Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Українська греко-католицька церква
Abbreviation	UGCC
Type	Particular church (sui iuris)
Classification	Eastern Catholic
Orientation	Eastern Christianity
Theology	Catholic Theology
Polity	Episcopal
Governance	Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Church[1]
Pope	Francis
Major Archbishop	Sviatoslav Shevchuk[2]
Parishes	c. 3993
Region	Mainly: Ukraine Minority: Canada, the United States, Australia, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Poland, Lithuania and Argentina
Language	Church Slavonic (official); Ukrainian, English, and other regional vernaculars
Liturgy	Byzantine Rite
Headquarters	Cathedral of the Resurrection, Kyiv, Ukraine
Founder	Michael Rohoza (as Ruthenian Uniate Church)
Origin	988, establishment of the Metropolitanate of Kyiv 1596, Union of Brest Brest, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Separated from	Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (1596, as Ruthenian Uniate Church)
Separations	Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church
Members	5.5 million[3]
Other name(s)	Ukrainian Catholic Church Ukrainian Greek Church Uniate Church
Official website	ugcc.ua

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History of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
History of Christianity in Ukraine Eastern Catholic Churches
Ruthenian Uniate Church to forced dissolution in Soviet Union
1595 Union of Brest
1806 transfer of Metropolitan See from Kyiv to Lemberg
1839 Synod of Polotsk
1875 Conversion of Chełm Eparchy
1907 First diaspora bishop
1946 Synod of Lviv
Council for Religious Affairs
Anti-Catholicism in the Soviet Union
Eastern Catholic victims of Soviet persecutions
Church in Exile
1963 Title of Major Archbishop conferred
Since re-legalization in Ukraine
1991 return of exiled priests and bishops to Lviv
2005 transfer of See from Lviv to Kyiv
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The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC)^[a] 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 third-largest particular church in the Catholic Church after the Latin Church and the Syro-Malabar 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 church regards itself as a successor to the metropolis that was established in 988 following the Christianization of Kievan Rus' by Grand Prince Vladimir the Great. Following the establishment of the metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus', by the terms of the Union of Brest, the Ruthenian church was transferred from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the jurisdiction of the Holy See in 1596, thereby forming the Ruthenian Uniate Church. The Union of Brest was a treaty between the Ruthenian Orthodox Church in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, under the leadership of the metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus'—Michael III—on one part, and the Latin Church under the leadership of Pope Clement VIII on the other part.^[4]

Following the partitions of Poland, the eparchies of the Ruthenian Uniate Church (Latin: Ecclesia Ruthena unita)^[5][6] were liquidated in the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Only the three eparchies that came under Austrian jurisdiction remained of the Brest Union. In 1963, the church was recognized as Ukrainian through the efforts of Yosyf Slipyi.

In 1963, the ordinary (or hierarch) of the church was granted the title of "Major Archbishop". He currently holds the title of "Major archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia". However, the hierarchs and faithful of the church acclaim their ordinary as "Patriarch" and have requested Papal recognition of this honour.

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