Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo Eparchia Munkacsiensis | |
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Location | |
Country | Ukraine |
Statistics | |
Population - Total | (as of 2010) 380,000 |
Parishes | 471 |
Information | |
Denomination | Catholic Church (Eastern Catholic) |
Rite | Byzantine Rite |
Established | September 19, 1771 |
Cathedral | Holy Cross Cathedral |
Patron | Theodore Romzha |
Secular priests | 261 |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Bishop | Teodor Matsapula |
Apostolic Administrator | Nil Lushchak |
Map | |
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Website | |
www.mgce.uz.ua |
The Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo [1] is an eparchy (diocese) of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church that was erected by the Pope Clement XIV in 1771. The geographic remit of the eparchy includes the south-western parts of Ukraine that are roughly within Zakarpatska Oblast. As an Eastern Catholic Church, it is in full communion with the Catholic Church. The eparchy is exempt, which means that it does have a metropolitan bishop but is directly subject to the Holy See. It is supervised by the Roman Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, a Roman Curia dicastery acting on behalf of the Pope. Its parishes observe the Byzantine Rite which is also celebrated by the majority of Orthodox Christians, and as provided for in the original terms of the Union of Uzhhorod. The episcopal seat is the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the city of Uzhhorod. [2]
The eparchy is a mother eparchy of four modern metropolises: the Slovak Greek Catholic Church, the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church, and the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. [3]
Some historians[ who? ] believe that the origins of the eparchy are to be found in the missionary work of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the ninth century. The 14th century saw the founding of the Saint Nicholas Monastery on Chernecha Hora (Hill of Monks) located in the city of Mukachevo.[ 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 the Order of Saint Basil the Great (OSBM), also called Basilian monks. [2]
The bishops, clergy and faithful of this eparchy were originally Orthodox Christians at some point were reconstituted under an eparchy suffragan to the original Metropolitan of Kiev (Rhosia Orthodox Church) that was under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople (see Eparchy of Mukačevo and Prešov).
In 1646, following the example of their compatriots across the Carpathian Mountains in Galicia (current day Western Ukraine), who in 1596 established the Union of Brest, the people of the Mukachevo eparchy united with the papal Holy See (recognizing the primacy of Catholic Rome, not Byzantine, Orthodox 'second Rome' Constantinople) under what is known as the Union of Uzhhorod. Other Eastern Orthodox Christians who belonged to the original Eastern Orthodox eparchy of Mukachevo and refused to convert joined the eparchy of Buda that is suffragan to the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć (and later Patriarchate 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 the Council of Florence, the people were allowed to maintain their Byzantine Rite spiritual, liturgical and canonical traditions, while recognizing the Roman Pontiff as the head of the universal church. [2] From 1646 to 1771 the eparchy was suffragan to the Roman 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 of Eger (today in Hungary), the Habsburg Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa issued a decree, subsequently approved by Rome, that created a jurisdictionally independent Mukachevo Eparchy no longer subordinate to the Latin Church ordinary. It was also at this time that the faithful of the eparchy formally became known as Greek Catholics. During the episcopate of Bishop Andrii Bachynskyij (1772-1809), the eparchy retained its historic name but its seat was moved to Uzhhorod (1780), where it remains to this day.
Following the Second World War and the occupation of Carpatho-Ukraine by the Soviet regime, the Greek Catholic Church was liquidated in 1949. All properties were allocated to the Russian Orthodox Church and the clergy and many faithful exiled to concentration camps. The bishop of Mukachevo during this time was Theodore Romzha. In 1947, Bishop Romzha was poisoned by NKVD (predecessor of the KGB) 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 the Soviet Union, many priests and faithful of the Eparchy of Mukachevo came out of the catacombs. The eparchy was allowed to officially renew its activities in 1989. Bishop Ivan 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. [4]
The list of the eparchs (bishops) of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo is: [5] [6] [7]
An exarch was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is a major archiepiscopal sui iuris ("autonomous") Eastern Catholic church that is based in Ukraine. As a particular church of the Catholic Church, it is in full communion with the Holy See. It is the second-largest particular church in the Catholic Church after the Latin Church. The major archbishop presides over the entire Church but is not distinguished with the patriarchal title. The incumbent Major Archbishop is Sviatoslav Shevchuk.
The Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, also known in the United States as the Byzantine Catholic Church, is a sui iuris (autonomous) Eastern Catholic church based in Eastern Europe and North America. As a particular church of the Catholic Church, it is in full communion with the Holy See. It uses the Byzantine Rite for its liturgies, laws, and cultural identity.
The Catholic Church in Ukraine is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Catholics make up 10% of the population of Ukraine.
The Slovak Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine Catholic Church in Slovakia, is a sui iuris (autonomous) Eastern Catholic church based in Slovakia. As a particular church of the Catholic Church, it is in full communion with the Holy See. The church is organised as a single ecclesiastical province with one metropolitan see. Its liturgical rite is the Byzantine Rite. In 2008 in Slovakia 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.
Theodore George Romzha was the bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Mukacheve from 1944 to 1947. Assassinated by the NKVD, he was beatified as a martyr by Pope John Paul II on 27 June 2001.
Basil Takach was the first bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the American branch of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church.
Nicholas Thomas Elko was an American Ruthenian Greek Catholic and the third bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh. At the age of 46 he became the first American-born bishop of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. He later served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, a Latin Church archdiocese.
Stephen John Kocisko was the first Metropolitan Archbishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the American branch of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church
The Union of Uzhhorod, was a decision by 63 Ruthenian priests of the Orthodox Eparchy of Mukachevo to join the Catholic Church made on April 24, 1646. Until rediscovery of its founding document in 2016, academics had debated the actual date of union, whether a document had been signed, and even whether the Union of Uzhhorod had even transpired at all.
Petro Parfenii Petrovich was an Orthodox Bishop and a Basilian monk who united the Ruthenian Church with Rome.
The Saint Nicholas Monastery (Ukrainian: Миколаївський Мукачівський жіночий монастир, romanized: Mykolaivskyi Mukachivskyi zhinochnyi monastyr is an Eastern Orthodox monastery located on Chernecha Hora in Mukachevo, Ukraine. It belongs to the jurisdiction of Eparchy of Mukachevo and Uzhhorod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It is a female monastery, headed by hegumenia Epistimiya Sherban.
Manuil Mykhaylo Olshavskyi, O.S.B.M., was the bishop of the Vicariate Apostolic for the Ruthenians in Mukacheve from 1743 to his death in 1767.
Holy Cross Cathedral is a Ruthenian Greek Catholic cathedral of Eparchy of Mukachevo in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. It is dedicated to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
Đura Džudžar is a Serbian eparchial bishop of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Ruski Krstur since 2018. He was previously titular bishop of Acrassus (2001-2018), auxiliary bishop of the Ruthenian Eparchy of Mukachevo (2001-2003), apostolic exarch of Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2013) and Serbia (2013-2018).
Mykhaylo Bradach was a Ruthenian Greek Catholic hierarch. He was titular bishop of Dorylaeum, auxiliary bishop and Apostolic Administrator of the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Mukacheve from 1812 to 1815.
Ivan Bradach, O.S.B.M. was a Ruthenian Greek Catholic hierarch. He was the titular bishop of Rhosus and the last Vicar Apostolic for the Ruthenians from 1768 to 1771 and the first eparchial bishop of the newly created Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Mukacheve from 1771 to 1772.
Yosyf Holovach was a Ruthenian Greek Catholic hierarch. He was an auxiliary bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Mukacheve from 1983 to 2000 as titular bishop of Sozopolis in Haemimonto.
Petro Pavlo Oros was a Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo hierarch after the Church was suppressed by the communist regime. He was an auxiliary bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Mukacheve from 1944 to 1953, when he was murdered by an anti-faith police officer.
Vasyl Tarasovych was a church figure in Transcarpathia, Basilian, eparch of Mukachevo and the initiator of the union with the Catholic Church in Transcarpathia.
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