Eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi
About
The eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi belongs to the Ternopil-Zboriv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. It embraces the territory of the Khmelnytskyi region and extends to 20 645 km2. The total amount of settlements is 1452. The population is 1 298 304 people. The seat of the Bishop of Kamianets-Podilskyi is located in Khmelnytskyi city.
Today eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi is divided into two deaneries:
- Khmelnytskyi,
- Kamianets-Podilskyi.
As of 2016, it is officially registered 75 communities and 2 monasteries are located in Kamianets-Podilskyi. Among the latter, there is a monastery of Saint Apostle Andrew the First-Called under the care of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Most Holy Savior (Redemptorists) and the monastery of Holy Trinity of the Order of St Basil the Great. Of 20 thousand Catholics 33 priests of whom 29 are eparchial and 4 hieromonks carry out their ministry. Also, in the eparchy, there are four candidates for the priesthood who are undergoing priestly formation.
Location
Bishop
Since December 1, 2019, the Reverend Bishop Ivan Kulyk has been the ruling eparch of the eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi.
A cathedral of the eparchy is the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Khmelnytskyi.
History
The eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi always was a part of an ancient eparchy of Lviv that was created in Kyivan Rus times. The eparchy of Lviv took third place among other eparchies of Kyiv Metropolis and considering the territory and number of parishes, it was behind the archeparchy of Kyiv (3441 parishes) and Polotsk that united parishes of modern Belarus (601 parishes on the territory of 77 thousand km²). The territory of the eparchy of Lviv was smaller however, was equal in the number of parishes with the archeparchy of Kyiv. As of 1772, the eparchy of Lviv was divided into 71 deaneries that united 2 058 parishes which were inhabited by about 800,000 faithful Greek Catholics. These parishes covered a territory of about 46 thousand km². From an administrative point of view, the spacious eparchy of Lviv was divided into three parts called titular eparchies, which were always under the jurisdiction of one bishop. These were the eparchies of Halych, Lviv, and Kamianets-Podilskyi. In the documents of XVI-XVII centuries to describe Podolsk as part of the extensive eparchy of Lviv, the terminology “eparchy of Kamianets” was sometimes used.
The eparchy of Lviv had three cathedrals, the main St. George’s Cathedral in Lviv and two titular cathedrals, the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Krylos near Halych and the Cathedral of Holy Trinity in Kamianets-Podilskyi. In these pro-cathedrals, the bishop appointed his officials with the authority of vicars general so that they could solve deeds that were related to the church life at a place and the local priests did not need to overcome long distances to Lviv. Besides this, as it is seen from the documents, in the eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi it was chosen a separate district with the center in Bar city where a local vicar was assigned. He was lower in rank than the vicar in Kamianets-Podilskyi.
We can find out about the condition of the eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi in the 18th century from the report of the bishop of Galicia, Lviv, and Kamianets Leo Sheptycki (1717–1779) to Holy See in 1761.
In 1772, the eparchy of Kamianets — Podilskyi was divided into 25 deaneries that united 919 parishes. The 18th century is a period of the greatest prosperity of the eparchy’s structures.
The First Partition of Poland that took place in 1772 brought big changes to the religious life of the eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi. As a result of the partition, most parts of the eparchy of Lviv went to Austria and almost all territory of the eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi (810 parishes) except 4 deaneries (109 parishes) remained under Poland. Thus, the bishop of Lviv stayed abroad from this part of his eparchy.
Because of the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, Podolia was divided and Kamianets-Podilskyi became part of the Russian Empire. These territories and others that were joined to Russia were inhabited by Greek Catholics. In 1793, Podilsk Viceroyalty was created and in 1797 was reorganized into Podilsk Governorate with its center in Kamianets-Podilskyi. The hostile attitude of the Russian Empire to the Greek Catholic Church soon led to its liquidation in Podolia. In 1793–1795, the first forcible liquidation of Greek Catholics by the government of the Russian Empire took place. It concerned mostly the territory of Ukraine. With the help of the Russian army and under the personal control of Russian officials, so-called “missionary actions” began in Greek Catholic parishes.
As a result of Russian annexation, the eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi lost all 810 parishes that went under the Russian Empire. In 1795, on the same territory, the Russian government established the Orthodox eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi. All mentioned parishes were included in a new eparchy. Instead, because of the Partition of Poland, part of an ancient eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi remained under the power of the bishops of Lviv on the other bank of the river Zbruch under the ruling of Austria. It was 109 parishes.
In 1807, Pope Pius VII (1742–1823) with the papal bull Inuniversalis Ecclesiae regimine renewed the Metropolis of Galicia on the territory of Austria and the Galician metropolitans retained the title “Bishop of Kamianets-Podilskyi.” On this basis, in 1907, Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky appointed Fr. Alexei Zerchaninov to be the Vicar General of the Kamyanets eparchy, which was then part of the Russian Empire.
During the war in 1941, on behalf of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky, Blessed Bishop-Martyr Vasyl Velychkovsky carried out his ministry in the church of St. Nicholas in Kamianets-Podilskyi during the year. However, in 1942 the German occupation authorities expelled him from the city. From the Autumn of 1962 Fr., Eustace Smal secretly served Greek Catholics in the Roman church of St. Nicholas in Kamianets-Podilskyi. In 1964, when the KGB found out about his ministry, they ordered Fr. Eustace to leave the city.
The legalization of the UGCC happened on November 20, 1989. The indomitable Church received the long-awaited freedom, sanctified by the blood of hundreds of martyrs for the faith, and began to rebuild its destroyed structures. This reconstruction did not bypass the territory of the eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi. Thanks to the underground activities of the persecuted priests of the UGCC in Kamianets-Podilskyi, an underground community of believers was formed. It was officially registered in 1990.
Monks congregations of the order of St. Basil the Great and Fathers Redemptorists came back to their monasteries. The first communities of UGCC started to work in Kamianets-Podilskyi (1990), Volochysk (1995), Khmelnytskyi (2001), Sataniv town (2003), Chemerivtsi (2003), Dunaivtsi (2004) and Horodok (2004). After a while, communities in other cities and towns of the Khmelnytskyi region were created and registered. Bishop Vasyl Semenyuk, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Ternopil and Zboriv, who has supported many communities for many years, has made a particularly significant contribution to the development of religious life. Thanks to his help many churches have been built in the region. No parish did not ask the Metropolitan for help. Parishes of UGCC that are located on the territory of the Khmelnytskyi region were under the care of the archeparchy of Ternopil-Zboriv. Khmelnytskyi and Kamianets deaneries were part of the archeparchy.
According to the decision of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC on September 23, 2003, the jurisdiction of the archeparchy of Ternopil-Zboriv was extended to the city of Khmelnytskyi and districts of the region.
To serve the faithful in these territories, it was created the deanery of Khmelnytskyi. In 2008, on behalf of the decree of the Archbishop and Metropolitan Vasyl Semenyuk, the deanery of Khmelnytskyi was divided into Khmelnytskyi and Kamianets-Podilskyi. The first deans became Fr. Ivan Dankevych and Fr. Anton Fedyk.
Fifty-two new churches were built at both deaneries. As of 2016, it is officially registered 75 parishes and 2 monasteries.
On December 11, 2015, it was informed that Holy Father blessed the decision of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC about the creation of the eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi with the seat in Khmelnytskyi. Thus, the new eparchy was separated from the territory of the archeparchy of Ternopil-Zboriv and was no more under this metropolitan seat.
Following the precepts of ecclesiastical law, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk appointed Bishop Vasyl Semenyuk, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Ternopil and Zboriv, Administrator of the vacant throne of the newly created eparchy.
A festive proclamation of the eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi was held on February 7, 2016, in the Cathedral of the Nativity of Mother of God in Khmelnitslyi. It happened during the Divine Liturgy led by the Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, in collaboration with other bishops and priests with the participation of many faithful.
Shrines
Among the shrines of the eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi is a Letychiv Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God that is placed in the Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Letychiv town (Khmelnytskyi region).
Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Archbishop of Constantinople, has become a patron of the new eparchy of Kamianets-Podilskyi of the UGCC.
Contacts
Address: St. Zarichanska, 10/3, Khmelnitslyi 29015, Ukraine
Phone: +380 (67) 174-13-60
Fax: +380 (38) 278-59-89
Email: [email protected]
Website: ugcc.km.ua