A Concise History of the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia Following the Fall of the Communist Regime Historical and Social Excursus in the Years 1989 - 2002

The very first positive and largely significant event for the Greek Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia after the fall of the communist regime [1] was the filling of an empty episcopal seat in Presov that been vacant since the death of Bishop Pavol Peter Gojdic in 1960. On 21 December 1989, one month after the events of November 17, the then Ordinary of the Greek Catholic Church, Mons. Jan Hirka, was appointed the seventh residential Bishop of Presov with an authority over the whole territory of Czechoslovakia (1989 2002) [2]. On February 17, 1990, Mons. Hirka received his episcopal consecration from His Eminence Mons. Jozef Cardinal Tomka, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The other two co-consecrators were Bishop Michal Rusnak from Toronto and Bishop Slavomír Miklovs from the Croatian Eparchy of Krizevec. The ceremonial episcopal chirotonia (consecration) took place in the Town Sport Hall in Presov in the presence of bishops from all over the world, regional priests and the believers. Two archbishops and eleven bishops represented the Greek Catholic Church. Two Roman Catholic cardinals, one archbishop and five bishops from abroad were also present. Czechoslovak Episcopacy was represented by two archbishops and eight bishops [3]. The ceremonial enthronization of the new residential Greek Catholic Bishop Hirka was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Presov on the following day, on Sunday, February 18, 1990 [4].


Bishop Hirka's Demands on Behalf of the Greek Catholic Church
Shortly after being appointed to his office, Jan Hirka had to face many challenges. The major challenge was to accomplish a full rehabilitation of the Greek Catholic Church. The most important task proved to be the return of the Greek Catholic episcopal residence (in the nation-wide restitution of property), numerous parish churches and the the Church's seminary and theological faculty. On December 12, 1989, prior to his appointment as a bishop, Jan Hirka formulated the demands of the Greek Catholic Church from the state published in the magazine Slovo. The demands were as follows:  [7].
The Orthodox Church left the bishop's residence in a very poor condition. All rooms were empty for all the furniture had been taken away. All that was left were doorframes and door sills. The electrical installation and power distribution were destroyed, so were all sanitary facilities [7]. All power switches and light fittings were also removed. A valuable crystal chandelier lay on the floor in one of the rooms. When the editor of Slobodny piatok asked the Orthodox Archbishop to take his stand on this situation he replied: "I came to the eparchy in 1965 [5].
Since 1990, the Greek Catholic Church has managed to retrieve its residence in Presov and almost all of its churches and parish buildings. Although these buildings were returned in rather poor condition, the enthusiasm, effort and devotion of the people and the clergy led by the Ordinary Jan Hirka greatly contributed to the reconstruction of all churches and parish buildings.

The Tedious Process of Reclaiming and Renewing the Church's Property
The Bishop's Residence The return of the bishop's residence was a result of a process involving handing over the church properties from the Orthodox Christians to the Greek Catholics agreed upon by the representatives of the Slovak government, the Eastern Slovak Regional National Committee (KNV) in Kosice, the District National Committee (ONV) in Presov and the representatives of both Churches involved. The act of returning the bishop's residence to the hands of the Greek Catholics was rather "interesting". It began on April 10,1990. The representatives of the Orthodox Church surrendered the residence to the Committee of State Administration led by the head of the the Greek Catholic Theology was established (Art 1, § 1, sec. 4) and, at the same time, incorporated into the University of Pavol Jozef Safarik v Kosice (The University of Pavol Jozef Safarik comprised three faculties: Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Natural Science, Faculty of Law /all three in Kosice/ and Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Pedagogy, The Greek Catholic Theological Faculty and the Orthodox Theological Faculty /all four in Presov/) [12]. Since the original building of the Theological Academy and the Priest Seminary had already been demolished, the Greek Catholic Church wanted to locate these institutions in the building of former orphanage, which was still used by the Orthodox Church. Therefore, the Greek Catholic Church demanded its swift return. However, that was not finalized until August 10,1990.
The MsNV in Presov was trying to find a suitable object for the Faculty of the Orthodox Theology and Seminary and that caused some delays in the whole process. Some suitable objects were eventually found but they were still occupied by several Romany families. That was the reason for yet another delay since the town had to find some alternative accommodation for those families, too [7].

The Beginning of a New Theological Training
Doc. Vladimír Polacek was appointed the first dean of the Faculty of Greek Catholic Theology after its restoration and Vasil Kormanik was appointed the first rector of the Seminary. 43 seminarians were to be transferred to Presov from Bratislava where they had studied at the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology of Cyril and Methodius [13]. However, the building of the Faculty and Seminary was returned in dire condition that required at least basic reconstruction. The new academic year could not commence on time since the necessary reconstruction works had to be carried out. Vasil Kormanik, the rector of the Seminary, assumed responsibility and reconstruction began with a substantial help of the seminarians. The Municipal Building Office in Presov carried out some specialized construction works [14].
The official opening of the academic year 1990/1991 was held on November 3,1990 and was preceded by the holy liturgy at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in the presence of the Bishop of Presov Jan Hirka, the Apostolic Nuncio in the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic Giovanni Coppa, the Bishop of Kosice Alojz Tkac and the rector of Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice prof. Rudolf Korec [13, p. 8].
Initially, the teaching was carried out in the premises of present-day Greek Catholic Seminary (former Greek Catholic orphanage). During the first academic year, the study was made accessible to lay men and women (as the first theological faculty in the territory of former Czechoslovakia; the theological faculties in Prague and Olomouc introduced this option in later years) [15].
switches and light fittings were all there when I left the eparchy at 2 PM." When asked about the chandelier, Imrich Belejkanič, a director of Eparchial Council said: "Our people were carrying away that big chandelier, but when we were told by the appointed person that the chandelier was theirs I ordered our people to return it." The editor asked himself what had happened between 14:00 and 20:00 when the residence was officially taken over from the Committee of the MsNV by theGreek Catholic representatives. He further continued in his own reasoning, posing a rhetorical question: "which new building (note of an author: a new building of the Orthodox Bishop's Office) would this chandelier be a good match for? Why bother dismantling it and damaging the fragile parts of a precious chandelier? ...People leaving this place perhaps did not even realize they were leaving something that did not belong to them. People coming back had tears in their eyes realizing that something was being returned back to them" [7].
The Bishop's residence was not liveable in such condition. A complex reconstruction needed to be carried out. Specialist work was done by a construction company from Presov with the assistance of volunteers from the congregation of believers. The reconstruction process was completed mainly due to a financial support from several foreign foundations. The state contributed only partially [8].
The Faculty and Seminary Building Even more intricate seemed the situation surrounding the Faculty and the Seminary. The Municipal National Committee in Presov started the process of dispossession of a building belonging to the Seminary and the Theological Academy, in favour of the town of Presov, as early as December 1949. However, the premises were still used for teaching and living purposes of the Greek Catholic seminarians until April 1950. In the following years, the building passed through the hands of several owners. For instance, it was owned by the national enterprise Krizik, Masokombinat (Meat processing plant) in Presov and the Czechoslovak Bus Company in Presov [9]. For some time, after its relocation from Prague, the original building of the Greek Catholic Seminary was a seat of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology [10]. which is to provide education in the field of theology not only to candidates for priesthood (seminarians) but also to lay students [24]. The Greek Catholic Theological Faculty in Presov largely contributed to an increase of priests in the Greek Catholic Church after 1989. In 13 years of his bishop's service, Jan Hirka ordained 165 priests [25].  In 1956, after the agreement between the state and the church institutions had come into effect, the state authorities took over the administration of the Archive. As of March 31, 1956, the Regional Administration of the Ministry of Inferior Affairs in Presov took over the Archive of the former Greek Catholic eparchy and a part of the Seminary Archive (the Seminary had its own archive) [26].

The Appointments of Church Dignitaries Following the Year 1992
The Presov Greek Catholic Eparchy extended over the whole territory of Czechoslovakia. Its administration over such a vast territory brought about many difficulties. For that reason, the Holy See appointed Mons. Milan Chautur, CSsR (the then viceprovincial of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in The Faculty offered only one study programme -General Catholic Theology with the enrollment of 82 students in the first academic year [16]. In the second academic year, the Great Chancellor -the residential bishop Jan Hirka -provided the Faculty with additional premises in the Bishop's Palace. In that year, there were 141 students [17]. One year later, in the academic year 1992/1993 the faculty had 272 students [18], so the Bishop Hirka decided to provide additional rooms in another part of the Bishop's Palace which were until 1989 occupied by the Faculty of Pedagogy of Pavol Jozef Safarik University [19]. In the same academic year, the Dean's Office and all administrative, technical and economic departments of the faculty were moved to the same building. These premises have been a home to the Greek Catholic Theological Faculty of Presov University in Presov since. The building of the new faculty was in urgent need of reconstruction which was finally carried out in 1993 -1994 with a financial support of foreign sponsors mainly from Switzerland and Germany, since the financial contribution from the state towards the reconstruction of the (state) faculty was minimal [20]. This reconstruction provided new lecture and administrative rooms, hence allowing admission of more students. Five years after the reconstruction, in the academic year 1995/1996, the faculty had 550 students (130 seminarians and 420 lay students) in the study programme of the General Catholic Theology -Teaching of Religion and Ethics [21]. After the Faculty had moved, the building of the former Greek Catholic orphanage became fully available to the Greek Catholic Priest Seminary. As numbers of seminarians grew, the building no longer met the requirements of a modern seminary. For this reason, it was necessary to divide seminarians into two buildings. Some seminarians were accommodated on the premises of Bishop's Palace and the Faculty of the Greek Catholic Theology and the others in the orphanage building. A general reconstruction of the Seminary started in 1994 and it was completed on the 21 st of November 1996 when the ceremonial consecration took place in the presence of the former Slovak president Michal Kovac. The Seminary bears the name of Blessed Bishop Pavol Peter Gojdic [22]. However, the cause could not be officially opened due to the totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia. Many important sources and materials needed for the process, as well as the most witnesses were in the country [31].

The Theological Faculty Becomes a Part of the University of Presov
Eight years later, on 17 December 1994, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints granted Nihil obstat to the case of Pavol Peter Gojdic and Vasil Hopko [32]. It was the Pope John Paul II who indirectly gave an impulse to continuation, or initiation of the beatification processes at the level of Presov Greek Catholic Eparchy. During his official visit to Presov in 1995 he said: We all remember the dramatic situation in the recent past, when the powers of ideology which are so contrary to human freedom and dignity condemned your religious community to extinction. God, however, removed the mighty from the throne and elevated those who had been humiliated (Luke 1, 52) for they were sympathetic to each other in their love for Christ...The Greek Catholic Church community came out of this trial renewed and strengthened also thanks to the testimony and the blood of many martyrs. The faith of a large number of lay persons, monks, nuns, priests and spiritual pastors is a living testimony of that. Just remember the suffering of Bishop Vasil Hopko and the martyrdom of Bishop Pavol Gojdic. On the brink of the third millennium it is a valuable contribution that your community brings in favour of ecumenism [33].
The Pope remembered the martyrdom of Bishops Pavol Peter Gojdic, OSBM and Jan Vojtassak again during his homily in Marianska Hora in Levoca when he said the following: "Both were imprisoned on the basis of pseudo-trials. Today they deserve the beatification process because they gave a great testimony to a loyal service of Church in Slovakia" [34].

The Papal Visit of 1995 and the Beatification Processes
The greatest event in the history of the Presov Greek Catholic Eparchy was the papal visit of John Paul II on July 2, 1995 [39]. The holy liturgy of thanks was celebrated by the Bishop of Presov Mons. Jan Hirka in the Town Sport Hall in Presov. The Apostolic Nuncio in Slovakia, Archbishop Henryk Jozef Nowacki, was also present. The remains were then carried accross the whole town in the presence of many clergy and believers and placed into a sarcophagus in the Chapel of the Holy Cross in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist [40]. The ceremonial transfer of Bishop Vasil Hopko's relics took place on September 20, 2003. The liturgy was celebrated by the