Petro Parfenii was an Orthodox

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...

 Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 who united the Ruthenian Church

Ruthenian Catholic Church

The Ruthenian Catholic Church is a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church , which uses the Divine Liturgy of the Constantinopolitan Byzantine Eastern Rite. Its roots are among the Rusyns who lived in the region called Carpathian Ruthenia, in and around the Carpathian Mountains...

 with Rome. In 1646, 63 Ruthenian priests (under Parfenii’s leadership) solicited a union with the Catholic Church. However, they required the preservation of the Byzantine Rite

Byzantine Rite

The Byzantine Rite, sometimes called the Rite of Constantinople or Constantinopolitan Rite is the liturgical rite used currently by all the Eastern Orthodox Churches, by the Greek Catholic Churches , and by the Protestant Ukrainian Lutheran Church...

, Canon law

Canon law

Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...

 and the ecclesiastical authority.

The Catholic Church recognized Parfenii as bishop in 1655 (due to Parfenii’s ordaination by an Orthodox metropolitan in 1651). In 1664, Parfenii established himself in Mukacheve. Parfenii died in 1665.

External links

• http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages\U\Z\UzhhorodUnionof1646.htm
• http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages\M\U\Mukachiveparchy.htm
• http://www.rusyn.org/relmukachevo.html