Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Austria
The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Austria - Exarchate of Hungary and Central Europe is the subordinate diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople for Austria and Hungary as well as other countries in Eastern Central Europe. The seat of the Metropolitan is Vienna, Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Vienna-Inner City. In Austria it is legally part of the Greek-Oriental Church in Austria .
history
Contact between Austria and Byzantine Greece already existed at the time of the Babenbergs . So three Byzantine princesses were married to Austrian rulers, 1148 Theodora Komnena , 1203 Theodora Angela and 1220 Sophia Laskaris . Orthodox Christians and Greek-Oriental communities and brotherhoods have existed in Vienna since the 18th century. Emperor Charles VI. In 1723, at the request of Prince Eugene of Savoy, issued an edict authorizing the establishment of the first Orthodox chapel. The Greek-Oriental parish of St. George in Vienna has existed since 1768. In 1776, at the request of the Brotherhood of St. George, Empress Maria Theresa renewed the old privileges and allowed the chapel to be moved to a new building. The Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity was founded in 1787 according to a decree of Emperor Joseph II and at the same time this community received permission to build the church of the same name on the meat market in Vienna .
On February 5, 1963, the Ecumenical Patriarch Athinagoras I founded a separate Metropolis Austria for Austria with an exarchate for the then communist Hungary and Central Europe as part of a reorganization of the Greek parishes in the diaspora .
The so-called "Orthodox Law" of 1967 granted the Metropolis of Austria the status of a corporation under public law . This recognized the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and abandoned the old state church law principle, according to which, apart from the Roman Catholic Church, no supreme jurisdiction may have its seat outside the national borders.
Ecumenism
Since the foundation of the Pro Oriente Foundation in 1964, there has been close contact between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in Austria. From 1996 to 1999 Metropolitan Staikos was chairman of the World Council of Churches in Austria (ÖRKÖ). In October 2010, under his chairmanship, the Orthodox Bishops' Conference for Austria was founded.
Metropolitans
The previous metropolitans were:
- 1963–1990: Chrysostomus Tsiter
- 1991–2011: Michael Staikos
- since 2011: Arsenios Kardamakis
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ch. G. Chotsakoglou: Greek parishes for the Holy Trinity and St. George in Vienna , Vienna, 1998
- ↑ Internet site of the ÖRKÖ ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
