Eastern Orthodoxy in Hungary

Eastern Orthodoxy in Hungary (Hungarian: Keleti ortodoxia) refers to communities, institutions and organizations of the Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Hungary. Historically, Eastern Orthodoxy was an important denomination in the medieval and early modern Kingdom of Hungary. In modern times, Eastern Orthodoxy is mainly the religion of some ethnic minorities. In the 2001 national census, only 15,928 persons declared themselves Orthodox Christians (0.21% of the people with declared religious affiliation and 0.15% of the whole population). Estimates in 2020 suggested that 1.54% of the population was Orthodox.

History

Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Szentendre, seat of the Eparchy of Buda

Between the middle of the 10th and the beginning of the 13th century, medieval Hungary had occasional political ties with the Byzantine Empire and Kievan Rus'. In the middle of the 10th century, the Patriarchate of Constantinople sent a mission, headed by bishop Hierotheos, to the Principality of Hungary. During medieval period, there was significant presence of Eastern Orthodoxy in some southern and eastern parts of medieval Kingdom of Hungary, mainly by Romanian and Ukrainian minorities.

In 1440, Hungarian king Ladislaus the Posthumous granted special privileges to Eastern Orthodox Christians for the establishment of the Serbian Kovin Monastery. In 1481 and 1495, during the times of Turkish invasions, Hungarian kings Matthias Corvinus and Vladislaus II have granted special privileges to Eastern Orthodox Christians in order to secure demographic recovery and improve the defenses of southern frontiers.

Historically, from the late Middle Ages up to the beginning of the 20th century, the territory of Hungary has been the exclusive jurisdiction of Serbian Orthodox Church through the Eparchy of Buda, created in the 16th century. Its seat located in the town of Szentendre, near Budapest.

Now there are other jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church also active in Hungary.

The Russian Orthodox Church has the Diocese of Budapest and Hungary headed by metropolitan Nestor Sirotenko whose see is in Budapest. The diocese has eleven parishes, with 14 priests and 3 deacons.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople also maintains a presence in Hungary. The Hungarian Exarchate is part of the Metropolis of Vienna of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. They have seven parishes in the country.

The Romanian Orthodox Church has the Diocese of Gyula headed by Siluan Mănuilă, whose see is in Gyula.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has two parishes in Hungary, in Budapest and Pécs, with one priest. Both parishes are under the authority of the Bulgarian Orthodox Eparchy for Central and Western Europe.

See also

• Religion in Hungary
• History of Christianity in Hungary
• Metropolitanate of Tourkia
• Union of Uzhhorod
• Metropolitanate of Karlovci
• Catholic Church in Hungary

Literature

• Baán, István (1997). "The Foundation of the Archbishopric of Kalocsa: The Byzantine Origin of the Second Archdiocese in Hungary". Early Christianity in Central and East Europe. Warszawa: Semper. pp. 67–74. ISBN 9788386951338.
• Baán, István (1999). "The Metropolitanate of Tourkia: The Organization of the Byzantine Church in Hungary in the Middle Ages". Byzanz und Ostmitteleuropa 950-1453. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 45–53. ISBN 9783447041461.
• Berend, Nora; Urbańczyk, Przemysław; Wiszewski, Przemysław (2013). Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary and Poland, c. 900-c. 1300. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521781565.
• Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 9781405142915.
• Curta, Florin (2006). Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81539-0.
• Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate: A History of Its Metropolitanates with Annotated Hierarch Catalogs. Wildside Press LLC. ISBN 9781434458766.
• Koszta, László (2014). "Byzantine Archiepiscopal Ecclesiastical System in Hungary?". The Carpathian Basin, the Hungarians and Byzantium. Szeged: Szegedi Tudományegyetem. pp. 127–143.
• Madgearu, Alexandru (2008). "The Mission of Hierotheos: Location and Significance". Byzantinoslavica. 66: 119–138.
• Madgearu, Alexandru (2017). "Further Considerations on Hierotheos' Mission to the Magyars". Acta Musei Napocensis. 54 (2): 1–16.
• Nesbitt, John; Oikonomides, Nicolas, eds. (1991). Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. ISBN 0-88402-194-7.
• Éva Révész, Régészeti és történeti adatok a kora árpád-kori bizánci-bolgár-magyar egyházi kapcsolatokhoz, Doktori értekezés, Szeged 2011.
• Sotirović, Vladislav B. (2011). "The Serbian Patriarchate of Peć in the Ottoman Empire: The First Phase (1557–94)". 25 (2): 143–169. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Stephenson, Paul (2000). Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900-1204. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521770170.
• Stojkovski, Boris (2016). "The Greek Charter of the Hungarian King Stephen I". Зборник радова Византолошког института. 53: 127–140.
• Véghseő, Tamás (2015). "Reflections on the Background to the Union of Uzhhorod / Ungvár (1646)" (PDF). Eastern Theological Journal. 1 (1): 147–181.

External links

• Budapest and Hungarian Eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church
• Romanian Orthodox Eparchy of Hungary
• Hungarian Exarchate