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| Hungarian Greek Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Particular church (sui iuris) |
| Classification | Christian |
| Orientation | Eastern Catholic |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Governance | Metropolitanate |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Archbishop | MetropolitanPéter Fülöp Kocsis |
| Region | Hungary |
| Language | Hungarian |
| Liturgy | Byzantine Rite |
| Headquarters | Debrecen,Hungary[1] |
| Origin | 8 June 1912 Hungary |
| Congregations | 187[2] |
| Members | 326,200[2] |
| Official website | gorogkatolikus.hu |
TheHungarian Greek Catholic Church[a] or theByzantine Catholic Church in Hungary is asui iuris (autonomous)Eastern Catholic church based inHungary. As aparticular church of theCatholic Church, it is infull communion with theHoly See.[3][4][1] Itsliturgical usage is that of theByzantine Rite in theHungarian language.
Hungary'sGreek Catholics were originally concentrated in what is now northeastern Hungary. This region was historically inhabited byByzantine Rite Christians from theCarpathian Mountains (Ruthenians and Romanians).[citation needed]Serbs fleeing the Turkish advance arrived later in what was then Hungary, but most stayed in the area that is now part of Serbia. Later still, when the Turks were driven back fromVienna in 1683 and fromBuda and central Hungary in 1686,Ruthenians andSlovaks settled in the abandoned lands of Hungary. They were cared for by theRuthenianEparchy of Mukacheve (Hungarian:Munkács). In the 17-18th centuries, during the conflict withProtestants, manyHungarians joined the Greek Catholic Church, and so adopted the Byzantine Rite rather than the Latin, which resulted in a considerable increase in their number.[5]
Perhaps largely because of this last element, Byzantine Hungarians began to use theHungarian language in their liturgy. A translation of theLiturgy of Saint John Chrysostom for private study was published in 1795. A book containing the parts of the liturgy that the people sing appeared in 1862. Representatives of 58 Hungarian-speaking parishes met in 1868 and set up an organization to promote the liturgical use of the Hungarian language and the establishment of a separateeparchy. In 1882 there was the publication, without formal ecclesiastical approval, of a Hungarian translation of the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom for actual use, which was soon followed by Hungarian translations of other liturgical texts.[citation needed]
Finally, on 8 June 1912,Pope Pius X established theEparchy of Hajdúdorog[6][7] for the 162 Hungarian-speaking Greek Catholic parishes. He limited the use of Hungarian to non-liturgical functions, requiring the clergy to useGreek in the liturgy, but granted an interval of three years for the change of language to be effected. Because of the outbreak of the First World War, this interval was prolonged indefinitely, and use of Hungarian has continued.[citation needed]
The change of national frontiers after the First World War led to the reduction of the territory of the Eparchy of Hajdúdorog from the 168 parishes to which it had grown to only 90. Within Hungary there were also 21 parishes of the Eparchy ofPrešov and one of the Eparchy of Mukačevo. On 4 June 1924, these were brought together as the new Exarchate ofMiskolc,[8][9] at first - because at that time they still used Church Slavonic in the liturgy - classified as Ruthenian, but now considered part of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church.[citation needed]
The church was in a unique position under theHungarian Communist regime. Unlike its counterparts in borderingRomania,Slovakia orSoviet Ukraine, it was neither outlawed nor especially targeted for persecution. Factors for this relative leniency include the church's small size, its poverty (northeast Hungary, where its adherents are concentrated, has historically been the country's poorest area) as well as the near absence of an Orthodox jurisdiction into which Greek Catholics could have been forced to merge.[10]
The territory of the eparchy at first corresponded to that of theLatin ChurchArchdiocese of Eger in eastern Hungary andBudapest. Its jurisdiction was extended on 17 July 1980 to the whole of Hungary.[citation needed]
On 20 March 2015,Pope Francis elevated the Hungarian Church to a metropolitanate with Debrecen as itsmetropolitan see, naming BishopFülöp Kocsis as itsmetropolitan. He also raised the Apostolic Exarchate of Miskolc to the status of an eparchy, to be headed by BishopAtanáz Orosz. Finally he erected the Eparchy of Nyíregyháza from territory previously within the See of Hajdúdorog. The two eparchies aresuffragans of the Hajdúdorog see.[11]
Some Hungarian Greek Catholics have emigrated to North America, where their few parishes are under the jurisdiction of theMetropolis of Pittsburgh in theRuthenian Greek Catholic Church.[12] More than half of thediocesan priests aremarried.[13]
The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church comprises a singleecclesiastical province, which consists of the metropolitan archeparchy and two suffragan eparchies:
Greek Catholic eparchs (bishops) are members of the (mainly Latin)episcopal conference of Hungary.[citation needed]
| Metropolis of Hajdúdorog |
|  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patriarchal churches |
|  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major archiepiscopal churches | ||||||
| Metropolitan churches | ||||||
| Othersui iuris churches | ||||||
47°57′19″N21°42′45″E / 47.9554°N 21.7124°E /47.9554; 21.7124
