Vasiľ Hopko

Vasiľ Hopko (born April 21, 1904 in Hrabské near Bardejov ; † July 23, 1976 in Prešov , Slovakia ) was the Greek Catholic auxiliary bishop of Prešov and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003 .

Life

After studying theology in Prešov, Vasil Hopko was ordained a priest in 1929 and worked as a parish pastor before he was spiritual at the Prešov seminary from 1936 to 1941 . There he received his doctorate in 1940 for Dr. theol. and worked as the bishop's secretary until the end of the war, before he was elected auxiliary bishop of Prešov himself in 1947. In this function he experienced how, as a result of the Council of the Greek Catholic Church in 1950, his church organization was liquidated by the Czechoslovak state and their assets and real estate were transferred to the Orthodox Church. Since Hopko resisted, he was imprisoned and sentenced to 15 years in prison, which he had to serve in several prisons, including the Leopoldov prison . From 1964 to 1968 he stayed at the Osek Monastery . After the Prague Spring 1968, the Greek Catholic Church was recognized again in Czechoslovakia, but most of its real estate remained in the possession of the Orthodox Church and only returned almost entirely to the Greek Catholic Church after 1989. Vasil Hopko did not experience this anymore. He died in 1976.

recognition

Pope John Paul II beatified Vasil Hopko during his trip to Slovakia on September 14, 2003 in Bratislava .
A memorial plaque for him was placed at the Osek Monastery in 2004.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Hopko, Vasiľ
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Slovak Greek Catholic auxiliary bishop in Prešov
DATE OF BIRTH	April 21, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH	Hrabské
DATE OF DEATH	July 23, 1976
Place of death	Prešov