The
Archeparchy of Lviv is an
archeparchy of the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
The eparchy was established at some time during the mid 12th century, with its see originally in
Halych. In 1303 it was raised to a second Metropolia of the Ukrainian Church and held such status during several periods of the 14th century, until after 1401 the title of the vacated province was moved to the Metropolitan of Kyiv. In the mid 1539 the eparchy was reestablished with its see moved to
Lviv. The eparchy at first did not recognize the
Union of Brest of 1596, which restored
full communion with the
Holy See, and joined it only in 1700.
Following the
Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of 18th century when most of the Ukrainian lands fell under Russian rule, the Metropolia of Halych was reestablished in 1807, covering the Austrian ruled region of
Halychyna and Lviv was elevated to the rank of archeparchy.
After the
Second World War, in 1946 the Archeparchy, together with the entire Ukrainian Church was forcefully subjected under the Russian Orthodox Church, however it secretly continued to function its canonical territory, and in 1959, was elevated by Blessed
Pope John XXIII to the rank of Major Archeparchy.
After the collapse the Church could begin restoring canonical regularity. When the Major Archeparchy of the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church returned from the city of Lviv to the Ukrainian capital of
Kyiv in 2004, Lviv remained an archeparchy.
The current Archbishop of...
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