Annual Report. PATRIARCHAL CURIA UGCC 2019

8 The UGCC backstory: Who are we? History in brief We are a Church sui iuris, a term that defines the special autonomy of the Eastern Catholic Churches We are fully united with the successor of St. Peter — the Bishop of Rome We are bearers of the Eastern Byzantine Christian tradition since the time of Volodymyr's baptism in 988 AD Our history, geographical location, religious and church experience call on us to promote full mutual understanding between the two Christian traditions, Byzantine and Latin 1439: Presentation of Kyiv Bishop Isidor at the Ecu- menical Council of Florence in an attempt to unite with the See of Rome 988: Baptism of Kyivan Rus in the Byzantine Rite by Volodymyr the Great 1839: Kyiv Metropole liqui- dated by the Russian tsar. The Kyiv Metropole, which was united with Rome, encompassed central and eastern Ukraine. This led to the closing almost 3,000 parishes and the imprison- ment of priests and faith- ful. This loss has not been restored to this day 1807: Metropolitan See moved from Kyiv to Lviv. Pope Pius VII issued a bulla: In universalis Ecclesiae regimine, which canonical- ly restored the Halychyna Metropolitan Province. The Greek Catholic Met- ropolitan See in Kyiv was moved to Lviv after its liqui- dation by the Russian Tsar 1596: Union of Brest recon- firms the union with the See of Rome, ensuring the preserva- tion of the traditional Eastern Rite of the Church and its own ethnic and cultural identity. 13 eparchies (dioceses) of Kyiv, Volodymyr, Brest, Lutsk, Ostroh, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Sam- bir, Kamianetsk, Kholm, Bels, Pinsk, and Turovsk joined the Union in 1596; Przemysl joined in 1691 and Lviv in 1700. The Church was called the Uniate Church The UGCC backstor y : Who are we?