Delegation of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church visits Ukraine
The official delegation of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church visited Ukraine last week in preparation for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Eparchy of Hajdúdorog be held in 2012. The delegation included two bishops, in particular the head of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church Fülöp Kocsis, as well as priests with their families.
After visiting Lviv and Univ, representatives of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church went to Kyiv, where on July 15 they visited the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC).
Bishop Bohdan Dziurakh, secretary of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, accompanied the guests and told them about the history of the UGCC.
According to the UGCC website, the guests were particularly interested in the history of the church’s persecution in the last century, including the exploits of Father Omelyan Kovch, who is the patron of pastors of the UGCC.
“The bishops from Hungary invited us to participate in anniversary celebrations next year, and I, in turn, invited them to the consecration of the Patriarchal Cathedral, scheduled for 2013. We must remember that the church in Hungary is the sister of our church, and so our relations are extremely important for us,” said Bishop Dziurakh.
The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church is made up of the Eparchy of Hajdúdorog (established in June 8, 1912), which is part of the Esztergom-Budapest Metropolitanate and the Apostolic Exarchate of Miskolc. Services in all parishes are held in Hungarian. There is a theological seminary in Nyíregyháza. According to the Annuario Pontificio, as of 2007 the Eparchy of Hajdúdorog consisted of 146 parishes, 227 priests and about 270,000 believers; in the Exarchate of Miskolc 30 parishes, 38 priests and about 20,000 faithful. Thus the total number of parishioners was about 290,000 people. On May 2, 2008, Fülöp Kocsis was elected head of the church.
