The Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo is an

eparchy Eparchy ( ''eparchía'' "overlordship") is an Ecclesiology, ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the administra ...

of the

Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church The Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, also known in the United States as the Byzantine Catholic Church, is a '' sui iuris'' (autonomous) Eastern Catholic particular church based in Eastern Europe and North America that is part of the worldwide ...

that was erected by

Pope Clement XIV Pope Clement XIV (; ; 31 October 1705 – 22 September 1774), born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 May 1769 to his death in September 1774. At the time of his elec ...

in 1771. The geographic remit of the eparchy includes the south-western parts of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

that are roughly within

Zakarpattia Oblast Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпатська область), also referred to as simply Zakarpattia (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпаття; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Kárpátalja'') or Transcar ...

. The eparchy is directly subject to the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. It is supervised by the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. Its parishes observe the

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, is a liturgical rite that is identified with the wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Chri ...

, which is also celebrated by the majority of Orthodox Christians, as provided for in the original terms of the Union of Uzhhorod. The

episcopal seat A cathedral is a church that contains the 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 with an episcop ...

is the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in

Uzhhorod Uzhhorod (, ; , ; , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Uzh, Uzh River in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistan ...

. Mukachevo is the mother eparchy of four modern Eastern Catholic churches: the

Slovak Greek Catholic Church The Slovak Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine Catholic Church in Slovakia, is a ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic church based in Slovakia. As a Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, particular ch ...

, the

Romanian Greek Catholic Church The Romanian Greek Catholic Church or Romanian Church United with Rome is a '' sui iuris'' Eastern Catholic Church, in full union with the Catholic Church. It has the rank of a Major Archiepiscopal Church and it uses the Byzantine liturgical r ...

, the

Hungarian Greek Catholic Church The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church or the Byzantine Catholic Church in Hungary is a '' sui iuris'' (autonomous) Eastern Catholic church based in Hungary. As a particular church of the Catholic Church, it is in full communion with the Holy See. ...

, and the

.Havrosh, O.
Bishop Milan: "Eparchy of Mukachevo belongs to the biggest in Ukraine" (Владика Мілан: «Мукачівська єпархія належить до найбільших в Україні»)
'. Eparchy of Mukachevo website from

Mirror Weekly ''Dzerkalo Tyzhnia'' (, ), usually referred to in English as the ''Mirror of the week'', is a Ukrainian online newspaper; it was one of Ukraine's most influential analytical weekly-publisher newspapers, founded in 1994. Some historians believe that the origins of the eparchy are to be found in the missionary work of

Saints Cyril and Methodius Cyril (; born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (; born Michael, 815–885) were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs". They are ...

in the ninth century. The 14th century saw the founding of the Saint Nicholas Monastery on Chernecha Hora (Hill of Monks) located in the city of

Mukachevo Mukachevo (, ; , ; see name section) is a city in Zakarpattia Oblast, western Ukraine. It is situated in the valley of the Latorica River and serves as the administrative center of Mukachevo Raion. The city is a rail terminus and highway junct ...

. Many believe that from that point, the Eparchy of Mukachevo evolved into the entity as we know it today. The bishops resided at the Monastery and administered ecclesiastical affairs from there until 1766. After the union with Rome and until 1946, the Monastery of St Nicholas was also the principal religious house of the monks of the

Order of Saint Basil the Great The Order of Saint Basil the Great (; , abbreviated OSBM), also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat, is a Greek Catholic monastic order of pontifical right that works actively among Ukrainian Catholics and other Greek-Catholic churc ...

(OSBM), also called ''Basilian'' monks. The bishops, clergy and faithful of this eparchy were originally Orthodox Christians at some point were reconstituted under an eparchy suffragan to the original

Metropolitan of Kiev Metropolitan of Kyiv is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title that has been created with varying suffixes at multiple times in different Christian churches, though always maintaining the name of the Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolita ...

(Rhosia Orthodox Church) that was under the jurisdiction of the

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as ...

(see Eparchy of Mukačevo and Prešov). In 1646, following the example of their compatriots across the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

in Galicia (current day Western Ukraine), who in 1596 established the

Union of Brest The Union of Brest took place in 1595–1596 and represented an agreement by Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Ruthenian portions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to accept the Pope's authority while maintaining Eastern Orthodox liturgical ...

, the people of the Mukachevo eparchy united with the papal

(recognizing the primacy of Catholic Rome, not Byzantine, Orthodox 'New Rome' Constantinople) under what is known as the Union of Uzhhorod. Other Eastern Orthodox Christians who belonged to the original Eastern Orthodox eparchy of Mukachevo and refused to convert joined the eparchy of Buda that is suffragan to the

Serbian Patriarchate of Peć Serbian Patriarchate of Peć (, ''Srpska patrijaršija u Peći''), or simply Peć Patriarchate (, ''Pećka patrijaršija''), was an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate that existed from 1346 to 1463, and then again from 155 ...

(and later

Patriarchate of Karlovci The Patriarchate of Karlovci () or Serbian Patriarchate of Sremski Karlovci (), was a patriarchate of the Eastern Orthodox Church that existed between 1848 and 1920. It was formed when the Metropolitanate of Karlovci was elevated to the rank of ...

). In the political and spiritual climate of the day, union with Rome was considered by many to be a productive solution to promoting both the welfare of the people and the church. Following a model similar to that proposed at the

Council of Florence The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1445. It was convened in territories under the Holy Roman Empire. Italy became a venue of a Catholic ecumenical council aft ...

, the people were allowed to maintain their Byzantine Rite spiritual, liturgical and canonical traditions, while recognizing the

Roman Pontiff Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

as the head of the universal church. From 1646 to 1771 the eparchy was

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

to the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Eger The Archdiocese of Eger () is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Hungary, its centre is the city of Eger. History * 1000: Established as Diocese of Eger * August 9, 1804: Promoted as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Eger ...

. On September 19, 1771, after decades of efforts on the part of the bishops of Mukachevo for recognition as a fully self-governing ecclesiastical entity, free from the control of the Latin Catholic bishops of

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights, Eger is best known for Castle of Eger, its ...

(today in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

), the Habsburg Holy Roman Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...

issued a decree, subsequently approved by Rome, that created a jurisdictionally independent Mukachevo Eparchy no longer subordinate to the

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

ordinary. It was also at this time that the faithful of the eparchy formally became known as

Greek Catholics Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite: ** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church ** The Belarusian Gre ...

. During the episcopate of Bishop Andrii Bachynskyij (1772-1809), the eparchy retained its historic name but its seat was moved to

(1780), where it remains to this day. Following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the occupation of

Carpatho-Ukraine Carpatho-Ukraine or Carpathian Ukraine (, ) was an autonomous region, within the Second Czechoslovak Republic, created in December 1938 and renamed from Subcarpathian Rus', whose full administrative and political autonomy had been confirmed by ...

by the Soviet regime, the Greek Catholic Church was liquidated in 1949. All properties were allocated to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

and the clergy and many faithful exiled to concentration camps. The bishop of Mukachevo during this time was Theodore Romzha. In 1947, Bishop Romzha was poisoned by

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

(predecessor of the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

) authorities. During the Soviet years, the Greek Catholic Church in Galicia,

Transcarpathia Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...

and Slovakia continued to operate secretly in the underground.

Structure

With the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, many priests and faithful of the Eparchy of Mukachevo came out of the

catacombs Catacombs are man-made underground passages primarily used for religious purposes, particularly for burial. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etym ...

. The eparchy was allowed to officially renew its activities in 1989. Bishop Ivan Semedi, who had been secretly consecrated during the persecution years, was the first bishop to freely perform his ministry in over 40 years. In 2014 the eparchy had 320,000 faithful, 2 bishops, 429 parishes, 280 diocesan priests, 30 religious priests, 44 men religious, 45 women religious, 0 deacons and 98 seminarians.

List of Bishops

The list of the

eparch Eparchy ( ''eparchía'' "overlordship") is an Ecclesiology, ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the administra ...

s (bishops) of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo is:

Eastern Orthodox bishops

: *Hierotheos, 940 *Joannes I, 1491-1498 *Basilius I, 1551-1552 *Hilarius I, 1556-1559 *Euthymius I, 1561-1567 *Amphilochius, 1569-1596 *Basilius II, 1597-inc. *Sergius, 1601-1616 *Sophronius I, 1616 *Hilarius II *Euthymius II, 1618-inc. *Petronius, 1623-1627 *Joannes II (Hrehorovych), 1627-1633 * Basilius III (Tarasovych), 1634-1642 *Porphyry (Arden), 1640—1643 *Sophronius II (Yusko), 1646 (Vlach) * Basilius III (Tarasovych), 1646-1648 *Parfeniy (Petrovych-Ratoszynski), 1648—1649 *Joannicius (Zeikan), 1652—1686 *Theophanes (Mavrokordato), 1677 (Archbishop of Hungarian Ruthenia) *Methodius (Rakovecki), 1687—1692 *Joseph (Stojka), 1692—1711 *Dosyteus (Feodorovych), 1711—1734

Greek Catholic bishops

:*''after the 1646 Union of Uzhhorod the Eparchy of Mukachevo united with Rome'' *

Vasyl Tarasovych Vasyl Tarasovych (??? - 1651 ) was a church figure in Transcarpathia, Basilian, eparch of Mukachevo (1634 - 1651) and the initiator of the union with the Catholic Church in Transcarpathia. Vasyl Tarasovich was bishop of the Mukachevo eparchy sinc ...

, 1646-1648 * Petro Parfenii, 1649-1665 *Yosyf Voloshynovskyi, 1670-1673 *Porphyriy Kulchynskyi, 1681-1686 *Yosyf de Kamelis (Joseph de Camillis), 1690-1706 *Yosyf Hodermarskyi, 1706-1716 * Hennadiy Bizantsiy, 1716-1733 * Stefan Olshavskyi, 1733-1737 *

Havryil Blazhovskyi Havryil Heorhiy Blazhovskyi, O.S.B.M. (born as Juraj Mankovič; , , , c. 1705 – 20 December 1742) was the bishop of the Vicariate Apostolic for the Ruthenians in Mukacheve from 1738 to his death in 1742. Life Heorhiy Blazhovskyi was born on a ...

, 1738–1742 *

Manuil Olshavskyi Manuil Mykhaylo Olshavskyi, Order of Saint Basil the Great, O.S.B.M., (born as Michal Židik; , , , c. 1700 – 5 November 1767) was the bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Mukacheve, Vicariate Apostolic for the Ruthenians in Mukacheve ...

, 1743–1767 * Ivan Bradach, 1767–1771 **''In 1771 the Eparchy of Mukachevo got his independence from the Latin bishop of Eger'' * Ivan Bradach, 1771–1772 *

Andriy Bachynskyi Andriy Bachynskyi (, ; 11 November 1732 – 19 November 1809) was a Ruthenian Greek Catholic hierarch. He was bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Mukacheve from 1773 to 1809. Biography Born in Beňatina, Habsburg monarchy (present day – ...

, 1773–1809 ** auxiliary bishop Mykhaylo Bradach, 1808–1812 * Mykhaylo Bradach, Apostolic Administrator, 1812–1815 * Oleksiy Povchiy, 1816–1831 * Vasyl Popovych, 1837–1864 * Stefan Pankovych, 1866–1874 * Ivan Pasteliy, 1876–1891 * Yuliy Firtsak, 1891–1912 ** coadjutor bishop Antal Papp, 1912 * Antal Papp, 1912–1924 * Petro Gebey, 1924–1931 * Oleksandr Stoyka, 1932–1943 * Miklós Dudás, Apostolic Administrator, 1943–1946 *Bl. Teodor Romzha, 1944–1947 **''In 1949 the Communist

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

abolished the Greek Catholic Church; all its properties were allocated to the Russian Orthodox Church.'' * Clandestine Bishops ** Alexander Chira, 1944–1983 ** Petro Oros, 1944–1953 ** Konstantyn Sabov, 1977–1982 ** Ivan Semedi, 1978–1991 ** Yosyf Holovach, 1983–1991 **

Ivan Margitych Ivan Margitych (; 4 February 1921 – 7 September 2003) was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic hierarch. He was an auxiliary bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Mukacheve from 1987 to 2002 and titular bishop of Scopelus in Haemimonto from 1991 t ...

, 1987–1991 **''In 16 January 1991 the Holy See confirmed all clandestine consecrations'' * Ivan Semedi, 1991-2002 ** auxiliary bishop Yosyf Holovach, 1991–2000 ** auxiliary bishop

, 1991–2002 ** auxiliary bishop

Đura Džudžar Đura Džudžar (born 22 April 1954) is a Serbian eparchial bishop of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Ruski Krstur since 2018. He was previously titular bishop of Acrassus (2001-2018), auxiliary bishop of the Ruthenian Eparchy of Mukachevo ( ...

, 2001–2003 * Milan Šašik, Apostolic Administrator, 2002–2010 * Milan Šašik, 2010–2020 ** auxiliary bishop Nil Lushchak, since 2012 * Nil Lushchak, Apostolic Administrator, 2020–2024 * Teodor Matsapula, since 2024

Sources and external links

Official site

Structure

List of Bishops

Eastern Orthodox bishops

Greek Catholic bishops

See also

Sources and external links

References

Further reading