Slovak Greek Catholic Church
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The Slovak Greek Catholic Church, or Slovak Byzantine Catholic Church, is a Byzantine Rite church of the Catholic Church in full communion with Rome. According to statistics from the CNEWA in 2005, the Church had approximately 225,000 faithful.
[edit] History
Since the Union of Užhorod in 1646 was unanimously accepted on the territory that includes present day eastern Slovakia, the history of Slovak Greek Catholic Church had been intertwined with the Ruthenian Catholic Church for centuries.
At the end of World War I, most Greek Catholic Ruthenians and Slovaks were included within the territory of Czechoslovakia, including two dioceses, Prešov and Mukačevo. During the interbellum, a significant movement towards the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church took place among these Greek Catholics. Created on September 22, 1818, the diocese of Prešov was abolished in 1937 from the jurisdiction of the Hungarian primate and subject directly to the Holy See.
After World War II, the diocese of Mukačevo in Transcarpathia was annexed by the Soviet Union, thus the diocese of Prešov included all the Greek Catholics that remained in Czechoslovakia.
After communists seized the country in April 1950, a fake "synod" was convoked at Prešov where five priests and a number of laymen signed document declaring that the union with Rome was disbanded and asking to be received into the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, later the Orthodox Church of Czechoslovakia. Greek Catholic bishop bl. Pavol Peter Gojdič of Prešov along with his auxiliary bl. Basil Hopko were imprisoned and bishop Gojdič was killed in 1960.
During Prague Spring in 1968 the former Greek Catholic parishes were allowed to return to the Catholic Faith. Of 292 parishes involved, 205 voted for restoring communion with Rome. This was one of the few Dubček's reforms that survived the Soviet invasion of 1968. However, most of their church buildings remained in the hands of Orthodox Church.
After communism was overthrown in the Velvet Revolution 1991 and Czechoslovakia dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, most of the Church property had been returned to the Slovak Greek Catholic Church by 1993. A separate Apostolic Vicariate was created for Greek Catholics in the Czech Republic, elevated in 1996 to an Exarchate and has about 9,000 faithful. In 1997, Pope John Paul II created an Apostolic Exarchate of Košice.
[edit] Abroad
In North America, the Slovak Greek Catholics are not distinguished from the Ruthenians. Nonetheless, they have a diocese in Canada, the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto, whereas there is no diocese in the USA.
