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Ternopil, Ukraine As the train bringing the wounded soldier home from the front line grinds to a halt, the crowd on the platform bursts into patriotic song. Maj. Ruslan Androsyuks three-year-old son jumps into his arms, unsteadying him as he limps from the carriage.

Relatives and friends wave balloons and Ukrainian flags, welcoming Major Androsyuk back after a mine ripped through his armored personnel carrier in the Donetsk region, leaving him with a broken leg, fractured ribs, and pierced lungs. If it wasnt for his bulletproof vest he wouldnt have survived, says his wife Olga, choking back tears.

But it wasn't Ukraine's government that supplied Androsyuk his gear. Like hundreds of other soldiers fighting against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, his equipment was provided by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC).

After decades of marginalization by both Ukraine's communist and post-Communist regimes and its two dominant Orthodox churches, the UGCC is trying to establish itself as a major pro-European player by supplying government forces fighting in the east. By taking a direct role in the conflict, the UGCC hopes to win followers within a country that is becoming increasingly divided along ethnic and religious lines.

The UGCC is a mystery to many outside of Ukraine. Founded in the 16th century, it is the largest of 22 eastern Catholic churches, each in full communion with Rome. ("Greek" was added to distinguish it from Ukraines tiny community of Roman Catholics.)

With some 7 million followers, around 15 percent of Ukraines population, the UGCC competes with Ukraines two, much larger Orthodox Churches the Moscow and Kiev Patriarchates for followers, influence, and political clout. (The Moscow branch claims 28 million adherents; the Kiev branch around half of that.)

The UGCC is concentrated in the western regions, especially Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Ternopil. Western and central Ukraine are home to over 3,000 UGCC parishes, the south and east just 205. The church's centuries-old headquarters recently relocated from Lviv to Kiev, the capital.

But while its flock is relatively small, the UGCC prides itself with having shaped Ukraines cultural and political identity over the past two hundred years.

The national anthem sung throughout the EuroMaidan protest movement that toppled former President Viktor Yanukovych was composed by 19th-century priest Mykhailo Verbytsky. Indeed, the church's links to Ukrainian identity spurred Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to dissolve the church in 1946.

It continued to hold secret services in cemeteries and forests, while UGCC priests delivered clandestine sermons in Sovietgulags. The UGCC also claims credit for keeping the Ukrainian language alive during Communist times not a word of Russian is uttered between sanctuary walls.

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Ukraine's Greek Catholic Church looks to boost sway by equipping military