PREŠOV OF THE RUTHENIANS (Lat. Fragopolis, Ukr. Prjašiv, Hung. Eperjes), Diocese of. - Diocese (eparchy) in Slovakia, of the Byzantine-Slavic rite. It was formed by dividing up the territory of the diocese of Mukačevo.

In 1790 Bishop Andrea Bačinskij erected for the western part of the extensive diocese an episcopal vicariate at Košice, which was then erected as a diocese with its seat at P. by decree of the Emperor of Austria in 1816, canonically confirmed by Pius VII on 22 Sept. 1818. It remained a suffragan of Strigonia until 1937, when it became immediately subject to the Holy See. Since 1930 the bishop of P. has administered the 76 parishes of the diocese of Mukačevo and 4 parishes of the diocese of Hajdudorogh, situated in Czechoslovakia.

The faithful of the Eastern rite, although mingled among the Latins, nevertheless until recently inhabited the eastern part of Slovakia, especially the valleys of the Carpathians. After the Second World War (1945), in which many villages in this region were destroyed, and after Subcarpathia was annexed to Soviet Russia, many Eastern faithful emigrated and were dispersed in Bohemia (Sudetenland) and throughout the Czechoslovak Republic. Therefore the Holy See in 1948 granted to all Catholic priests of Czechoslovakia biritualism in favor of these dispersed Eastern faithful (in Bohemia there are about 70,000). The Basilians of St. Josaphat and the Redemptorists of the Eastern rite (vice-province Michal'ovce) carried out a great religious revival in the diocese, so that the propaganda for schism, unleashed in Subcarpathia after the First World War (1920), had almost no success. Religious life flourished until 1948. The persecution of the Church in Czechoslovakia, unleashed after the Communist Revolution, struck the diocese of P. severely as well, to the point of its destruction. In Jan. 1950 a dissident Russian bishop, sent by the Patriarch of Moscow, was consecrated at P.; he prepared the official annexation of the diocese by the Russian Church (28 Apr. 1950), with the assistance of the armed forces of the Communist government.

The Catholic bishop Msgr. Paolo Gojdić, after refusing to join the schism and strenuously defending the union with Rome, was imprisoned and deported together with his auxiliary bishop Msgr. Basilio Hopko.

Statistics (1949): the diocese of P. itself has 46 parishes, 225,087 Eastern Catholics. With the administrations of Mukačevo and Hajdudorogh and over the entire territory of Czechoslovakia, however, it counts: 320,969 Eastern faithful, out of a population of 12,337,684 inhabitants; 341 parishes; 311 diocesan priests; 6 male religious houses with 43 religious; 9 female religious houses with 39 religious.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: Statistiche con cenni storici della gerarchia e dei fedeli di rito orientale, Rome 1932, pp. 198-211; M. Fillo, Griechokatolici Slováci ("Slovak Greek Catholics"), Michalovce 1943; anon., Pasof Gojdić, jepishop prjaševskij ("Paul Gojdić, bishop of P."), Prjasev 1947 (here is found the history of the diocese during the twenty years 1927-47); anon., Schematismus venerabilis cleri dio cesis Fragopolitanas... pro anno 1948, Prešov 1948.

Michele Lacko

@incollection{ec9_presov_dei_ruteni_lat_fragopol, author = {Lacko, Michele}, title = {Presov dei Ruteni (Lat. Fragopolis, ucr. prjašio, ungh. eperjes), diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1977--1978}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/presov-dei-ruteni-lat-fragopolis-ucr-prjasio-ungh-eperjes-diocesi-di} }

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Prešov of the Ruthenians, Diocese of

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