Union of Uzhhorod

The Union of Uzhhorod was the 1646 decision of 63 Ruthenian Orthodox priests from the south slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, then within the Kingdom of Hungary, to join the Catholic Church on terms similar to the Union of Brest from 1596 in the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

History

Signed in the Castle of Uzhhorod on April 24 by the Roman Catholic bishop Jakusits of Eger, the union was initiated on the Ruthenian side by the Basilian monastic order under the leadership of the monk Petro Parfenii (Peter Parthenius). The agreement allowed that the Eastern Byzantine church rite would be preserved and that the new "Uniate" priests would be elevated to the status of Roman Catholic clergy. As Orthodox clergy their status had been that of vassals with the requisite feudal duties.

The Basilian monks, led by Parfenii, agreed to the Union of Uzhhorod based on the following understandings:
* Preservation of eastern rites
* The right to choose bishop, subject to the approval of Rome
* Being granted the privileges of the Roman-Catholic clergy

There have been no original copies of the Union of Uzhhorod found in church or civil archives. The Union is documented in a petition dated January 16, 1652 in which six archdeans petition Vatican to confirm Petro Parfenii as the Bishop of Mukacheve.

The Union was approved by the Synod in Tyrnov (1648), however the Vatican did not ratify these conditions at that time, because Parfenii was an orthodox bishop. Only in 1655, when Rome made Parfenii its bishop of Mukacheve did the Union extend to the East. By 1721, the Union encompassed the entire Carpathian region.

In 1949 Soviet authorities "revoked" the Union, creating the Orthodox Eparchy of Mukachiv-Uzhhorod, under the Patriarch of Moscow. In the late 1980s the Uniate church was re-established in Transcarpathia, following the easing of Soviet religious persecution.

See also

* Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
* Ruthenian Catholic Church
* History of Christianity in Ukraine

References

*cite book | author=Magocsi, Paul Robert and Ivan Pop | title=Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture| location=Toronto | publisher=University of Toronto Press | year=2005 | id=ISBN 0-8020-3566-3
*cite book | author=Warzeski, Walter C. | title=Byzantine Rite Rusins in Carpatho-Ruthenia and America | location=Pittsburgh | publisher=Byzantine Seminary Press | year=1971 | id=ISBN none
*Ludvik Nemec, The Ruthenian Uniate Church in Its Historical Perspective, "Church History", Vol. 37, No. 4. (Dec., 1968), pp. 365-388. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-6407%28196812%2937%3A4%3C365%3ATRUCII%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L JStor.org]

External links

* [http://www.simkovich.org/religion.htm Simkovich.org: Union of Uzhorod details and related history]