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Archiepiscopal exarchate Donetsk, Ukraine

Apostolic Exarchate of Donetsk

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Ukrainian Greek Catholic archiepiscopal exarchate for eastern Ukraine (Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts), founded 11 January 2002 as the Exarchate of Donetsk-Kharkiv and renamed on 2 April 2014 when Kharkiv was split off. The seat is the Cathedral of the Virgin of Mercy in Donetsk; roughly half its territory is under Russian occupation, with active parishes down from over 80 to 37.

On the map

Esri
The address the register holds for Cathedral of the Virgin of Mercy, Donetsk, in Donetsk, Ukraine.

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Established
2002
Catholics
8,000
Priests
61
Territory
112,298 km²

Parishes and churches

34 listed churches in our records. Open a parish for Mass times, confession, directions and sources where recorded.

This is our recorded coverage, not an official diocesan parish count. Confirm service times with the parish before travelling.

The bishop

Archiepiscopal Exarch
Maksym Ryabukha, S.D.B.

Explore the ministry of the bishop.

The cathedral

Cathedral of the Virgin of Mercy, Donetsk stands in Donetsk, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

History

Among the five Archiepiscopal Exarchates of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (Byzantine Rite, Ukrainian language), each an Eastern Catholic pre-diocesan missionary jurisdiction under a Major Archbishop, is the Ukrainian Catholic Archiepiscopal Exarchate of Donetsk (Latin: Archiepiscopi Exarchatus Doneckiensis) in Eastern Ukraine. Its cathedral episcopal see is the Cathedral of the Virgin of Mercy in Donetsk, and a Basilian monastery stands at Zvanivka in the north of Donetsk Oblast. Bishop Stepan Meniok, C.Ss.R., the first archiepiscopal exarch, retired in 2024 and was succeeded by Bishop Maksym Ryabukha.