The Union of Brest (1596) and the Formation of the Greek Catholic Church

By the end of the 16^th century Catholic faith had been adopted by most Ukrainian nobles. The common people remained faithful to their Orthodoxy. So, it turned out that there was a religious split between the upper and lower classes in Ukraine. The Orthodox Church was in a deep crisis after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. (Constantinople Patriarchy was the centre of Orthodoxy). It was loosing its members to Catholicism which was becoming more and more prestigious and, consequently, more and more popular with the upper class. The cultural level of Orthodox priests was low. In contrast to their Catholic colleagues who were celibate and could concentrate all their efforts on church matters, Orthodox priests had to take care of their families. There was also a harmful tradition in Orthodox clergy families according to which sons inherited their fathers’ profession regardless of their inclination. Thus, the Orthodox Church in Ukraine had a problem getting gifted personnel. It was obvious that the Orthodox Church needed reforms. Besides, the conversion of the Ukrainian nobility to Catholicism depraved the Orthodox Church of material support as it was the nobility that played the major role in building and supporting churches and monasteries.

Gradually tension was rising between Catholic and Orthodox believers. Several high-ranking Orthodox priests decided to form a new kind of church which would include both Catholic and Orthodox elements and in such a way reconcile Catholic and Orthodox believers. They also hoped to receive equal rights with the Poles through this religious reform. The Catholic clergy and the Polish king adopted the idea of a new mixed church as they hoped that it would be an important step to final unification of the churches. The result was the formation of the so-called Union or Greek Catholic Church in 1596 in the town of Brest. This event went down into Ukrainian history as Beresteiska uniya.

The new Ukrainian Greek Catholic church²⁷ retained Orthodox religious rituals, the Julian calendar²⁸ and the Church-Slavonic language but got under the jurisdiction of the Roman Pope. The Greek Catholic clergy retained their right to have families and were also freed of taxes as their Catholic colleagues. However, contrary to the expectation of the leaders of the reform, most Ukrainians did not accept the new church. As a result of the reform the Ukrainian society split into three churches which did not like each other and had serious conflicts from time to time. The Greek Catholic Church was popular in Western Ukraine, the Orthodox – in Central and Eastern Ukraine, the Catholic was dominant among the nobility.

The Greek Catholic Church found itself in a very difficult position. The Orthodox believers considered them traitors while the Catholics often refused to recognize them as equals. The Greek Catholic Church played a major role in the formation of West-Ukrainian mentality which is different from the mentality of the Orthodox Ukrainians of the East. But the religious split had also some pluses as it stimulated competition between different churches, which were interested in spreading their influence, through building educational institutions and establishing printing houses. The religious polemics encouraged thinking, fostered the development of discussion culture (unknown in Moscow at the time).