UNIATE CHURCHES. Uniate is the name given to former Eastern Christian or Orthodox churches that have been received under the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome and retain their own ritual, practice, and canon law. The term carries a strong negative connotation and is seldom used by these churches to describe themselves.

The term was first used by opponents to the Union of Brest-Litovsk (1595) to indicate a betrayal of Orthodoxy and a yielding to political pressure enforced by alleged violence. The problem of this terminology emerged again in the new alignment of eastern Europe after communism. Many Orthodox view these churches as an obstacle in the way of reconciliation between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. They feel that their very existence constitutes a denial by Catholics of the ecclesial reality of the Orthodox Church and that these unions grew from efforts to split local Orthodox communities...