HIS-Press-Service, 1981 (6. évfolyam, 19-21. szám)
1981-10-01 / 21. szám
HIS Press Service No.21, October 1981 Page 3 After the peace treaty at Trianon in 1920, only a small section of the Greek Catholic dioceses of Eperjes and Munkács still existed within the borders of Hungary. This area became an apostolic exarchate in 1923, with Miskolc as its ecclesiastical see. The exarchate has 35 churches and chapels spread out among approximately 25 church communities and their affiliated mission parishes. 30 priests care for the exarchate's ca. 35,000 Hungarian-speaking Greek Catholics. The exarchate has been under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Hajdudorog since 1960. According to statistics issued in 1980, the Diocese of Hajdudorog presently has ca. 150 parishes in which 146 priests care for about 300,000 faithful. The Effect of the Council Renewal The resolutions adopted by Vatican II had a significant effect upon Church life in the Diocese of Hajdudorog. Their importance was summarized by Diocesan Bishop Imre Tirnko who said that, "based on the new and genuine concept of unity and the actual praxis resulting therefrom, the Council resolutions seek to effectively maintain the uniqueness of the Greek Christians. The resolutions do away with motives that support a process of assimilation and dissolution. They enable the Christian Eastern rite faith community, within the fellowship of the Catholic Church, to become the conscious heir and bearer of values which were already inherent to the Eastern rite at the time of its union with the Roman Catholic Church." (Keleti kereszténység, keleti egyházak. Budapest 1971). This aim is also supported by the Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches which contains a provision stating that "like those of the West, the Churches of the East have both the full right, and also the duty, to govern themselves according to their proper and individual procedures which are sanctioned by a rich tradition, harmonize better with the customs of the faithful, and are seen as likely to foster the good of souls." (No. 5) The document goes on to state that "all Eastern rite members should know and be convinced that they can and should always preserve their lawful liturgical rites and traditional ways.... If they have improperly abandoned their traditional Eastern practices due to temporal or personal circumstances, let them endeavor to return to the traditions of their predecessors." (No. 6) These provisions have also freed the Greek Catholic clergy from the pressure of being in a position where they were apparently able to demonstrate their equality with Roman rite priests only through imitating or adopting the life style and external forms of the Roman Catholic priesthood. Through the encouragement and increased sense of self-value given them by the Council decisions, the priests of the Hajdudorog Diocese are turning more and more - both in clothing and in
