The Apostolic Exarchate of the Greek Catholic Church in the Czech Republic is an Eastern

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

institution overseeing Catholics of byzantine-slavonic rite in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It uses the localized

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. The canonical hours a ...

in archaic

Church Slavonic Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Her ...

language. Its

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

is St. Clement's Cathedral, Prague.

History

On March 13, 1996,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

proclaimed a new

Apostolic Exarchate An exarch (; from Ancient Greek ἔξαρχος ''exarchos'', meaning “leader”) was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical. In the late Roman Empire and e ...

(exempt pre-

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

) for

Eastern Catholics The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

of the

in the

under the rule of the

Apostolic See An apostolic see is an episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus or to one of their close associates. In Catholicism the phrase, preceded by the definite article and usually capitalized, refers to the ...

. The church was built on territory previously covered by the

, the Slovak Catholic Metropolitanate sui juris of Prešov. The Apostolic Exarchate provides a legal organization for Catholics of the Ruthenian Church living in the Czech Republic. The head of the church is a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

, who has the same rights as a diocesan bishop. An exarchate is the initial stage of an

eparchy Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the ...

(the equivalent of a diocese in the Latin rites), which is exempt, i.e. not part of any

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

but directly subject to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. It is supervised by the Roman Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, a Roman Curia

dicastery A dicastery (from gr, δικαστήριον, dikastērion, law-court, from δικαστής, 'judge, juror') is the name of some departments of the Roman Curia. ''Pastor bonus'' ''Pastor bonus'' (1988), includes this definition: ''Praed ...

acting on behalf of the Pope.

Statistics

According to the 2011 census there were 9,927

Byzantine Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

s in the Czech Republic. In July 2016 according to the Statistics from the Annuario Pontificio 2016 compiled by Ron Roberson there is a combined Byzantine or Constantinopolitan Tradition (“

Greek Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine C ...

”) count of 7,677,373 for which the Ruthenian Apostolic Exarchate in the Czech Republic in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

makes up 17,000 of. Currently there are 20 parishes and 12 chapels organized into seven deaneries and served by 25 priests. Additionally, significant proportion of believers are workers and refugees from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

Apostolic Exarchs

The following is a list of the hierarchs of the Apostolic Exarchate and their terms of service: *1.

Ivan Ljavinec Ivan Ljavinec (18 April 1923 – 9 December 2012) was a Czech hierarch of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. Ljavinec was born in Volovec, Czechoslovakia (now in Ukraine) and ordained a priest on 28 July 1946. Ljavinec was appointed titular ...

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox ...

Acalissus Acalissus or Akalissos ( el, Ἀκαλισσός) was a town of ancient Lycia, an early bishopric, and remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church. Coins were minted at Acalissus, some of which are housed at numismatic collections. Acalissu ...

(January 18, 1996 – April 23, 2003) *2. Ladislav Hučko, Titular Bishop of Horæa (April 24, 2003 – ), also Secretary General of Czech Bishops’ Conference (2005 – 2011.07.01) **

Ján Eugen Kočiš Bishop Ján Eugen Kočiš (25 June 1926 – 4 December 2019) was a Slovak-Czech Ruthenian Greek Catholic hierarch, who served as a titular bishop of Abrittum and an auxiliary bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Czech Republic ...

, Auxiliary Bishop, Titular Bishop of

Abrittum Dobrich ( bg, Добрич ; ro, Bazargic, tr, Hacıoğlu Pazarcık) is the 9th most populated city in Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Dobrich Province and the capital of the region of Southern Dobrudzha. It is located in the northeas ...

(April 24, 2004 – October 7, 2006)

References

Sources and external links

GigaCatholic.org, with incumbent biography links

Apoštolský exarchát řeckokatolické církve v České republice
(Czech language)

{{Christianity in the Czech Republic

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

Ruthenian Catholic Church Eastern Christianity in the Czech Republic Christian organizations established in 1996 1996 establishments in the Czech Republic Catholic Church in the Czech Republic Eastern Catholic Churches

History

Statistics

Apostolic Exarchs

See also

References

Sources and external links