Sunday 27 June 2010

Funny old world

A Slovakian parishioner this evening told me that in Slovakia, Lutherans are known as Evangelicals—fair enough. The Orthodox, however, are known as 'Protestants'.
Funny old world.
(see the comment box, though)

1 comment:

Bryan said...

Your Slovak friend is joking**. The Orthodox are called Pravoslavne (Right glorying).

Eg here:

http://sacrumimperium.blogspot.com/2007/06/pravoslvne-trampoty-so-solovjovom.html

There is a list of Protestant churches which exist in Slovakia here:

http://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantizmus


Evanjelická cirkev augsburského vyznania (ECAV)
Reformovaná kresťanská cirkev (RKC)
Apoštolská cirkev na Slovensku (ACS)
Bratská jednota baptistov (BJB)
Cirkev bratská (CB)
Evanjelická cirkev metodistická (ECM)
Cirkev adventistov siedmeho dňa (CASD)
Kresťanské misijné centrum Oáza Viery

** Slovaks like puns.

In caritate Xp.,

Bryan

PS: In Presov, a City in the East of Slovakia there is a Greek-Catholic Bishop (*Uniate), an Orthodox Bishop and an Evangelical Pretender Bishop.

Many left Slovaks left the Orthodox Church to return to the Greek Catholic Church after 1989. The Greek Catholic Church was heavily repressed in Czechoslovakia in the 1950's and 1960's and all of its Churches were given to the Orthodox Church. Come Dubcek and 1968 the Greek Catholic Church was no longer a proscribed organisation and was allowed to function again. This is one of the only Prague Spring reforms to have survived Normalizacie (Normalisation - ie the reimposition of Stalinism after the Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia.

There is a good account here in the Vatican's Hagiography of the Blessed Vasil Hopko, Aux Bishop of Presov +1976.

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20030914_hopko_en.html

The old joke about life for the Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia in the 1950's was it's not Hell but a lot like Purgatory!

[sorry gone on a bit]

Any responses from your Slovak friend will find me at:

itemissa @ hotmail.com