Ukrainian Catholics establish three new metropolitanates in Ukraine
On November 29 in Lviv, December 13 in Ivano-Frankivsk, December 22 in Ternopil Hierarchical Liturgies will be held, during which the decrees on the establishment of the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil-Zboriv metropolitanates of the UGCC, informs UGCC Information Department.
The Synod of Bishops decided to create three new metropolitans. The Lviv Metropolitanate will include the Lviv Archeparchy and the Stryi, Sambir-Drohobych, and Sokal-Zhovkva eparchies; the Ivano-Frankivsk Metropolitanate, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia-Chernivtsi eparchies; Ternopil-Zboriv, Ternopil-Zboriv and Buchach eparchies. The first metropolitans of the newly established metropolitanates will be Archbishop Ihor (Voznyak), Archbishop of Lviv, Bishop Volodymyr (Viytyshyn), Eparch of Ivano-Frankivsk, and Bishop Vasyl (Semeniuk) Eparch of Ternopil-Zborowski.
According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the establishment of new metropolitanates is a very important step in the natural development of the UGCC toward patriarchy. “Today in Ukraine there is a single metropolitanate of Kyiv and Halych based in Kyiv. With such a structure, our metropolitanate reflects the state of church that we had at the time of Kyivan Rus’. There was one metropolitan, the de facto head of the national church, who had, respectively, authority over the bishops on his territory. For more than a thousand years our church has developed, particularly in Ukraine. Today this natural state of development of the church structure needs to be improved. Therefore, in order to provide better pastoral care for our faithful, according to the decision of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC and with the blessing of the Apostolic See, we created three new metropolitanates,” the head of the UGCC.
In addition, the primate of the UGCC said that every metropolitan will have the right to convene a Metropolitanate’s Synod, but for the decisions of synod to be valid, they need approval from the Major Archbishop.
It should be noted that now the UGCC will have seven metropolitanates. In addition to the newly created ones, another metropolitanate in Ukraine is the Kyiv and Halych Metropolitanate, headed by His Beatitude Sviatoslav. It consists of Kyiv Archeparchy, Donetsk-Kharkiv, Odesa-Crimea and Lutsk exarchates. In addition, the UGCC has the Przemysl and Warsaw Metropolitanate in Poland, the Philadelphia Metropolitanate in the United States, and the Winnipeg Metropolitanate in Canada.
Historical Background
UGCC structures are constantly changing. Undoubtedly, some changes were caused by political reasons. But what is important, a constant succession always remained.
Since the union with Rome was signed in compliance with all provisions of the law, and the Kyiv Metropolitan and the bishops had the right and authority to sign, these hierarchs remained the only legitimate heirs of the previous church.
Restoration of the Orthodox hierarchy (1620) was legally a new creation – it introduced a new church structure, which may claim to be a historical or spiritual continuity, but not a succession. The successor of the ancient Kyivan Church is the Kyiv and Halych Metropolitanate.
After the Union of Brest, the Kyiv Metropolitan had all the rights he had before. These rights were recognized in two papa bulls of Pope Clement VIII: Magnus Dominus (December 23, 1595) and Decet Romanum Pontificem (February 23, 1596).
In the bull restoring the Halych Metropolitanate, In universalis Ecclesiae regimini of 1807, the Halych metropolitan was given the same rights, prerogatives and privileges that the metropolitans of Kyiv had; the metropolitans of Kyiv also retained their powers. Thus, through the Halych metropolitan comes the legal continuity of the UGCC from the times of Kyivan Rus’.
