Fodor György - Török József - Tusor Péter (szerk.): Felekezetek az Igazság szolgálatában: történelem, teológia, önazonosság (1500-2000) - Studia Theologica Budapestinensia 34. (2009)

I. Catholic-Orthodox symbiosis in Transylvania (Katolikus-ortodox együttélés Erdélyben) - József Marton: The relationship between the Roman catholic and the Greek catholic church between 1940-1950

centuries, then we are promoting the peace and the friendship between the different religions and nations.

This short, but rather tensioned period confirms that the unity founded on faith and common Christian values can defeat any tension and hostility.

In this regard, I would like to present my considerations with a few examples.

The bishop of Transilvania, Mihály Fogarasy (1867-1882) initiated the cooperation of the Seminaries of Gyulafehérvár and Balázsfalva when the Hungarian Revolution (1848) in Transilvania ended with the instauration of the absolutism and the Conciliation. In 1873, he signed an arrangement2 with dr. loan Vancea, the bishop of Balázsfalva, including 32 paragraphs, determining exactly the relationship between the two churches. As a sign of mutual respect and with the purpose of harmonizing the future Catholic Seminary-education in Transilvania, they also agreed that two Greek catholic students would study in the Seminary of Gyulafehérvár.In 1920, this fruitful initiative had been interrupted, but lately it continued in a different way. Since 1935 til 1948 to the Seminary of Gyulafehérvár were introduced the so-called Dies Orientalis4 5 (Oriental Days), but the celebration planned on 21 February was delayed,3 from caution, being aware of the reppressive interventions of the communist authorities. Particularly in the Székely land and in the counties of Szatmár and Máramaros, the concrete result of the historical coexistence, the mixed marriages, caused a natural assimilation and the families involved intended to clarify their confessional appartenance. As a consequence of this intention, the confessional conflict (rite-conflict) had burst at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, resulting many disagreements and tensions between the two churches, especially after the partial intervention of the Holy Seat and the Romanian

2 Rituum Catholicum latini et graeci in Transsylvania mutua ad invicem correlatio. Archive of the Archdiocese of Gyulafehérvár, Nr. 3200-1873.

3 József MARION, The life and the activity of Fogarasy Mihály, Bishop of Transilvania, Gyulafehérvár, 2005. 26-27.

4 S.C. de Seminariis et Stud. Universitatibus, Decree emitted on 27 January 1935.

5 József MARTON, The Roman catholic Seminary of Gyulafehérvár in 1948, in New Heaven and Earth. Memorial Volume for the 65 anniversary of Peler Jager (red. I. Tempfli - L. Vencser), Ed. Szent Maximilian, 132-133.

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