thumb|Religious situation in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1573

The Union of Brest took place in 1595 and 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 practices, leading to the formation of the Ruthenian Uniate Church, which currently exists as the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church.

The union

Background

Rome-oriented Christians and their Byzantium-oriented counterparts formally severed connections from 1054. Subsequent attempts to unify Eastern Orthodox believers and the Catholic Churches were made on several occasions, including an instance in 1452 in which the deposed Metropolitan of Kiev, Isidore (in office from 1437 to 1441), endorsed the 1439 Union of Florence and formally promised the unity of the Ruthenian Orthodox Church with Rome.

In 1588–1589, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Jeremias II, traveled across Eastern Europe, particularly the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia, where he finally recognized the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow (estranged from Constantinople since the 1440s) and consecrated Patriarch Job of Moscow as the Eastern Orthodox All-Russian Patriarch (a dignity previously held by Isidore from 1437 to 1441). Patriarch Jeremias II deposed the Metropolitan of Kiev, , and with the approval of the King of Poland, Sigismund III, consecrated Michael Rohoza as the new Metropolitan of Kiev, Halych, and all Rus'. The 33 articles of Union were accepted by Pope Sixtus V. At first widely successful, the Union lost some of its initial support within the following several decades, mainly due to its enforcement on the Orthodox parishes, which provoked several massive uprisings.

;List of bishops who did not initially accept the union

  • Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus'
  • Archeparch of Polotsk–Vitebsk
  • Bishop of Smolensk
  • Bishop of Volodymyr–Brest
  • Bishop of Przemyśl-Sambir-Sanok (adopted the union in 1692)

;List of bishops who in 1590 signed the declaration of intent announcing to the Roman Catholic world for the first time that Ruthenians were in the unity of the Roman Church. The bull recites the events which led to the union, the arrival of Pociej and Terlecki at Rome, their abjuration, and the concession to the Ruthenians that they should retain their own rite, save for such customs as were opposed to the purity of Catholic doctrine and incompatible with the communion of the Roman Church. On 7 February 1596, Pope Clement VIII addressed to the Ruthenian episcopate the brief ', enjoining the convocation of a synod in which the Ruthenian bishops were to recite the profession of the Catholic Faith. Various letters were also sent to the Polish king, princes, and magnates, exhorting them to receive the Ruthenians under their protection. Another bull, ', dated 23 February 1596, defined the rights of the Ruthenian episcopate and their relations in subjection to the Holy See.

Terms

It was agreed that the formulation filioque should not be inserted in Ruthenians' Nicene Creed. The bishops asked to be dispensed from the obligation of introducing the Gregorian Calendar, so as to avoid popular discontent and dissensions, and insisted that the king of Poland should grant them, as of right, the dignity of senators. In 1620, the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia was erected under the care of the Patriarchate of Constantinople for dissenting Eastern Orthodox faithful. This resulted in parallel successions of metropolitans to the same ecclesiastical title in the territory of the Commonwealth.

See also

  • Union of Uzhhorod
  • Synod of Polotsk
  • Articles for the Reassurance of the Ruthenian people
  • History of Christianity in Ukraine
  • Jeremi Wiśniowiecki
  • Eastern Catholic liturgy
  • Theological differences between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church
  • Ecclesiastical differences between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church

Further reading

  • Gudziak, B. A. (2001). Crisis and Reform: The Kyivan Metropolitanate, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Genesis of the Union of Brest (Harvard Series In Ukrainian Studies). Cambridge: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.
  • Chynczewska-Hennel, T. (2002). The Political, Social, and National Thought of the Ukrainian Higher Clergy, 1569-1700. Harvard Ukrainian Studies, 26(1/4), 97–152.
  • Dmitriev, M. V. (2011). Conflict and Concord in Early Modern Poland: Catholics and Orthodox at the Union of Brest. In H. Louthan, G. B. Cohen, & F. A. J. Szabo (Eds.), Diversity and Dissent: Negotiating Religious Difference in Central Europe, 1500-1800 (NED-New edition, 1, pp. 114–136). Berghahn Books.
  • Tatarenko, L. (2005). La naissance de l’Union de Brest: La curie romaine et le tournant de l’année 1595. Cahiers Du Monde Russe, 46(1/2), 345–354.
  • Zema, V. (2011). Edificatory Prose of the Kyivan Metropolitanate: Between the Union of Florence and the Union of Brest. Harvard Ukrainian Studies, 32/33, 853–871.

Notes

References

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