Ukrainian/Rus/Ruthenian/Kyivan Rulers

East Slavic Rulers:

Rurik of Novgorod
Reign: 864-879
Titles: varangian chieftan?, prince of Holmgard Ladoga
Other names: Roderick, Hrōþirīk(i)az, Hrœrekr, Rorik, Rodrigo, Rørik, Rúrik, Roderyk, Roderik,
Born: ?
Died: 879
Mother: ?
Father: ?
Spouse: ?
Children: Ihor I of Kyiv
Origin: probably Wendish, but may be northern


Oleg of Novgorod
Reign: 879-912
Titles: varangian(?) grand prince of Novgorod
Other names: Helgi?
Born: ?
Died: 912, Kyiv or Aldeigjuborg
Mother: ?
Father: ?
Spouse: ?
Children: ?
Dynasty: probably none

RUS KINGS (KINGS OF RUS/RUTHENIA (UKRAINE):

Kyiv founded in 400s !!
Rulers Predecessors???

Ihor I of Kyiv/Rus 
Reign: 912-945
Titles: ruler of Kyivan Rus (Ukraine), (prince) King of Rus (Ukraine)
Other names: Ingvar ? (Scandinavization of Ukrainian name Ihor)
Born:
Died: 945 in Iskorosten
Mother: Ukrainian
Father: Rurik ?
Spouse:
Children: Sviatoslav I of Kyiv

Olha of Kyiv/Rus
Reign: 945-963/2/9
Titles: Queen of Rus/Kyiv (nowadays Ukraine)
Other names: Olga, Olgha, Volga, Allogia, Helga, Olena, Elena, Hailaga
Born: ca 890 or 881/871/879, Plisnensk (near Lviv)
Died: 11 july 969, Kyiv
Mother: Olena, daughter of Budymyr
Father: Gostomisle or Vladimir-Rasate (Vladimir of Bulgaria)
Spouse: Ihor I of Kyiv
Children: Sviatoslav I of Kyiv


Sviatoslav I of Kyiv/Rus
Reign: 945-972
Titles: (prince) KING of Rus (nowadays Ukraine)
Other names:  Σφενδοσθλάβος, Sphendosthlabos
Born: 942 in Kyiv
Died: march 972 on the island of Khortytsia in Dnipro
Mother: Olha of Kyiv/Rus (regent 945-964) born in Plisnensk nera Lviv, other names: Olena, Helga
Father: Ihor I of Kyiv/Rus
Spouse: Predslava (bulgarian princess?), Malusha
Children: With Predslava: Yaropolk I of Kyiv, Oleh; With Malusha: Volodymyr I of Kyiv/Rus
Ethnicity: Ukrainian


Yaropolk I of Kyiv/Rus
Reign: 972-980
Titles: prince of Rus
Other names: Iaropolk
Born: 950
Died: 980 in fort Roden, today Kaniv (river Ros)
Mother: Predslava (bulgarian princess?)
Father: Sviatoslav I of Kyiv
Spouse:
Children: Sviatopolk I of Kyiv
Ethnicity: Ukrainian-Bulgarian


Volodymyr I of Kyiv/Rus
Reign: 980-1015
Titles: prince of novgorod, (grand prince) KING of Kyiv/Rus
Other names: the great, Valdamarr Sveinaldsson ?
Born: ca 958
Died: 15 july 1015 in Berestove (Kyiv Region), aged 57
Mother: Malusha (servant; may be of northern ogirin)
Father: Sviatoslav I of Kyiv/Rus
Spouse: Allogia, Rogneda of Polotsk, Adela, Malfrida, Anna Porphyrogenita a granddaughter of Otto the Great
Children: Izyaslav of Polotsk, Yaroslav the Wise, Mstislav of Chernihiv, Saint Boris, Saint Gleb, Maria Dobroniega of Kyiv, Agatha (possibly)


Sviatopolk I of Kyiv/Rus
Reign: 1015-1019
Titles: the accursed, prince of Turov, grand prince of Rus'
Other names: Sventopluk
Born: 980
Died: 1019
Mother: ?
Father: Yaropolk I of Kyiv
Spouse: a daughter of Bolesław I Chrobry
Children:


Yaroslav (the wise) of Kyiv/Rus
Reign: 1019-1054
Titles: prince of Novgorod and Rostov, (grand prince) KING of Kyiv/Rus
Other names:
Born: ca 978
Died: 20 february 1054, aged 76
Mother: Rogneda of Polotsk
Father: Volodymyr I of Kyiv
Spouse: Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden ? (Irene, Irina) (6-7 sons and 4 daughters)
Children: with Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden: Anne of Kyiv (queen Anna of France), queen Anastasia of hungary, queen Elisabeth of Norway (Elisif of Kyiv), Vsevolod, Agatha (wife of Edward the Exile), Igor Yaroslavich, Iziaslav I of Kyiv, Sviatoslav, Volodymyr of Novgorod, sixth son?


Iziaslav I of Kyiv/Rus
Reign: 1054-1068
Titles: prince of Turov and Novgorod, grand prince of Kyiv
Other names:
Born: ca 1024
Died: 3 october 1078 in Nezhatyva Nyva
Mother: Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden (a daughter of Olof Skötkonung)
Father: Yaroslav the wise
Spouse: Gertrude of Poland (Casimir's sister)
Children: Yaropolk, Sviatopolk II of Kyiv, Mstislav


Sviatoslav II of Kyiv/Rus
Reign: 1073-1076
Titles: prince of Chernihiv, grand prince of Kyiv
Other names:
Born:
Died:
Mother:
Father:
Spouse:
Children:


Vsevolod I of Kyiv/Rus
Reign: 1078-1093
Titles: grand prince of Kyiv
Other names: Vissivald
Born: ca 1030
Died: 13 april 1093, aged  63
Mother: Ingegerd Olofsdotter (a daughter of Olof Skötkonung)
Father: Yaroslav the wise
Spouse: Anastasia (?–1067); Anna, a daughter of the Cuman Khan (?–1111)
Children: with Anastasia: Vladimir, Ionna; with Anna: Eupraxia, Rostislav, Catherine, Maria


Sviatopolk II of Kyiv/Rus
Reign: 1093-1113
Titles: prince of Turov and Novgorod, grand prince of Kyiv
Other names:
Born: 8 november 1050
Died: 16 april 1113 in Vyshhorod, aged 62
Mother: Gertrude of Poland (Casimir's sister)
Father: Iziaslav I of Kyiv
Spouse: Premyslid princess (bohemian)
Children: Briachislav, Iziaslav, Maria; with Premyslid princess: Jaroslav, Anna, Zbyslava of Kyiv (b.1085/90-d.1113, Сбыслава Ярославна, Yaroslavs daughter?), Predslava


Volodymyr II 
Reign: 1113-1125
Titles: prince of Smolensk Perejaslav Chernihiv, grand prince of Rus
Other names: Monomachos (Vasili, Basileios)
Born: 1053
Died: 19 may 1125
Mother: Anastasia of Bizantium
Father: Vsevolod I of Kyiv
Spouse:
Children:


Mstislav I of Kyiv
Reign: 1125-1132
Titles: grand prince of Kyiv
Other names: Theodore, Harald (after grandfather Harold II of England))
Born: 1 June 1076 in Turov
Died: 14 April 1132 in Kyiv, aged 55
Mother: Gytha of Wessex
Father:
Spouse: Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden (Swedish: Kristina Ingesdotter), Liubava Dmitrievna
Children:


....


Roman
Reign:
Titles:
Other names:
Born:
Died:
Mother:
Father:
Spouse:
Children: King Danylo of Halych (Danylo Halytskyi)
Extra info: Wanted Unia (unite what? Church?)
After Monomach (and his kids struggle between them) took reign.


King Danylo of Halych (Danylo Halytskyi)
Reign:
Titles: King of Halych-Volyn Kingdom (King of Rus)
Other names: Daniel of Halych, Daniel of Galicia
Born: 1201
Died: 1264
Mother:
Father: Roman
Spouse:
Siblings: brother Vasylko
Children: Leo, Jurii (Yuri)

Extra info:
Kids sent (marriage) to kingdom of Lithuania, Austria, Hungary. Most important battle (win) 1245 in Jaroslavl in war with Chernihiv Prince Rostislav. Founded Lviv 1256. Captured Kyiv 1239. Captured Lublin. Ruriks bloodline, Monomachs bloodline.


King Leo I of Galicia (Halych)
Reign:
Titles: King of Halych-Volyn Kingdom (King of Rus)
Other names: Leo Halytskyi, Leo of Halych
Born: c. 1228
Died: c. 1301 (c 73 year old)
Mother:
Father: King Danylo of Halych
Spouse:
Children:

...



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Historiebloggen: the Byzantine-Ruthenian Catholic Church

In the mountainous region of Carpatho-Rus, known also as Carpatho-Ruthenia, situated between present day Slovakia and Ukraine, there is a group of Eastern Christians. Evangelized in the ninth century by those equals-to-the-apostles, Saints Cyril and Methodius, this group received the Holy Gospel and Sacred Mysteries (Sacraments) from the Byzantine Church of Constantinople. Although Cyril and his brother, Methodius, were Greek (from Thessalonika), they promoted the use of the ancient Slavonic language in worship. This language, later known as Old Church Slavonic, would become the liturgical language of the Carpatho-Rusyns and all Slavonic Christians, both Orthodox and Catholic. In time, Cyril and Methodius brought their liturgical books to Rome to receive the blessings of Pope Hadrian, and he in turn blessed their mission of establishing the Greek (Byzantine) Catholic religion in the Carpathian mountains of Central Europe.

Over time, a rift grew between East and West; and, in 1054, estrangement was realized with the Great Schism of Constantinople and Rome. Being an Eastern Church, the Carpatho-Rusyns were eventually drawn into by this unfortunate break and became members of the Orthodox Church. This ecclesia sui iuris (self-governing church) of Mukachevo-Uzhorod in time sought reunion with the Church of Rome, re-establishing its Catholic faith while maintaining the spirituality, ceremonies, and discipline of the Eastern Church. On April 24, 1646, in Saint George Castle Garden in Uzhorod, a number of priests and faithful proclaimed vocally their reunion with the Catholic Church, re-establishing the unity that Christ so ardently prayed for. From this nucleus would grow a reborn church which the Empress Maria Theresa of Austro-Hungary would later call "The Greek Catholic Church" -- "Greek" in its ritual, theology and art; "Catholic" in union with the Bishop of Rome. In time, the reunion would spread to other areas of Europe, and new eparchies (dioceses) would be created in such places as Presov (Slovakia), Krizevci (Croatia), Hajdudorog and Miskolc (Hungary).

In the 1870’s, the first wave of Carpatho-Rusyn immigration brought significant numbers of Greek Catholics to the United States of America. The first parish they founded on these shores was Saint Michael's in Shannandoa, PA followed by an establishment in Freeland, PA. Others were established in places like Wilkes-barre and Kingston, PA, and in Jersey City and Passaic, NJ. Unfortunately, the ignorance of most American Catholics of the Latin Church regarding Greek Catholic practices promised by Rome at Uzhorod -- such as a married priesthood and other privileges and traditions -- led the immigrant church into conflict with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Minneapolis/St. Paul, John Ireland, which prompted one Greek Catholic priest, Father Alexis Toth, to take his small flock out of union with Rome and seek union with the Russian Orthodox Church, creating the nucleous of what would become known as the Orthodox Church of America. To this day, the OCA venerates Father Toth as the father of Orthodoxy in America.

But despite such idealogical struggles, the Greek Catholic Church in America continued to grow, and there was seen a growing need for hierarchial leadership. In 1905, Father Andrew Hodobay was sent by Rome as Apostolic Visitor to care for the immigrant church; but, being a Hungarian, he was not the proper leader for a predominantly Slavic church. Rome, then, in turn, sent two men to care for what would become two separate administrations for the American Greek Catholics: Father Peter Poniatishyn for the Ukrainians, and Father Gabriel Martyak for the Carpatho-Rusyns (Ruthenians). By this time parishes were springing up all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio and the Northeast. In 1924 Rome raised the status of the American Greek Catholic Ruthenian community to that of an Exarchate (Apostolic Vicariate) with Bishop Basil Takach as its first exarch, establishing Saint John the Baptist Cathedral in Pittsburgh’s Homestead/Munhall neighborhood as its seat. Meanwhile, Greek Catholic immigration continued from Carpathia as well as Hungary and Croatia. Not only were parishes and priests being established and assigned, but the Sisters of Saint Basil the Great received a call from Bishop Takach to minister to the immigrant church, and they eventually settled in Uniontown, PA, after a number of temporary locations.

The storm that had erupted over a married priesthood back in the 1890’s would continue to erupt sporadically during this period of growth, exasperated by a Vatican proclamation, Ea Semper, issued in 1905, which severely mitigated the rights of Greek Catholics in the United States; and, certain members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in America sought both to prohibit the immigration of married Greek Catholic priests and to forbid their ordination in North America. Appeals to Rome from the American Greek Catholic community were futile; and, In 1929, another proclamation, Cum Data Fuerit, was issued by Pope Pius XI, forbidding the service of married Greek Catholic priests in the United States, requiring them to return to Europe. This decree became the rallying cry for another segment of American Greek Catholics, dedicated to safeguarding the Eastern heritage of their church, to once again fall into schism. A pastor in Bridgeport, CT, Father Orestes Chornock, was elected Bishop of a new Independent Greek Catholic Church, and was consecrated a bishop by the Patriarch of Constantinople, eventually setting his See in Johnstown, PA. This would, in time, be known as The American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Diocese. Despite this sad turn of events, the American Greek Catholics in union with Rome continued to grow and establish new parishes; and, in 1950, Saints Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary was established by the second Bishop of Pittsburgh, Daniel Ivancho, for the spiritual and educational formation of a native clergy.

As the decades of the twentieth century progressed, missionary efforts led to the establishment of parishes in California, Florida and even in Alaska. The term "Greek Catholic" would change to "Byzantine Catholic," stressing that the church was not Hellenic (Greek) in nationality, and that the spirituality and liturgical services were of the Byzantine Rite; also, English, now the vernacular, became the dominant liturgical language. The church was then honored in its growth and permanence by the elevation of Pittsburgh as an Eparchy (diocese) in 1963, with Bishop Nicholas T. Elko as first Eparch, after serving as Exarch since 1955. In addition, the East Coast was given their own Eparchy, Passaic, NJ, with Bishop Stephen J. Kocisko as first Eparch, and with the church of Saint Michael the Archangel designated as the Cathedral. The Eparchy of Passaic would encompass the entire eastern sea coast of the United States, from Maine to Florida. In 1968, Bishop Stephen Kocisko was transferred to the Eparchy of Pittsburgh, and subsequently Bishop Michael Dudick was consecrated and enthroned as the second Eparch of Passaic. The crowning achievement of this near century of ecclesiastical growth would be the creation, in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, of a Metropolian Church ecclesia sui uris based in Pittsburgh. This Metropolia would have as its suffragan sees the Eparchy of Passaic (covering the East) and the newly-created Eparchy of Parma, OH, (in the Midwest) governed by Bishop Emil Mihalik as its first eparch. The church of Saint John the Baptist in Parma, OH, would serve as Cathedral for the new eparchy. Bishop Mihalik endeavored to establish more churches in the outer-most parts of his eparchy in places such as Las Vegas, NV, Albuquerque, NM, and Denver, CO. The growth of these Western missions and churches was acknowledged by Pope John Paul II through the erection of a fourth jurisdiction for Byzantine Catholics: the Eparchy of Van Nuys, CA; and, through the selection of Bishop Thomas V. Dolinay (then Auxiliary Eparch of Passaic) as its first eparch. He shepherded the eparchy from his seat at Holy Protection of the Mother of God Cathedral in Van Nuys until he was chosen, in 1991, to be Metropolitan of Pittsburgh, succeeding the ailing former shepherd, Archbishop Stephen J. Kocisko. Consequently, the auxiliary eparch of Passaic, Bishop George Kuzma, was enthroned as the second Eparch of Van Nuys, and, in 1997, moved his seat of administration to Saint Stephen Protomartyr Pro-Cathedral in Phoenix, AZ. In 1996, Bishop Michael J. Dudick retired after a long and pastorally beneficial ministry in the Eparchy of Passaic. Upon his retirement, the Holy Father appointed Bishop Andrew Pataki (formerly Eparch of Parma), as the third Eparch of Passaic.

The spiritual life of the Byzantine Catholic Church was and continues to grow with assistance not only from the Basilians of Uniontown, but also from Monasteries for men and women, such as The Basilian Fathers of Mariapoch, Matawan, NJ, as well as from Holy Dormition Franciscan Monastery, Sybertsville, PA.

The Byzantine Catholic Church is an Eastern Church in union with Rome; Carpatho-Rusyn in background and flavor, but indeed an American Eastern Church celebrating the Gospel in words, symbols, and action. We are unique in our mystical theology, blending the colors of our many ikons with the congregational acapella chants; raising up our hands and our fragrant incense in prayer and inviting you to come and see who we are and what we are all about as part of the Eastern half of the Universal Church.

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Historiebloggen: Metropolitan Isidore of Kyiv

Metropolitan of Kyiv, born at Thessalonica (Saloniki) towards the end of the fourteenth century; died at Rome, 27 April, 1463. He was one of the chief Eastern defenders of reunion at the time of the Council of Florence. He arrived at Constantinople, became a monk, and was there made hegumenos of the monastery of St. Demetrius. He had evidently received an unusually complete education: he knew Latin well, and had considerable fame as a theologian. He was also an accomplished orator; he seems from the beginning to have been eager for reunion with the West. It was the time when the Court of Constantinople, on the eve of its final destruction by the Turks, was considering the chance of rescue from the Western princes as a result of reuniting with Rome. In 1434 Isidore was sent to Basle by Emperor John VIII (1425-48) as part of an embassy to open negotiations with the Council of Basle. Here he made a mellifluous speech about the splendour of the Roman Empire at Constantinople. On his return he continued to take part in all the preparations for reunion among his own people. In 1437 he was sent by the Byzantine patriarch (Joseph II, 1416-39, a conspicuous friend of reunion, who died a Catholic at Florence) to be Metropolitan of Kyiv. He is constantly called Ruthenian Bishop of Kyiv. Kyiv was the old metropolis of Ruthenia. As soon as he arrived he began to arrange a Ruthenian legation for the council about to be held at Ferrara. Syropulus and other Greek writers charge Isidore with perjury because in spite of this he accepted the union. Isidore set out with a great following on 8 Sept., 1437, travelled by Luebeck, and arrived at Ferrara on 15, August, 1438. On the way he offended his suite by his friendly conduct towards the Latins. At Ferrara and at Florence, whither the council moved in January, 1439, Isidore was one of the six chief speakers on the Byzantine side. Together with Bessarion he steadfastly worked for the union, and never swerved afterwards in his acceptance of it.

After the council, the pope (Eugene IV, 1431-47) made him his legate for all Ruthenia and Lithuania. On his way back news reached Isidore, at Benevento, that he had been made Cardinal-Priest of the Title of St. Peter and St. Marcellinus. This is one of the few cases in which a person not of the Latin Rite has been made a cardinal. From Budapest in March, 1440, he published an encyclical calling on all Ruthenian bishops to accept the union. He at last arrived in Kyiv (Easter, 1441), and proclaimed the union in the church. He returned to Rome, and was graciously received by the pope in 1443. Nicholas V (1447-55) sent him as legate to Constantinople to arrange the reunion there in 1452, and gave him two hundred soldiers to help the defence of the city. On 12 December of that year he was able to unite three hundred of the Byzantine clergy in a celebration of the short-lived reunion. He saw the taking of the city by the Turks on 29 May, 1453, and only escaped the massacre by dressing up a dead body in his cardinal's robes. While the Turks were cutting off its head and parading it through the streets, the real cardinal was shipped off to Asia Minor with a number of insignificant prisoners, as a slave. Afterwards he wrote an account of the horrors of the siege in a letter to Nicholas V (P.G., CLIX, 953). He escaped from captivity, or bought himself free, and came back to Rome. Here he was made Bishop of Sabina, presumably adopting the Latin Rite. Pius II (1458-64) later gave him two titles successively, those of Patriarch of Constantinople and Archbishop of Cyprus, neither of which he could convert into real jurisdiction. He died at Rome on 27 April, 1463.

Isidore Of Kyiv, (born c. 1385, southern Greece—died April 27, 1463, Rome), Greek Orthodox patriarch of Ruthenia, Roman cardinal, Humanist, and theologian who strove for reunion of Greek and Latin Christendom but was forced into exile because of concerted opposition, particularly from the Byzantine and Ruthenian Orthodox churches, and by the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Abbot of St. Demetrius monastery in Constantinople and recognized for his cultured rhetoric, Isidore was sent abroad as envoy of the Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaeologus to arrange for a council to unite the Eastern and Western churches. Unsuccessful, he returned to Constantinople and in 1436 was named patriarch of Kyiv and Ruthenia. Isidore attended the council, first in Ferrara (1438), then in Florence (1439), at which he was one of six Greek spokesmen. Together with the Greek cardinal John Bessarion, he drew up the document of unification that was proclaimed on July 5, 1439; soon after, he was made a Roman cardinal, thenceforth referred to as “the Ruthenian (Ukrainian Roman Catholic) cardinal.” Commissioned papal legate by Eugenius IV, Isidore successfully implemented the decree of union at Kyiv. He on Easter 1444 received sanctuary from King Ladislas of Hungary-Poland. From Siena, Isidore was dispatched by Pope Nicholas V to Constantinople and in December 1452, on the eve of the city’s fall to the Turks, solemnly announced to the hard-pressed Byzantines in the basilica of Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom”) the union of the Greek and Latin churches. Although the court and hierarchy were agreeable, the people rejected relations with the papacy. Isidore and his staff then joined in the futile defense of Constantinople. Wounded, he escaped capture by fleeing to Crete. Returning to Rome in 1454, he wrote of the traumatic experience of Constantinople’s collapse in his Epistula lugubris (“The Mournful Letter”). After resigning his other ecclesiastical offices in 1459, he received the honorary title Greek Patriarch of Constantinople from Pope Pius II, at whose election he assisted.

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Historiebloggen: The Ruthenian Catholic Churches

The motherland of Ruthenian Catholics is now in extreme western Ukraine southwest of the Carpathian mountains. The area was known variously in the past as Carpatho-Ukraine, Carpatho-Ruthenia, Carpatho-Rus, Subcarpathia, and now as Transcarpathia. Although the ecclesiastical term “Ruthenian” was formerly used more broadly to include Ukrainians, Belarusans and Slovaks as well, it is now used by church authorities in a narrower sense to denote this specific Greek Catholic Church. In terms of ethnicity, Ruthenian Catholics prefer to be called Rusyns. They are closely related to the Ukrainians and speak a dialect of the same language. The traditional Rusyn homeland extends beyond Transcarpathia into northeast Slovakia and the Lemko region of extreme southeast Poland.

In the late 9th century, most of this area came under the control of Catholic Hungary, which much later promoted Catholic missionary work among its Orthodox population, including the Rusyns. This activity culminated in the reception of 63 of their priests into the Catholic Church on April 24, 1646, at the town of Užhorod. The Union of Užhorod affected the Orthodox population of an area which roughly corresponds to today’s eastern Slovakia. In 1664 a union took place at Mukačevo which involved the Orthodox in today’s Transcarpathia in Ukraine and the Hungarian diocese of Hajdúdorog. A third union, which affected the Orthodox in today’s county of Maramures in Romania to the east of Mukačevo, took place in about 1713. Thus within 100 years after the 1646 Union of Užhorod, the Orthodox Church virtually ceased to exist in the region.

Early on there were jurisdictional conflicts over who would control the Ruthenian Catholic Church in this area. In spite of the desire of the Ruthenian Catholics to have their own ecclesiastical organization, for more than a century the Ruthenian bishop of Mukačevo was only the ritual vicar of the Latin bishop of Eger, and Ruthenian priests served as assistants in Latin parishes. The dispute was resolved in 1771 by Pope Clement XIV who, at the request of Empress Maria-Theresa, erected the Ruthenian eparchy of Mukačevo and made it a suffragan of the Primate of Hungary. A seminary for Ruthenian Catholics was set up at Užhorod in 1778.

After World War I, Transcarpathia became part of the new republic of Czechoslovakia. There were Byzantine Catholic dioceses at Mukačevo and Prešov. Although in the 1920s a group of these Ruthenian Catholics returned to the Orthodox Church [see Orthodox Church in the Czech and Slovak Republics], Rusyn ethnic identity remained closely tied to the Ruthenian Catholic Church.

At the end of World War II, Transcarpathia, including Užhorod and Mukačevo, was annexed to the Soviet Union as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Prešov, however, remained in Czechoslovakia [see Slovak Catholic Church]. The Soviet authorities soon initiated a vicious persecution of the Ruthenian Church in the newly acquired region. In 1946 the Užhorod seminary was closed, and in 1947 Bishop Theodore Romža of Mukačevo was poisoned by the communist authorities. In 1949 the Ruthenian Catholic Church was officially integrated into the Russian Orthodox Church. Rusyns on the other side of the Czechoslovak border were also forced to become Orthodox, while those in the Polish Lemko region were deported en masse in 1947 either to the Soviet Union or other parts of Poland. In all three countries, an attempt was made to wipe out any residual Rusyn national identity by declaring them all to be Orthodox and Ukrainian.

The collapse of communism throughout the region had a dramatic effect on Ruthenian Catholics. The first changes took place in Poland in the mid-1980s, where Lemko organizations began to surface and press for recognition of their rights and distinct status. In Czechoslovakia, the much-diminished Rusyn minority began in November 1989 to press for recognition within the predominantly Slovak Greek Catholic diocese of Prešov. And finally, in the Transcarpathian heartland, on January 16, 1991, the Holy See confirmed a bishop and two auxiliaries that had been functioning underground for the Ruthenian Catholic eparchy of Mukačevo. By 2006 the eparchy had 370 parishes served by 217 priests. Soon after the end of communist rule, the diocese was able to establish the Theodore Romža Theological Academy in Užhorod for the formation of clergy and laity.

A continuing issue for Ruthenian Catholics has been their relationship with the much larger Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. For the first time ever, the Mukačevo diocese finds itself functioning freely in the same country with the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Although it is not officially a part of the Ukrainian church and is still immediately subject to the Holy See, its bishops have attended recent Ukrainian Greek Catholic synods. The bishop of Mukačevo has made it clear, however, that he opposes integration into the Ukrainian Catholic Church and favors the promotion of the distinct ethnic and religious identity of his Rusyn people. This identity received a boost in March 2007 when the Transcarpathian Oblast Council voted to recognize the Rusyn people as an indigenous nationality of the region. As a result, the local government will be required to provide funding to promote Rusyn language, culture, and education.

In 1996 Pope John Paul II established an Apostolic Exarchate for Catholics of the Byzantine rite in the Czech Republic and appointed Fr. Ivan Ljavinec, until then the syncellus of the Prešov Slovak Catholic diocese, as its first bishop. One reason for the establishment of this jurisdiction – which was officially classified as belonging to the Ruthenian rite – was to regularize the situation of married Latin priests secretly ordained in Czechoslovakia under communist rule. Sixty of these priests had been accepted by the church but had been allowed to minister only as permanent deacons in the Latin rite because of their marriages. In 1997, 18 of these men were re-ordained Greek Catholic priests by Bishop Ljavinec. There are about 178,000 Greek Catholics in the Czech Republic.

Many Ruthenian Catholics immigrated to North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Because of strained relations with the Latin hierarchy and the imposition of clerical celibacy on the Eastern Catholic clergy in the United States in 1929, large numbers of these Catholics returned to the Orthodox Church. In 1982 it was estimated that out of 690,000 people of Rusyn descent in the United States, 225,000 were still Ruthenian Catholics, 95,000 belonged to the Carpatho-Ruthenian Orthodox diocese, 250,000 were in the Orthodox Church in America, 20,000 were in Orthodox parishes directly under the Moscow Patriarchate, and 100,000 belonged to various other Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic, Roman Catholic, and Protestant denominations.

In the United States today, the Ruthenians constitute a separate ecclesiastical structure with four dioceses, 222 parishes, 231 priests, 50 permanent deacons, and about 100,000 faithful. It is headed by Most Reverend William Charles Skurla (born 1956, appointed 2012), Metropolitan Archbishop of Pittsburgh (66 Riverview Avenue, Pittsburg, PA 15214). The official website of the Archeparchy is http://www.archeparchy.org/. This church, generally known simply as Byzantine Catholic, emphasizes its American character, and celebrates liturgy in English in most parishes. Candidates for the priesthood are trained at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Pittsburgh. In 1999 the Vatican approved a new particular law for the Ruthenian Metropolitanate which allowed for the ordination to the priesthood of married men who had received a proper dispensation from the Holy See.

In other areas of the diaspora, including Australia, Great Britain, and Canada, Ruthenian Catholics are not distinguished from Ukrainian Catholics.

In sum, today there are three distinct Ruthenian Catholic jurisdictions: (1) the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Metropolitanate in the United States, a metropolitan church sui iuris, (2) the eparchy of Mukačevo in Ukraine, which is immediately subject to the Holy See, and (3) the Apostolic Exarchate in the Czech Republic. The relationship between the three has not been clarified. The bishop of Mukačevo is listed below as head of the church, but he has no authority over the other two jurisdictions. The membership figure includes the combined statistics for all three entities.

Location: Ukraine, United States, Czech Republic
Head: Bishop Milan Šašík (born 1952, appointed 2010)
Title: Bishop of Mukačevo of the Byzantines
Residence: Užhorod, Ukraine
Membership: 598,000
Website: www.mgce.uz.ua

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