Kristian Shalenyk
Master’s student,
Faculty of History,
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv,
Kyiv, Ukraine
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0484-6613
DOI: 10.17721/2522-4611.2025.51.10
RELATIONS OF THE GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH IN TRANSCARPATHIA
WITH REGIONAL AND LOCAL SOVIET AUTHORITIES IN 1944-1949
This article examines the issue of the relationship between the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Eparchy and the regional and local Soviet authorities during the post-war Sovietization of Transcarpathia and the gradual liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church in the years 1944-1949.Throughout this chronological period, we observe a certain evolution in the relations between representatives of the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Eparchy (MGCE) and the regional and higher bodies of Soviet authority. In the initial stage of the Sovietization of Transcarpathia, government officials perceived the Greek Catholic Church as a "moderately neutral" institution in relation to the Soviet Union and sought to use it for the further legitimization of the "reunification of Transcarpathian Ukraine with Soviet Ukraine." However, the leadership of the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Eparchy tried to avoid this, using its connections with the Soviet authorities to resolve its own problems. Later, the higher Soviet authorities, along with the regional leadership, adopted a course aimed at restricting the activities of the Greek Catholic Church and ultimately liquidating it. The implementation of this policy was initially entrusted to the Commissioner for Religious Affairs, P. Lintur, who acted based on his own Russophile views and a favorable attitude toward Orthodoxy. However, while the higher and regional authorities supported the policy of liquidating the Greek Catholic Church, the situation at the local level was different. Some representatives of local authorities had certain sympathies for Greek Catholic communities. As a result, in many districts of Transcarpathia, there were instances where local committees returned property and churches to Greek Catholic communities, confiscated property from Orthodox communities, or simply sabotaged the decisions of regional authorities regarding the transfer of churches to Orthodox believers. Although regional authorities viewed this phenomenon very negatively, such cases continued to be observed until 1948-1949.
Key words: Greek-Catholic Church, Mukachevo Greek-Catholic Eparchy, soviet authorities, Transcarpathian Ukraine, clergy.
Received by the editorial board: 26.03.2025.
REFERENCES
1.Bendas, D. (1998). Diialnist hreko-katolytskykh sviashchenykiv Zakarpattia pid chas represii Tserkvy radianskoiu vladoiu [The activities of Greek Catholic priests in Transcarpathia during the repression of the Church by the Soviet authorities]. Vazhlyvi vikhy v istorii Mukachivskoi hreko-katolytskoi yeparkhii [Important milestones in the history of the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Eparchy]. Dopovidi naukovoho seminaru prysviachenoho 250-richchiu zasnuvannia dukhovnoi seminarii. Uzhhorod, 68-81 [in Ukrainian].
2.(2018). Vzaiemodiia oblasnoho partiino-radianskoho kerivnytstva z represyvnymy orhanamy v period sotsialistychnoi rozbudovy Zakarpattia ta yoho komunizatsii. 1946-1953 rr. [Interaction between the regional party-Soviet leadership and repressive bodies during the period of socialist development and communization of Transcarpathia, 1946–1953]: Zbirnyk arkhivnykh dokumentiv i materialiv. Uzhhorod: Karpaty, 808 [in Ukrainian].
3.Vysitska, T. (2012). Khrystyianstvo na Zakarpatti: dokumentalne doslidzhennia stanovlennia ta rozvytku (XIV-XXI st.) [Christianity in Transcarpathia: A documentary study of its formation and development (14th–21st centuries)]. Uzhhorod: Vydavnytstvo Oleksandra Harkushi, 676 [in Ukrainian].
4. Derzhavnyi arkhiv Zakarpatskoi oblasti [State Archives of Transcarpathia oblast]. (DAZO). F. R-544. Op. 2. Spr. 1. 9 ark. [in Russian].
5. [State Archives of Transcarpathia oblast]. DAZO. F. R-1490. Op. 1. Spr. 15. 22 ark. [in Russian].
6. [State Archives of Transcarpathia oblast]. DAZO. F. R-1490. Op. 1. Spr. 29. 16 ark. [in Russian].
7. Maioroshi, M. A. (2021). Mukachivska yeparkhiia ta Halytska mytropoliia: instytutsiini ta osobystisni vzaiemyny mizh hreko-katolytskymy provintsiiamy ta yikh klirom (1919-1991) [The Eparchy of Mukachevo and the Metropolitanate of Galicia: Institutional and Personal Relations between the Greek Catholic Provinces and Their Clergy (1919–1991)]: dysertatsiia na zdobuttia naukovoho stupenia kandydata istorychnykh nauk. Uzhhorod-Lviv, 274 [in Ukrainian].
8. Mishchanyn, V. (2018). Dopovidni zapysky upovnovazhenoho Rady u spravakh relihiinykh kultiv Petra Lintura pro relihiinu polityku na Zakarpatti (1945-1946) [Reports by Petro Lintur, Commissioner of the Council for Religious Affairs, on religious policy in Transcarpathia (1945–1946)]. Pravoslávie a súčasnosť X. Zborník príspevkov z X. vedeckej konferencie študentov, absolventov a mladých vedeckých pracovníkov Prešov [Orthodoxy and the Present X: Proceedings of the 10th Scientific Conference of Students, Graduates, and Young Researchers], 27 marec, 40-48 [in Ukrainian].
9. Morenets, V. I. (2023). Pershe desiatylittia: Zakarpattia 1944-1954 [The First Decade: Transcarpathia 1944–1954]. Uzhhorod: Istorychnyi klub «Krasne Pole» - FOP Rebryk Andrii Ivanovych, 592 [in Ukrainian].
10. Pahiria O. (2014). Likvidatsiia radianskymy orhanamy derzhavnoi bezpeky hreko-katolytskoi tserkvy u Zakarpatti (1945–1949 rr.) [Annihilation by the Soviet State Security Agencies of the Greek-Catholic Church in Transcarpathia Region in 1945–1949]. Z arkhiviv VUChK–HPU–NKVD–KHB [From the Archives of the VChK–GPU–NKVD–KGB], 2 (43), 469-503 [in Ukrainian].
11. Pekar, A. V. (1967). Narys istorii Tserkvy Zakarpattia. Т. 1: Yerarkhichne oformlennia. Seriia II «Zapysky ChSVV». Rym: Vydavnytstvo OO Vasyliian, 241 [in Ukrainian].
12. Fenych, V. (2006). Hreko-katolyky, pravoslavni i vlada na Zakarpatti (osin 1944 - zyma 1946 rr.) [Greek Catholics, Orthodox, and the Authorities in Transcarpathia (Autumn 1944 – Winter 1946)]. Carpatica - Karpatyka Uzhhorod: Hoverla [Carpatica - Karpatyka Uzhhorod: Hoverla]. Vyp. № 35: Yevropeiski tsinnosti ta konfesiino-natsionalna identychnist naselennia Ukrainskykh Karpat [European Values and Confessional-National Identity of the Population of the Ukrainian Carpathians], 232-246 [in Ukrainian].
13. Fenych, V. (2019). Hreko-katolyky uzhhorodskoi uniinoi tradytsii [Greek Catholics of the Uzhhorod Union tradition]. DVNZ «Uzhhorod. nats. un-t», Nauk.-doslid. tsentr ist.-relih. studii «Lohos». Uzhhorod: Vydavnytstvo V. Padiaka, 248 [in Ukrainian].
14. Tsentralnyi derzhavnyi arkhiv vyshchykh orhaniv vlady ta upravlinnia Ukrainy [The Central State Archive of Higher Authorities and Administration of Ukraine]. F. 4648. Op. 3. Spr. 20. 118 ark. [in Russian].
15. [The Central State Archive of Higher Authorities and Administration of Ukraine]. TsDAVOVU. F. 4648. Op. 3. Spr. 39. 271 ark. [in Russian].
16. [The Central State Archive of Higher Authorities and Administration of Ukraine]. TsDAVOVU. F. 4648. Op. 3. Spr. 53. 210 ark. [in Russian].