Church of St. Andrew

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is a Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. It is the second-largest particular church in the Catholic Church . The church is one of the successor churches to the acceptance of Christianity by Grand Prince Vladimir the Great of Kiev, in 988. Its predecessor appeared in 1596 with the signing of the Union of Brest between the Ruthenian Orthodox Church led by Michael Rohoza and the Holy See. Following the partitions of Poland, in 1808 the eparchies of the original Ruthenian Uniate Church were split three ways between the Austrian Empire , Prussia , and the Russian Empire . Those three eparchies under Austrian jurisdiction were reorganized as the Greek Catholic Church soon after liquidation of all five eparchies that ended up in Russia. The Greek Catholic Church in Austria became a survivor of the original uniate church of the Brest Union . In 1963 the church was recognized as Ukrainian through the efforts of Yosyf Slipyi. The ordinary of the church holds the title of Major archbishop of Kiev-Halych and All Ruthenia, though the hierarchs and faithful of the church have acclaimed their ordinary as Patriarch and have requested Papal recognition of, and elevation to, this title. Major archbishop is a unique title within the Catholic Church that was introduced in 1963 as part of political compromise. Since March 2011 the head of the church is Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk. Within Ukraine itself, the UGCC is a minority of the religious population, being a distant second to the majority Eastern Orthodox faith. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the second largest religious organization in Ukraine in terms of number of communities. In terms of number of members, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ranks third in allegiance among the population of Ukraine after the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate. Currently, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church predominates in three western oblasts of Ukraine, including the majority of the population of Lviv, but constitutes a small minority elsewhere in the country. The church has followed the spread of the Ukrainian diaspora and now has some 40 hierarchs in over a dozen countries on four continents, including three other metropolitan bishops in Poland, the United States, and Canada.
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