CANADA COURIER: The wild card of the Union of Brest (10/20/96)

CANADA COURIER

by Christopher Guly

The wild card of the Union of Brest

For the last four centuries, Ukrainian Catholics have used a passage from the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as a profession of their faith and a sign of their allegiance to Rome.

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the Union of Brest, when the bishops of the Kyivan Church proclaimed their loyalty to Pope Clement VIII on October 16, 1596.

Actually, the event was re-emphasizing loyalties, since the Kyivan Church had already joined Rome, along with the patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria and Jerusalem, during the Council of Florence in 1439.

But when the Turks invaded Constantinople in 1453, many followers of Eastern Christianity, including members of the Kyivan Church, were compelled by historic loyalties to re-join their Orthodox counterparts.

Yet, the Ukrainian Church didn't stray far from Rome, and when Bishop Ipatii Potii of Volodymyr-Volynsky (now Volyn) and Bishop Kyrylo Terletsky of the Ostrih Eparchy met the pope in Rome on December 23, 1595, the union was re-ignited.

Though two of the six Ukrainian bishops - Lviv's Hedeon Balaban and Mykhailo Kopystensky of Peremyshl - later reneged on the Brest partnership, Metropolitan Mychailo Rahoza of Kyiv felt comfortable enough with the Vatican's agreement to the bishops' 33 articles - symbolic of Jesus' 33-year lifespan - of union.

Some of the articles were specific in maintaining a distinctive Byzantine flavor for the Kyivan Church. The Eucharist would remain under both species, Ukrainian Catholics would keep their own divine liturgies (of St. Basil, St. Chrysostom and the Lenten Epiphany, with its presanctified gifts) and Catholics from the Ruthenian (or Ukrainian) rite and Latin rite would be allowed to inter-marry.

As the Church fathers set out in Article 8, which states the Church does not want to be "compelled to consecrate the fire before the feats of Easter nor use wooden bells," they insisted they would rather "preserve the rites and customs of our Church without change."

The Kyivan Church was granted these rights as requested. However, one - Article 9 - has become the source of much canonical gymnastics, especially in the last century. It states: "Married priesthood shall be preserved intact..."

Unless you've lived in a cave, ordaining married men to the priesthood in North America has been one of the most contentious issues between Rome and the Church in the diaspora.

Following complaints from the Latin-rite hierarchy in Canada and the United States, the Vatican restricted the Ukrainian Catholic rite to a non-celibate clergy to Ukraine. No one's really sure whether subsequent popes ever repealed the decree. Nevertheless, Canada and the U.S. have married Ukrainian Catholic priests.

Toronto's Bishop Isidore Borecky and Saskatoon's retired Bishop Basil Filevich have both ordained married men to the priesthood. Now, rumors are swirling that Archbishop-Metropolitan Michael Bzdel will promote five married deacons to priestly office over the next few months. The metropolitan flatly denies the rumors.

"If and when Ukrainian Catholic bishops in Canada begin consistently ordaining married men to the priesthood, I suspect the Vatican will decide to tolerate the practice," says the Rev. Peter Galadza, a married priest who was ordained by the late Cardinal Josyf Slipyj at a Studite monastery in Rome 15 years ago.

The Rev. Galadza, 41, was one of about 30 married men ordained to the priesthood by the former archbishop-major of Lviv. Though Cardinal Slipyj is remembered as the biggest advocate for a married clergy, the Rev. Galadza says the label wasn't always true.

"The ironic thing is when [Cardinal Slipyj] was the rector of the seminary in Lviv in the 1930s, he was one of the greatest proponents of mandatory celibacy," explains the Rev. Galadza, who teaches Byzantine worship at St. Paul University's Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute for Eastern Christian Studies.

The priest believes Cardinal Slipyj changed his views on married clergy following his almost 20-year Siberian imprisonment by the Soviets. "He saw married priests suffering in Siberia with their wives and kids, which made him realize it's all too facile to suggest married priests would knuckle under to pressure. I think he came to the conclusion that marred priests can be just as committed to the Church as anyone else," says the Rev. Galadza who, with his wife, Olenka, has three children.

Practically, with a Church starving for vocations, Cardinal Slipyj no doubt saw the efficacy in adding married men to the diminishing ranks of celibate priesthood.

One day, John Paul II, or one of his successors, may also embrace the idea. In his November 12, 1995, apostolic letter marking the 400th anniversary of the Union of Brest, the pontiff writes "there is still not enough clergy to respond to the immense needs of religious and moral reconstruction."