Hungarian Greek Catholic Church

Hungarian Greek Catholic Church

Latin Ecclesia Graeco-Catholica Hungariae , Hungarian Magyar Görögkatolikus Egyház
Basic data
Jurisdiction status	sui iuris
rite	Byzantine rite
Liturgical language	Hungarian
calendar	Gregorian calendar
Establishment date	1646
Seat	Archeparchy of Hajdúdorog
Hierarch	Fülöp Kocsis
statistics
Jurisdictions	3
Believers	327,000
Bishops	3
Parishes	187
Diocesan priest	259
Religious priest	9
Permanent deacons	2
Friars	10
Religious sisters	4th
Status: 2014

Dioceses of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church

The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church is a particular church united with the Roman Catholic Church ( Metropolie sui iuris ). Like all Catholics, the believers of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church recognize the Pope as their spiritual leader.

history

The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church originally included Ruthenian and Romanian native speakers who were presumably Magyarized . Since their liturgical language was Church Slavonic , they were considered members of the Ruthenian Church .

Groups of Serbs, Ruthenians and Greeks who fled to Hungary in the course of the Ottoman expansion in south-eastern Europe in the 15th to 17th centuries submitted to the local Catholic hierarchy, but, like the local Slovaks, retained their worship rites. Another root lies in Hungarian Protestants who switched to the Byzantine rite. In the 18th century some of these groups began to be interested in the use of the Hungarian language in the liturgy. There was a liturgy of St. John Chrysostom since 1795 , which was to be followed by other liturgical books in the 19th century. However, the Hungarian was rejected by the relevant church authorities, so that this liturgy was applied but not approved.

In the holy year 1900 a group of believers made a pilgrimage to Rome, where they met Pope Leo XIII. asked for the approval of their liturgy and the establishment of an independent diocese for them. But it was not until Pope Pius X that their wish came true, and on June 18, 1912, the Diocese of Hajdúdorog was established , which was responsible for 162 parishes. The establishment, however, did not bring the success actually desired, as the future liturgy should be celebrated in Greek , and Hungarian should be limited to non-liturgical matters. However, this decision was not implemented when the First World War broke out. Following the war and the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy , an exarchate was established in 1924 for the Ruthenians who remained in Hungary , the Apostolic Exarchate Miskolc , but the Ruthenians, who were still Church Slavonic, soon switched to Hungarian, which means that from 1940 onwards, the exarch of the Hungarian Greek- Catholic Church was served. In communist Hungary there was repression, the free practice of religion only became possible with the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. Nevertheless, the religious community remained strong in membership.

Until the reorganization of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church in March 2015, the exarch of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church resided as Bishop of Hajdúdorog in Nyíregyháza , until 2011 the office was linked to the Ruthenian exarchate Miskolc . With the reorganization, Pope Francis raised the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church as a metropolitan church sui iuris to the rank of an independent partial church that extends over the whole of Hungary . The jurisdiction applies to all Catholics of the Byzantine Rite . The Diocese of Hajdúdorog was raised to the Archeparch Hajdúdorog. At the same time, the Pope established the Nyíregyháza eparchy from the ceded territory of this diocese and elevated the previous Apostolic Exarchate Miskolc to the Miskolc Eparchy . Both dioceses were subordinated to the Hajdúdorog Archeparchy as suffragans.

The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church has around 300,000 members.

See also

• List of Roman Catholic Dioceses
• Roman Catholic Church in Hungary

literature

• Tamás Véghseő: Catholics of the Byzantine Rite in Hungary . In: Ostkirchliche Studien 62 (2013) 281-309; 67 (2018) 273-304.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Eastern Catholic Churches 2014. Catholic Near East Welfare Association, accessed March 5, 2015 . 
2. ^ Provvedimenti sulla Chiesa Greco-Cattolica Ungherese. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office, accessed March 20, 2015 (Italian). 

Web links

• Hungarian Greek Catholic Church website (Hungarian)
• History of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church on the website of the Research Group of the Academy of Sciences of Hungary
• Entry on Greek Catholic Church in Hungary at Pro Oriente
• Entry on Hungarian Greek Catholic Church on gcatholic.org (English)
• Entry on Hungarian Catholic Church on catholic-hierarchy.org (English)

Coordinates: 47 ° 57 ′ 19.5 ″  N , 21 ° 42 ′ 44.7 ″  E