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

By the end of the 16^th century the 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.

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 the final transformation of the Orthodox Church into the Catholic Church. Thus in 1596, in the town of Brest, a new so-called Union or Greek Catholic Church was formed. This event went down into Ukrainian history as Beresteiska uniia.

The new Ukrainian Greek Catholic church[15] retained Orthodox religious rituals, the Julian calendar[16] and the Church-Slavonic language but got under the jurisdiction of the Roman Pope and accepted Catholic dogmas. The Greek Catholic clergy retained their right to have families and were also freed of taxes as their Catholic colleagues. Greek Catholic laymen were officially equalized in rights with the Catholic ones and could occupy any state positions. However, contrary to the expectation of the reformers, 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. They tried to attract followers by building beautiful temples (thus developing architecture and arts), by improving curricula in schools, and by establishing printing houses. The existence of several churches also taught Ukrainians to be tolerant.

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