Following the partitions of Poland, the parts of the Uniate Kyivan Metropolitanate that came under Austrian and Russian rule developed under very different conditions. While the Church in the Russian Empire was gradually suppressed, the Austrian authorities introduced reforms that improved the position of Greek Catholics.
In 1774, two years after the First Partition of Poland, Empress Maria Theresa issued a decree introducing the name “Greek Catholic Church” in place of “Uniate Church.” The new designation distinguished Greek Catholics from Roman Catholics while emphasizing their parallel status within the Catholic Church. The Austrian authorities sought to improve the social standing of Ukrainian-Ruthenians, who could serve as a counterbalance to Polish separatism in the region. This policy included granting equal rights to Eastern and Western Catholics. Although the Uniates shared the Catholic faith with Latin Rite Catholics, Polish Roman Catholics had long treated their Eastern Catholic counterparts as inferior.
Emperor Joseph II continued these reforms, recognizing the Greek Catholic clergy as important participants in educational development throughout the Ruthenian lands. His policies improved their social and economic standing and placed particular emphasis on education. Meanwhile, the situation in the Russian Empire deteriorated. Following the Third Partition of Poland, the Uniate Metropolitan of Kyiv, Teodosii Rostotsky, was detained by Russian authorities and forced to move to Saint Petersburg, where he died in 1805. The Kyivan Metropolitanate was left without a metropolitan confirmed by Rome. Metropolitan Borys Gudziak compares this situation to the difficulties experienced by some Catholics in China in the twenty-first century.
Russian repression continued across the Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Lithuanian territories incorporated into the empire. The Uniate Church was progressively suppressed, and the Kyivan Metropolitanate was effectively abolished. These developments prompted the Uniate hierarchy to seek a way to preserve the metropolitan status of their Church within Austrian territory. They appealed for the restoration of the Metropolitanate of Halych.
In 1806, Emperor Francis I petitioned Rome to restore the Halych Metropolitanate with the same rights previously held by the Kyivan Metropolitanate.
On April 17, 1807, Pope Pius VII issued the bull In universalis Ecclesiae regimine, restoring the Metropolitanate of Halych. The document granted the Metropolitan of Lviv and Halych the authority to confirm and appoint bishops for the suffragan eparchies of Chełm and Peremyshl in the name of the Apostolic See, as well as to confer episcopal consecration according to the privileges previously granted to the Metropolitan of Kyiv by Pope Clement VIII.
On March 16, 1808, Antin Anhelovych was appointed the first Greek Catholic Metropolitan of the restored Metropolitanate of Halych. He was enthroned on September 25, 1808. His jurisdiction included the eparchies of Lviv, Peremyshl, and Kholm.
Anhelovych had received his theological education at the Barbareum, the Greek Catholic seminary in Vienna, completing his studies in 1780. In 1781, he became the first Ruthenian from Galicia to earn a doctorate in theology at the University of Vienna. He spoke German, French, Latin, and several Slavic languages. He was ordained a priest in 1782, although some sources give 1783. Before becoming metropolitan, he had already held several important positions. He served as a canon and as the first rector of the new Greek Catholic General Seminary in Lviv, beginning in 1783 and again from 1787 to 1796. He was a professor of dogmatic theology at Lviv University from 1784 to 1787 and served as rector of the university in 1796 and 1797. He also served as Bishop of Peremyshl.
The Metropolitanate of Lviv and Halych became the mainstay of the Greek Catholic Church, particularly as the Church was suppressed in territories absorbed by the Russian Empire.
In the twentieth century, following the incorporation of Western Ukraine into the Soviet Union, this metropolitanate continued its existence in the underground Church. It remained the seat of the father and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church until 2005, when Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, Major Archbishop and head of the Church, transferred his seat to Kyiv, renewing the connection with the historic Kyivan Metropolitanate.
Key:
1774 — Empress Maria Theresa introduces the designation “Greek Catholic Church.”
1805 — Metropolitan Teodosii Rostotsky dies in Saint Petersburg.
1806 — Emperor Francis I petitions Rome to restore the Metropolitanate of Halych.
April 17, 1807 — Pope Pius VII issues the bull In universalis Ecclesiae regimine, restoring the Metropolitanate of Halych.
March 16, 1808 — Antin Anhelovych is appointed Metropolitan of Halych.
September 25, 1808 — Antin Anhelovych is enthroned as Metropolitan.
The restored metropolitanate includes Lviv, Peremyshl, and Kholm.
