The evolution of the latinization of the Uniate Church and its causes

Tsyui Ziang Postgraduate student, Department of Political Theory, Moscow State Institute of International Relations 76 Vernadsky Avenue, Moscow, 119454, Russia 1530880271@qq.com

Gao Sytsi Graduate student, Department of Russian Language, Central China Normal University 152 Luoyu Street, Wuhan, 430079, China 1456810171@qq.com

During the negotiations of the Brest Union, the bishops of the Uniate Church paid great attention to the preservation of the Eastern traditions of the Church. This can be seen in the articles adopted by the Brest Union: out of 33 articles, 10 are devoted to the preservation of Oriental customs, which makes up a significant part. These articles cover various aspects, including rituals, the language of the sacraments, the rite of communion, the calendar, and also include a ban on imposing certain practices of the Latin Church on the Uniate Church. The bishops of the Uniate Church hoped that Rome would provide guarantees that Eastern rites and traditions would remain unchanged and be protected from Romanization caused by the strong influence of Polish culture.^[1,pp.77-78]

However, in the atmosphere of the Catholic renaissance after the Council of Trent, the status of the Latin rite was firmly established. Before the Union of Brest, many Catholic theologians questioned the validity of the Greek rite. Against this background, doubts have already been voiced in Rome about the content of the Brest Union. For example, the Roman Catholic theologian and member of the Roman Inquisition Juan Zaragoza de Heredia, having studied 33 articles of the Brest Union, believed that in order to ensure salvation, the Uniate Church should adopt the practices of the Latin Church without delay: holding the Procession of the Corpus Christi, adding the Filioque, etc. ^{[1, pp.79-81]} However, in order not to cause Against the resistance of the Uniate Church, Rome did not make these views public, but supported the preservation of the Greek rite by the Uniate Church at the official level. ^[1,p.81]

In the initial period of the Brest Union, Rome did not have sufficient control over the Uniate Church: the Kiev metropolitan of the Uniate Church maintained relative independence, the bishops of the church were nominated from white priests.^{[2, pp.388-389]} In addition, the Western Russian people actively defended the traditions of their own church and sharply opposed Romanization.^{[2, p.363]}

However, from the point of view of Rome, the Greek rite was still a lower liturgy than the Latin rite, and did not have the right to receive the same status as the Latin rite. Thus, parishioners of the Latin rite were forbidden to participate in the sacraments of the Greek rite, since "participation in lower rites is inappropriate."^[1,pp.95-96]

There is a contradiction between observing Oriental rituals and turning to Catholic theology. Joining the Roman Catholic Church means gradual and inevitable submission to Roman Catholic teaching. When the Uniate Church recognized the supremacy of Catholicism and adopted Roman Catholic teaching, its practice was inevitably doomed to a gradual rapprochement with the Latin Church. The opinion of the Uniate bishops that communion with Rome would ensure the immutability of the Eastern rite was naive and unrealistic.

After the Union of Brest, the phenomenon of Romanization soon began to manifest itself in the Uniate Church. It was only in the first ten years of the Brest Union that the liturgy of the Uniate Church did not change, and Romanization was more reflected in the fact that some Uniates began to join the religious life of the Roman Catholic Church. This was expressed in the celebration of Catholic holidays, participation in the processions of the Latin Church, veneration of St. Casimir, the use of unleavened bread in the sacrament of the Eucharist, burial according to Catholic rites, allowing children to make confession of the Latin rite and other manifestations. In addition, some uniates accepted Catholic teachings such as the doctrine of purgatory, papal primacy, and the idea that there is no salvation outside the church. ^[1,pp.83-84]

For the Uniate Church, the establishment of the Basilian Order in 1617 completely changed its appearance, despite the fact that the rule of the order was established by Metropolitan Joseph of Rutskoi, who emphasized the importance of remaining faithful to the Eastern Rite. [1.p.86] But in fact, the Basilian Order is the main propagandist of the Romanization of the Uniate Church. The Basilian Order was modeled after the Jesuits and has close ties with the Jesuits. He attracted many members of the Latin Church, especially the Jesuits,^{[3, pp.516-517]} who were unfamiliar with the Greek rite and despised the Church Slavonic language.^{[4, pp.5-6][5, p.236]} The monks of the Basilian Order were educated in Roman Catholic colleges and abroad, which had They were deeply influenced by the Latin Church. [6c.31] Since 1635, only members of the Order could hold hierarchical positions in the Uniate Church. Most of the higher clergy of the Uniate Church have graduated from colleges in Rome. Through these monks, who were deeply influenced by the Latin Church, the Pope was able to strengthen his control over the Uniate Church.^{[2, pp.363-367]}

Another prerequisite for Romanization is that over time, the identity of the believers of the Uniate Church gradually changed, and the sense of identity with the Eastern Church gradually faded. In 1623, the Uniate bishop Josvfat Kuntsevich was murdered by Orthodox believers in Vitebsk. This incident became an occasion for the Basilian Order and the Jesuits to begin actively promoting the image of Kuntsevich, embellishing his image in order to cause the rejection of the Uniates to the Orthodox Church. ^{[3, pp.670-675]}Orthodox believers were even portrayed as Jews plotting to kill Jesus.^{[7, pp.134-135]} This led to a deepening gap between the Uniate and Orthodox churches and contributed to the formation of an independent identity in the Uniate Church. A series of political changes that began in the middle of the 17th century also played an important role in the gradual separation of believers of the Uniate Church from their Orthodox identity. These events include: the Cossack uprising, the Russo-Polish war and the subsequent Russian-Ukrainian reunification.^[1,pp.95-96] As this sense of alienation intensified, the process of Romanization within the Uniate Church met with less resistance.

In addition, after the union, the Polish authorities began to persecute the Orthodox Church. After the establishment of the Basilian Order and the murder of Kuntsevich, these persecutions intensified. The first results of the activity  The Vasilian Order began to seize Orthodox fraternal schools. By the end of the 17th century, almost all Orthodox brotherhoods had ceased to exist. The number of Orthodox clergy has greatly decreased. The forced conversion of the Orthodox to the Uniate bishops for ordination was one of the reasons for the gradual rapprochement with the union. ^[8,p.21]

Against this historical background, the Basilian Order was able to enthusiastically promote Romanization with the support of the Pope. Therefore, starting from the middle to the beginning of the XVII century, very obvious Latinization tendencies gradually appeared in the Uniate Church. The structure of the church was changed, the iconostasis was removed and a side altar was introduced. Not only were Latin saints introduced into the Holy Calendar, but Orthodox saints such as St. Sergius of Radonezh and St. Simon of Serbia were also excluded. Also, elements of Latin sacred music, the rosary and the Angelus prayer appeared in religious practice. The use of the organ was introduced into liturgical rites.^[9,p.5]

By the Zamoyski Cathedral of 1720, the results of Romanization were fully consolidated, and the cathedral became the most symbolic event in the Romanization of the Uniate Church. The reason for the council was that from 1692 to 1702, the last three Orthodox dioceses in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - Lviv, Lutsk and Peremyshl - joined the Brest Union. Since these three dioceses joined the union later than the others, most of the Eastern traditions were still preserved in them, while Romanization was already deep in the north of Western Russia. The variety of liturgical books of the Uniate Church created the need to convene a council similar to the Tridentine one to unify practices and rituals throughout the church. ^{[10, pp.235-242]}

The resolutions of the Council consist of nineteen chapters. In the first chapter "On the Catholic Faith", it is stipulated for the first time that the Symbols of Faith in the text are "filioque" and the name of the pope should be mentioned in the liturgy. The third chapter, "On the Sacraments and their Performance," regulates the details of the seven sacraments of the Church. Many of these specific norms have obvious Latinization tendencies, such as the use of sprinkling with water at infant baptism, the requirement of daily confession at least three times a year, the prohibition of communion of young children to Holy Communion, etc.^{[10, pp.235-242]}In addition to these two chapters, other chapters also suggest a ban on believers praying in Orthodox churches and using liturgical books from Russia. It is allowed to use only liturgical books that have passed the examination of Rome. The holy calendar was adjusted to include Latin holidays in it, and rules were also established regarding the appearance of the clergy: mandatory shaving of the beard and wearing vestments more similar to the Latin tradition.^{[11,p.672][12,p.394]}

The Zamoyski Council institutionalized Romanization promoted by the Basilian Order, but it also brought a hidden crisis to the Uniate Church, as Romanization did not become popular among the white clergy. The monks of the Basilian Order discriminated against and suppressed the white clergy. As a result, the white clergy lived in poverty, had no education and served only the poorest parishes in the village.^{[2, pp.376-378]} This white clergy was dissatisfied with the decisions of the Council, but radical decisions were already officially enforced. This led to a revival of pro-Orthodox sentiments among some of the white clergy and opened the possibility for many Uniate clergy to return to the Orthodox Church after the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.^[4,p.7]

After the partition of Poland, the Uniates in the Russian Empire reunited with the Orthodox Church. The Uniate Church in Austria was preserved and renamed the "Greek Catholic Church" by Maria Theresa. In Russia, the wave of Uniate reunification with the Orthodox Churches has put great pressure on the Uniate clergy in Austria. In order to block Russian influence and cut ties with Russia in order to preserve their independent existence, they tried to create a Byzantine rite different from the Russian rite. This new liturgy combined some local customs and preserved ancient Slavic customs before the Nikon Reformation, but the most important was the introduction of the practices of the Latin Church.^[9,p.5]

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was often difficult to distinguish between Greek and Latin Rite Catholic churches by their appearance. In the churches of the Greek rite, as well as in the churches of the Latin rite, there is a tabernacle and six altar candles in the altar. A communion rail is installed in front of the sanctuary, which allows believers to kneel and receive communion, similar to the practice of the Latin Church. There are general collections on both sides of the central axis of the church, and the Divine Service of the Way of the Cross hangs on the walls. The church also has Baroque icons, including three-dimensional icons.

But by the end of the 19th century, Rome had changed its attitude towards the Romanization of the Eastern Rite church. An important sign is that Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Orientalium Dignitas, in which the Pope expressed his disagreement with the Romanization of the Eastern Church. The Pope wrote in an encyclical: "The ancient Oriental rites are evidence of the apostolate of the Catholic Church, that their diversity, consistent with the unity of faith, is in itself evidence of the unity of the Church, that they add dignity and honor to it. She does not possess only one rite, but accepts all the ancient rites of the Christian world."^{[13, pp.201-202]}

As for the Greek Catholic Church in Galicia, even before Leo XIII issued the encyclical, there were already calls within it for a "return to the true Eastern rite" or "purification of the rite." But these calls have always been resisted by the Austrian authorities and Rome, as they were associated with Russophile sentiments among Galician Ruthenians. Pope Pius IX even asked the Greek Catholic Church in Galicia in 1874 to preserve its own liturgical characteristics in order to distinguish it from "heretical and schismatic" liturgies. After the publication of the encyclical of Leo XIII, the process of Romanization of Greek Catholicism in Galicia continued to deepen, as it became a way for the Catholic Church, Poles and the Habsburg authorities to combat the Russophile movement in Galicia. The peak of the Romanization of the Greek rite of Catholicism can be considered the Lviv Cathedral in 1891, which prohibited any attempts to "purify the rite."^{[1, pp.210-211]}

For the Greek Catholic Church in Galicia, the real delatinization was initiated by Andrei Sheptytsky, who became Metropolitan of Lviv in 1900. His actions were connected with the awakening of the national consciousness of Ukrainians. Promoting the Romanization of the Uniate Church was an important means for Poles to assimilate Galician Rusyns with Poles. However, Sheptytsky adhered to Ukrainian nationalist positions: in 1928, he clearly stated that the "purification of the rite" would prevent the assimilation of Ukrainians with Poles.^{[14, pp.31-35]} In addition, through the efforts of Sheptytsky, the name of the Uniate church was changed to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC).

In addition to the revival of the Ukrainian national spirit, the deeper reason for Metropolitan Sheptytsky's restoration of the Eastern rites was his desire to spread Catholicism in Russia. In 1905, a revolution took place in the Russian Empire, official religious policy became more free, and Catholicism revived in Russia. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the first Eastern Catholic Society was founded in St. Petersburg in 1907. After the 1917 revolution, the situation in Russia became even more chaotic, and the status of the Orthodox Church in Russia suffered and was even persecuted. Sheptytsky followed the situation in Russia and saw in these riots the possibility of spreading Catholicism in Russia.^{[15, pp.404-423]} The Metropolitan believed that it was necessary to make it clear to the Russian people that union with Catholicism was not a betrayal of the national faith, and Romanization was the destruction of the Oriental spirit.^{[16, pp.513-523]}

Metropolitan Sheptytsky received permission from Rome in 1923 to remove Latin elements from the liturgy and has since begun working on a new liturgical book canceling some provisions of the Zamoyski and Lviv Cathedrals. Although many bishops in the church opposed the metropolitan's actions, Rome was eventually recognized by the metropolitan. In 1933, the Dicastery for the Affairs of the Eastern Churches officially decided to begin taking measures to discuss the liturgy and publish new liturgical books.^[14,c31-35] "Recensio Ruthena", published in the 1940s, represented the results of the liturgical reform carried out by Metropolitan Shepditsky.

The Second Vatican Council, which took place from 1962 to 1965, completely changed the face of Catholicism for hundreds of years. The Second Vatican Council created a new Catholic ecumenical position, according to which Rome was ready to recognize the triviality of all Catholic doctrinal innovations and encourage the Eastern Church to "return" to Catholicism by increasingly moderate means.^{[17, pp.25-26]} In order to achieve this ecumenism, Rome showed more respect for the traditions of the Eastern Churches. The Decree "Orientalium Ecclesiarum" adopted in 1964 radically changed Rome's attitude towards the Eastern Catholic Church. The decree stipulates that the churches of the Eastern and Latin rites have equal status, which reverses the previous position of the Catholic Church, according to which the Eastern rite is a lower rite than the Latin rite.  The decree openly encouraged the Eastern Church to return to the paternal traditions, which was the most obvious support for delatinization from Rome.^{[18, pp.156-169]}

In Ukraine, after the collapse of the USSR, schism and chaos arose in the Orthodox Church, which again created opportunities for the Greek Catholic Church, which is very similar to the situation in Russia in 1917. The spread of Catholicism among the Orthodox population has once again become a motive for the delatinization of the UGCC.^{[19, pp.157-182]} The UGCC began working to become the national church of Ukraine. Being a member of the UOC-MP is clearly unacceptable for Ukrainian nationalists. Since the other two "Orthodox churches" in Ukraine are not recognized by the outside world, the UGCC has become for some nationalists the most attractive church of the Eastern rite. Today, the Ukrainian schism (PCU) has received recognition from Constantinople, but it is still in a state of relative weakness. Now that the UGCC has expressed its intention to cooperate with him, it is likely that it hopes to absorb the PCU and spread Rome's influence throughout Ukraine.[i]

Currently, the UGCC has almost completely restored the traditions of the Eastern Churches. This new round of delatinization is already different from what it was during the time of Metropolitan Sheptytsky. Delatinization in the era of Metropolitan Sheptytsky consisted more in removing elements of Greek Catholicism that did not correspond to the Byzantine tradition;^{[14, pp.31-35]} Now delatinization has spread to a wider extent, and religious practices that did not exist in the Orthodox Church have been marginalized, such as the Worship of the Way of the Cross, the Procession of the Body and Blood of Christ, The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the Rosary, etc.[ii]

However, the Second Vatican Council created new divisions between the Greek Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. In the Latin Church, the solemn Tridentine Mass was abolished after the council and replaced with a new simplified liturgical mass using local languages. Holy music with modern popular musical melodies also began to appear. This trend has certainly affected the UGCC as well. Ukrainian gradually replaced Church Slavonic as the liturgical language, and Ukrainian communities in North America even began to adopt English, and liturgies were shortened to free up more time for sermons. In recent years, the UGCC has also begun to experience the influence of mass culture: in some Ukrainian Greek parishes and monasteries, people began to sing modern music and even dance in front of the iconostasis.[iii]All of the above reflects the fact that although the Second Vatican Council called on the Eastern Church to restore its own traditions, in fact, it is fundamentally impossible for the Uniate Church to escape from the influence of the Latin Church, these modernist trends have become a new expression of the influence of the Latin Church on the Eastern tradition of the Uniate Church.

Conclusions

Behind the phenomenon of Romanization of the Uniate Church is a deep-rooted contradiction between the traditions of the Eastern Church and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore, both at the time of the beginning of the Brest Union and at the present time, despite efforts to preserve and restore the Eastern church traditions reflected in the documents, the influence of the Latin Church inevitably affects the Uniate Church.

Today, there are still Greek Catholic clergymen who claim that communion with Rome does not mean renunciation of the Orthodox faith.^[20,p.4] But in fact, historical experience has shown that it is impossible to preserve the Orthodox faith by choosing communion with Rome. Even today, when the Second Vatican Council clearly supports the equality of Greek and Latin rites and supports the Greek Church in preserving its own traditions, the trend of modernist liturgical reform in the Latin Church is "corroding" the Greek Catholic Church.

In addition to the religious level, the political level played a more important role in the Romanization of the Uniate Church. The purpose of the creation of the Uniate Church was to break the spiritual connection of the Western Russian people with the Orthodox Great Russia, so that Rome and the Poles would dominate the beliefs of the Western Russian people. Thus, the role of Romanization in this process is contradictory. On the one hand, only with the deepening of Romanization will Rome be able to ensure the loyalty of the Uniate Church to itself and completely separate the believers of the Uniate Church from the Orthodox Church and Great Russia. On the other hand, deep Romanization will deprive Uniate churches of the possibility of further expansion among Orthodox believers, since for people with Orthodox traditions, Latin elements in Uniate churches are alien and difficult to perceive.

At the beginning of the Brest Union, the pope did not yet have strong control over the Uniate church. Both believers and clergy of the Uniate Church had a deep connection with the Orthodox Church. Concerned about the resistance of the Western Russian people, Rome decided to support the Uniate Church in order to preserve its Eastern traditions.

However, with the establishment of the Basilian Order, the Pope achieved deeper control over the Uniate Church. At the same time, the suppression of the Orthodox Church by the Polish authorities significantly weakened the power of the Orthodox Church, and most of the inhabitants of Western Russia were annexed to the Uniate Church. The Catholic Church and Poland were able to use the Basilian Order for fanatical Romanization propaganda in order to sever the spiritual connection between the Western Russian people and Orthodox Great Russia. In the 19th century, the Uniate churches in the Russian Empire gradually returned to Orthodoxy, while the Greek Catholic Church in Galicia actively sought to strengthen the Romanization process in order to counteract Russia's attraction to the Galician-Russian people.

After the revolution, the Catholic Church saw an opportunity to spread Catholicism in Russia. Russian Russian Church began to delatinize in order to attract the Russian people and make them think that joining Catholicism is not a betrayal of the Russian tradition. After the collapse of the USSR, the Greek Catholic Church noticed the opportunity to become the national Church of Ukraine. The UGCC began further delatinization in order to appeal to Orthodox nationalists dissatisfied with Moscow.

For Rome, the process of delatinization of the Uniate Church too far away may lead to a blurring of the boundaries between the Uniate and the Orthodox Church. This may lead not to the fact that the Uniate church will absorb Orthodoxy, but, on the contrary, to the fact that Orthodoxy will absorb Uniatism. At the beginning of the 17th century, when the process of Romanization of the union was not yet so deep, the Polish Catholic clergy noted that many parishioners of Uniate churches did not see the difference between the union and Orthodoxy. They even visit places of Orthodox pilgrimage and can easily return to the Orthodox faith. ^{[2, p.384]}

Today, this phenomenon is again manifested in the delatinized UGCC. In Ukraine, many believers attend both Greek Catholic and Orthodox churches, and there is no clear boundary between Greek Catholicism and Orthodoxy.^{[19, pp.157-1]} Moreover, Rome often sacrifices the interests of the UGCC for the sake of political expediency, which is why there is often dissatisfaction with Rome in the UGCC. In the future, it may be possible not that the UGCC will absorb the PCU, but that the UGCC will eventually separate from Rome and together with the PCU form a new Ukrainian national Church.[iv]

[i] Alekseeva N., "Not to be in a complete void": why did the PCU talk about an alliance with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church//RT, 2019 https://russian.rt.com/ussr/article/630751-ukraina-religia-raskol-uniaty ?ysclid=lsubfzl511140715414

[ii] S?l?gny A.,The society of St. Josaphat// Angelus online, 3.2008. URL:http://www.angelusonline.org/index.php?section=articles&subsection=show_article&article_id=2699

[iii] Uniates and Roman-catholics bring Liturgical Abuse and Sacrilege to Ukraine, URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5WonijOgXc&t=5s

[iv] Ukrainian Greek Catholics against the Vatican: the threat of a new Church schism//Russian Spring,2019. URL:https://rusvesna.su/news/1575139047?ysclid=lsucrkipj0328400919