Wiching

Cathedral in Nitra

Wiching ( Slovak Viching ; † September 12, 900/912) was in the years 880 to 891/892 the first bishop of Nitra in today's Slovakia and in the years 898 to 899 the 12th bishop of Passau . He was the adviser to the Moravian prince Svatopluk I and suffragan to the Moravian archbishop Method .

Life

Wiching was a Benedictine monk in the Reichenau Abbey on Lake Constance . Around 874, probably after the Peace of Forchheim in 874, he came to the Moravian Empire and made friends with Prince Svatopluk I. Wiching held a leading position in the Latin clergy in Moravia. He led many arguments with the two "Slav apostles" Cyril and Method over the introduction of the Slavic liturgy in Moravia and accused them of heresy .

At the end of 879 the Latin priests convinced Svatopluk I to name Wiching as bishop in the Moravian Empire. In 880, Wiching and Method traveled with a delegation to Rome , where Wiching was appointed and consecrated Bishop of Nitra by Pope John VIII . With the Bull Industriae tuae, John VIII agreed to the Slavic liturgy and confirmed Method as Archbishop of the Pannonian- Moravian Diocese . From Rome, however, Wiching wrote a forged letter to Svatopluk, allegedly written by the Pope himself, according to which Svatopluk should depose Method as archbishop. When Method heard about it, he had the Pope confirm that it was a forgery, deposed Wiching as bishop and sent him on a mission to an area " recently conquered by Svatopluk " (probably Malopolska ).

In 885, shortly before Method's death, Wiching left Lesser Poland and, with the consent of Svatopluk, traveled to Rome, where he brought new accusations against Method against Pope Stephan V. At Svatopluk's request, he asked the Pope to confirm his office as Bishop of Moravia. When the Pope found out about Method's death, he appointed Wiching (again) Bishop of Nitra and “Administrator” (but not Archbishop) of the Pannonian-Moravian Diocese.

After Method's death, Wiching prevented Gorazd von Moravia , Method's student and intended as his successor, from becoming Method's successor. He convinced Pope Stephen V to forbid the Slavic liturgy and had Method's successor expelled from the country. Wiching thus contributed to the fact that the countries of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia came under the influence of the Roman-dominated Latin Church , the influence of the Byzantine Church was weakened.

In 891 or 892, after a war broke out between Svatopluk and King Arnolf of Carinthia , Wiching left Nitra. He entered the service of Arnolf and became his chancellor. Wiching was later a member of the delegation that led the peace negotiations with Svatopluk. In 896 he also took over the Mondsee Abbey . In the years 898–899 he was Bishop of Passau.

After Arnulf's death in 899 there is no more news about Wiching.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} C. Melito: The Lives of Ss. Cyril and Methodius. Roman Catholic Church of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, accessed December 9, 2016
2. ↑ WICHING. In: Michal Lutovský: Encyklopedie slovanské archeologie v Čechách, na Moravě a ve Slezsku. Libri, Praha 2001, ISBN 80-7277-054-3 , p. 365 (Czech)
3. ^ Zdeněk Měřínský: České země od příchodu Slovanů po Velkou Moravu. Volume II. Libri, Praha 2006, ISBN 80-7277-105-1 , pp. 550, 711-714. (Czech)
4. ^ Dušan Kováč et al .: Kronika Slovenska: od najstarších čias do konca 19. storočia. Fortuna Print, Bratislava 1998, ISBN 80-7153-174-X , p. 101. (Slovak)

literature

• Wolf Oschlies:  Wiching. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 32, Bautz, Nordhausen 2011, ISBN 978-3-88309-615-5 , Sp. 1509-1523.
• Charles R. Bowlus: Franks, Moravians and Magyars: The Struggle for the Middle Danube, 788-907. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8122-3276-3 (English).

predecessor	Office	successor
---	Bishop of Nitra 880–891	Bystrík