A miskolci ortodox templom és sírkertje (Miskolc, 2001)

A miskolci ortodox templom és sírkertje (Összegzés angolul) Zimányi Katalin

DoBROSSY ISTVÁN The Orthodox Church and Graveyard in Miskolc (Summary) The lean, soaring tower of the Orthodox church rises above its surroundings in the postcards, photos and skylines of Miskolc made from the hill-side of the Avas. When it was dedicated in 1806, the Presbyterian church in the Kossuth Street did not have any towers yet. (The building of the latter was finished in 1808, and her tower was built only in 1865.) It was the double-towered Minorite church and the Orthodox church which dominated the architectural view of the north, so-called 'new town' district of Miskolc. The Minorite church was built in 1729-1743, meanwhile the community of the merchants belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church had only a meeting-house and later, from 1745, a chapel. Only after the lapse of 40 years they could lay the foundation-stone of their church. Among the treatises of this volume the one written by István Dobrossy is dealing with the history of the building of this church. According to the records on the hearing of witnesses it was at the beginning of the 18

th century that the merchants settled down in Miskolc. The community possessed a meeting-house from 1720, and a chapel named after St. Naum from 1745. (The reminiscences of this chapel could still be seen when the restoration of the building of the Vay-mansion, at 12 Széchenyi Street, was taking place in the years of 1980s. The reminiscences of the original floor and of the wall paintings disappeared at that time. Some pieces of the old furniture were taken into the new church.) By the years of 1770s the traders had developed a colony in the centre of the town, and they also had their own judge to arrange their affairs. The judge was to represent the community at the town hall, the county-hall and at the crown lands in Diósgyőr. The head of the congregation was the priest. The first priest of them was Evretisz Bendella in the time when the merchants decided to settle down in Miskolc and swore an oath of allegiance to the emperor. (This oath had to be made and signed by everybody one by one in the presence of the representatives of the county.) After the loyalty oath of 1774, Joseph II. edited the Edict of Tolerance in 1781 permitting the non-Catholics to build schools and churches without towers. If there