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==Background==
A large area in the southwest of Russia became absorbed by Lithuania and Poland after the destruction of Kievan power by the Tartars. This southwestern part of Russia was commonly known as Little Russia or the Ukraine. In 1386, the kingdoms of Poland and Lithuania were united under a single ruler. The monarch of the united realm was Roman Catholic, and a substantial minority of the population were Russian and Orthodox. These Orthodox were in a tight spot difficult situation because the Patriarch of Constantinople, to whose [[jurisdiction]] they belonged, could exercise no control in Poland especially since it , as the former Byzantine capital had fallen to the ArabsMuslim Turks. The bishops were appointed not by the Church but by the Roman Catholic king of Poland.
The authorities in Poland always tried to make the Orthodox submit to the pope to reunify Christianity. With the arrival of the Jesuits in 1564, pressure on the Orthodox increased. Secret negotiations with the Orthodox bishops, the nominees of Roman Catholic monarchs, were used to "unite" them with Rome without the faithful’s knowledge. But instead it led to a council being summoned at Brest-Litovsk to proclaim the union with Rome publicly.
