# The Union of Brest 1596: Kyiv, Rome, Constantinople

> The claim that Kyiv's Orthodox Church answered to Moscow is false: the Union of Brest (1596) tied Kyiv to Rome, and the Moscow Patriarchate (1589) was a new project claiming the Rus' lands.

Canonical: https://holospravdy.com/en/union-of-brest-1596
Period: raniy-noviy-chas | Type: spoke | Updated: 2026-06-18

**TL;DR.** The Russian narrative reduces Orthodoxy to the "Russian world" and a "shared faith" with Moscow. The church history of Ukraine says otherwise: the Kyiv metropolitanate answered to **Constantinople, not Moscow**, had a deep tradition of ties with Rome, and in 1596 created a separate **Greek Catholic Church**. The Moscow Patriarchate itself was a later (1589) political project that immediately laid claim to the Rus' lands.

## What the Union of Brest was

The Union of Brest of **1596** was a union of the Kyiv Orthodox metropolitanate with Rome. It gave rise to the **Greek Catholic Church** (the UGCC): it combined the Eastern, Byzantine rite with recognition of the primacy of the Pope of Rome[1]. This was neither an accident nor a "betrayal of Orthodoxy," but a way out of a deep internal crisis within the church.

## A Western orientation — a long-standing tradition

The idea of a union was nothing new for Ukraine. It surfaced as far back as King **Danylo Romanovych**, who received his crown from the Pope of Rome, and in the mid-fifteenth century the Kyiv metropolitan **Isidore** took an active part in the **Council of Ferrara-Florence**[2]. In other words, a connection with Western, Latin Christianity had deep roots in the Ukrainian church — long before 1596.

## Moscow: a new patriarchate with a claim

A point crucial for the present day: in **1589** the **Moscow Patriarchate** was created — and in violation of canon law at that. The Moscow patriarch was immediately granted the title "**of Moscow and all Rus'**" and fifth place among the world's patriarchs. This gave Muscovy formal grounds to **lay claim to the Rus' lands** — Ukrainian and Belarusian — that at the time belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth[3]. For Kyiv this was not a "shared faith" but a political threat.

## Kyiv answered to Constantinople, not Moscow

Before the union, the Kyiv metropolitan was subordinate **not to Moscow but to the patriarch of Constantinople**. But the latter, residing in Ottoman Istanbul under the sultan's authority, had neither financial nor international influence — he was rather "first among equals" in name only. And when the Constantinople patriarchs tried to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kyiv metropolitanate, this provoked **resistance** from the local bishops — and became one of the reasons they raised the question of a union: to shut out outside influences and reform their own church[4].

## What this means

The religious history of Ukraine is a direct refutation of the myth that "Orthodoxy = the Russian world." Kyiv was never a church "appendage" of Moscow: it answered to Constantinople, had its own tradition of conciliar governance and long-standing ties with Rome, and in 1596 deliberately created a separate Greek Catholic Church. Moscow, by contrast, constructed its patriarchate in 1589 — and immediately used it as an instrument for claiming Ukrainian lands. What the Kremlin today presents as an "eternal shared faith" is historically a later **political appropriation**.

## Citation sources

[1] summary: «Берестейська унія 1596 року — союз Київської православної митрополії з Римом, унаслідок якого виникла греко-католицька церква (УГКЦ): вона поєднала східний (візантійський) обряд із підпорядкуванням Папі Римському.» — Historian Every Saturday: Svitlana Vizer. The Union of Brest: The Ukrainian Church Between Rome and Constantinople (08.03.2025) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY7neH7M7Uo (timecodes: 2:45, 3:47)

[2] summary: «Ідея унії не була чимось новим: вона спливала ще від короля Данила Романовича (який отримав корону від Папи Римського), а в середині XV століття київський митрополит Ісидор активно брав участь у Ферраро-Флорентійській унії. Тобто західна, римська орієнтація мала в українській церкві глибоке коріння.» — Historian Every Saturday: Svitlana Vizer. The Union of Brest: The Ukrainian Church Between Rome and Constantinople (08.03.2025) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY7neH7M7Uo (timecodes: 4:34, 5:12)

[3] summary: «1589 року було створено Московський патріархат (із порушенням канонів). Московський патріарх дістав титул «Московський і всієї Русі» й одразу п'яте місце серед патріархів — що давало Московії підстави претендувати на руські (українські й білоруські) землі Речі Посполитої.» — Historian Every Saturday: Svitlana Vizer. The Union of Brest: The Ukrainian Church Between Rome and Constantinople (08.03.2025) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY7neH7M7Uo (timecodes: 16:48, 17:00, 17:16)

[4] summary: «На той час Київський митрополит підпорядковувався не Москві, а константинопольському патріарху — який, перебуваючи в османському Стамбулі під владою султана, не мав ні фінансового, ні міжнародного впливу. Коли константинопольські патріархи спробували втрутитися у справи Київської митрополії, це викликало спротив — і стало однією з причин, чому владики порушили питання унії: щоб виключити такі впливи.» — Historian Every Saturday: Svitlana Vizer. The Union of Brest: The Ukrainian Church Between Rome and Constantinople (08.03.2025) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY7neH7M7Uo (timecodes: 17:43, 18:14, 20:09)