Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo Eparchia Munkacsiensis | |
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| Location | |
| Country | Ukraine |
| Statistics | |
Population
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| Parishes | 471 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic Church (Eastern Catholic) |
| Sui iuris church | Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church |
| Rite | Byzantine Rite |
| Established | September 19, 1771 |
| Cathedral | Holy Cross Cathedral |
| Patron | Theodore Romzha |
| Secular priests | 261 |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Bishop | Teodor Matsapula |
| Auxiliary Bishops | Nil Lushchak |
| Map | |
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| Website | |
| www.mgce.uz.ua | |
TheGreek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo is aneparchy of theRuthenian Greek Catholic Church that was erected byPope Clement XIV in 1771. The geographic remit of the eparchy includes the south-western parts ofUkraine that are roughly withinZakarpattia Oblast. The eparchy is directly subject to theHoly See. It is supervised by theDicastery for the Eastern Churches. Its parishes observe theByzantine Rite, which is also celebrated by the majority ofOrthodox Christians, as provided for in the original terms of theUnion of Uzhhorod. Theepiscopal seat is theCathedral of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross inUzhhorod.[1]
Mukachevo is the mother eparchy of four modern Eastern Catholic churches: theSlovak Greek Catholic Church, theRomanian Greek Catholic Church, theHungarian Greek Catholic Church, and theRuthenian Greek Catholic Church.[2]
Some historians[who?] believe that the origins of the eparchy are to be found in the missionary work ofSaints Cyril and Methodius in the ninth century. The 14th century saw the founding of theSaint Nicholas Monastery on Chernecha Hora (Hill of Monks) located in the city ofMukachevo.[citation needed] Many believe that from that point, the Eparchy of Mukachevo evolved into the entity as we know it today.[citation needed] The bishops resided at the Monastery and administered ecclesiastical affairs from there until 1766. After the union with Rome and until 1946, the Monastery of St Nicholas was also the principal religious house of the monks of theOrder of Saint Basil the Great (OSBM), also calledBasilian monks.[1]
The bishops, clergy and faithful of this eparchy were originally Orthodox Christians who at some point were reconstituted under an eparchy suffragan to the originalMetropolitan of Kiev (Russian Orthodox Church) that was under the jurisdiction of thePatriarch of Constantinople (seeEparchy of Mukačevo and Prešov).
In 1646, following the example of their compatriots across theCarpathian Mountains inGalicia (current day Western Ukraine), who in 1596 established theUnion of Brest, the people of the Mukachevo eparchy united with the papalHoly See (recognizing the primacy of Catholic Rome, not Byzantine, Orthodox 'New Rome' Constantinople) under what is known as theUnion of Uzhhorod. Other Eastern Orthodox Christians who belonged to the original Eastern Orthodox eparchy of Mukachevo and refused to convert joined theeparchy of Buda that is suffragan to theSerbian Patriarchate of Peć (and laterPatriarchate of Karlovci).
In the political and spiritual climate of the day, union with Rome was considered by many to be a productive solution to promoting both the welfare of the people and the church. Following a model similar to that proposed at theCouncil of Florence, the people were allowed to maintain their Byzantine Rite spiritual, liturgical and canonical traditions, while recognizing theRoman Pontiff as the head of the universal church.[1] From 1646 to 1771 the eparchy wassuffragan to theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Eger.
On September 19, 1771, after decades of efforts on the part of the bishops of Mukachevo for recognition as a fully self-governing ecclesiastical entity, free from the control of the Latin Catholic bishops ofEger (today inHungary), the Habsburg Holy Roman EmpressMaria Theresa issued a decree, subsequently approved by Rome, that created a jurisdictionally independent Mukachevo Eparchy no longer subordinate to theLatin Churchordinary. It was also at this time that the faithful of the eparchy formally became known asGreek Catholics. During the episcopate of Bishop Andrii Bachynskyij (1772-1809), the eparchy retained its historic name but its seat was moved toUzhhorod (1780), where it remains to this day.
Following theSecond World War and the occupation ofCarpatho-Ukraine by the Soviet regime, the Greek Catholic Church was liquidated in 1949. All properties were allocated to theRussian Orthodox Church and the clergy and many faithful exiled to concentration camps. The bishop of Mukachevo during this time wasTheodore Romzha. In 1947, Bishop Romzha was poisoned byNKVD (predecessor of theKGB) authorities. During the Soviet years, the Greek Catholic Church in Galicia,Transcarpathia and Slovakia continued to operate secretly in the underground.
With the collapse of theSoviet Union, many priests and faithful of the Eparchy of Mukachevo came out of thecatacombs. The eparchy was allowed to officially renew its activities in 1989. BishopIvan Semedi, who had been secretly consecrated during the persecution years, was the first bishop to freely perform his ministry in over 40 years.
In 2014 the eparchy had 320,000 faithful, 2 bishops, 429 parishes, 280 diocesan priests, 30 religious priests, 44 men religious, 45 women religious, 0 deacons and 98 seminarians.[3]
The list of theeparchs (bishops) of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo is:[4][5][6]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Hierarchy, including ecclesiastical circumscriptions | ||||||||||||||||
| Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church |
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| Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church |
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| Episcopal Conference of Ukraine of the Latin Church |
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| Armenian Catholic Church |
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| Apostolic Nunciature |
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