History of Greek Catholic Church

Cím / Title:
Egy tanúságtevő hitvalló, szolgáló, tudományos és papi pálya lezárult: Petrasevics Nikefor
József eperjesi görög katolikus kanonok és tudományos kutató (1915–2013)
Passed a Wittness of the Faith, Scientist, a Servant of The Lord, True Priest: Nicefor
Petrashevich (1915–2013), canon of the Preshov Greek Catholic Eparchy


Abstract
Decease of the witness of the Faith, a servant of the Lord and a famous researcher of the religious folklore: Nicefor Joseph Petrashevich (1915–2013) distinguished member of the Capitol of Preshov Greek Catholic Eparchy Born in Čukalovce, East-Slovakia (then Csukalóc, Upper-Hungary) in 1915 as the sixth of the eleven children in the family of a Greek Catholic bishop, he was inspired by his father and elder brother who served the Lord. He studied in the high school (gymnasium) of the Cistercian Order in Eger (Northern Hungary) which provided its pupils with knowledge and deep faith. He became a choir-minister of the Uzhgorod Bishopric Basilica where he turned to the examination of folklore traditions reflected in the liturgical chants. Apparently, it was his calling and his findings on the Byzantine chants contributed significantly to the understanding of religious folklore. He was known as a gifted composer and singer, too. The Greek Catholic Church was banned in the Soviet Union which obtained Subcarpathia after the World War II, and this church was oppressed in Slovakia as well, so he faced a dilemma: to convert to the Ortodox (Pravoslav) Christianity and live free, or to remain faithful to the Catholic Church and be persecuted. Moreover, he was a coelebs, a priest who did not have a wife (despite the fact that Greek Catholic priests are allowed to have families). Consequently, he could have been elected as bishop, as the higher ranks in the Byzantine Churches are open for monks. The communist authorities offered Pope Nicefor the episcopate of the Slovak Orthodox Church, if he converted to the Orthodoxy. He refused it: “my head does not accept the mithra (bishops’ crone) by leaving my Catholic faith” –he said. As a result, he was imprisoned for more than two years in Slovakia. Later he came to Hungary where the Greek Catholic Church was not banned, although he could not serve as a parochial priest, but worked as cantor or occasionally helping pope (nor as a chaplain) in various places and in centres of pilgrimage where performed the liturgy in Church Slavonic which he sang excellently. Continuing his researches in the folk sings in the liturgy and the local traditions of the liturgical chants, he gained a small grant of the Soros Foundation in 1986 and delivered lectures, too, for two semesters at the Department of the Folklore at the Eötvös University in Budapest in 1988–89. His papers have been partially published, but most of them are still preserved as manuscripts in the Institute of Musicology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, or even in unknown places worldwide, as he sent his works to his brothers-in-faith to the United States. In his eighties, instead of enjoying the golden days of ageing, he moved to Slovakia in order to serve as a pastor who spoke both Slovakian and Hungarian as mother tongues. He was buried in Szikszó, Hungary where the Greek Catholic Bishop of Preshov and approximately forty popes from Ukraine, Hungary and Slovakia commemorated him on 20 July 2013. Church historians and folklorists honoured his memory as a researcher with a conference on 4 October 2013 in Szikszó. Proceedings are to be published next year. A memorial website about him is open for bloggers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Petrasevic.Nikefor.spomienky/

Cikkre való hivatkozás / How to cite this article:
Földvári, Sándor (2014): Egy tanúságtevő hitvalló, szolgáló, tudományos és papi pálya
lezárult: Petrasevics Nikefor József eperjesi görög katolikus kanonok és tudományos kutató
(1915–2013). Belvedere Meridionale XXVI. 1. 118-125. pp

Making the sources and authentic Latin-origin documents about the Christians of the Eastern Rite has been going on for several years. This process appears to be very important because the intensity and frequency of unwarranted attacks by Greek Catholics against the Roman Catholic Church on its past increased; multiple published facts are ignored. The rise and spread of passion stems from prejudices and demonstrates the need scientifically and objectively explore the common past and interrelationships. This publication presents two protocols of the canonical visitation from 1749 from historical territory Saris: a classic visitation of the Roman Catholic Church is capturing information primarily about the Roman Catholics and secondary about the Greek-Catholics; the primary protocol of canonical visitation of the Eastern Christians in the diocese of Eger, they were a special ceremonial entity. Bishop of Eger Francis Barkóczy did not latinised the Eastern believers, but disciplined them. His claims, interventions and actions indicate a strong personality of the Latin bishop who uncompromisingly applied the bishop authority, solved pastoral problems, negotiated order.
In this publication, for the first time, is complexly presented the christianity in Saris at the time of the re-Catholicization under the auspices of Mary Therese. The content of the canonical visitation is analysed from various aspects: confessional composition, heaven patroness, liturgical language. Two conclusions were found which contributed to the Slovak history: Slovak protonationalism (several
Catholic priests were graduates of the Trnava University, there was an important cultural, religious, linguistic and literary centre of the Slovaks) and the Slovak spirituality of the east of Slovakia in the 18th century (the Catholics was prayed the holy rosary - the Marian psalter for no-clerics; the Calvinists was prayed the biblical psalms, the Calvinists published in 1752 for the first time the psalms in Slovak, it was the first printed book of some biblical book in the Slovak language, the psalm issue was a direct reaction to the Catholic prayer of the rosary).

Many will come from the east and west
The Subcarpathian East in the Archives of the Latin Church

According to archival documents, the Latin Church under the Carpathian Mountains never urges to do Latinization the Eastern Christians. The interest of the Western Church about the community of Eastern Christians has an entirely different background. At the time of the Uzhhorod Union, the conversion of several Orthodox popes under the wings of the Catholic Church was understood exclusively as a local and landed matter, which resulted from patronage law. Latin bishops did not engage in the expansion of the union, they had many problems of their own. The Druget family on his estates successfully continued to expand the union with the qualified help of fathers from the Society of Jesus. Subsequently, the Uniates existed as a separate entity, with several great bishops who formed and administered them.
Our research showed that in the 1720s, the Uniates had a crisis that ex-ceeded social boundaries. At that time, the Latin Church entered in the story to ensure public morality and discipline. The Bishop of Eger seemed to have doubts as to whether the union still lasted, so he undertook its revision in 1726. A certain moral example for northern Hungary was unionism in Poland. The bishop took advantage of canon law, restored the institute of the ritual vicar, and through it sought to discipline the Eastern priests. This did not become more significant until the middle of the 18th century under the Union Bishop Michal Manuel Olshavsky. He used a proven tool, as used by the Latin Church, the canonical visitation.
In the Latin scene with different periodicity, documents about the Union were created, compiled from written reports by Latin pastors. These documents indicate the sincere Latin interest in the Uniates, which was to bring them exal-tation and real equality with the Latin Church. These efforts have not been suc-cessfully completed. The Eger Bishop Francis Barkóci even had written statutes for the Uniates, but he put them in an ad acta drawer. Count Barkóci protected the eastern rite, forbidding the mixing of the rites. The change of attitude oc-curred only during the last bishop of Eger, Charles Esterházi, which accelerated the establishment of the local Uniate diocese. Latin interest had a strong influ-ence on the formation of its own Eastern identity, which eventually grew into the erigation of first the Mukacheve and later the Presov Greek Catholic diocese. In the first case, the bishop of Eger did not agree with the creation. Throughout the 18th century, the bishops of Eger and their canons did not agree with the division of their own diocese. The Roman Catholic Kosice diocese and the Satu Mare diocese were also established in 1804, much later than the local Greek Catholic diocese. In the second case, the first bishop of Kosice, Andrej Sabo, was actively helpful in the establishment of the Greek Catholic diocese in Pre-sov. He had by pastors collect the statistical data needed for the dismembrance.
The year 1771, when the Mukacheve Greek Catholic Diocese was estab-lished, found the Eastern Christians ready for this event. Several presbyters had good theological education, administrative structures were in place, and im-portant institutes and regulations existed. Formally, the pope had no doubts, two strong generations of priests since 1726 had undergone a formation compa-rable to the Latin formation. So, the Mukacheve Rite Vicariate could be pro-moted to a separate diocese. Even then, some Latin supervision did not cease, because in the spirit of canon law, the diocese was subordinate to a metropolitan who was not the Archbishop of Eger but of Esztergom.
The year 1780 was important for Greek Catholics, because after it we see a significant spontaneous Latinization. It was about accepting the Gregorian cal-endar. There was a unification of religious customs in those territories where the Catholics of Latin and Greek rite lived. Reports from eastern Slovakia map this issue and are a rare source not only for the history of the liturgy, but also for the history of the identity of the bearers of the Eastern rite. There is several Slovak naming in the documents, which denotes religious affiliation, no ethnicity. Be-fore 1780 and to a large extent in 1794, it is at the end of the 18th century, the Julian calendar was considered the Greek Catholic's own calendar. At least some representatives of the Roman Catholic Church seem to have seen the unification of the calendar as part of the Union's agreement. The complete transition to the Gregorian calendar did not occur until the 19th century.
The restoration of the Greek Catholic Church in 1968 brought a new stage in relations with the Latin Church. The Roman Catholic Church actively coop-erated in the restoration of the Greek Catholic Church. It provided the premises of the Kosice Bishop's Palace for its official resurrection on April 10, 1968. In many parishes, the Roman Catholic priests and believers spontaneously wel-comed the Greek Catholic priests returning to their parishes. In a short time, many Greek Catholic pastors asked Roman Catholics for the opportunity to cel-ebrate their services in Roman Catholic churches, usually according to customs before 1950. The agreement was always made by the ordinaries of both churches after the opinion of the pastors concerned. The Kosice Chapter Vicar Steven Onderko dealt with these cases individually, but in principle reciprocally. He asked for the opportunity to serve the Mass in Greek Catholic temples. Priests were the key figures who influenced their parishioners in both positive and neg-ative ways. Various manipulations often occurred on both sides, which grew into unwanted village divisions. If a party did not go according to its ideas to the church authorities, it abused the state and the communist authorities. And the regime feared unrest, so it ordered unjustified demands. The frequent anony-mous letters addressed to ecclesiastical and state authorities played an extremely negative role. The Greek Catholics sought to regain their status ("their rights," as John Hirka put it) in 1950. Today, several non-critical authors blame the Ro-man Catholic Church for alleged Latinization, but according to sources, this accusation is absurd. Roman Catholics had no interest in absorbing other believ-ers. It was an extraordinary time that no one in 1950 expected when and if it would end at all. The Greek Catholic priests themselves, who were removed by the state in 1950, then called on their parishioners to remain faithful to the pope. The only guarantee of Catholicism was the Roman Catholic Church. There was a lack of sensitivity on the Greek Catholic side, and nationalism also emerged in northern eastern Slovakia. After two years, both local ordinaries - Steven Onderko and John Hirka - have decided that inter-chin problems will be solved in the field by experts appointed by them. This meant a significant reduc-tion in problems. They obtained objective information, which was presented to both ordinaries for a definitive decision.
After the Second Vatican Council, interest in the Christian East at the highest ecclesiastical level deepened in the Roman Catholic Church. The Con-gregation for the Oriental Churches was formed, which primarily covers all Eastern ecclesial communities. The key task was the codification of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, which was promulgated in 1990 by pope John Paul II. Theological and academic interest in the Christian East was cultivated earlier in the Czech lands, but also in the Society of Jesus, in eastern Czechoslo-vakia the coexistence of Latin and Greek churches continued daily in practical pastoral help, for example in confession. Today's middle and older generation of Catholic priests commonly knows the second rite and can concelebrate in it. Inter-rite and interpersonal relationships are still influenced by local priests, who are mainstream leaders.
In Slovakia, after 1989, the Greek Catholic Church went through a new stage of development. It includes the external renewal, constitution and enhancement of the church organization, as well as the search for one's own roots. However, the au-thentic local Carpathian tradition is still little explored and drawn. The sources of this spiritual heritage are also systematically made available scientifically by the Ján Stanislav Institute of Slavic Studies of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. These include the Uzhhorod Manuscript Pseudozonar, the Statutes of the Mukacheve Greek Catholic Diocese, The Handle of Church History, The Image of Monastic Life. These point to one and only spiritual line that was neither interrupted nor destroyed by the Uzhhorod Union but continued and multiplied continuously.
The history shows progress and enrichment as both communities, Eastern and Western, approached or touched as tangents. However, this was only possi-ble if they themselves had enhanced their own spiritual and cultural heritage, which they then enriched. The common tangents and intrusions of the interests of the Western and Eastern Churches under the Carpathians have ultimately always been mutually beneficial, leading to intellectual, religious and cultural enrichment. The purification of historical memory and the revitalization of mor-al and spiritual values.

The research deals with the religious and patriotic discourses produced by the Order of St Basil the Great of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church at the turn of the 20th century in Galicia. The internal reform of the Basilian Order at the beginning of the 19th century enabled the Basilian Fathers to become a distinct force in the national movement. Combining the religious and patriotic components in their educational, pastoral, and editorial work the Basilian Fathers fostered the national idea.
Christian patriotism cultivated by the Order was further developed by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky in his attempt to unite Eastern and Western Christianity. Through a comparison of the editorial work of the Basilian Order and Letters of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky the attempt is made to show the correlation between the ecumenical and nation-building processes on the local Galician and the all-Ukrainian national levels.

The Ethnic and Religious Policies of the Tsarist Regime in the Kingdom of Poland: the "Kholm Question" as a Case of Russian Nation-Building (1831-1912)
This study aims to provide an analysis of Russian nationalism and of the policies of Russification implemented by the tsarist authorities in the western periphery of Russian empire from the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth. The primary focus will be the "Kholm question" in the Kingdom of Poland, in which Russian civil and ecclesiastical authorities became involved in the Russification of the population. In addition, the Russian state  aimed  to  convert  the  resident  Ukrainian  (or,  as  they  were  officially  called,  "Little Russian" ) and Byelorussian adherents of the last Greek-Catholic eparchy of the empire to Orthodoxy. The Kholm question represents an interesting case study, which enables us to outline certain aspects of the complex and contradictory relationship between the centre and the periphery of the empire, as well as the different and contrasting understandings of the place of Russian nationality and its relationship with the other nationalities. Finally, this study sheds light on the difficult balance between the Russian State and the Orthodox Church, Catholic and Greek-Catholic Churches.

In: Byzantinoslovaca VI. Eds. Martin Hurbanič – Vratislav Zervan. Bratislava: Byzantologický seminár Alexandra Avenaria pri Katedre všeobecných dejín FiF UK, 2017, pp. 269-284. (ISBN 978-80-8127-201-1)
[With an extensive English summary on pp. 283-284.]

Írásomban a Lembergben 1882-ben megtartott ruszin hazaárulási pert kívánom bemutatni a korabeli magyar sajtó
tudósításai alapján. 1881-ben a Galícia Hnilicski nevű településének görögkatolikus egyházközsége kinyilvánította
azt a szándékát, hogy visszatérjen az ortodox egyházba. Ezt követően több kiemelkedő oroszbarát ruszin vezetőt
is perbe fogtak hazaárulás gyanújával. Miután a galíciai polgári hatóságok úgy ítélték meg, hogy elegendő
bizonyítékot gyűjtöttek össze az ügyhöz, 11 prominens ruszofil gyanúsított ellen emeltek vádat. Köztük volt mások
között Adolf Dobránszky, az ő lánya, Olga Hrabár, Ivan Naumovics, Venedikt Ploscsanszkij. Néhányat közülük
azzal vádoltak meg, hogy kapcsolatot tartanak fenn Dobriánszky cári hivatalnokként tevékenykedő fiával,
Miroszlávval, azért, hogy elszakítsák a Monarchiától Galíciát, Bukovinát és Észak-Magyarországot. A hathétig
tartó bírósági tárgyalás (1882. június 12. – július 29.) után a ruszofileket felmentették a hazaárulás vádja alól.
Mindössze Naumovicsra, Ploscsanszkijra és két parasztgazdára róttak ki rövid időtartamú börtönbüntetést a
közrend megzavarása miatt. A per után a galíciai ruszofil mozgalom hanyatlásnak indult.6

Latinizzazione, le sue ragioni e circostanze. Con particolare riguardo all'ambiente dell'Eparchia di Mukačevo.

In: Medzikultúrne vzťahy východnej cirkvi s latinskou v Uhorsku do konca 18. storočia. Eds. Šimon Marinčák – Peter Žeňuch. (Orientalia et Occidentalia 20.) Košice – Bratislava: Dobrá kniha, 2017, pp. 219-248. (ISBN 978-80-8191-074-6)

A „Barokk. Történelem-Irodalom-Művészet” interdiszciplináris, nemzetközi hatókörű folyóirat, mely 1994 óta félévente jelentkezik új számokkal. A különleges periodika elsősorban kulturtörténeti, irodalomtörténeti, művészeti, zenei és filozófiai problémakörökkel foglalkozik a lengyel, ill. európai barokk kontextusában.

A szélesspektrumú folyóirat szerkesztésében a Varsói Egyetem számos szakának (lengyel nyelv és irodalom, történelem, művészettörténet, könyvtudomány, zenetörténet) kiváló tudósai és elismert specialistái működnek közre.

Az idegennyelvű különszámok sorában, az olasz, német, illetve svéd után a magyar a negyedik. A kötet tíz különböző központot képviselő (elsősorban magyar és lengyel), összesen húsz szerző írásait tartalmazza.

A különszám az ELTE BTK (Középkori es Kora Újkori Magyar Történeti Tanszék) és a varsói Neriton Kiadó közreműködésében jött létre. A kötet megjelenését Nemzeti Kultúrális Alap, varsói Magyar Kultúrális Intézet és Varsói Egyetem Alapítványa támogatta.

The following article, published in the volume "Religiöse Erinnerungsorte in Ostmitteleuropa" (2013), depicts the history of the Greek Catholic Church in Transylvania from its beginnings in Alba Iulia (1697) until the present, discussing its various disputes with the Orthodox Church as well as with the Communist Regime and the current situation in Romania.

Albert Weber: Die griechisch-katholische Kirchenunion in Alba Iulia. In: Religiöse Erinnerungsorte in Ostmitteleuropa. Hg. von Joachim Bahlcke, Stefan Rohdewald, Thomas Wünsch. Berlin 2013, S. 939-953

The article is published in: Наукові записки Ужгородського університету. Серія: Історично-релігійні студії. – Вип. 5. – Ужгород: Науково-дослідний центр історично-релігійних студій «Логос», 2016. – С. 282-296.

The article examines circumstances of appearance and characteristic features of
the everyday life of the Mukachiv-Uzhhorod diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1940s –
1960s. Drawing from numerous and diverse sources (primary sources from central Ukrainian and
Russian state archives; oral evidence; published documents), the author raises the issue of the
correlation between unique/specific and general/typical in the life of the diocese. Approaching the
issue from a wider context of studying the Church “under communism,” the article defines specific
characteristics of the “liquidation of the Unia” in Transcarpathia and of the life of the “reunited”
diocese afterwards. Simultaneously, as this study demonstrates, everyday life in the diocese had all
the typical characteristics of the “Church within the Church,” which de facto existed within the
official structure of the Moscow Patriarchate after “reunification” being a successful survival
strategy of Galician and Transcarpathian Greek Catholics after the forceful liquidation of their
Church.

When Bishop Stefan Pankovych (1866-1874), who succeeded VasyL Popovych (died in 1864) was inaugurated, he was almost unknown to the Rusin clergy of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo. The new bishop maintained good relations with members of the Hungarian political elite and actively supported the policy of the Hungarian government. This was manifested on several levels. He promoted to high ecclesiastical positions those who did not support Adolf Dobriansky, a Russophile considered the most significant Rusin leader. Following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Rusin leaders had the opportunity to hold various offices, mainly with the trust of the Hungarian government and the Bishop of Mukachevo. In 1871, Bishop Stefan Pankovych and his followers removed Adolf Dobriansky and Ivan Rakovsky from the leadership in St. Basil the Great Society, which led to a gradual decline of the RussophiLe trend in the Rusin movement. The Great Russian camp supporters also confronted Stefan Pankovych because of the attempt to introduce the Gregorian calendar and the Latin alphabet in the Mukachevo Diocese. Even more moderate clergy were divided on such issues, because these concepts were important for Rusin identity. However, Stefan Pankovich's unexpected death on August 29, 1874, temporarily froze debates in the Rusin movement.

The paper discusses history of the Dalmatian Vicarage through six periods beginning with the establishment and initial growth, the period of decline until the suppression during Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the terror during the Second World War. Particular attention will be given to the period after the Second World War when the three Greek-Catholic parishes in Dalmatia gradually disappeared. Number of Greek Catholics during 19th and 20th centuries will be presented for the first time in history. Material and non-material heritage of Dalmatian Greek-Catholics will be presented as well. Paper also deals with influence of their burgeoning history on Serbian-Croatian relations in Dalmatia during the
20th century.

В данной статье предпринята попытка проанализировать документ нового для современной историографии письма экзарха российских католиков византийского обряда Леонида Федорова, в котором сообщается о положении дел в католической общине с приходом советской власти, а также о предпринимаемых властью мерах поэтапного ограничения и затем фактического искоренения Греко-Католической Церкви византийского обряда на территории России. Надежды верующих на либерализацию отношения к Католической Церкви и расширение ее возможностей после смены политического режима в стране не оправдались. Авторы приходят к выводу, что отец Л. Федоров одним из первых среди религиозных деятелей (учитывая дату написания письма) увидел эту трагическую для грекокатоликов тенденцию через призму особенностей советского секуляристского проекта как политической религии, осознал их деструктивную роль для развития христианства в России. На основании письма экзарха авторы заключают, что советское государство взяло курс на лишение Церкви ее публичного статуса и авторитета. В то время как на официальном уровне на переговорах с представителями Святого престола советская дипломатия не сообщала о намерениях вторжения государства во внутреннюю церковную юрисдикцию, Л. Федоров в своем послании описывал реальное положение дел в стране — сущность проводившейся антирелигиозной политики, намерение превратить Церковь в социальный институт на службе у общества. Статья позволяет читателю понять феномен советской власти в ее отношении к религиозным институтам и пути выживания Церкви в новых для нее условиях.

This article analyses a document that has up to now been unknown to the present-day historiography, i.e. a letter from the head of the Russian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Russia Leonid Fedorov in which he reports about the state of affairs in the Catholic community after the advent of Soviet authorities as well as about the measures being taken by the government towards the gradual limitation and then the actual elimination of the Greek-Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite in the territory of Russia. The hopes of believers for the liberalisation of attitudes to the Catholic Church on the part of the Bolsheviks and the expansion of the range of their rights and opportunities after the change of the political regime in the country were not fulfilled. The article concludes that Exarch L. Fedorov was one of the first religious figures (given the date of writing the letter) to see this tragic trend for Greek Catholics through the prism of the features of the Soviet secularist project as a political religion; he did realise their destructive role for the development of Christianity in Russia. Drawing on the letter of the Exarch, the article concludes that the Soviet state acted consciously in order to deprive the church of its public status and authority. While at the official level, during negotiations with representatives of the Holy See, Soviet diplomacy did not inform about the state’s intentions to interfere in the Catholic Church’s internal jurisdiction, L. Fedorov in his report described the real state of affairs in the country, i.e. the essence of the anti-religious policies carried out by Soviet authorities and their intention to turn the Church into a social institution in the service of Soviet society. The article examines the phenomenon of the Soviet government through its attitudes to and relations with religious institutions and the ways of survival of the church in the new conditions.

Лекцію присвячено історії УГКЦ другої половини ХХ ст.: від її формальної ліквідації сталінським режимом під час так званого Львівського собору 1946 року до виходу з підпілля наприкінці 1980-х – початку 1990-х рр. Причин, чому радянське керівництво мало будь-що "остаточно вирішити уніатську проблему" щойно остаточно приєднавши Західну Україну, було декілька: неприйняття комуністами релігії, неприйняття російськими керівниками "уніатів" і "буржуазних українських націоналістів", страх тоталітарного режиму перед значним соціальним впливом Церкви і її зв`язками з Ватиканом. Опинившись у ситуації "вибору без вибору", українські греко-католики мали вижити, зберегти свою еклезіальну традицію, якимось чином зберегти "неіснуючу" церковну мережу, що дало їм змогу відновити власну Церкву, як тільки режимовий тиск послабшав.

Саме цей період в житті Церкви залишається найменш знаним, попри історіографічне зацікавлення і ширший публічний інтерес до радянської історії загалом і історії Церкви під комунізмом, зокрема. Якщо дивитись з перспективи "катакомбної" Церкви (що стала однією з альтернатив греко-католиків після 1946 року), – це була історія "Церкви мучеників", драматична і героїчна оповідь про духовний спротив тоталітарному режимові. Якщо дивитись з перспективи "возз`єднаної" громади (а переважна більшість греко-католиків після 1946 року формально стали православними), – це була зовсім інакша історія: менш героїчна, більш драматична і заплутана, не історія "стійких мучеників", а тих, хто вижив завдяки чисельним компромісам, пристосовуючись до ворожих обставин, і чию поведінку опоненти критикували як "колаборацію" з режимом.

Історія УГКЦ радянського періоду – це історія їх обох, як буде показано в лекції. Відновлення сучасної УГКЦ стало можливим в умовах горбачовської політики гласності і завдяки чисельним масовим акціям греко-католиків за легалізацію своєї Церкви наприкінці 1980-х рр. Так само, це стало можливим і завдяки тому, що інституційна церковна мережа була збережена (попри усі переслідування радянського періоду) – у формі "Церкви в Церкві", усередині РПЦ.

In: Szabo Iren (szerk.) Katolikus megujulas Eszakkelet-Magyarorszagon: Művelődestorteneti konferencia a jezsuita rend sarospataki megtelepedesenek 350. evforduloja alkalmabol. Konferencia helye, ideje: Sarospatak, Magyarorszag, 2013.10.03-2013.10.04. Sarospatak: Romai Katolikus Egyhazi Gyűjtemeny, 2014. pp. 214-226. (Folia collecta; 2.) (ISBN:978-963-12-1056-9)

Christian teaching book, edited by Ioan Bob Greek-catholic bishop, Part Three, Blaj, 1805.
General analysis of volume and information on the copy
from Museum of Romanian Spirituality, Sfântu Gheorghe, Covasna County

In 2013 was developed a cultural project “Digitizing ancient and bibliophile books from 1st Orthodox Parish from Sfântu Gheorghe”, with funding from the National Cultural Fund Administration. Activities were
held at the Museum of Romanian Spirituality. During the project 100 books were analyzed and the project
may be continued by other, similar projects, the fund being much more consistent. On this occasion some
books were remarkable by the fact that several priests and parish clerks wrote impressions or just made signatures on these volumes.
261
For the present paper we studied one of the most important volumes from the collection. The volume was
published in Blaj, in 1805, and contains teachings for the priests on different occasions. The full title of the
volume is a long one:
“Christian teachings about vanity of the world, and the duty of man from each state from the holy writings
gathered, and hardened on short for an easier understanding and advantage on Romanian tongue, settled by
the holy and illuminated Sir his Excellency Ioan Bob, bishop of Făgăraș and inward counsellor of His Imperial
and Royal Highness.” The book was published in three different volumes, from which by the present time we
found just the 3rd volume. The preservation state of the copy is fair.
These volumes were intended to explain Greek-Catholic dogma and moral theology. It actually proposed
a behavioural model promoting asceticism, of monastic inspiration. The book addresses the Greek-Catholic
clergy, proposing behavioural code in the community.
Some of the most important information on this volume is historical ones. The book is a valuable documentary source providing information about the parishes where that volume was used. Handwritten notes
on the copy containing the names of the priests, of an archpriest, and even the name of the faithful from the
parishes where the book was used, provide information that fills in the knowledge regarding the deanery
from Poian and about Greek- Catholic priests from Lisnău, Ghidfalău și Arcuș. We presented the handwritten
notes on the copy. Unfortunately some letters were deleted over time, while in other places the writing was
illegible. All the recovered elements and texts were analyzed. Besides the priest’s information, some handwritten notes present traditional means for the treatment of pain. None of the texts with remedies is dated or
signed, but judging from the embodiment of the letters, the alphabet used and the Romanian language used,
all three notes date from the 19th century.
Looking for analogies for this volume and trying to count how many copies of the book are preserved, we
found out that there are several copies that survived the Second World War and the subsequent persecution
of the Greek-Catholic priests. Until now we have been able to identify several copies in Orthodox parishes
and libraries in Romania, places which we mentioned on a map (Pl. 5/2).
The book presented in this paper is one of the most valuable documentary sources on the Greek-Catholic
priests from Covasna County in 19th century. Both the multitude of records and very interesting route of this
book qualify it among the primary sources of information on priests and Greek-Catholic communities. The
value of the volume is highlighted by the fact that it survived during the wars, but especially in the hard times
of the Greek-Catholic persecution by the communist regime during the 6th decade of the 20th century.

Fealty to Rome or Loyalty to the Empire? The Uniate Question in the Kingdom of Poland (1831-1863)
The article describes the policies that the Tsarist authorities pursued towards the Chełm Greek-Catholic eparchy in the Kingdom of Poland between 1831 and 1863. It focuses in particular on a little-known episode: the attempt to suppress the Chełm eparchy implemented during the episcopate of F.F. Szumborski (1828-1851) with the approval of the viceroy of Poland Paskevich and of Tsar Nicholas I. The conversion of the Uniates to the Orthodox Church, successfully achieved in the Western (Lithuanian-Belarusian) provinces of the Tsarist Empire in 1839, was inscribed in the process of assimilation of these territories, which were considered to have belonged to the Russian state and to the Orthodox Church since the age of Kyivan Rus’. These lands had been incorporated into the Empire by the Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the second half of the Eighteenth century. The episode described reflects the nationalistic evolution of Imperial policies, but the failure to convert the Chełm Uniates shows that, for reasons of diplomatic balance with the Holy See and the European powers, the Tsar’s government preferred to adopt a policy of compromise, rather than a unilateral resolution of the Uniate question. The Chełm Uniates were not converted to Orthodoxy until after the Polish Uprising of 1863, when a shift towards a broader Russification of the outlying areas of the Empire took place in official policies.

Праця присвячена історії василіянського монастиря у селі Боронява теперішнього Хустського району Закарпатської області. Минувшина цієї обителі, заснованої у 1716 р.,  реконструюється й аналізується на тлі історії василіянської Провінції св. Миколая, Мукачівської єпархії, Марамороського субрегіону та Закарпаття загалом. На сторінках книжки відкривається широка панорама душпастирської праці отців-василіян на Закарпатті, релігійного й національного життя вірних Мукачівської єпархії, їх намагань уберегти власну культурно-релігійну ідентичність у мінливих політичних обставинах: під чужинецькими окупаціями, усупереч наполегливим спробам асимілювати Церкву та народ Закарпаття й ізолювати їх від решти русинів-українців. Базою для дослідження стали численні архівні матеріали, публікації в давній пресі, мемуари, статистичні матеріали та наукова література.

The process of social and economic changes that took place in the Central and Eastern Europe at the turn of 19th and the beginning of 20th century is usually described as modernization. Galicia, the province of the Habsburg empire, which was created from the Austrian partition of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , could be a good example of how religious and national relations were reshaped by this process. Irrespectively of the controversy having recently aroused around the modernization model  in the academic discussion, it seems to describe and explain well the metamorphosis of the society in Galicia at that time.
Finally the aims with which the three powers were initiating changes in Galicia after 1882 were only partly achieved. The Polish ruling elite in Galicia accomplished its goal of limiting Russophile fraction influence. However they didn’t manage to preserve an old traditional Polish-Ruthenian preindustrial relations. Ukrainian national movement broke the new era agreement and became a main power opposing a Polish domination in Galicia. Paradoxically, it gained its momentum thanks to the new era agreement. Vatican managed to reinforce its link with Greek-Catholic Church. However it changed its attitude towards the Greek-Catholic liturgical reform. Metropolitan of Lviv Andrei Sheptytskyi, the grandson of Aleksander Fredro and the Basilian monk brought up by Jesuits, became the strongest supporter of a new liturgical books based on the ancient Greek tradition. Such liturgical reform was actually prepared in Rome and books were published in 1940-1950. They returned to the tradition created before the Union of Brest. The third part, the Austrian government was eliminated by the I world war and became a great looser.
Eventually the 1882 tendency was reversed. The Ukrainian national integration progressed with the support of metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi and with the active participation of the Greek-Catholic clergy. The Church purified its rite keeping its original Ukrainian and Eastern character. The I and II world war proved that “the triune Russian nation” project didn’t find many adherents among Ukrainians.

Nyíregyháza: Szent Atanáz Görög Katolikus Hittudományi Főiskola, 576 p., (Collectanea Athanasiana II. Textus/Fontes; 5.), 2014.


A kötet az Esztergomi Prímási Levéltárban őrzött, a Connotio Proventuum Annuorum Venerabilis Cleri Graeci Ritus Unitorum Presbyterorum Anni 1741 Dioecesis Agriensis címet viselő javadalom-összeírás teljes szövegű átiratát tartalmazza. Az összeírás mintegy félezer, az egri püspök joghatósága alatt álló, Ung, Abaúj, Sáros, Zemplén, Szatmár, Ugocsa és Bereg vármegyei görögkatolikus parókia fontosabb adatait és jövedelmi viszonyait részletezi. Adatmezői a következőképpen épülnek fel. A parókia nevének megadása után következnek a parókus nevére (esetlegesen a leányegyházakra), a templom szerkezetére (kő vagy fatemplom), állapotára, felszereltségére, javadalmára vonatkozó információk. Ezt követi a parókia-épület jellemzése, majd a parókus jövedelemforrásainak és stoláris bevételeinek részletes bemutatása. A leírást a kegyúr és a tanító megnevezése, illetve az ez utóbbi javadalmazására vonatkozó adatok zárják.
A latin nyelvű forrás értelmezését latin-magyar szószedet segíti. Az egyes települések földrajzi beazonosítása, illetve későbbi összeírások névalakjaival való megfeleltetése a lábjegyzetekben megtalálható. A kötet végén személy- és helynévmutató segíti a tájékozódást.


A forrásgyűjtemény kiadását az Országos Tudományos Kutatási Alapprogramok K 108780 számú, Görögkatolikus egyház- és művészettörténeti források feldolgozása és közreadása, adattárak (történeti névtár és sematizmus) kiadása, digitalizált adatbázisok készítése (18–20. század) című kutatási projektje tette lehetővé.

[Book review] Vasile Alexandru Barbolovici, Conciliul de la Ferrara-Florența (1438-1439). Istoria și ecleziologia unirilor, Cuvinte-înainte de Liviu Petru Zăpârțan și Virgil Bercea, Studiu introductiv de Cesare Alzati, Traducere din limba italiană de Monica Omilescu, Academia Română, Centrul de Studii Transilvane, Cluj-Napoca, 2019, 284 p.

In this article the author tries to explore the everyday life of the Greek Catholic clergy after World War II, based on microhistory analysis of the Stephen Bendas diary. In this article studied the prison routine, everyday life in bondage and moral-psychological perception of the difficult conditions of everyday life imprisonment.

The text presents how metropolitan Sheptyts'kyj saw the role of Greek Catholic Church as a power to guide and unite the Ukrainian nation. It was presented at the international conference in Gdańsk, 16 May 2015 „Dziedzictwo św. Włodzimierza Wielkiego chrzciciela Rusi Kijowskiej – Ukrainy/ The heritage of St. Vladimir the Great, the Baptist of Kievan Rus - Ukraine" and is going to be published in the conference materials. It was organized by Fundacja św. Włodzimierza Wielkiego Chrzciciela Kijowskiej Rusi w Krakowie, Europejskie Centrum Solidarności w Gdańsku, Ukraińska Greckokatolicka Parafia w Gdańsku, Chrześcijańskie Bractwo św. Włodzimierza Wielkiego, Pomorski Oddział Związku Ukraińców w Polsce.