François Euvé: The Catholics of UkraineCahiers pour croire aujourd'hui 88 (1991) 22-6 (here: 22-5)The Current Situation:Geographically speaking - excluding emigrant communities - these Catholics are primarily located in thewestern part of Ukraine, the region that was Polish territory until World War II. Out of a population of 7 millionpeople (in the regions of Lviv, Ternopil, Uzhhorod, and Ivano-Frankivsk), they make up about 60%. The rest ofUkraine is predominantly Orthodox: 41 million out of 50 million inhabitants. Across all of Ukraine, GreekCatholics represent about 12% of the population.Since the Soviet government's legal recognition of the Church in January 1990, the ten undergroundbishops have officially resumed their positions. Seminaries have been reopened, currently hosting around 1,000seminarians. Many of them will likely be sent to eastern Ukraine, where only five priests serveapproximately 500,000 faithful.Before its legalization, the Greek Catholic Church was not officially allowed to own any places of worship. Theissue of returning churches - formerly Catholic, but transferred to the Orthodox Church after the liquidation ofthe Greek Catholic Church in 1946 - is highly sensitive and contentious, especially since churches open forworship are still very scarce across Soviet territory. Local disputes are multiplying, the most dramatic beingthe tumultuous restitution of St. George’s Cathedral in Lviv, the seat of the Catholic Metropolitan.History:Christianity in Russia traces back to the baptism of Saint Vladimir in 988. At that time, the term “Russia”referred to lands under the princes of Kyiv - roughly corresponding today to Ukraine, Belarus, and westernRussia. In the early 2nd millennium, Moscow did not yet exist. Religious authority rested with the Metropolitanof Kyiv and All Russia, under the direct jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who initiated thecountry’s evangelization. Thus, the Russian Church is Byzantine in origin.Two centuries ...