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Belarusian Greek Catholic Church (Belaruskaya Hreka-Katalickaya Carkva, BHKC), popularly known as the Uniate Church and sometimes called Belarusian Byzantine Catholic Church, in reference to the Byzantine Rite adopted, is the heir of the Union of Brest within the territory of Belarus. It is listed in the Annuario Pontificio as a sui iuris Church, an Eastern Rite particular Church of the Roman Catholic Church. Image File history File links Stop_hand. ... The term Eastern Rites may refer to the liturgical rites used by many ancient Christian Churches of Eastern Europe and the Middle East that, while being part of the Roman Catholic Church, are distinct from the Latin Rite or Western Church. ... Union of Brest (Belarusian: Берасьце́йская ву́нія) refers to the 1595-1596 decision of the (Ruthenian) Church of Rus, the Metropolia of Kiev-Halych and all Rus, to break relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople and place themselves under the (patriarch) Pope of Rome. ... The Annuario Pontificio or Pontifical Yearbook is the annual directory of the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Sui iuris is a Latin phrase that literally means “of one’s own right”. It is usually spelled sui juris in civil law, which uses the phrase to indicate legal competence, the capacity to manage one’s own affairs (Blacks Law Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary). ... The term Eastern Rites may refer to the liturgical rites used by many ancient Christian Churches of Eastern Europe and the Middle East that, while being part of the Roman Catholic Church, are distinct from the Latin Rite or Western Church. ... A Particular Church , in Roman Catholic theology and canon law, is any of the individual constituent ecclesial communities in full communion with the Church of Rome and thus make up the Catholic Communion. ... Saint Peters Basilica in Rome. ...

History

The Christians who, while preserving their Byzantine liturgy in the Church Slavonic language, were forced by the Union of Brest (1595-96) into full communion with the See of Rome after a few centuries of Polish persecution, were at first mainly Belarusian. Even after further Ukrainians were forced into the Union around 1700, Belarusians still formed about half of the group. Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus of Nazareth, known by Christians as Jesus Christ, as recounted in the New Testament. ... From the Greek word λειτουργια, which can be transliterated as leitourgia, meaning the work of the people, a liturgy comprises a prescribed religious ceremony, according to the traditions of a particular religion; it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual (such as the Catholic Mass), a daily activity such... Church Slavonic may refer to: Old Church Slavonic language Church Slavonic language This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Union of Brest (Belarusian: Берасьце́йская ву́нія) refers to the 1595-1596 decision of the (Ruthenian) Church of Rus, the Metropolia of Kiev-Halych and all Rus, to break relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople and place themselves under the (patriarch) Pope of Rome. ... Communion, more widely known as the Eucharist, is the rite that Christians perform in fulfillment of Jesuss instruction, as recounted in the New Testament (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25), to do in memory of him what at his Last Supper he did when he gave his...

With the partition of Poland and the incorporation of the whole of Belarus into Russia, many Belarusians took their chance and by March 1795, 1,553 priests, 2,603 parishes and 1,483,111 people voluntarily returned to Orthodoxy. However due to the Polish nobility's dominance in the area and the Russian Imperial authorities religious tolerance programme, the Uniate Church continued to function. However immediately a rift began to emerge in the clergy. Most who cherished the Slavonic liturgy and traditions began to see an eventual reunification with their Orthodox brothers while others began converting to pure Catholicism and distancing themselves from the Eastern rite altogether. 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

However it was only after the ill-fated November Uprising of 1831 which allowed the Polish nobility to be removed from having any influential role in the society that the former group could have its demands met. In February 1839, after a synod of Polotsk, the remaining three bishops of the Church along with 1,305 priests and 1,600,000 remaining Uniate Christians returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, ending two and a half centuries of Catholic influence in Belarus. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Look up February in Wiktionary, the free dictionary February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Polatsk (Belarusian: По́лацак, По́лацк; Polish: Połock, also spelt as Polacak; Russian: По́лоцк, also transliterated as Polotsk, Polotzk, Polock) is the most historic city in Belarus, situated on the Dvina river. ... The Russian Orthodox Church (also known as the Orthodox Catholic Church of Russia) (Русская Православная церковь) is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with the other patriarchs and primates of the Eastern Orthodox Church. ...

For Belarusians this was the chance to openly develop their national culture, language and identity. Although many see this as a form of Russification, by the end of the 19th century the first cultural elite began to emerge which would eventually turn the Belarusian peoples into a nation. It is not surprising that in the Imperial census of 1897 the people chose to list their language not as Russian (as they did during Polish rule) but as Belarusian.

However for some priests and faithful, the roots of the unia were too deep, whilst after the Russian state aid helped to return most of the property to Othodoxy in the 1840s, not all priests were happy to chose between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Some emigrated to Autrian Galicia, others chose to in secret practice the now-forbidden religion, and were subject to persecution and even deportation.

When, in 1905, Tsar Nicholas II published a decree granting freedom of religion, as much as 230,000 ^{[citation needed]} Belarusians wanted to revive the Uniate Catholic Church. However, since the government refused to allow them to form a Byzantine-Rite community, they adopted the Latin Rite, to which, in consequence, most Belarusian Catholics now belong. Tsar Nicholas II (18 May 1868 to 17 July 1918)1 was the last crowned Emperor of Russia. ... Latin Rite, in the singular and accompanied, in English, by the definite article (The Latin Rite), is a term by which documents of the Catholic Church designate the particular Church, distinct from the Eastern Rite Churches, that developed in western Europe and northern Africa, where Latin was the language of...

After the First World War, the western part of Belarus was included in the reconstituted Polish state, and fewer than 30,000 descendants of those who, less than a century before, had joined the Russian Orthodox Church were forced back into the Catholic Church, while keeping their Byzantine liturgy. In 1931, the Holy See sent them a bishop as Apostolic Visitator. After the Soviet Union annexed Western Belarus in 1939, an exarch for the Belarusian Byzantine-Rite faithful was appointed in May 1940, but, a mere two years later, he was arrested and taken to a Soviet concentration camp, where he died.

While from then on very little information about the Byzantine Catholics in Belarus could reach Rome, refugees from among them founded centres in western Europe (Paris, London and Louvain) and in parts of the United States of America, especially in Chicago. The Holy See appointed a Belarusian bishop as Apostolic Visitator for the Belarusian faithful abroad in 1960 and a successor in 1983. But after the latter's death died in 1986, no further such appointment was made. At present, therefore, Belarusian Greek-Catholics have no bishop of their own in their homeland or elsewhere.

However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Church began to reemerge. By 1992, three priests and two deacons in Belarus were celebrating the Byzantine liturgy in Belarusian. The same year, a survey by Belarus State University found that 10,000 Belarusians identified themselves as Greek Catholics. By 1999, at least ten parishes had applied for registration with the Belarusian government.

Sources

• The Belorussian Greek-Catholic Church
• Belarusian Catholic Mission (Byzantine rite) in London
• History of the Greek Catholc Church in Belarus by Alexander Nadson
• The history of the Uniate Church and its disestablishment in the 19th century.
• Oriente Cattolico (Vatican City: The Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches, 1974)
• Annuario Pontificio.
• Ronald Roberson, CSP; The Eastern Christian Churches: A Brief Survey (6th edition); 1999; Edizioni Orientalia Christiana, Pontificio Istituto Orientale; Rome, Italy; ISBN 88-7210-321-5