 Slovak Greek Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Particular church (sui iuris) |
| Classification | Christian |
| Orientation | Eastern Catholic |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Governance | Metropolitanate |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Primate | Jonáš Maxim |
| Associations | Congregation for the Oriental Churches |
| Region | Slovakia |
| Liturgy | Byzantine Rite |
| Headquarters | Prešov,Slovakia |
| Members | 207,320[1] |
| Other name | Slovak Byzantine Catholic Church |
TheSlovak Greek Catholic Church[a] orByzantine Catholic Church in Slovakia, is asui iuris (autonomous)Eastern Catholic church based inSlovakia. As aparticular church of theCatholic Church, it is infull communion with theHoly See. The church is organised as a singleecclesiastical province with onemetropolitan see.[2] Itsliturgical rite is theByzantine Rite. In 2008 inSlovakia alone, the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia had some 350,000 faithful, 374 priests and 254 parishes. In 2017, the Catholic Church counted 207,320 Greek Catholics in Slovakia worldwide, representing roughly one percent of all Eastern Catholics.[3]
Since the unanimous acceptance of theUnion of Uzhhorod on the territory that includes present day easternSlovakia in 1646, the history of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church was intertwined with that of theRuthenian Greek Catholic Church for a period of several centuries. At the end ofWorld War I, most Greek Catholic Ruthenians and Slovaks were included within the territory ofCzechoslovakia, including twoeparchies,Prešov andMukačevo. The eparchy of Prešov, created on September 22, 1818, was removed in 1937 from the jurisdiction of theHungarian primate and subjected directly to theHoly See, while the 21 parishes of the eparchy of Prešov that were in Hungary were formed into thenew exarchate ofMiskolc.
AfterWorld War II, the eparchy of Mukačevo inTranscarpathia was annexed by theSoviet Union, thus the eparchy of Prešov included all the Greek Catholics that remained in Czechoslovakia. Aftercommunists seized the country in April 1950, a "synod" was convoked at Prešov, at which five priests and a number of laymen signed a document declaring that the union with Rome was disbanded and asking to be received into a jurisdiction of theMoscow Patriarchate in the Orthodox Church of Czechoslovakia. Greek Catholic bishop BlessedPavel Petro Gojdič of Prešov along with his auxiliary, BlessedBasil Hopko, were imprisoned and bishopGojdič died in prison in 1960.
During thePrague Spring in 1968, the former Greek Catholic parishes were allowed to restore communion with Rome.[4] Of the 292 parishes involved, 205 voted in favor. This was one of the few reforms byDubček that survived the Soviet invasion the same year. However, most of their church buildings remained in the hands of Orthodox Church.
After communism was overthrown in the 1989Velvet Revolution, Church property was gradually returned to the Slovak Greek Catholic Church. This process was almost completed by 1993, the year after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia into theCzech Republic andSlovakia. For Greek Catholics in the Czech Republic, a separateApostolic Vicariate was created, elevated in 1996 to anexarchate thus forming theApostolic Exarchate in the Czech Republic (now considered part ofRuthenian Catholic Church); the 2007Annuario Pontificio indicated that it had by then grown to having 177,704 faithful, 37 priests and 25 parishes.
In Slovakia itself,Pope John Paul II created anApostolic Exarchate ofKošice in 1997.Pope Benedict XVI raised this to the level of anEparchy on January 30, 2008 and at the same time erected the new Byzantine-riteEparchy of Bratislava. He also raised Prešov to the level of a metropolitan see, constituting the Slovak Greek Catholic Church as asui iuris metropolitan Church.
Slovakia:
In theUnited States andCanada, the Slovak Greek Catholics fall under the jurisdiction of theRuthenian Greek Catholic Church, with theExarchate of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto for Slovak Greek Catholics reduced from an eparchy and transferred to Ruthenian authority in 2022.[5]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| Patriarchal churches |
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| Major archiepiscopal churches | ||||||
| Metropolitan churches | ||||||
| Othersui iuris churches | ||||||
Slovak Greek Catholic Church hierarchy | |||||
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| Metropolitan archeparch ofPrešov | |||||
| Eparchs |
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| Auxiliary bishop | |||||
| Apostolic visitor |
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| Retired bishops | Ján Babjak (Prešov),Milan Chautur (Košice),Marián Andrej Pacák (former Slovak eparchy ofSaints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto) | ||||
| Other hierarchs |
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| National | |
48°59′39″N21°14′36″E / 48.9942°N 21.2432°E /48.9942; 21.2432
