In Poland, a country in which 87.5% of citizens professed to be Roman Catholic in a 2011 survey about religion, there exists another Catholic Church — the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which has 55,000 members spread across two eparchies in the nation. As its name implies, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church does share many similarities with the Roman Catholic Church. The Church has been fully in communion with the Church in Rome for centuries and is overseen by Pope Francis. However, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church also traces its history to Byzantine practices and traditions, giving it the feel of an Eastern Orthodox Church. These linkages lead to differences in liturgy between the Roman Catholic Church and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church — Greek Catholic liturgies traditionally follow the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, feature much expressive singing, even for the Gospel, and use icons in the place of statues. Greek Catholics also tend to conduct most worship in Ukrainian, regardless of the location of the Mass, and tend to follow the Julian calendar instead of the more widely used Gregorian calendar.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church dates back to 988 A.D., when Prince Vladimir I of Kiev adopted Christianity in its Byzantine rites for his country, then known as Kyivan-Rus. The Church stuck with the Byzantine East following the Great Schism of 1054, but gradually inched closer to full reunion with the Church in the west. Such union was finally achieved in 1596 with the signing of the Union of Brest, in which the Greek Catholic Church agreed to go under the authority of the Pope in Rome but still maintain its own rites and be recognized as autonomous. The next few centuries saw Greek Catholics suffer persecutions in Russia on behalf of forced “conversions” to Russian Orthodoxy but also enjoy relative freedom and play a major role in preserving Ukrainian culture in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the end of World War II in 1918 and the subsequent partitions that came with it, Greek Catholics soon found themselves in a new age, one that would see the Church try to maintain its role as a bastion of Byzantium and a preserver of Ukrainian culture in predominantly Roman Catholic nations. The history of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Poland from 1918 to the turn of the 21st century provides a great glimpse into the ever-changing political landscapes of the 20th century, the importance of religion in Eastern Europe and the determination of a relatively small minority to keep their faith tradition intact — this website will try to contextualize and illustrate the events that occurred during this important period for Greek Catholics.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church dates back to 988 A.D., when Prince Vladimir I of Kiev adopted Christianity in its Byzantine rites for his country, then known as Kyivan-Rus. The Church stuck with the Byzantine East following the Great Schism of 1054, but gradually inched closer to full reunion with the Church in the west. Such union was finally achieved in 1596 with the signing of the Union of Brest, in which the Greek Catholic Church agreed to go under the authority of the Pope in Rome but still maintain its own rites and be recognized as autonomous. The next few centuries saw Greek Catholics suffer persecutions in Russia on behalf of forced “conversions” to Russian Orthodoxy but also enjoy relative freedom and play a major role in preserving Ukrainian culture in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the end of World War II in 1918 and the subsequent partitions that came with it, Greek Catholics soon found themselves in a new age, one that would see the Church try to maintain its role as a bastion of Byzantium and a preserver of Ukrainian culture in predominantly Roman Catholic nations. The history of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Poland from 1918 to the turn of the 21st century provides a great glimpse into the ever-changing political landscapes of the 20th century, the importance of religion in Eastern Europe and the determination of a relatively small minority to keep their faith tradition intact — this website will try to contextualize and illustrate the events that occurred during this important period for Greek Catholics.