HIS-Press-Service, 1981 (6. évfolyam, 19-21. szám)
1981-10-01 / 21. szám
Press-Service--------Special Topic: Religion and Church in Hungary ______________ No. 21- Vienna, October 1981 THE FACTS New Progress by Hungary's Greek Catholic Church The efforts at renewal being carried out within Hungary's Greek Catholic Church have again met with considerable success. In August of this year in Nyíregyháza, Bishop Dr. Imre Timkó consecrated the new, richly decorated Byzantine-style chapel which was built for the diocese's Greek Catholic seminary. The bishop also blessed the newly renovated seminary building, a three-story building that will house the seminary's professors, and the also newly renovated building for the diocese's central office. The blessing of the buildings was followed by their official opening. With this act, the Greek Catholic Diocese of Hajdúdorog, which is nearing its 70th year of existence and is the largest legally functioning Greek Catholic diocese in Eastern Europe, acquired a modern seminary and central administration building. The two-day ceremonies surrounding the consecration and blessing of the buildings began on the 16th of August with a large pilgrimage to Máriapócs, the diocese's most famous pilgrim shrine. In addition to Hungary's College of Bishops, a number of important Church dignitaries from other countries took part in the festivities. The reception which followed was attended by local public officials, as well as by several leading functionaries of the State Office for Church Affairs. THE BACKGROUND The Oriental Rite in Hungary Tribes practicing religion according to the Greek rite already lived within the territory that is now Hungary before the advent of the Barbarian Invasion. At first, the members of the Latin and Greek rites comprised approximately equally large groups. The conscious shift in Hungary toward the Western form of Christianity during the course of the 11th century and wartime devastation during the 13th and 14th centuries of areas inhabited by Oriental-rite Christians led to a continual decrease in their numbers in comparison with that of the Latin rite Christians. Toward the close of the 15th century, the Bishopric of Munkács, which
