|
An article published in Slovakia in the monthly bilingual (Slovak & English) magazine DIMENZIE see also their website: www.casopisdimenzie.sk in March 2007. DIMENZIE is sold also in European parliament in Stuttgart and Brussel, EU.
How will Benedict XVI bring to an end a thousand-year latinization of the Slavs? Will Cardinal Tomko help to reveal the truth and find the lost appeals of two Basilian monks from Slovakia in Vatican?
Robert Matejovic
“Thanks to protestants and Jesuits, 90 percent of contemporary Slovakia changed their identity from Rusyn-Ruthenian to a newly formed nations of “Toths”, later called Slovaks who converted from Cyril-Methodian azbuka (Cyrillic alphabet) to the Latin Alphabet (Latin),“ is written in the book by Jozafat V. Timkovic, Basilian monk, who, together with his brother - Gorazd A. Timkovic appealed to the Pope to punish Jan Babjak, Greek Catholic bishop in Presov, for telling lies.
“Slava Isusu Christu!” Do you know a Greek Catholic Church Rite, old Slavonic liturgical language, a master piece by the two missionaries – Cyril and Methodius? Surely, I do not have to guess how many people would give me the positive answer. However, not many. Within a small regional survey, I would have to state that apart from East Slovakia, the majority of Slovaks, Roman Catholics and protestants, living in West and Central Slovakia, have no idea what this term means. Neither, they know this Church has worshipers like Slovaks, Rusyns-Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Hungarians in Slovakia. Ukrainians and Ruthenians-Lemkos in Poland, Hungarians and Rusyns-Ruthenians in Hungary. Some people unreasonably connect this Church with the communism and with Russia, they consider it “retrogressive and backward”, they mistake it by the Orthodox Church. Nevertheless, it is the Church that has been preserved its genuine Slavonic Byzantine (Greek) rite, Cyril-Methodian tradition and Old-Slavonic liturgical language only in Slovakia. Many people mistake this language with the Ruthenian or Ukrainian languages. However, the words of the superior prayer must be understood by every single Slav: “Otche nash, izhe jesi na Nebesich, da svjatit sja imja Tvoje, da pridet Carstvije Tvoje, da budet volja Tvoja, …” (Our Father who arts in Heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done…)
Why have I chosen such an unusual introduction? In 2004, Jozafat Vladimir Timkovic, a Basilian monk, published an unusual scientific-historical book – Dejiny greckokatolikov Podkarpatska (9. – 18. storocie). It caused roaring and contrary responds in the Church circles in Slovakia. Its main topic is a tabooed latinization of the Slavonic Hungarian Kingdom and replacing of the original Cyril-Methodian Church rite by the Latin rite. Soon, the book became a sensation for those who were searching and could not find the answers for a very simple question: where and how did the heritage of Cyril and Methodius mission which is mentioned in the Slovak Constitution and which Slovaks put in a claim for disappear?
The bishop did not support the Pope’s idea and abolished monk’s salary Instead of scientific disputes with the author who had written the book for six years and revealed plenty of new facts coming from the Vatican archives, a silent campaign was initiated by the Greek Catholic Episcopate from Presov. It resulted in a harsh conflict between the Basilian monk and monsignor Jan Babjak, Jesuit and the residential Greek Catholic bishop of Presov, who intercepted him his salary from the national budget immediately after the book had been published. This state has not been changed since then. “Why have I written this book? I asked myself as Saints Cyril and Methodius brought the Byzantine rite to the Slavs how is it possible that the regions of their original mission: Slovakia, Moravia, the Czech countries, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia are dominated by Roman Catholics. This crucial question led me to study archive materials of mainly Vatican provenience that would answer that question. Pope John Paul II called historians from all over the world to study the history of the Church profoundly in order to avoid mistakes from the past. I am really sorry that some representatives of the Slovak Roman Catholic hierarchy are trying to get rid of me instead of supporting this extraordinary idea, “ said Father Jozafat V. Timkovic. He is member of the oldest Basilian order whom I visited in St. Basil the Great’s Monastery in Presov.
He appealed to the Pope because he was forbidden to publish After returning from Rome in 1995, Timkovic started to work in the Greek Catholic parishes in the counties of Stara Lubovna, Stropkov and Medzilaborce in the east of Slovakia, together with his brother, Father Gorazd Andrej Timkovic, OSBM. They came back with the clear program of pastoral activities focused on the intellectual encouragement of Greek Catholics in Slovakia and with intensive publishing activities. Soon after that they became editors of the monthly Blahovistnik (Father Jozafat: an editor-in-chief) and in 1996, they began Krasnobrodsky zbornik, scientific theological and historical magazine in which they dealt with eastern theology, spirituality, canon law and church history. Their publication was a thorn in the flesh of vague Greek Catholic episcopate that did not support the fresh attempts of brothers but it was the other way round-they required unlimited obedience by using spoken and direct orders. As the brothers refused to subordinate without being provided detailed comments and evidence against this work, the havoc full of pressure from various sides and economic blockade began.
“In February 1999, D. Lachovicz, General abbot of St. Basil the Great’s Order, forbade to publish Blahovistnika and the half-year-book Krasnobrodsky zbornik due to the so-called medieval theology,” Jozafat V. Timkovic says. “Apart from that, we asked for the exact written evidences, general abbot said that they will be delivered later. We obeyed him and waited for over three years… When in summer 2002, he visited Slovakia, we reminded him our request. He replied: I am not going to give you anything, you have obeyed, it is your fault and I am not going to give to anything in writing. As the general abbot still insisted on our prohibition to publish and refused to cancel it, well, he did not sent us written reasoning… In December 2002, we appealed to the Pope John Paul II. In the letter of appeal we asked him to judge fairly activities of our abbot but, unfortunately, we have not received the answer from Vatican yet. On the contrary, the Pope appointed Mr. D. Lachovicz a bishop in Kiev, Ukraine,“ says Jozafat V. Timkovic who studied canon law in Rome and has written 400 scientific articles so far. Since 1999, he had already been working on the book which he published under the pseudonym VladimiRus de juxta Hornad.
What caused your conflict with Bishop Babjak, Father Jozafat? Is the reason your works and articles in which you describe Catholization of the former Hungarian Kingdom and continuing latinization-slovakization of the Greek Catholic liturgy in Slovakia against which are mainly Ruthenian-Rusyn Greek Catholics? I think that this is an older issue. In my opinion, Mr. Bishop Babjak is an obedient tool of someone who accompanies high policy of latinization in Slovakia. Over the past thousand years, the Roman Catholic Church has been pursuing expansion to the Orthodox East which is called latinization. Greek Catholics are, unfortunately, just a connecting element in the high policy. Neither Bishop Babjak nor we can influence this fact. Pope Benedict XVI could change it if he resolutely disassociated from a thousand-year-long latinization of the East. And not only by the words of the Second Vatican Council which recognized the equality of all rites but also by resolute activities after instructing the Roman Catholic clergy at all contact places of East and West: in Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Czech countries, Hungary, Romania and in the counties of former Yugoslavia. There is not a single Russian, Ruthenian-Rusyn or Ukrainian who would be a Roman Catholic. The traditional religion of these nations is orthodox religion or its newer form of Greek Catholicism. When Roman Catholics want to convert Greek Catholics to Roman Catholics, first they have to denationalize them and turn them into Poles, Hungarians or Slovaks… That is why this everlasting national conflicts will always appear at the borders of East and West, that is why the contemporary national conflicts between Ruthenians-Rusyns and Slovaks in the Slovak Republic. I personally think that my brother and I as well as Bishop Babjak are only small wheels in a huge thousand-year old engine. Our latest sin is the publication of the documents and a complete commentary on latinization of the former Hungarian Kingdom in the book “Dejiny greckokatolikov Podkarpatska” (History of Greek Catholics in Sub-Carpathian area) in a scientific and profound way.
How should have this argument been solved and how was it solved? In my opinion, this “argument” has been provoked on purpose by the top hierarchy. I repeat once again, despite the clear conclusions of the Second Vatican Council in the year 1963, the latinization of the East is still being practiced in a very scheming way. “The theory” of the Roman Catholic Church about the equality of rites is all right but it lacks exact conclusions turned into practice. Pope Benedict XVI could resolutely change the present state by giving clear instructions to his dicasteries (special institutions similar to ministries) in Vatican and the Roman Catholic clergy with clearly defined strict sanctions for trespassers of his orders. It is hard to change something that has been practiced for over a thousand years.
You have appealed to Holy Father five times. What were the contents of your first appeal? The contents of my first appeal written at the end of December 2001 that we addressed to the Congregation for Doctrine of Faith in Vatican (His eminency cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, nowadays Pope Benedict XVI, was its prefect at the time) included the book People and Demons by the priest Rodionov. It was not in accordance with the teaching of the Catholic Church as it placed a demon on the same position as God. The Catholic faith teaches that devil is always just a creature, i.e. a fallen angel. However, the priest was given an “ imprimatur” (a Church permission) by a lot of clergies including Bishop Jan Hirka. Later, in August 2003, the book was condemned publicly in the bishop Obeznik (the Circular) of the Eparchy issued by Bishop Jan Babjak who had been instructed by the apostle nuncios H. J. Nowacki. I have not received an answer from Vatican yet. In fact, all the problems appeared because of this book and due to hesitation of Vatican-a lot human relationships broke and it has continued since then.
On August 4, 2006, Bishop Jan Babjak sent to all the Greek Catholic parishes a circular letter in which he informed that you and your brother had been expelled from the St. Basil the Great’s Order and that you are not allowed to serve masses in the monastery… You deny validity of this decree concerning your expulsion from the Order as your general abbot did not receive the permission from the Pope in Rome to issue it. Is it the only reason why you refuse Mr. Babjak’s statements that you have been expelled from the order? So far, we have not received a decree concerning our expulsion from St Basil’s the Great Order. Just listen carefully, although General Abbot Koubetch received permission from the East Congregation in April 2006, he was forbidden to issue a decree. Top politics. A decree we were delivered in May 2006, had a counterfeited more than one year old date with an appeal within 14 days. Immediately, I called the general abbot in Rome so that he issued a decree with a valid date and we would accept it. He refused to do so and he has not done it yet. A delivered decree was not valid as it had a counterfeited date. Apart from that it was delivered without having stated any reasons and time when we had already appealed to the Pope in Rome four times. Consequently, on 28 June 2006, we appealed for the fifth time… When one appeals to the Pope, they cannot be sorted out by a general abbot or a bishop before they are delivered a reply issued by the Pope. No one can stay in prison without having written in the verdict what they have been sentenced to. It is the same in both civil and canon laws. Mr. Bishop Babjak made up our appeal to the Pope in 2005 in his letter from 4 August 2006 and even he made up Pope’s reply as well as our expel from Basilians. Consequently, we asked the Pope for the answer on November 2, 2006 and for a very strict punishment for this bishop and his deposing from the post due to his sworn testimony according to the Holy Bible – Deuteronomy 19: 16 - 20: “If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.”
In summer, Protoihumen-Provincial Sedlacek gave you an ultimatum to leave the monastery in 24 hours. You refused and you got a significant support of the worshippers. You continue serving masses despite the bishop’s prohibition addressed to the worshippers who are not allowed to join your services. You do not get a salary. Why don’t you want to leave monastery? What are you living on these days? I was given my profession by God. We took an eternal oath to serve God and they are everlasting. If someone takes their marriage vows, it is valid until the death of one of the partners. However, nuns and monk’s vow is forever and last after one’s death. We cannot leave unless it is proved in writing. Nevertheless, receiving a valid decree was actual by June 28, 2006. So now we are waiting for the Pope’s answer. A soldier cannot leave first lines without a strict order from his competent commander. That is why we are still in the monastery. Both Greek and Roman Catholics who visit our monastery bring us food, clothes and money. Also people coming to the monastery occasionally support us financially. We are really taken aback by our present Church hierarchy in Slovakia and its non- Christian behaviour. It would have been rather understandable if it had happened in the Middle Ages. But at present? Roman Catholics boast that their charity activities do not involve Christians only; they help people of other faith, Muslims, Hindis, for instance after a catastrophic tsunami. But how can they explain our “economic blockade”? And we are Greek Catholics and priests! Love to pagans and no love to Christians?
Who defended you? How do you defend yourselves? On June 28, 2006, we appealed to the Pope Benedict XVI to lodge a complaint against an unknown trespasser. We found out that our previous four appeals addressed to the Pope John Paul II had been lost. We pointed one of the possible trespassers, His Eminency T., who lives in Rome.
Do you mean Jozef Tomko? No comment. We are still waiting for the Pope’s answer or at least for a reply from his State Secretary (like a Prime Minister of Vatican). The Pope Benedict XVI surely received our letter we have sent one more time. We sent them by the Slovak Post to be delivered to the addressee only. Its delivery has to be sent back with a stamp from the State Secretary of Vatican. It is more reliable than via apostle nuncios- based on my previous experience.
How can be this matter solved? We appealed to the Pope directly having lodged a complaint against unknown trespasser that is in his supreme consulting bodies in Vatican and we are expecting a respond in writing to our five appeals. We are waiting for justice for all the members the competent church hierarchy who caused the scandal in the Catholic Church and thus do harm to union of Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians. This union is the priority of the Pope Benedict’s XVI Pontificate. If our problems are solved fairly and with satisfaction, it will be a clear signal of the Pope to the Orthodox Church about his honesty and desire for unifying of the Churches.
The beginning of latinization of Cyril and Methodian Hungary Saints Cyril and Methodius brought the Byzantine rite to the Slavs in the 9th century. The Byzantian religious rite was Greek (i.e., Greek Catholic, and in the beginning, was under the jurisdiction of the roman Pope). “Saints Cyril and Methodius (both Basilian monks) were very successful in spreading the faith because they built on the selfless Basilian monks (the Basilian monks never required the church tax, the so-called “church ten”, which took 10% of the harvest). St. Cyril and Methodius established Basilian monasteries throughout Greater Moravia and in northern Bulgaria (“White” Hungary), located in the subcarpathian Uh river basin. These monasteries became the foundation for further canon-law consolidation: the biggest ones became centers of the first so-called “monastery eparchies”, (monastery Greek Catholic dioceses) says Jozafalat V. Timkovic.
The resume of the book continues: “The posts of main monastery Superior (Archimandrite) and resident Bishop were always identical from the beginning. For this reason, Bishops and Archimandrites were at that time always the same person and always had their residence only in their own Basilian monasteries. This church organization of monastery eparchies represented the genuine and unique Greek Catholic Church in the Hungarian kingdom that undoubtedly flourished during the reign of St. Stephen I.” This king, St. Stephen I., the King of Hungary, under the influence of his German wife, oriented his policies toward the politics of the German emperors. Under this German influence, in some areas, he declared an obligatory tax of church ten, to be paid to some Basilian monasteries and appointed Latin Benedictines as abbot-bishops of these monasteries. As a result, he unknowingly set the stage for the creation of the first Latin parishes with a system of obligatory taxation (church ten), which later led to the establishment of the first Latin bishoprics in the Hungarian Kingdom. After St. Stephen died, a foreigner and usurper named Peter Orseolo was unlawfully appointed Hungarian king. Orseolo tried to latinize the church already in the full opened form but the first and second Vatha uprisings ended his attempt. These both Vatha uprisings along with the Greek Catholic Archimandrite-bishop Koloman (nicknamed the “Bookworm”) from the Great Varadin Basilian monastery which became the Hungarian king caused that, during the 11th and 12th centuries, the Greek Catholic, Cyril-Methodian religion was practised in Hungarian Kingdom in all its glory and the rite (old faith) did not change. The Hungarian people, their kings and the nobility kept the Greek Catholic rite going and oriented them more toward Byzantium or Russia (Galicia, Kyjev) than Germany.
Conquest of Constantinopole and founding of the Latin Empire The Greek Catholic church met the first of many challenges in 1204, when Crusaders conquered Christian Constantinople instead of the Holy Land, and there founded the Latin Empire. The Crusaders liquidated the Byzantine rite throughout Greece and doubled the church hierarchy. For example in the place of the original Byzantine Patriarch was appointed new Latin Patriarch; where, there were Byzantine Bishops, Crusaders appointed in their place Latin Bishops… Also in 1204, Pope Innocent III blamed the Hungarian King Emeric for not promoting the Latin rite in Hungary. According to Pope Innocent III’s preserved testimony, in 1204 Hungary had only one Latin Benedictine monastery – the rest of the monasteries (of which there were many hundreds), were all Basilian Greek Catholic. This is only one of many irrefutable proofs that the Byzantine Cyril-Methodian rite was flourishing during the 11th and 12th centuries, as well as at the begining of the 13th, while the Latin rite was not. The Latin rite, or the «new» faith as it was called, was the religion of castle officials, foreigners and merchants who stopped along their trade routes. In the course of history, the Greek Catholic rite became known as «old faith» because it was the oldest faith in the region, older than the Latin rite, which was introduced later.
The Fourth Lateran Council abolished doubled hierarchy at the expense of Greek Catholic hierarchy In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council was held about 11 years after the disaster of the Crusades, which was not worthy of and had nothing to do with the Cross. The council’s ninth constitution tried to “purge” the Greek Catholic hierarchy from Constantinople and Greece. Paradoxically, the ninth constitution also abolished the double hierarchy previously created by the Latin church, leaving the Latin hierarchy in power and dispensing with the Greek Catholic hierarchy. During the 13th century some Hungarian kings of Arpad dynasty, influenced by their Latin wives occasionally tried to introduce the ninth constitution into their dominions in the hopes of gaining power and support from Germans. However, this ninth constitution (of liquidation the double hierarchy) was more consistently introduced until the 14th century, by the French Anjous dynasty. The ninth constitution became the very effective main juridical tool for liquidation of the Cyril-Methodian rite in the Hungarian Kingdom and around the world until the end of the 18th century.
The First Offensive was not successful During the 13th century (after 1204), the Hungarian Kingdom and its kings became more oriented toward the non-Slavic Cumans-Magyars than to the original Slavic Hungarians. Cumans-Magyars supported by kings settled the uninhabited sombre and unhealthy swamplands of the central Hungarian Kingdom between the Danube and Tisa Rivers, where the Danube often flooded. The end of the 12th century and the whole of the 13th century are characterized, by the original Slavic Greek Catholic hierarchy (Greek Catholic archimandrites-bishops) being pushed out, and foreign bishops of the Latin rite filling the main bishopric cathedrals. This time may be designated as the first offensive in the liquidation of the Cyril-Methodian Byzantine rite in the Hungarian Kingdom. This first offensive however was not successful because the people of central Hungary continued to practice Greek Catholicism. Only the hierarchy had changed in some of the most important Greek Catholic monasteries… and only in central parts of the Hungarian Kingdom, where Cumans-Magyars were settled. Hierarchy was changed from Greek Catholic Basilian archimandrites-bishops to Latin rite Benedictin abbots-bishops, i.e., in Estergom. The Hungarian kings with varying success, began in that period to appoint as heads of main Basilian sobor-monasteries, abbot-bishops of the Latin rite: usually foreigners (Germans and Italians). The new Latin bishops changed the original Greek Catholic sobor-monasteries first into “double-rite” (biritual) monasteries and later in an absolute mode to Latin rite and they changed the original Basilian rulers of those monasteries to Benedictine or Franciscan rulers. The removal of the Greek Catholic rite from the main Basilian monasteries of the central Hungarian Kingdom was completed in the 14th century during the reign of the Anjous dynasty. The Cyril-Methodian system of monastery dioceses and parishes, a typical sign of the Byzantine tradition, was common throughout the whole Hungarian Kingdom until the Slavic Arpad dynasty died out in 1301 and the French Anjous dynasty from the Naples Kingdom came to the throne.
The Second Massive Offensive Dying out of the Slavic Arpad dynasty was the second breaking year in the history of the Hungarian Kingdom. In the 14th century during the reign of King Charles Robert and his son Louis the Great, the second massive offensive against the Cyril-Methodian Slavic rite began. Like the first, the second offensive focused on the central Hungarian Kingdom, where the majority of the population was Cuman-Magyar immigrants that time. Non-Slavic foreigners (Germans, Italians) and Cuman-Magyar immigrants, who during the time, with support of uncapable Hungarian Kings were forced to settle in swamplands of the central Hungarian Kingdom (campus Cumanorum). This contributed greatly to the liquidation of the Cyril-Methodian heritage. The secon of offensive was already fully based on canon law – by the ninth constitution of the Fourth Lateran Council. All the Greek Catholics in central Hungary who in that offensive lost their Cyril-Methodian rite also lost their Slavonic-Ruthenian identity as they became integrated into Cuman-Magyars. Those who did not want to accept the Latin rite had to emigrate (based on canon law – fifty-third constitution of the Fourth Lateran Council) from the fertile valleys of central Hungary to the little inhabited mountainous woodlands of the frontier regions of the Hungarian Kingdom. This emigration was called the Valach colonization and emigrated people – the Valachs. The Anjous dynasty preferred the Latin-foreign nobility (Italian, French and German) over the original Arpadic-Slavic Greek Catholic nobility. In order to destroy this original Arpadic nobility, the Anjous dynasty applied political and military measures (e.g. the battle of Rozhanovce in 1312). They used also military force of the non-Slavic Cuman-Magyars. As a result the second offensive gradually erased the Greek Catholic rite almost throughout the central Hungarian Kingdom. The local Slavonic inhabitants were assimilated into the Cuman-Magyars, later becoming a part of the Hungarian-Magyar nation and practising the Roman Catholic rite.
Refugees escaping away from Turks became protestants The Third Offensive. In 1526 the Ottoman empire defeated the Hungarian army at the battle of Mohach and the Turks took control of southern and central parts of the Hungarian Kingdom. As a result, the Cuman-Magyars from these regions, especially the nobility and middle class, fled to the enclosed towns of the upper Hungarian Kingdom, which is now Slovakia. Trnava temporarily became the seat of the Estergom Latin Archbishop. During this time 90% of the Ruthenian Slavonic Greek Catholics in that region (the present day Slovakia) changed their faith and became Protestants under the principle “the religion of the ruler is the religion of the ruled”. Germans called these Protestants “Tots”, which in German language means “dead”, because they lost the genuine old faith of Christ. Thus, the so-called Toth (Slovak) nation was created.
The third phase was led by protestants and Jesuits together In the 17th century and at the beginning of the 18th century, the Jesuit Anti-reformation began. This was the third offensive of violent latinization of the Greek-Catholic Hungarian Kingdom and spread not only central parts, but this time also the frontier territories with Jesuits and Protestants marching side by side. The Jesuits finished what the Protestants had started as regards to liquidation of old faith. The Jesuits persuaded the high nobility to turn away from Protestantism and become Roman Catholics… Then according to the principle “the religion of the ruler is the religion of the ruled” they persuaded the common people to practice Roman Catholicism. Jesuits forced not only Protestants but also Greek Catholics to accept Roman Catholicism. The Roman Catholic church kept the law of “praestantia ritus latini” (precedence of the Latin rite). This law remained valid until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. 90% of the people of the northern Hungarian Kingdom under the influence of the work of the Jesuits and Protestants changed the Ruthenian identity into Tot (later so-called Slovak) identity. The only famous “marchia Ruizorum” no longer existed and the Cyrillic alphabet was replaced by the Roman-Latin alphabet. Considering the three major offensives of latinization against the Greek Catholic rite the annals of Hungarian history from 9th to the 16th centuries remain surprisingly silent. The archives have none of the original documents from this period (only some copies which are questionable), and researchers have been denied access to archival information from this period (for example in Eger). Original documents from this period could prove that the Greek Catholic, Cyril-Methodian rite was the original faith of the Hungarian Kingdom. Such documents might also show that up until the end of the Arpad dynasty (beginning of the 14th century) the central Hungarian Kingdom was inhabited by Slavs and not Magyars.
Latinization taken aback by Maria Theresa and Joseph II. The forceful introduction of the Latin rite and the destruction of the Cyril-Methodian culture and Slavic (Ruthenian) identity in Hungarian Kingdom came to an end during the reign of Mary Theresa (1740-1780), who was the first monarch to halt the application of the unjust ninth constitution of the Fourth Lateran Council. Furthermore, she forced the Pope to recognize the last Greek Catholic monastery dioceses-eparchies in the northeastern (Mukacevo), eastern (Great Varadin – Oradea Mare) and southern (Marca-Krizevci) frontier regions of Hungary. In 1781 Joseph II passed the Tolerance Law, which was a revolutionary document that stood up to the test of time and became the basis for freedom of religion as a creed. This new law was a hard but not fatal blow to Latin intolerance and the forceful expansion of Roman Catholicism in the Hungarian Kingdom. Although the Latin rite remained the main religion in the Hungarian Kingdom, the Tolerance Law also recognized the Protestant and Greek Catholic religions. This essay provides valuable historical documentary evidence, makes concrete suggestions on how to solve a thousand-year-old crisis between the Roman and Greek churches and enlightens the so-called unification. This paper does not condemn the Roman Catholic church, which has always been holy, but focuses critical attention on some of its unworthy members. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of them throughout history. That’s why this essay is especially valuable for its ecumenical content.
Plagiary, they are not monks The statement made by Monsignor ThDr. Jan Babjak, SJ, Eparch on the book “ Dejiny greckokatolikov Podkarpatska” and about the situation of Timkovic brothers’ in which they found themselves in. Regarding the statement on the book “Dejiny greckokatolikov Podkarpatska, I offer you a review written by historian Doc. PhDr. Ivan Chalupecky published in the magazine “Duchovny pastier- Revue pre teologiu a duchovny zivot,” Trnava: SSV, 2004, issue LXXXV, no. 10 (December), back cover. The Greek Catholic See of appreciated the attempt of the author who had collected plenty of materials while processing the book. However, he devalued it by using his deductions and presumptions, various etymological deductions that are not of a scientific kind. The book is full of tendencies and has no spirit of the Church. It ruined Greek Catholic Church. In any case, this study should not have been published without reviews that would have supported its earnestness in the scientific circles. Thus, it is a plagiary that will not prove itself among the scientists. The book reflects the author’s character. I would not even mention whose money sponsored such a thick book and even without having been approved by authorities. Regarding your second question: Timkovic brothers are not monks any more; they have been suspended. These facts are valid. It is only a consequence of exact and very serious reasons that have been proved and are unquestionable. It is not appropriate to go further into details here. Therefore they further staying in the Basilian monastery is illegal.
More info about question with rich documentation you can find at |