Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia

Archeparchy of Philadelphia

*Philadelphiensis Ucrainorum*
Archeparchy of Philadelphia; Philadelphiensis Ucrainorum
	Seat of the Archeparchy: The Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Location
Territory	Eastern and Central Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Ecclesiastical province	Ukrainian Catholic Metropolia of Philadelphia
Headquarters	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Statistics
Population; - Catholics (including non-members)	; 13,051
Parishes	64
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Rite	Byzantine
Established	May 28, 1913
Cathedral	Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Major Archbishop	Sviatoslav Shevchuk
Metropolitan Archbishop	Borys Gudziak
Auxiliary Bishops	Andriy Rabiy
Bishops emeritus	Stephen Soroka; John Bura
Map
	; Archeparchy of Philadelphia
Website
	Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia is the Catholic archeparchy governing all Ukrainian Greek Catholic eparchies and Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the United States. Its headquarters are at 827 North Franklin Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The current head of the Archeparchy is The Right Reverend Boris Gudziak, reigning since June 4, 2019.^[1] The previous metropolitan had been the Most Reverend Stefan Soroka, who was then replaced after his resignation due to health reasons by Apostolic Administrator Andriy Rabiy.^[2] The Archeparchy's territorial jurisdiction includes the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and the eastern and central portions of Pennsylvania.

Ukrainian Catholics in the United States were given sui iuris status as an ordinariate for the faithful of eastern rite by Pope Pius X in 1914. Prior to that, all Ukrainian Catholics had been under the jurisdiction of the local Latin Church ordinary. In 1924, the status of the ordinariate was elevated to that of exarchate, known as the Apostolic Exarchate of United States of America, Faithful of the Oriental Rite (Ukrainian). The Exarchate was then elevated to the status of Archeparchy by Pope Pius XII in 1950. In 1983, the Archeparchy lost part of its territory to the new (though still sufffragan) Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma erected by Pope John Paul II.^[3]

As of 2016 the Archeparchy has approximately 13,051 Catholics and 64 parishes under its canonical jurisdiction.^[4]

Iconostasis at the Ukrainian Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia.

Bishops[]

Ordinary of the United States of America[]

Soter Stephen Ortynsky de Labetz, O.S.B.M. (1907–1916)

Archeparchs of Philadelphia[]

Constantine Bohachevsky (1924–1961)
Ambrozij Andrew Senyshyn, O.S.B.M. (1961–1976)
Joseph Michael Schmondiuk (1977–1978)
Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky (1979–1980), appointed Coadjutor Archeparch and later Archeparch of Lviv (Ukrainian)
Stephen Sulyk (1980–2000)
Stephen Soroka (2000–2018)
Borys Gudziak (2019–present)

Other priests of this eparchy who became bishops[]

Jaroslav Gabro, appointed Bishop of Saint Nicholas of Chicago (Ukrainian) in 1961
Richard Stephen Seminack, appointed Bishop of Saint Nicholas of Chicago (Ukrainian) in 2003

Auxiliary Eparchs of Philadelphia[]

Ivan Bucko (1940–1945)
Ambrozij Andrew Senyshyn, O.S.B.M. (1942–1956), appointed Eparch of Stamford
Joseph Michael Schmondiuk (1956–1961), appointed Eparch of Stamford
John Stock (1971–1972)
Basil Harry Losten (1971–1977), appointed Eparch of Stamford
Robert Mikhail Moskal (1981–1983), appointed Eparch of Saint Josaphat in Parma
Michael Kuchmiak, C.Ss.R. (1988–1989), appointed Eparch of Holy Family of London
Wolodymyr Paska (1992–2000)
John Bura (2006–2019)
Andriy Rabiy (2017–present)

Cathedral[]

The seat of the Archeparchy is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, built in the style of the Hagia Sophia,^[5] and located across the street from the Archeparchy's offices. In 1979, it hosted a papal visit by Pope John Paul II, the first time a Roman Pontiff had visited an Eastern Catholic church in the United States. In addition, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and his wife paid a state visit to the Archeparchy and the Cathedral in 2005.

Metropolia of Philadelphia for the Ukrainians[]

The archeparchy is the metropolitan see of the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolia of Philadelphia. The archeparchy has three suffragan eparchies: Saint Josaphat in Parma, Saint Nicholas of Chicago, and Stamford.