Russian Greek Catholic Church

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The Russian Greek Catholic Church^[a] or Russian Byzantine Catholic Church^[1] is a sui iuris Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Church of the worldwide Catholic Church.^[2] Historically, it represents a both a movement away from the control of the Church by the State and towards the reunion of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Catholic Church. It is in full communion with and subject to the authority of the Pope of Rome as defined by Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

Russian Catholics historically had their own episcopal hierarchy in the Russian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Russia and the Russian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Harbin, China. However, these offices are currently vacant. Their few parishes are served by priests ordained in other Eastern Catholic churches, former Eastern Orthodox priests, and Latin Church Catholic priests with bi-ritual faculties. The Russian Greek Catholic Church is currently led by Bishop Joseph Werth as its ordinary.^[3] In a 2019 article for The Catholic Herald, Jon Anderson wrote, "The new frontier among the Eastern Catholic Churches is the Russian Greek Catholic Church, counting around 3,000 members. Even though an exarchate was established in 1917, Soviet repression meant that Eastern Catholics went underground. Their outstanding figure, Mother Catherine Abrikosova, was subjected to a Stalinist show trial and spent more than 10 years in solitary confinement before her death in 1936. The position of Eastern Catholics in Russia – as opposed to that of Poles or Lithuanians in the Latin Church – is still tenuous, with little organisation in place. Their existence remains a flashpoint in Rome’s relations with the Russian Orthodox, who are intensely suspicious of Catholic activity in Russia."^[4]

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