Western Ukraine
Western Ukraine – the seven okruhs (provinces) of Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zakarpattya, and Chernivitsi – is Western in more ways than geographic. The first three okruhs were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for four hundred years, and under Austrian rule for another hundred forty-four years. Volyn and Rivne (Volhynia and Rovno) were also part of the Commonwealth but came under Russian rule in 1772; and between the two world wars, they were divided between Poland and the Soviet Union. Chernivitsi (Chernowitz) was acquired by Austria from the Ottomans in 1775 and remained under Austrian rule until the end of World War I, when it was awarded to Romania. Zakarpattya (Transcarpathia) was a part of Hungary for many centuries and of Czechoslovakia between the two world wars.
These western okruhs (with the exception of Volyn and Rivne) were never under tsarist rule, and were under Soviet rule for only forty-two years. Ethnically they are Ukrainian, but culturally they are more Western than the rest of Ukraine.
The most Western provinces, in a cultural and religious sense, are Lviv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk, where the predominant church since 1596 has been the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, so named to distinguish it from the Roman Catholic Church. (It has also been known in the West as the Uniate Church because it practices the Byzantine rite but theologically is in union with Rome and acknowledges the primacy of the pope.) Greek Catholics in Ukraine number about five million, or 10 percent of the population.
In competition with the Greek Catholic Church in the western provinces is the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, an independent Orthodox church that was banned under communism but survived among emigres abroad and dissidents at home. Both churches boast unblemished nationalist credentials, are unsullied by concessions to communism or Russians, and are contesting for followers.
As a result of the relatively benign rule of Poland and Austria, western Ukraine is distinguished by its nationalism, cultural ties to the West, and resistance to Russia. In the west, moreover, the Ukrainian language has been preserved, and the political emphasis is on building a unitary Ukrainian state. Although western Ukrainians number no more than 20 percent of Ukraine's population, they are the most vocal nationalists and have strong support among the enthusiastic and organized Ukrainian diaspora in North America and Europe.
The western quarter of Ukraine (including areas traditionally known as Galicia), with between one-fifth and one-sixth of the total population, was not linked to Russia or the Soviet Union until 1939. These areas were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1920, when a large portion of this territory was incorporated into interwar Poland; it did not become part of the USSR until the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact ceded this part of Poland to the USSR.
During her long history, Ukraine's peoples have alternated between independence and dependence. In the process, church identification -- a critical source of identity and national culture -- became politicized. Church politics became national politics. Church buildings/lands became secular buildings/lands, administered by local civil authorities. Thus, church identity aroused highly inflamed, passionately held loyalties in both secular and religious spheres.
On 9 Oct 1596, the Union of Brest declaration was signed by the metropolitan of Kiev and many Orthodox bishops. As part of the agreement, Eastern Orthodox practice -- liturgy, Slavonic rite, married clergy, administrative autonomy, Julian calendar -- would remain. Orthodox signatories would recognize the Pope in Rome and submit to his authority. This Uniate Church (YOO-nee-at), alternately called the Greek Catholic, Ukrainian Catholic Church, or Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, became a unique religious body within Roman Catholic and Orthodox practice.
In the 1770s, as a result of increasing Russian presence in Ukraine, some 1,200 Kiev region Uniate churches forcibly or voluntarily became Orthodox. Uniate churches, as symbols of Ukraine independent identity, were suppressed. Russian expansion under Catherine the Great forced over 2,300 Uniate churches to become Orthodox after 1793-1795. By 1796, the Uniate Metropolitanate of Kiev ceased to exist. In 1839, permanent abolishment of the Uniate Church occurred under Bishop Semashko.
Soviet religious policy was particularly harsh toward the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Ukrainian Catholics fell under Soviet rule in 1939 when western Ukraine was incorporated into the Soviet Union as part of the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. Although the Ukrainian Catholic Church was permitted to function, it was almost immediately subjected to intense harassment. Retreating before the German army in 1941, Soviet authorities arrested large numbers of Ukrainian Catholic priests, who were either killed or deported to Siberia.
In the glasnost atmosphere beginning in 1987, underground Ukrainian Catholic Church leaders began to reemerge. In 1989, Gorbachev's government allowed the Ukrainian (Greek) Catholic Church to register its parishes. The Uniate leader exiled in Rome -- Metropolitan Myroslav Cardinal Liubachivs'kyi -- returned in 1991.
More than 90 percent of religiously active citizens are Christian, with the majority being Orthodox. The poll conducted by the Razumkov Center in April 2003 shows that most citizens identify themselves as Orthodox Christians of one of three Orthodox Churches. Of the respondents, 10.7 percent belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)-Moscow Patriarchate, 14.8 percent to the UOC-Kiev Patriarchate, 1.0 percent to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
Of respondents, 6.4 percent said they were members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, sometimes known as the Uniate, Byzantine, or Eastern Rite Church. Roman Catholics claim approximately 1 million adherents, or approximately 2 percent of the total population. However, according to the April 2003 Razumkov Center survey, Roman Catholics comprised 0.8 percent of respondents, while Protestant Christian comprised 0.9 percent, other religious denominations 2.1 percent, and undecided 1.8 percent. There are small but significant populations of Jews and Muslims, as well as growing communities of Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, Evangelical Christians, adherents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Jehovah's Witnesses.
The Government has been unable to stop disagreements between the Orthodox believers and Greek Catholics in western Ukraine, where the two communities are contentious and often engage in bitter disputes over church buildings and property in over 600 localities. The Kiev Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church complains of harassment by local authorities in predominantly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, while the Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church complains that local governments turn a blind eye to the appropriation of their churches in Ukrainian-speaking western Ukraine by Ukrainian nationalists.
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