Russian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Russia

The Russian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Russia is the sui iuris Eastern Catholic jurisdiction of the Catholic Church for the Russian language Byzantine Rite in Russia. It is one of only two components of the Russian Greek Catholic Church, which has no proper diocese, its only sister being the Russian Apostolic Exarchate of Harbin in China, which also has been vacant for decades.^[1]

History

It was established in 1917 as an Apostolic exarchate, this being the Eastern Catholic pre-diocesan equivalent of an Apostolic vicariate; hence it was directly subject to the Apostolic See and its Congregation for the Eastern Churches and not part of any ecclesiastical province. It was established in territory that previously exclusively belonged to the Latin Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mohilev.

Ordinaries

It has been vacant since 1951, having had only two incumbents, both of which belonged to the Ukrainian Studite Monks (MSU), a Byzantine Rite monastic order of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church:

• Blessed Leontiy Leonid Feodorov, MSU (1917.05.28 – 1935.03.07)^[2]
• Blessed Klymentiy Sheptytsky, MSU (1939.09.17 – 1951.05.01); also first Hegumen of the Ukrainian Studite Monks (1919 – 1944.11), then Archimandrite of the Ukrainian Studite Monks (1944.11 – 1951.05.01)^[3]

See also

• List of Catholic dioceses in Russia
• Andrey Sheptytsky

References

1. Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council website, Russian Greek Catholic Church
2. One Peter Five website, Venerable and Blessed Founders of the Russian Catholic Exarchate, article by Maxim Grigorieff dated October 21, 2023
3. Semantic Scholar website,Blessed Klymentiy Sheptytsky (1869-1951) in the Light of Contemporary Domestic Historiography, article by Ruslan Deliatynskyi, Vasyl Gogol and Alina Zadorozhnia, published in Special Historical Disciplines, Source Studies and Historiography, page 68

External links

• GCatholic