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Four Hundred Years.' Union of Brest (1596-1996). A Critical Re-evaluation. Edited by Bert Groen and Wil van den Bercken. [Eastern Christian Studies, Volume 1.] (Leuven: Peeters. 1998. Pp. x, 269. BEF 1850 paperback.)
This volume, containing nearly all the papers presented at an international congress held at Hernen Castle in the Netherlands in March, 1996, is the first in a series inaugurated by the Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Nijmegen. The symposium marked the four hundredth anniversary of the Union of Brest, by which the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Kiev, whose Ruthenian jurisdiction roughly encompassed today's Belarus and Ukraine, joined with the Roman Church. Evidently, the two sides had different ecclesiological conceptions and expectations, and the resulting conflict between Orthodox and Uniates (today's Greek-Catholics) continues.
Half of the dozen articles in this volume, constituting approximately twothirds of the material, are historical. Sophia Senyk's sensitive, balanced evaluation of the Union makes several often overlooked points, such as the fact that Rome never could (or did) formally approve the much-cited Articles of Union, since it viewed them...