www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Hungarian Greek-Catholic Church Receives Metropolitan Status

Following the decision to give metropolitan status to the Eritrean Catholic Church in January, the Holy See Press Office today announced [tinyurl.com] that the Hungarian Greek-Catholic Church has received the same status.

The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church has consisted of the Eparchy of Hajdúdorog and the Apostolic Exarchate of Miskolc. Hajdúdorog becomes the metropolitan see, with the new eparchies of Miskolc and Nyíregyháza as suffragan sees.

This means that Bishop Fülöp (Kocsis) [tinyurl.com] is the first Metropolitan of Hajdúdorog (with his see in Debrecen). Bishop Atanáz (Orosz) [tinyurl.com] is the first Bishop of Miskolc and Apostolic Administrator of the Eparchy of Nyíregyháza.

Axioi! Axioi! Axioi!

God grant them many years!

Vatican City, 20 March 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

reorganised the Hungarian Greek-Catholic Church, elevating it to the status of “sui iuris Metropolitan Church, by the following measures:

elevation of the eparchy of Hajdudorog for Catholics of Byzantine rite (Cathlics 270,000, priests 190, permanent deacons 4, religious 13) to a metropolis, with its seat in Debrecen, appointing eparchal Bishop Fulop Kocsis as the first Metropolitan;

elevation of the apostolic exarchate of Miskolc (Catholics 56,200, priests 70) for Catholics of Byzantine rite to the status of eparchy, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Hajdudorog, appointing Msgr. Atanaz Orosz, formerly apostolic exarch of Miskolc, as the first eparchal bishop;

erection of the eparchy of Nyiregyhaza for Catholics of Byzantine rite, with territory taken from the eparchy of Hajdudorog, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Hajdudorog, appointing Bishop Atanaz Orosz as apostolic administrator “sede vacante”.

Cool. I had wondered when that would happen.

Just for the heck of it, I've updated one of the maps [maps.google.com] that I've posted previously. (Not a big update, just added Nyíregyháza to it.)

Számos éven át!

Deacon El
Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic

Video [goo.gl] of the installation ceremony of Metropolitan Fülöp (Kocsis) of Hajdúdorog.

H/t Gregory DiPippo and the [i]New Liturgical Movement.[/i] [goo.gl]

While I'm happy for the Hungarian Church, I can't help but feel a sense of "divide and conquer" as national churches are created from what was at one time a multi-ethnic Church in Europe...

Well, perhaps these metropolital Churches will be combined into one major archepiscopal Church. (Not that everyone agrees that would be preferable.)

Given the ethnic animosity among the various eastern catholic churches in this country any unification would be highly unlikely. By the way what was that one great multi-ethnic Church in Europe? Nothing like that existed in my reading.

You are more than correct JimG.

Even in the Latin Church, there was always the "English Church" and others. In fact, in the days of the Recusant persecution in Britain, Catholics there always referred to themselves as "English Catholics" rather than "Roman Catholics" for various reasons - the most important one being that of survival in the face of a struggle between national/royal interests and the ultramontane one.

The same was true in other European countries and it has been argued that the Protestant movement was also rooted in this as well.

Alex

While I don't think we're likely to see a unified EC Church in this country anytime soon (nor am I sure that I'd like to), I can't agree with Jim as regards ethnic animosity among the EC Churches in the US - if anything, I see the opposite.

Many years,

Neil

I also had a reaction to the "ethnic animosity among the various eastern catholic churches in this country" remark.