Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church

Prelude (from Roman Catholics to Greek Catholics) Anthony Elias Dohnal, born 1946, was ordained as a priest for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Litoměřice in Czechoslovakia . After military service, he served as a parochial vicar in Slušovice and Budišov, promoting spiritual revival. Active in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal since 1981, he fought against the tolerance of occultism and promoted prayer groups. In 1986 he was assigned to a "prison for nuns" and kept as a virtual prisoner. From 1987 to 1990 he served at Dvorce, continuing with samizdat writings against liberal theology and occultism. In 1991, together with students R. Spirik and J. Spirik, he resolved to join the Greek-Catholic Order of Saint Basil the Great (OSBM) and entered the novitiate in Warsaw. In 1992, he transferred to the monastery in Trebišov. Spirik and two other former students were ordained priests during 1996–1997. Shortly after, A. Dohnal applied for permission to found a "contemplative" branch of the OSBM community. On Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church released a statement from Cardinal Husar warning that any consecration that had taken place was not recognized by the Church. UOGCC officials denied the accusation and complained of police harassment. Founding of the UOGCC On August 11, 2009, the bishops of the Pidhirtsi movement declared the founding of the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church as a "new Church structure for the orthodox faithful of the UGCC." In their declaration they professed the Catholic faith, including the primacy of the Roman Pontiff and disassociated themselves from "contemporary heresies which destroy both the Eastern and the Western Church." Archbishop Elias Dohnal was selected as the first Patriarch of the new body. They declared on 1 May 2011 that both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI were excommunicated and that the Holy See was vacant (Sedevacantism). They added: "The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate is now commissioned by God to protect the orthodox doctrine of the Catholic Church, including the Latin Church. Only after an orthodox Catholic hierarchy and an orthodox successor to the Papacy is elected, will the Patriarchate be relieved of this God-given duty." Conflict with the Catholic Church , Ukraine On October 7, 2008, the Apostolic Signatura, the highest appeals court of the Catholic Church, including the UGCC from which the UOGCC separated, refused the appeal of the "Pidhirtsi fathers", and left the sentence of major excommunication imposed in June 2008 by the UGCC major-archiepiscopal tribunal intact. On March 29, 2012, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) published a declaration, On 14 October 2019, the UOGCC broke with their former policy of Sedevacantism and embraced Conclavism. They announced they had elected Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, as their Pope. In June 2020 the church's activities were banned by the City Council of Lviv. ==Controversies==

Allegations of Russian collaboration According to a 2014 New York Times article, Patriarch Elijah, a Czech national, had gone into hiding, to avoid expulsion from Ukraine for visa violations. The article also stated that the UOGCC had not attracted a large number of followers, but made headlines in the local Ukrainian news media for their pro-Russian views and alleged brainwashing of vulnerable young recruits. The New York Times further claims that the Lviv-based Ekspres newspaper, reported that before the Fall of Communism, Elijah was a Soviet informer in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. In support of their claims, Ekspres published a document identifying Fr. Dohnal as a KGB mole with the code name “Tonek.” The UOGCC website denied the accusation. Search for illegal immigrants On 22 June 2015, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) service members in full "battle rattle" searched a convent in Bryukhovychi (near Lviv) as well as a chapel in the city of Lviv. They detained five members of the religious organization four citizens of Slovakia and one citizen of the Czech Republic. Two Slovaks had their documents expired after moving to Ukraine in 2013 and the State Migration Service of Ukraine main administration charged them with violation of migration regulations, fined them and approved forcefully deport them with banning to return for next three years. For one more Slovak citizen whose papers were in order a term of stay was shortened. All those three Robert (Samuil) Oberhauser, Peter (Basil) Kolodi, and Mariana Feledi left Ukraine same day on 22 June 2015. Two more one Slovak and another Czech played as not having identification papers on hand and were taken to a SBU investigation isolator in Lviv. Later, it was announced that they were moved out of the [Lviv] oblast to avoid any provocation as on 23 June 2015 about 100 people picketed the SBU administration in Lviv Oblast. Nonetheless, on 24 June 2015, those last two were found at the Zhovkva Raion courtroom where just before the session they finally showed their passports, Czech Richard (Metodij) Spirzik and Slovak Patrick (Timofij) Sojka. On decision of the court, both of them were deported from Ukraine the next day. The SBU was not able to find the leader of the organization Elijah Anthony Dohnal. All detentions were conducted as part of criminal proceeding opened by the Shevchenkivskyi District department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine main administration against "Dohnalites". On 25 June 2015, the chief of SBU administration in Lviv Oblast commented that during the search in convent were noticed many other illegal immigrants who should be checked by migration authorities. ==Founders==

Patriarch Elijah Anthony Dohnal (born 1946 in Hluk) was elected as first Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate. He was elected by the Bishops’ Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in an extraordinary assembly of 5 April 2011, on the day of establishment of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate. Patriarch Elijah was ordained a priest in 1972 in the Czech Republic and joined the OSBM Order and changed rite in 1991. He has a doctorate in theology from Charles University, Prague and lectured dogmatics in Prešov, Slovakia. He was ordained as an archbishop in 2009 and held the title of vicar. In 2011, he was elected and consecrated as Byzantine Catholic Patriarch by the Bishops' Synod, led by Archbishop Michael Osidach, on April 5. Other bishops: • Head of the Church: Mychajlo Osidach, Ukrainian: Osidach, a former Russian Orthodox priest, has claimed to have been consecrated as a Catholic bishop clandestinely in September 1989, during the era of Communist rule of Ukraine, by Archbishop Volodymyr Sterniuk (1907-1997) and Bishop Filemon Kurchaba (1913-1995). His consecration was never proofed and approved by the Holy See. As of 2014, he is not listed in the Annuario Pontificio as a bishop recognized by the Holy See. • Secretary: Markian V. Hitiuk,: Ukrainian, born 1970 • Members of the Synod: • Metoděj R. Špiřík, : Czech, born 1968 • Timotej Sojka, • Bazil Kolodi, • Samuel Robert Oberhauser, priest of the eparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukraine), Slovak, born 1969 ==Beliefs and theology==

The sect has been described as opposed to many of the political beliefs of the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church followers, including its opposition to Ukraine joining the European Union, and opposition to the overthrow of former and pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. The UOGCC is fervently against homosexuality which it often accuses the government of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and the European Union, of spreading. Archbishop of Lviv Ihor Vozniak claims the UOGCC is funded by Russia to create disorder in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. ==References==