Union of Brest

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Religious situation in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1573

The Union of Brest[a] 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 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

Union of Florence
and formally promised the unity of the Ruthenian Orthodox Church with Rome.

In 1588–1589, Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremias II traveled across Eastern Europe, particularly the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia, where he finally acknowledged 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, Onesiphorus Divochka [uk], and with the approval of the King of Poland Sigismund III, consecrated Michael Rohoza as the new Metropolitan of Kiev, Halych, and all Rus'[1] (Jeremias was notably imprisoned by the Ottomans and by the Muscovites, and was forced to elevate the see of Moscow to a patriarchy.[2]).

Negotiations

After Patriarch Jeremias II left Muscovy in 1589,

Orthodox
parishes, which provoked several massive uprisings.

List of bishops who did not initially accept the union
List of bishops who in 1590 signed the declaration of intent[1]
List of bishops who later joined the agreement

At the request of Prince

Patriarch of Moscow, and Metropolis of Moldavia and Bukovina for joint participation in agreement with the Latin Church.[1]

In 1595, both Hedeon Balaban and Mykhailo Kopystenskyi withdrew their signatures from the agreement.[1] That same year the Archbishop of Polotsk, Nathaniel Sielitskyi, died, and was replaced with Herman Zahorksyi.

Proclamation

The union was solemnly and publicly proclaimed in the Hall of Constantine in 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 Benedictus sit Pastor ille bonus, 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, Decet Romanum pontificem, dated 23 February 1596, defined the rights of the Ruthenian episcopate and their relations in subjection to the Holy See.[5]

Terms

It was agreed that the formulation

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.[5]

Outcomes

Religious situation in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1750

The union was strongly supported by 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

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.[8][9]
  • 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.
  • Litwin, Henryk (1987). "Catholicization among the Ruthenian Nobility and Assimilation Processes' in the Ukraine during the Years 1569-1648" (PDF). Acta Poloniae Historica. 55: 57–83.
    ISSN 0001-6829
    .
  • Pekar, Athanasius (1992). "The Union of Brest and attempts to destroy it". Analecta Ordinis S. Basilii Magni. 20. Romae: Sumptibus PP. Basilianorum: 152–170. Archived from the original on 2011-01-07.
  • 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

  1. ^ (Belarusian: Берасцейская унія, romanizedBieraściejskaja unija; Lithuanian: Bresto unija; Polish: Unia brzeska; Ukrainian: Берестейська унія, romanizedBerestejśka unija)
  2. ^ See the 1575 Profession of faith prescribed for the Greeks.[6]: nn. 1303, 1307, 1863–1870, 1985–1987 

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hudziak, B.O., Tu, O.Yu. The 1596 Brest Church Union (БЕРЕСТЕЙСЬКА ЦЕРКОВНА УНІЯ 1596). Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine.
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  5. ^ a b  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainPalmieri, Aurelio (1912). "Union of Brest". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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External links