Horvat, Irina Liuba: Icoane din colecţia Muzeului Judeţean Satu Mare (Satu Mare, 2014)
Introduction
Augustin Bunea "The revolution of Sophronie monk and Tunsu priest"102 was facilitated by the publishment of tolerance decree of Maria Theresa of July 13, 1739 recognizing the Orthodox communities existing in Transylvania and their right to be leaded by a bishop but also seven year war, started in 1756 where Russia became the factor of power in Europe and began to defend the Orthodox peoples on the continent103. It is undeniable that in less than two years the fate of religious union was on a difficult test both in Transylvania and northern Hungary. According to Aulic Commission data in charged with the census of the two religions in Transylvania in 1761, the situation was clear to the detriment of Greek Catholic religion, after more than 50 years had been favorable yet. We will publish the data of Commission only for Satmar and Maramureş because they played an important role in propagating Orthodoxy in the Diocese of Mukachevo. The county of Crasna was made of only one united family, there was no united church in 2524, but there were instead orthodox families who owned 44 churches. The district of Chioar there were 892 united families and 2930 Orthodox families. The unites ones had 26 churches and the the Orthodoxs 40. In the County of Solnocu de Mijloc there 424 united families and 5606 not united families. The United ones had 13 churches and the Orthodox had 96 churches. The best situation was for the United ones in Military District of Năsăud, on the border with Maramureş where they had 27 families in 2033 and 27 churches and the Orthodox ones only 745 families with 7 churches. The few data will help us better understand the situation in Satu Mare County which was under the undeniable influence of what is happening in Transylvania, as expressed by Count Pálffy, Chancellor of Empire "malo exemplo Transylvanorum ...l,1°4 or as it was writen on April 17, 1761 "... in ingrate moliminium per valachos Praesbyteros in Transylvania excitatorum, ac jam in Hunga<ria >m etiam penetrantium”105. The bishop Michael Olsavszky found out about all these important actions that have been going on in the months November-December 1760 as evidenced by his correspondence with Satu Mare County authorities.106 To these authorities, and especially to the Count Antal Károlyi, a devoted Catholic, are mostly responsible the saving religious in the county of Satu Mare in 1760 - 1761. Very decisive action had been taken against all those who were stirred against the union: imprisonment punishment, armed forces intervention of the county where the situation demanded, blocking borders in Transylvania with Committee armed forces that had the objective to stop the departure or arrival of agitators etc. There are some very important documents which prove that tendency of Satu Mare villages to convert to orthodoxy was much bigger than what was known before107. The first question we try to answer using the correspondence of the bishop is the one about the date when the bishop arrived in Satu 102Augustin Bunea, Episcopii Petru Paul Aron şi Dionisiu Novacovici sau Istoria românilor transilvăneni de la 1751 până la 1764, Blaj, 1902, p. 171. 103N. lorga, Sate şi preoţi din Ardeal, Bucureşti, 1902, p. 252. ,04M. Lucskay, op.cit, 17, p. 86. 105State Archives of Transcarpathian Region, fond 151, opis 1, dos. 1687, f.1. 106Ovidiu Ghitta, Naşterea unei biserici. Biserica Greco-catolică din Sătmar în primul ei secol de existenţă (1667-1761), Cluj Napoca, 2001, p. 302-311. 07A. Petrov, Materiali dlia istorii Ugorokoi Ruşi, I, Sankt Peterburg, 1905, p. 26-73 (82 documents related to the action of Sofronie, defined "Valachorum Ruthenorum tumultus”; ibidem, 1906, p. 59-62; Silviu Dragomir, Istoria desrobirei religioase a Românilor din Ardeal în secolul XVIII, voi. I-II, Sibiu, 1920 (entitled the chapter XII of voi. II "Tumultus Valahorum in Satu Mare and Hungarian areas”) and recently Ovidiu Ghitta, Naşterea..., p. 302-351, (’’These Romanians...ungrateful." The action of Sofronie in the district of Satu Mare). 25
