Union of Uzhhorod

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The Union of Uzhhorod (referred to in the Rusyn language as the Union of Uzhorod and in the Hungarian language as the Union of Ungvár), 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. The modern result of this union is the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church.

History[]

For over 600 years, the Orthodox Church was the only Rusyn church in the Carpathians. But under the growing influence of the then ruling Austro-Hungarian Empire, Orthodox clergy were reduced over time to the legal status of peasant-serfs, and even the bishop of Mukachevo was at the mercy of the Hungarian lords. As Orthodox clergy their status had been that of vassals with the requisite feudal duties.

To improve their condition, some Orthodox priests attempted to form a new church under the Catholics. In 1614, 50 priests convened at the Krasni Brid Monastery with this intent, but a crowd of Orthodox protested and dispersed the group. A second attempt in the 1630s under Bishop Vasyl Tarasovych also failed. Finally in April 1646, Bishop Parfenii Petrovich (Petro Parfenii#Biography) was able to convene a meeting of 63 (out of a few hundred) priests who pledged their allegiance to the Pope of Rome.

Signed in the Castle of Ungvár on April 24 by the Roman Catholic bishop of Eger, , their document became known as the Union of Uzhorod (Rusyn) or the Union of Ungvár (Hungarian), resulting in the formation of the Greek Catholic Church. This new Church was given greater material assistance from the Austro-Hungarian Empire while being allowed to preserve their Eastern Rite traditions, including married priests. Further, the new "Uniate" priests would be elevated to the status of Roman Catholic clergy, and they were given the right to choose their own bishop, subject to the approval of Rome.

While the Union was later approved by the Synod in (1648), the Vatican did not ratify these conditions at that time, because Parfenii Petrovich was an Orthodox bishop. Only in 1655, when Rome made Parfenii its Bishop of Munkács did the Union extend to the East. Thus, from 1646 onwards, the Rusyns had two bishops, a new Greek Catholic bishop and the original Orthodox bishop, until 1721 when the last remaining Orthodox priests in the western counties accepted the Union.^[1] Some priests in the eastern counties of Bereg and Maramaros remained Orthodox until 1745.^[2]

An original copy of the Union was discovered in May 2016, a half page in length followed by a page and a half of signatures of the local priests seeking full communion with the local Catholic Church.^[3] The Union is again documented in a petition dated January 16, 1652 in which six archdeans petition Vatican to confirm Petro Parfenii as the bishop of Munkács (Mukachevo).

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

See also[]

• Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
• History of Christianity in Ukraine
• Eastern Orthodox – Roman Catholic theological differences
• Eastern Orthodox – Roman Catholic ecclesiastical differences

References[]

Sources[]

• 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.
• Magocsi, Paul Robert and Ivan Pop (2005). Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-3566-3.
• Warzeski, Walter C. (1971). Byzantine Rite Rusins in Carpatho-Ruthenia and America. Pittsburgh: Byzantine Seminary Press. ISBN none.
• Ludvik Nemec, The Ruthenian Uniate Church in Its Historical Perspective, Church History, Vol. 37, No. 4. (Dec., 1968), pp. 365–388. JStor.org
• Tóth, István György (2002). "Počiatky rekatolizácie na východnom Slovensku (The Beginning of re-Catholicization in Eastern Slovakia)". Historický časopis. 50 (4): 587–606.
• Véghseő, Tamás (2015). "Reflections on the Background to the Union of Uzhhorod / Ungvár (1646)" (PDF). Eastern Theological Journal. 1 (1): 147–181.

External links[]

• ByzCath.org: The Union of Uzhorod English text
• EWTN: Apostolic Letter of Pope St. John Paul II the Great on The 350th Anniversary of the Union of Uzhorod

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)