Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
 Hungarian Greek Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
| Magyar Görögkatolikus Egyház | |
| Classification | Catholic |
| Orientation | Eastern Catholic |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Governance | Metropolitanate |
| Metropolite | Péter Fülöp Kocsis |
| Pope | Pope Leo XIV |
| Language | Hungarian |
| Headquarters | Debrecen, Hungary |
| Origin | 1912 Hungary |
| Congregations | 187 |
| Members | 165,135 (2022) |
| Official website | gorogkatolikus |
The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church (Hungarian: Magyar Görögkatolikus Egyház; Latin: Ecclesia Graeco-Catholica Hungariae), also called the Byzantine Catholic Church in Hungary, is an independent Eastern Catholic church in Hungary. It follows the Pope and uses the Byzantine Rite in Hungarian. On March 20, 2015, it became its own church under Rome. Before, it was part of the Hungarian Catholic Church.
History
[change | change source]Greek Catholics in Hungary initially lived mostly in northeast Hungary. This area used to be home to Rusyn and Slovak Byzantine Christians from the Carpathian Mountains. In the 17th and 18th centuries, many Hungarians became Greek Catholics during fights with Protestants. They chose the Byzantine way of worship instead of the Latin one, which greatly increased their numbers.[1]
Because of this, Hungarian Byzantines started using Hungarian in their church services. A Hungarian version of the Saint John Chrysostom service was made for personal study in 1795.
On June 8, 1912, Pope Pius X created the Eparchy of Hajdúdorog for the 162 Hungarian-speaking Greek Catholic parishes.[2] He said Hungarian could only be used for non-religious activities. Priests had to use Greek for religious services, but were given three years to switch. World War I started, so this time limit was extended, and Hungarian continued to be used.
After World War I, borders changed, shrinking the Eparchy of Hajdúdorog from 168 to 90 parishes. The church had a special situation under Hungary's Communist rule. Unlike similar churches in nearby Romania, Slovakia, or Ukraine, it wasn't banned or greatly mistreated. This was partly because the church was small. Its members mainly lived in northeast Hungary, which has always been the country's poorest area. Also, there was almost no Orthodox church to force Greek Catholics to join.[3]
Structure
[change | change source]The church currently has three dioceses:
Notes
[change | change source]- ↑ "Görögkatolikusok – Magyar Katolikus Lexikon". lexikon.katolikus.hu. Retrieved 2025-11-06.
- ↑ "Hajdúdorog (Hungarian Archeparchy) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2025-11-06.
- ↑ Stéphane Mahieu, “The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church”, in Lucian Leuștean (ed.), Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century, p. 590-91. Routledge, 2014, ISBN 978-1-315-81903-7