http://www.oca.org/pages/news/news.asp?ID=661

I would be interested in any information about this trip from the perspective of the Greek Catholics in Slovakia.

It is sad, but not unexpected, that the church history dribbled out in the link is grossly selective. What is unexpected, however, is the peculiar quote above. Presumably even the least astute reader of this press release will sense that there is something very odd about a church that suffered tremendously after the fall of communism.

spin

http://www.lemko.org/religion/presov/1.html

Excerpt:

After 1989 the Orthodox Church went through a complicated period because on the basis of the Law number 211/90 Coll. all parishes lost their right to possess immovable property. As a consequence, both eparchies had to make big efforts to provide adequate rooms for dignified performance of Orthodox religious services. In many parishes new temples have been built, and houses were purchased and adapted to the needs of parish offices. With the help of God we have overcome one of the most difficult periods in the life of our Church. The Trinity God blessed us with new temples, new parish offices, new buildings of eparchial councils, new buildings of both the FOT and seminary. For this gift we thank God because thus we could preserve the faith of our ancestors, the Orthodox faith, the faith of Cyril and Methodius
--------

http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-orthodox-czech.htm

Excerpt:


The collapse of the communist government in 1989, and the subsequent division of Czechoslovakia into separate Czech and Slovak states on January 1, 1993, required modifications in the structure of this Orthodox church. In November 1992 the Holy Synod decided to divide into two metropolitan provinces, with two dioceses in each of the newly independent republics. A single Holy Synod continues to meet periodically as before, under the presidency of the Metropolitan of the entire church, who can be either the Archbishop of Prague or Pre�ov. Metropolitan Dorotheus of Prague and the Czech and Slovak Republics died in December 1999 after leading the church for 35 years. He was succeeded as Metropolitan in May 2000 by Archbishop Nicholas of Pre�ov. At that time the headquarters of the church was moved from Prague to Pre�ov.

In Slovakia the government returned to the Greek Catholics most of the churches that had been confiscated by the communist government and given to the Orthodox in 1950. By March 1993, 135 of the 170 Orthodox churches in Slovakia had been returned to the Greek Catholics. Since that time many new Orthodox churches have been built. According to the 2001 Slovak census, there were 50,363 Orthodox in the country, concentrated in the easternmost sections of the nation.

In figures reported to the Czech Ecumenical Council of Churches in 2001, there were 20,000 Orthodox in the Czech Republic along with another 199,000 Orthodox of other nationalities residing temporarily in the country. There were 82 Czech parishes served by 76 priests.

Candidates for the priesthood are educated at a seminary in Pre�ov that is supervised by the Holy Synod. It was integrated into Safarik University, based in Kosice, in 1990. In January 1997 the university was divided into two parts, and a new Pre�ov University was created from the faculties located in that city. Today the Orthodox Theological Faculty of the University of Pre�ov offers courses of study for seminarians, teachers of religion and ethics, and other pastoral workers in the Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as continuing education for priests. It also maintains a detached department in Olomouc, Czech Republic, to provide part-time training for Orthodox faithful in that country.

LOCATION: The Czech Republic and Slovakia
HEAD: Metropolitan Nicholas (born 1927, elected 2000)
TITLE: Metropolitan of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
RESIDENCE: Pre�ov, Slovakia
MEMBERSHIP: 71,000
WEB SITE: http://www.pravoslav.gts.cz

===========

http://www.ekumenickarada.cz/erceng/pravosl.html


++++++++++

OrthoMan

The two quoted sentences are contradictory.
Was the cited law actually the Restitution law?

One of my cousin's is a judge in Presov and was a lawyer when this law was drafted. He was one of a large group of lawyers who worked on it. It basically says that if you didn't own it in 1938, prior to the Nazi & Hungarian occupation and the Communist regime, YOU DON'T OWN IT NOW!

The property that was stolen from Greek Catholics was returned to Greek Catholics!

Very simple to me....

What actually surprised me most when reading that press release a couple weeks back was the following line:

I can see how Fr. Matusiak was trying to give this section a positive spin by stating how the Orthodox were dedicated and built up their churches from scratch. However, the statement did confuse me, since I was under the impression that the Greek Catholics only laid claim to properties that were Greek Catholic initially and then graciously (note my sarcasm) granted to the Orthodox Church by the Czechoslovak government. I didn't think that the Greek Catholics laid claim to properties built by the Orthodox. Also, what Orthodox monasteries in Slovakia were claimed by the Greek Catholics? I didn't think there were any, but I could be wrong.

I was really disappointed by this press release. I was also disappointed that it mentioned NOTHING about His Beatitude's family coming from villages in present-day Slovakia! I would expect that the Primate visiting his ancestral lands would be a big deal... oh, wait, that's right, he's really Russian. :p

In any case, I can't wait to see the pictures.

Na mnohaja l'ita Vladyko!

Dave

Hi Dave!

This may have something to do with the way the Orthodox church is still viewed by the majority of the Greek Catholics in Slovakia. There is still great anger at the Russians and they see the Orthodox church as representing Moscow and the Russians.

I still the marks on the back of my neck where my cousin tried to yank my 3-bar neck cross off.

I remember visiting in 1989, a couple of months before the colapse and how I turned to go into this bookstore that had some ikons in the window. My cousin grabbed me by the ear and literally dragged me down the street. I was told that I could go into any shop and they would buy me anything I wanted but I was NOT to even THINK of going into the Orthodox bookstore.

My cousin lives in Presov. My cousins in the villages outside of Vranov had harsher words for the Russians and the Orthodox. The memories of the Occupation by the Nazis, Russian "Liberation" and the Communist times are still very fresh and alive. It may many years for this to quiet down.

On the positive side, there are a couple of villages where the Greek Catholics have gotten their church back and are permitting the Orthodox to have Divine Services until they can construct their own church.

Unfortunately, these do not seem to be the case in all instantces.

The last time I visited, the one radio station was broadcasting Sunday morning Divine Liturgy from a Greek Catholic church on one Sunday morning and from an Orthodox church the following Sunday morning. I don't know if they are still doing this or not...

mark

The impression I get from the press release and from their linked website is that Slovakia was/is an Orthodox country.

Please correct me if I'm wrong: the region was first evangelized by Frankish, then Irish, and then German missionaries BEFORE Sts. Cyril and Methodius arrived? It is, therefore, not surprising that Catholics comprise the overwhelming majority in Slovakia (~66% of total population).

Is the property dispute limited to Greek (Byzantine) Catholics and Orthodox, or is the Latin Church also involved in the quagmire?

Amado

Franks had attempted minimal evangelization but had no success because they insited on using Latin. Prince Rastislav requested Slavic speaking missionaries from the Byzantine Emperor who sent SS. Cyril and Methodius.

Deacon Lance wrote:

"Franks had attempted minimal evangelization but had no success because they insited on using Latin. Prince Rastislav requested Slavic speaking missionaries from the Byzantine Emperor who sent SS. Cyril and Methodius."

Glory to Jesus Christ!

It must also be remembered that St. Methodius was working in MORAVIA, not in what is today Slovakia. Making an accurate historical connection between Ss. Cyril and Methodius and either the Slovak or Rusyn people is more mythologic than provable historical narrative. That does not, of course, keep the Apostles of the Slavs from being just that....they don't only belong to Moravia. <G>

(Prof.) J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

Professor,

I have to diagree. The Moravian Kingdom at the time of Rastislav included present day Moravia, Slovakia, and Lower Austria. Svatopluk added Bohemia, Northern Hungary, Lusatia, and Silesia. Nitra was an established political power, Svatopluk was its prince before becoming ruler of Greater Moravia. So I think it is accurate to say that the Slovaks and Rusyns were evangelized by SS Cyril and Methodius or their succesors SS Gorazd, Clement, Nahum, Sabas, and Angelarius.

Fr. Deacon Lance

While it may be more myth than provable history, here's the opening to the preamble of the Slovak Constitution:

"We, the Slovak nation, mindful of the political and cultural heritage of our forebears, and of the centuries of experience from the struggle for national existence and our own statehood, in the sense of the spiritual heritage of Cyril and Methodius and the historical legacy of the Great Moravian Empire, proceeding from the natural right of nations to self-determination, together with members of national minorities and ethnic groups living on the territory of the Slovak Republic..."

--tim

A friend of mine has informed that the information on Metropolitan +Herman's roots being from Kalna Rostoka, Slovakia has proved to be incorrect (even though Svajkos in Slovakia, including the rector of the Orthodox cathedral in Presov, are from that village).

The corrected information, direct from the Metropolitan's family in Butler, PA, is that his parents were from Uzhok and Volosjanka in northern Uzh county by the Polish / L'vivs'ka oblast border.

Now we know.

Dave

Fr. Deacon, while your historical background is certainly correct, it is less than certain that this actually happened all the way into the lands of the Carpathian Rus'. I think I would clarify that as "likely evangelized" as the extant historical documentation is scant. It is most certainly possible that this is at least partially true.

There is also other historical evidence that evangelization came also from the Bulgarians and from the east (from Kievan Rus') as well in the times after the repose of the Holy Apostles to the Slavs.

Because of political viscitudes, all too frequent in Moravia, the first evangelism may not have been necessarily that which "stuck" with the people in some specific areas. We know some evangelized by the Apostolic Brothers did not even keep the Constantinopolitan tradition in the long run under outside influence.

While the OCA site is lagging in their coverage of Metropolitan Herman's visit to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the website of the Orthodox Church in Slovakia has some photos, mainly of the blessing of the renovated Cathedral in Pre�ov:

http://www.orthodox.sk/dolok.files/chramnevskyfoto.html

Also, given the tone of the OCA press release and this thread, it is interesting to note that both Bishop Jan Babjak and Bishop Jan Hirka were in attendance, standing on the right kliros, along with other ecumenical guests.

Dave

Dave,
Thanks for spotting that link and passing it along.
Very nice to see Bishops Babjak and Hirka as guests!

The OCA website is still behind in coverage of Metropolitan Herman's visit, but I found more photos online, this time covering his visit to Bratislava.

http://www.rusin.sk/fotogaleria/show.php?&herman_metropolita

Dave

Photographs are now on the OCA website:

http://www.oca.org/pages/events/2004/09.September/0918CzechLands/mainindex.html

Dave, thanks for the link!

I was especially happy to see a newly-established Roma [Gypsy] parish in Kladruby, Czech Republic. [oca.org]

Tony

Slava Isusu Kristu,

I noticed that the Metropolitan visited the birthplace of St. Alexis Toth. I would have liked to have seen pictures from inside the Church but I suppose that would not have been possible in the present climate.

A sad comment on our current divisions..

Dmitri

Chtec - Thanks again. Very interesting range of temple architecture - especially the old Russian influences. The new OCA page has a better renditions of the church's history - too bsad they don't identify the religious officials in Presov, though.

Tony - I really share your sentiments. There is a Greek Catholic Roma parish in Hungary, but I don't know about Slovakia - what a shame!

Dmitri - what are you talking about? Are you suggesting that The Metropolitan was barred from a Greek Catholic Church there? Do you have facts to support this suggestion?

Yes! I was told about the Roma parish in Hungary when I was there last in 2000. The publisher "Petra" published a bilingual hymnal recently for the Slovak Roma Greek Catholics, you can see it here [petra.grkatpo.sk] It is the second from the left in the top line.

When I was last in Slovakia, in 2000, I did not hear of any Roma parishes but there was a Roma priest among the Redemptorists.

No, djs, I am not suggesting anything like that. I merely meant that he didn't go in. I can only hope that that was his choice and not something we insisted upon.

That truely would be a sad statement of our relationship. Although, I did think it interesting that the relics of St. Alexis Toth were given at the Cathederal dedication in Presov. Although Saints I feel are beyond jurisdictions, I thought the choice of those particular relics somewhat curious given the recent Orthodox vs. Greek Catholic property disputes in the area.

Dmitri

Dmitri, I don't think that there is a GC church in that village. None is listed in the schema of the Presov Eparchy.

Then I misunderstood. The pictures on the OCA website show a Church on the hill where St. Alexis was baptized. Perhaps it is nolonger active or may now be Orthodox or (Heaven forbid ;-)) Roman.

Dmitri

Our bishops participating in the dedication of the Cathedral in Presov - that's a positive step worth unqualified celebration.

I think that "attending" is a better choice of word than "participating."

I don't know if the Bishops participated in the service - for example by singing the responses - but Bishop Babjak did, according to the pictures, address the celebrating hierarchs. He did partipcipate in the dedication ceremony.

Sure, I see that his photo is accompanied by the caption "Addresses and speeches are offered by religious and city officials."

"Participate" sounds like concelebrate when used regarding clergy; of course they are not the same word.