Ruthenians

RUTHENIANS. - In the terminology of the Roman Curia and of the Royal Chancery of Poland, from the Middle Ages the term R. designated the Christian populations of the Byzantine-Slavic rite residing to the west of the line running roughly from the upper Dvina to the lower Dnieper.

I. INCORPORATION OF THE RUTHENIANS INTO THE POLISH-LITHUANIAN STATE

In the 10th-12th centuries these regions were for the most part under the dominion of the various Rurikid princes grouped around the Grand Prince of Kiev (v. RUSSIA, I, History). After the conversion of the Grand Prince of Kiev, St. Vladimir (980-1015), Byzantine-Slavic rite Christianity spread rapidly throughout all the Ruthenian principalities, and the bishoprics erected there formed part of the metropolis "of Kiev and of all Russia" (v. KIEV), which depended on the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Consequently, following the Byzantine schism, the R. too found themselves separated from communion with Rome. In the course of the 13th century, internal wars and the invasions of the Tatars so disintegrated the federation of the Rurikid princes that in the 14th century the Ruthenian principalities — including the city of Kiev — were progressively conquered by Lithuania and Poland. The political union between Poland and Lithuania, begun in 1386 with the marriage of the Grand Prince Jagiello to Queen Jadwiga and later strengthened by the agreements of Horodło (1413) and Lublin (1569), also brought the R. together within the sphere of the Polish-Lithuanian State, where they represented an important factor in political life.

These political vicissitudes and the transfer of the seat of the Metropolitan of Kiev to Moscow also compromised the unity of the metropolis itself. The Patriarchs of Constantinople, following the fluctuation of political conditions, now and then dismembered the metropolis by appointing separate metropolitans for Halych and for Lithuania, and now and then reunited it in the hands of the single metropolitan residing in Moscow. Finally the metropolis "of Kiev and of all Russia" thus found itself reunited under the Metropolitan Isidore (v.), appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1436. Isidore took part in the Council of Florence (v.), where together with the Greeks he adhered to the union and then promulgated it both in Poland and in Russia (in 1441). Imprisoned for this in Moscow by the Grand Prince Vasily, he managed to escape, and being unable to remain even in Poland, because the antipope Felix V was then recognized there, Isidore withdrew to Rome, where in 1458 he renounced the see of Kiev. His successor Gregory (1458-72) was recognized by King Casimir (1445-92), but his effective jurisdiction was limited to the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian State. Gregory's successors remained in communion with Rome down to the Metropolitan Joseph Soltan (1507-21), but afterwards they again sought canonical investiture from the Patriarchs of Constantinople.

II. UNION OF BREST LITOVSK

Meanwhile, in the common Polish-Lithuanian state, the predominance of the Polish-Catholic element, economically, socially and culturally superior to the R., kept growing.

The Ruthenian nobility, which had continuous contacts with the Polish nobility in the frequent diets and in the army, inevitably came under the influence of Polish-Latin culture. Mixed marriages and Catholic schools, attended also by Ruthenian dissident youth, often led to conversion to Catholicism and to the acceptance of the Latin rite. After 1550 the propaganda of Protestantism also increased in Poland, where it won over many noble Catholic families and even more Ruthenian ones. In fact the dissident Church, religiously, culturally and socially weaker than the Catholic one, was not able to resist effectively on its own, nor could it be effectively helped from abroad, since the Church of Constantinople as well as that of Moscow were then in states politically hostile to the Polish-Lithuanian one. Nevertheless the dissident confraternities, led by those of Lviv and Vilnius, with their schools and publications offered a certain resistance to the expansion of Protestantism in the cities. A similar activity was also carried on by Prince Constantine Ostrogski (v.), aided in this by Prince Andrew Kurbsky and by the monk Artemius, Russian refugees. From the printing press attached to the school of Ostrog, then the only school of the dissidents that reached the level of the Catholic ones, there came out in 1581 the first Bible printed in the Church Slavonic language.

Meanwhile some Ruthenian bishops, on the one hand considering the disastrous state of their own Church and on the other seeing the success of the Catholic Church in the struggle against Protestantism, conceived the idea of union with Rome. They hoped that, by inserting their metropolis into the organism of the universal Church, they would improve its religious, cultural and social conditions and in this way would save it from imminent ruin. The plan of union was discussed secretly in some meetings of the bishops and negotiated with King Sigismund III (1587-1632), who favored the union also for political reasons. However, Prince Ostrogski was left aside, and this later created no small difficulties.

Finally the bishops Cyril Terletsky of Lutsk and Hypatius Potiej of Vladimir went to Rome, where on 23 Dec. 1595 they performed the act of obedience to Pope Clement VIII in the name of the whole Ruthenian episcopate. The Pope, with the bull of 23 Feb. 1596, confirmed all the ancient rights of the metropolis of Kiev. The Eastern rite and canonical institutions were to be preserved intact; the bishops were to receive canonical investiture from the metropolitan, who, elected by the bishops, was to be confirmed by the pope. The Synod of the Ruthenian bishops, held at Brest Litovsk from 6 to 10 Oct. 1596, solemnly proclaimed the union of the metropolis of Kiev with Rome. King Sigismund officially recognized the union and considered the united hierarchy as the only legitimate hierarchy of the R. However, the Ruthenian bishops of Lviv and of Peremyshl did not then adhere to the union, supported by a part of the monks and of the Ruthenian nobility with Prince Ostrogski at their head and by the numerous confraternities, especially those of Lviv and Vilnius. Therefore the metropolitan Michael Rahoza (1588-99), faithful to the union but weak, had to struggle against this opposition in order to apply the decisions of the Synod of Brest. His successor Hypatius Potiej (1600-1613), descended from the high nobility, a practical and energetic administrator, was better able to uphold the rights against the dissidents, who by means of lawsuits and insidious armed attacks sought to prevent the united hierarchy from exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Potiej obtained from the King the confirmation of all the rights and privileges already granted to the united faithful on the occasion of the union concluded at Florence.

III. CONSOLIDATION OF THE UNION

Potii was succeeded by his auxiliary bishop Giuseppe Veljamin Rutskij (v.). Potii had consolidated the union in the juridical and administrative field, but it was still necessary to make the adherence of the clergy and the people to the union more conscious and profound.

For this reason Rutskij wished to raise the religious and cultural level of the Ruthenian clergy and laity, which was inferior to that of the Polish Latin Catholics. For this purpose Rutskij needed schools such as the Latins had. He obtained from Paul V the juridical equalization of his schools with the Latin ones, but for lack of financial means he could not establish them. Even the famous dissident school of Ostrog passed in 1620 to the Jesuits. Nor did he succeed in opening the Seminary of Minsk, because the building and the goods destined for this purpose were restored by King Ladislaus IV to the dissidents.

Rutskij had more success in his reform of the Basilians (v.), who until then depended on the bishops and led a monastic life. Rutskij conceived the transformation of the Basilians into a great Order directed by a superior general distinct and independent from the metropolitan. The priests were to constitute the principal part of the Order and to devote themselves also to the care of souls. However, the bishops were all to be Basilians, as before. A general chapter of the Basilian monasteries accepted these proposals in 1621 and thus the reform began, later approved also by Rome. The reformed Order then became the fulcrum of the religious and cultural life of the Ruthenian metropolis unity. But at that time the relations between the metropolitan and the superior of the Order, from which all the bishops and high ecclesiastical dignitaries were to come, were not well defined. This later caused grave difficulties between the Order and the hierarchy.

The consolidation of the union was also hindered by the attitude of the Latin hierarchy, which opposed the full social and juridical equalization of the united clergy with the Latin one and especially the admission of the united bishops into the Senate, which was then the most notable sign of it.

The Latin bishops often regarded the united faithful as Catholics of an inferior grade and those of the Latin rite as the "true" ones. Therefore the Ruthenian nobility and bourgeoisie of the union, wishing to escape this social inferiority, passed over to the Latin rite, thus depriving the united Church of the element that was then economically, socially and culturally the most important. Rutsky and Rome understood the grave danger of this social degradation of the Ruthenian Church, and the Propaganda in 1624 forbade the free passage from one rite to another. But the decree was not published in Poland because of the opposition of the Latin episcopate, although the King was disposed to do so. In this way the union seemed to many a provisional thing, which prepared the R. for the passage to the Latin rite.

Other difficulties for the union came from the dissident hierarchy, re-established in 1620 by the patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophanes. The dissident bishops, although not officially recognized by the King, but supported by the dissident nobility, claimed churches, monasteries and goods of the united faithful, resorting even to violence, which culminated in 1622 with the killing of the united archbishop of Polotsk, St. Josaphat Kuncevyč. When King Ladislaus IV (1632-48) in 1635 recognized the new dissident hierarchy, Rutsky opened negotiations for the new union with the dissident metropolitan Peter Mogila (1633-47); but because of the King's lack of interest and the hostility of the Cossacks the negotiations failed. Rutsky died in 1637 leaving the union solidly rooted and organized, so that it was able to overcome the dangers that threatened it.

IV. THE UNION IN DANGER

Rutskij's successors, Rafaele Korsak (1637-40) and Antonio Sielava (1640-51), had to sustain serious struggles with the dissidents. In 1641 the Diet too ratified the equalization of the dissident bishops with the united ones, despite the protests of the united and Latin clergy and of the nuncio, who had to leave Poland. The united bishops again negotiated with the dissident bishops for the new union, but in vain. King John Casimir (1648-68), embroiled in war with Sweden, with Russia and with the Cossacks, concluded in 1658 with the latter at Hadiač a Treaty, which admitted Ukraine as the third member of the Polish-Lithuanian State and recognized therein only the Latin and dissident hierarchy, thus tacitly suppressing the union. In vain did the united bishops protest; they did not give up, but rather negotiated again with the dissidents for the union. When by the Treaty of Andrusovo (year 1667) Russia gained the left bank of the Dnieper and the city of Kiev, seat of the dissident metropolitan, King Casimir in 1668, before abdicating, withdrew the concessions to the dissidents and reconfirmed the privileges granted to the united metropolitanate, which under the guidance of the metropolitan Gabriele Kolenda (1666-74) consolidated itself and repaired the damages caused by the mortal danger just happily overcome.

V. VICTORY OF THE UNION

The prosperous development and the growing prestige of the Uniate Church, supported also by King John Sobieski (1676-96), exerted a favorable influence also on the three dissident bishops who still remained in Poland after the last territorial concessions made to Russia. In 1691 the Bishop of Peremyšl, Innocent Winnickij, promulgated the union; in 1700 the Bishop of Lviv, Joseph Šumljanskij; and in 1702 also the Bishop of Lutsk, Dionysius Žabokrickij. The clergy and the faithful, prudently prepared, accepted the union without difficulty. In 1708 the important stauropegial confraternity of Lviv, until then a stronghold of the schism, also adhered to the union. In this way, under the Uniate metropolitan almost all the Ruthenians of the Polish-Lithuanian state were united, and there remained only the insignificant dissident communities in the regions bordering Russia.

Having overcome the external difficulties, the Ruthenian Uniate Church could employ all its forces in the internal development of its own religious and cultural life. Serious difficulties arose from the disputes between the hierarchy and the Basilian Order. The monks, although occupying the important posts in ecclesiastical administration and in the care of souls, depended on the superior of the Order, who was independent of the metropolitan. Since all bishops had to be Basilian monks, their selection depended in practice more on the religious superior than on the metropolitan. An agreement (nexus) concluded in 1686 between the Order and the metropolitan did not substantially change the state of affairs, reserving to the metropolitan in practice only the right to receive appeals from the monks without granting him effective means to obtain the execution of his own decisions. Since the Ruthenians had no seminary of their own, they made use of scholarships reserved for them in the Latin schools, including abroad (Prague, Olomouc, Rome). The secular clergy, generally married, did not like to send their sons so far away, and therefore the cultural level always remained very low. However, the priests, especially the monks, trained in the Latin schools, came under the strong influence of Polish-Latin spirituality and culture, and this was not slow to manifest itself in the religious and cultural life of the Ruthenians, especially in the liturgy, into which many Latin forms and customs were progressively introduced (monstrance, eucharistic processions, side altars, low Mass, etc.). These arbitrary changes caused great uncertainty in liturgical practice, and to remedy this the metropolitan Leo Kiška (1714-29) convoked a Synod, which met in 1720 at Zamošč. The Synod introduced the Filioque into the Creed, established the norms for the new edition of liturgical books, approving various customs taken from the Latin rite. The Synod insisted on the necessity of schools and seminaries, issued decrees concerning ecclesiastical discipline modeling these on the decrees of the Council of Trent. The Synod of Zamošč represents in the religious field the reflection of the compromise between the traditional Byzantine-Slavic culture and the Polish-Lithuanian one, and constitutes a decisive turning point in the cultural and religious life of the Ruthenian metropolis. The metropolitan Athanasius Szeptickij (1728-46) prepared a new edition of liturgical books (1730-32), but even so uniformity in practice was not obtained. At that time the disputes between the hierarchy and the Basilian Order became particularly bitter. Finally, Pope Benedict XIV in 1733 invited the bishops to create seminaries and to call the secular clergy too to ecclesiastical dignities. From then on the Basilian monks were to depend, in religious discipline, on their own superiors, and in the care of souls on the bishops, like the Latin religious.

VI. DISMEMBERMENT OF THE METROPOLIA

The further development of the Ruthenian Uniate Church was interrupted by the first partition of Poland (1772), which also mutilated the Ruthenian metropolia. The R. of White Russia with the archbishopric of Polotsk were annexed to Russia, the dioceses of Peremyshl and Lviv to Austria. The "Four-Year" Diet (1788-92) attempted to reorganize the rest of the Polish state and also planned to place the Uniate clergy on a legal and social par with the Latin clergy. Meanwhile, numerous professors were formed among the Basilians, so that after the suppression of the Jesuits (1773) they took over a part of their schools. However, the two following partitions of Poland (1793-95) completely divided the metropolia as well among Russia, Prussia and Austria. Each of its parts then followed its own fate.

1. R. in Prussia

In 1795 the region of Bialystok, inhabited by R., also fell to Prussia. Pius VI erected for them in 1799 a new diocese with its seat in the monastery of Suprasl. With the Peace of Tilsit (1807) the region passed to Russia and from then on followed the fate of the R. in the Russian domains.

2. R. in Russia

In the first decade after the first partition of Poland the R. had no special difficulties. But in 1779 Catherine II (1762-96) stripped the archbishop of Polotsk, Giasone Junoša-Smogoševskij, of Russian citizenship when he was elected metropolitan. In 1785 he was succeeded in the diocese of Polotsk by Eraclio Lisovskij, faithful to the union, but weak in facing the growing difficulties. When in 1793 and 1795 new territories inhabited by Uniate R. were annexed to Russia, the government increased the pressure to induce them to pass to the dissident Church.

The metropolitan Teodosio Rostockij (1787-1805), having gone to Petersburg to intercede with the Empress in favor of the Uniates, was detained there until his death. Catherine II in 1795 suppressed the Uniate metropolia and all the dioceses except the archbishopric of Polotsk, to which she subjected all the Uniate R. of Russia. The brief reign of Paul I (1796-1801) eased the position of the Uniates. Alexander I (1801-25) in 1801 subjected the Uniates to the "Catholic Ecclesiastical College," the supreme administrative and judicial body for Catholics in Russia, presided over by the Latin archbishop of Mogilev Stanislao Siestrzenciewicz-Bohusz (1783-1826), a servile prelate and wholly devoted to the government, with no regard for the dispositions of the Holy See. In 1805 the College was divided into a Latin and a Uniate section, the latter presided over by E. Lisovskij. The Emperor Alexander also re-established the Uniate metropolia by erecting in 1809 four bishoprics (Vilna, Polotsk, Luck, Brest). Gregorio Kochanovič (1809-14), who succeeded Lisovskij (d. 1809), together with the other Uniate bishops made a declaration of fidelity to the Pope and decided to ask the Holy See as soon as possible for the ratification of the new ecclesiastical province. The metropolitan Giuseppe Bulhak (1817-38) obtained from Rome delegated metropolitan powers. But the Emperor Nicholas I (1825-55), an autocratic man and rigidly attached to the national dissident Church, was hostile to the Uniate Church. The young assessor of the College of the Uniates, Giuseppe Siemaško, educated in the Latin Seminary of Vilna according to the anti-Jansenist ideas of Josephinism, presented to the Tsar a plan for the subjection of the Uniate R. to the Russian dissident Church. Appointed auxiliary bishop of the metropolitan Bulhak, Siemaško, aided by his friends A. Zubko and G. Lužinskij, also appointed bishops, prepared the ground by replacing many faithful priests with others who were ready to pass to the schism. After the death of the metropolitan Bulhak, who had always remained faithful to the union, Siemaško, Zubko and Lužinskij with 21 priests on 12 Feb. 1839 proclaimed at Polotsk the reunion with the Russian dissident Church. The resisting priests were deported. Since the Ruthenian nobility had been almost entirely Latinized, the mass of the Uniate faithful, composed of peasants bound in serfdom, was protected by no one and every attempt at resistance was easily crushed by violence. Thus was the Uniate Church suffocated in Russia, which in 1825 counted 6 bishops, 1476 parishes with 1985 secular priests, 47 monasteries with 507 religious and 1,427,579 faithful.

After the failure of the Polish insurrection of 1863, a similar fate befell the Uniate diocese of Chelm, which had formed part from 1815 of the restored Kingdom of Poland governed by the Russian tsars. Siemaško's part was played here by the priest Marcello Popiel, administrator of the diocese, who, aided by some apostate priests coming from Austrian Galicia, proclaimed in 1875 in a diocesan Synod the reunion with the Russian dissident Church. The diocese of Chelm then counted about 300 parishes with 250,000 faithful. The resistance of the clergy and the faithful was violently repressed. From 1878 to 1905, with the approval of the Holy See, Catholic priests, especially Jesuits, coming from Austrian Galicia, went secretly to Russia for the spiritual assistance of these clandestine Uniates. About 200,000 of them, taking advantage of the Edict of toleration granted in 1905, declared themselves publicly Catholics again, but of the Latin rite, then the only one recognized in Russia.

3. R. in Austria

The Ruthenian dioceses of Lviv, Peremyshl and Chelm, which found themselves under Austrian rule, continued to recognize the jurisdiction of the metropolitan Teodosio Rostockij, detained in Petersburg, although they were unable to communicate with him. After the death of Rostockij (1805) the Emperor Francis I obtained in 1807 from the Holy See the erection of the Ruthenian metropolia of Halič, with its seat at Lviv, elevated to an archbishopric. The metropolitan was to be presented by the Emperor and confirmed by the Pope; the bishops, appointed by the Emperor, received canonical investiture from the metropolitan. The imperial Chancellery then fashioned for these R. the name of "Greek Catholics."

The first metropolitan was Antonio Anhelovič of Peremyshl (d. 1814), then the only surviving Ruthenian bishop in Galicia. In 1806 he took under his exclusive direction the central Seminary of Lviv, founded by Joseph II, reclaimed the usurped and confiscated ecclesiastical properties and in 1813 established at Lviv the metropolitan Chapter. His successor Michele Levickij (1816-58), in the metropolia diminished by the diocese of Chelm, which had passed to Russia, strove to improve the economic and social conditions of the Ruthenian clergy. The Concordat of 1855 guaranteed the perfect equality of the Ruthenian clergy with the Latin clergy and Levickij was elevated to the purple, the first Ruthenian cardinal after the union of Brest. The abolition of serfdom (1848) made possible for the R. the formation of a new educated class in place of the Latinized and Polonized nobility. Ruthenian chairs were also erected at the University of Lviv. The tranquil development of ecclesiastical life was disturbed by the internal political struggles between the Russophile and Ukrainian parties, which had their own adherents among the clergy. The struggles grew fiercer under the metropolitan Giuseppe Sembratovič (1870-82), who at first supported the Russophile party, but after the apostasy to schism of some Russophile priests (Ivan Naumovič, Marcello Popiel, etc.) abandoned it. Suspected by the government and fought by the radical Ukrainian party of Michele Drahomaniv, Sembratovič resigned. He was succeeded by his auxiliary bishop and nephew Sylvester Sembratovič (1885-1898). Meanwhile, in 1882, under the guidance of the Jesuits, the reform of the Basilians was begun, which transformed them into a modern Order of apostolic activity. In 1885 a part of the vast archdiocese of Lviv was erected into a diocese with its seat at Stanislaviv. To restore order and to divert the clergy from excessive political activity, the metropolitan convoked a Synod at Lviv in 1891, which completed the disciplinary and liturgical legislation of that of Zamość, adopting almost all the Tridentine decisions. The question of the celibacy of the secular clergy was debated but not resolved. In 1895 the decrees of the Synod were approved by the Holy See and the metropolitan Sembratovič was created cardinal. After the brief government of the metropolitan Julian Kuilovskij (1899-1900), Andrew Szeptyckyj (1900-44), bishop of Stanislaviv, succeeded. A native of the illustrious family of the former Ruthenian nobility, a man of vast culture and intelligent energy, he, avoiding radical extremisms, firmly claimed the rights of his people to full social and cultural development and to the use of their own language. Through his initiative or at least with his help, numerous religious, social and cultural works arose. In 1906 he instituted the monastic Order of the Studites. In 1907 the seminary was opened at Stanislaviv and the Ukrainian National Museum at Lviv. Alongside the Order of the Basilians, the eastern branch of the Redemptorists also established itself in Galicia in 1913. The cultural level of the clergy, who also studied abroad (in Vienna, Innsbruck and at the Ruthenian College opened in 1897 in Rome), rose rapidly, and in its ranks there already stood out worthy professors and writers of European standing. Female religious congregations also developed, which with their educational and charitable activity completed the apostolate of the clergy. Besides the female monasteries of the Basilian nuns, the Handmaids of the B. V. Mary Immaculate were founded in 1892, the Myrrh-bearing Sisters in 1910, the Sisters of St. Josaphat in 1911 and the Sisters of the Holy Family in 1912. The religious press also grew, especially the popular press.

This tranquil development was disturbed by the First World War (1914-18). Galicia was for the most part occupied by the Russian armies. In 1914 the metropolitan, together with numerous ecclesiastics, was deported to Russia and the occupying authorities supported the dissident movement, but with little success. In 1917 Szeptyckyj returned from Russia to his metropolis, which still had much to suffer because of the Polish-Ukrainian civil war. Once the war ended, the metropolis of Halič remained framed within the restored Poland. Despite many difficulties created by the political tension between Poles and Ukrainians, the metropolitan, always Christianly conciliatory and [a stranger] to radical extremisms, knew how to guide his metropolis toward the continuous development of religious and cultural life. In 1923 the publication of the theological journal Bohoslovia began, and in 1928 the Academy of Theology was opened at Lviv. The number of clergy and of religious of both sexes increased. The religious-cultural periodicals numbered about thirty. The metropolis of Halič counted in its three dioceses 3,576,237 faithful in 2,226 parishes with 2,275 secular priests.

With the new partition of Poland between Russia and Germany (1939), the metropolis found itself for a short time almost entirely under Soviet rule, but in 1941 it was occupied by German troops. The war paralyzed the normal development of religious and cultural life. With the definitive victory of the Soviet Union, the territory of the metropolis of Halič — with the exception of Peremyšl and its surroundings, which remained in Poland — was incorporated into the Soviet Ukrainian Republic. At first the Soviet authorities showed a certain tolerance toward the Uniate Church. After the death of the metropolitan Szeptyckyj (1944), Josyf Slipyj succeeded. In 1945 an open struggle against the Ruthenian Uniates began. All the most eminent bishops and priests were deported, and strong pressure was brought to bear on the others to induce them to go over to the dissident Church. Three priests - G. Kostelnik, G. Melnik and A. Pelveckij - backed by the Soviet government, founded a "Committee for Reunion with the Orthodox Church," which on 8 March 1946 officially proclaimed reunion with the Patriarchal Church of Moscow. The Soviet government recognized this act as the official abolition of the union. The Patriarch of Moscow appointed new dissident bishops, and all priests were forced to choose between apostasy and deportation. Not a few of them yielded, but their exact number is unknown.

VII. RUTHENIANS IN SUBCARPATHIA

The southern slopes of the Carpathians descending to the Hungarian plain had been inhabited by the R., Christians of the Byzantine-Slav rite from a period that cannot be exactly determined, with their religious center in the monastery of St. Nicholas near Mukačevo, the residence of the bishop, who depended on the patriarch of Constantinople. The Subcarpathian R. returned to union with Rome in the 17th century through the work of their bishops Basil Tarasovič (d. 1648), Parthenius Rostošinskij (d. 1668) and especially of the Greek John De Camillis (1689-1706). The united bishops had to overcome grave difficulties because of the Turkish wars and the hostility of the Calvinist family of the princes Rakoczy. In 1775 the bishop Andrew Bačinskij transferred his see to Užhorod, a more important city, and there in 1778 he also opened the Seminary. In 1818 another diocese was erected with its see at Prjašev. As a reaction against the growing Magyarization of the clergy and the Latinization of the rite, a pro-Russian politico-religious movement developed. When after the war of 1914-18 the Subcarpathian R. found themselves within the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic, a violent reaction against the Magyarization they had suffered broke out, leading in the years 1920-23 a part of the united faithful as far as schism. To check the movement the Holy See entrusted the dioceses to bishops of Ruthenian origin and sentiment, who enjoyed the esteem and trust of their own people: Mukačevo to Peter Gebej (1924-32) and then to Alexander Stojka (1932-43), Prjašev to Dionysius Njaradi (1922-27) and then to Peter Gojdič (from 1927).

The following twenty years marked for the Subcarpathian R. a great economic, social, cultural and also religious progress, promoted by the secular clergy, by the Basilians and by the Eastern Redemptorists. Ecclesiastical institutions, schools and the religious press were in full development. After the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in the years 1938-39 the bishopric of Mukačevo found itself in Hungary and that of Prjašev remained in Slovakia. In 1945 almost the entire territory of the diocese of Mukačevo was annexed to the Soviet Union. The Soviet authorities, after the violent suppression of the bishop Theodore Romža (1947), proceeded to the liquidation of the union according to the methods already tried in the metropolis of Halič, and the diocese of Mukačevo was officially incorporated into the patriarchate of Moscow on 28 Aug. 1949.

The diocese of Prjašev, however, which had remained in the re-established Czechoslovakia, was then resuming its normal life and counted 305,000 faithful with 500 priests. But in 1948 the communist regime was also established in Czechoslovakia, and within the framework of the general struggle against the Catholic Church it proceeded to the suppression of the union, which took place officially on 28 Apr. 1950 with the subjection of the diocese of Prjašev to the patriarch of Moscow. The bishop Peter Gojdič with his auxiliary Basil Hopko and numerous priests who resisted the schism were imprisoned.

VIII. RUTHENIANS IN EMIGRATION

In the 19th century difficult economic and social conditions drove numerous R. from both Galicia and Subcarpathia to emigrate to other regions of Europe and America. To provide religious assistance to the emigrants, Ruthenian priests, both secular and religious, reached them; for the larger groups the Holy See also gave its own bishops.

The R. in Yugoslavia depend on the united bishopric of Krizevci (v.) founded in 1777. In the United States the apostolic exarchate for the R. originating from Galicia (with its seat in Philadelphia) has 302,775 faithful, and that for the R. originating from Subcarpathia (with its seat in Pittsburgh) has 299,305 faithful. In Canada there are the apostolic exarchate of Western Canada (seat in Edmonton) with 310,355 faithful; the exarchate of Central Canada with 107,355 was divided in 1951 into the exarchate of Manitoba (seat Winnipeg) and that of Saskatchewan (seat Saskatoon). The R. in Brazil (about 100,000) and in Argentina (about 120,000) depend on the Latin bishops. The emigrants and the recent Ruthenian refugees in the countries of Western Europe (about 150,000) are administered by the apostolic visitor residing in Rome.

IX. ASSESSMENTS

The Ruthenians united - 5,182,285 in all - constitute the most numerous group of Catholics of the Eastern rite. By cultivating the ancient canonical, liturgical and spiritual traditions of the Christian East, while remaining in communion with the Apostolic See, they were palpable proof that the Catholic Church is universal not only de iure but also de facto. Overcoming difficult historical vicissitudes, the Ruthenians have demonstrated their vigorous and fruitful vitality. At this moment only the Ruthenians in emigration can freely continue these Eastern and Catholic traditions. The ancient Ruthenian episcopal sees in Halych and in Subcarpathia are usurped by dissident bishops, while the bishops, priests and laity faithful to the union with Rome are persecuted, exiled, imprisoned. But precisely these persecuted ones are the pledge of the future rebirth of the Ruthenian Church.

Giuseppe Olär

X. RUTHENIAN RITE

It is the Byzantine rite as it was practiced before 1945 in the Catholic eparchies of Lviv, Przemyśl, and Stanislaviv in Poland, of Munkacs and Prešov in Czechoslovakia, of Križevci in Yugoslavia, and as it is in use today in the ordinariates for Ruthenians in Canada and in the United States, among the numerous groups of Ruthenians in South America and among those scattered in central and western Europe. Among the Catholics of the Eastern rite it is the most numerous group.

The Ruthenian rite originated in Kiev when that country accepted Christianity from Constantinople in the 10th century and began to celebrate the liturgy in the Old Slavonic language. The versions came from the Bulgarians and the Serbs, but the rite developed with particular characteristics and without strict uniformity. The divergences are clearly seen in the manuscript codices and did not disappear when the printing of liturgical books began in the 17th century, at Strjatin, Ostrog, Vilna, Kiev, and Lviv. The true father of the Ruthenian rite was the dissident metropolitan of Kiev, Peter Mogila (1633-47), especially through his editions of the Liturgicon (1629-39) and of the Euchologion or Trebnik (1646). Kiev, at that time under the dominion of Poland, was strongly influenced by the West in its schools, academies, theological doctrines and also in the liturgy, for example, on the consecratory value of the words of Christ, on the form of all the Sacraments. The lack of understanding and sometimes the contempt of the Latins for the Eastern rite caused certain ceremonies to be omitted, changed or amplified. When, around 1685, Kiev passed under the dominion of Moscow, the Mogilan reform was continued in Galicia, where the eparchies had not yet adhered to the Union of Brest-Litovsk. In the northern part (Polotsk, Vilna, Suprasl), on the other hand, where the Union had become well established, contact with the Latins provoked serious changes in the liturgical field, which manifested themselves, for example, in the first edition of the Liturgicon, made at Vilna in 1692. When, however, the bishops of Lviv and Przemyśl accepted the union, it became necessary to convene a synod to try to establish a greater uniformity between north and south; the Synod of Zamość (1720) confirmed certain ritual changes introduced in the north, but postponed other decisions to a later time. A more unbridled Latinization then began, despite the constant but weak opposition of the conservative party, and without the approval of the Holy See. As that dualism perpetuated itself down to the present day, the Holy See, at the request of the Ruthenian hierarchy, has undertaken the edition of liturgical books with the intention of safeguarding the authentic and genuine rite. There have appeared the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (1940), the Liturgicon with the calendar (1942), the Evangelion, Selected Gospels (1943), Selected Epistles (1944), the Office of Easter (1944), the Small Trebnik (1947), the Casoslov (1950) and, in Latin, a Ceremonial for vespers, matins and the divine liturgy (1945). - See plates XCIII-XCIV.

Alfonso Rees