian Empire to Russian Orthodoxy in 1837–1839. Subsequently, he became an archbishop in the Russian Orthodox hierarchy, elevated to the Metropolitan bishop of Vilnius and Lithuania in 1852.
Josaphat Bulhak was a hierarch of the Ruthenian Uniate Church in the western Russian empire. As head of the church, he had the title of Metropolitan of Kyiv, Galicia, and All Russia. After his death, the Ruthenian Uniate Church was absorbed by the Russian Orthodox Church, making him the last head of the Uniate confession in the Russian empire.
The Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus' was a metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Eastern Orthodox Church that was erected in 1620. The dioceses (eparchies) included the Eparchy of Kiev itself, along with the eparchies of Lutsk, Lviv, Mahilioŭ, Przemyśl, Polatsk, and Chernihiv. The dioceses lay in the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was at war with the Tsardom of Moscow for much of the 17th century. Around 1686, the Kiev and Chernihiv dioceses became Moscow-controlled territory. At the same time, the metropolis transferred from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Patriarchate of Moscow in 1686. It is a matter of dispute as to whether this de facto transfer was also de jure or canonical.
The Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia was an ecclesiastical territory or archeparchy of the Ruthenian Uniate Church, a particular Eastern Catholic church. It was erected in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1595/96 following the Union of Brest. It was effectively disestablished by the partitions of Poland (1772–1795). Its successor — the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church — continues to operate in the modern states of Ukraine and Poland. The first metropolitan was Michael Rohoza.
The Russian Orthodox Diocese of Vilnius and Lithuania, also known as the Lithuanian Orthodox Archdiocese, is a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church whose territory comprises the country of Lithuania, established in 1839. Its ruling bishop is appointed by the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate. Its headquarters is at the Holy Spirit Monastery in Vilnius, though nominally its cathedral is the Dormition Cathedral in Vilnius. Since 2010, its current head is Metropolitan Innokenty (Vasiliev).
