Ruthenian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Czech Republic

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (August 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Apostolic Exarchate of Czech Republic Exarchatus Apostolicus Reipublicae Cechae Apoštolský exarchát v České republice
Coat of arms
Location
Country	Czech Republic
Metropolitan	Immediately Subject to the Holy See
Population - Catholics (including non-members)	(as of 2013) 17,000
Information
Sui iuris church	Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church
Rite	Byzantine Rite
Established	18 January 1996
Cathedral	St. Clement's Cathedral, Prague
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Ladislav Hučko
Website
www.exarchat.cz

The Ruthenian (Greek) Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of the Czech Republic, also known as the Apostolic Exarchate in the Czech Republic, is an Eastern Catholic institution overseeing Catholics of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. It uses the localized Byzantine Rite in archaic Slavonic language and is based in the Czech Republic.

Its cathedral episcopal see is St. Clement's Cathedral, Prague.

History[]

On March 13, 1996, Pope John Paul II proclaimed a new Apostolic Exarchate (exempt pre-diocese) for Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite in the Czech Republic under the rule of the Apostolic See. The church was built on territory previously covered by the Byzantine Rite, the Slovak Catholic Metropolitanate sui juris of Prešov.

The Apostolic Exarchate provides a legal organization for Catholics of the Ruthenian Church living in the Czech Republic. The head of the church is a bishop, who has the same rights as a diocesan bishop. An exarchate is the initial stage of an eparchy (the equivalent of a diocese in the Latin rites), which is exempt, i.e. not part of any ecclesiastical province but directly subject to the Holy See. It is supervised by the Roman Congregation for the Eastern Churches, a Roman Curia dicastery acting on behalf of the Pope.

Statistics[]

According to the 2011 census there were 9,927 Byzantine Catholics in the Czech Republic.^[1] In July 2016 according to the Statistics from the Annuario Pontificio 2016 compiled by Ron Roberson there is a combined Byzantine or Constantinopolitan Tradition (“Greek Catholic”) count of 7,677,373 for which the Ruthenian Apostolic Exarchate in the Czech Republic in Prague makes up 17,000 of.^[2] Currently there are 20 parishes and 12 chapels organized into seven deaneries and served by 25 priests.

Apostolic Exarchs[]

The following is a list of the hierarchs of the Apostolic Exarchate and their terms of service:

• 1. Ivan Ljavinec, Titular Bishop of Acalissus (January 18, 1996 – April 23, 2003)^[3][4]
• 2. Ladislav Hučko, Titular Bishop of Horæa (April 24, 2003 – ), also Secretary General of Czech Bishops’ Conference (2005 – 2011.07.01)^[3][4]
  • Ján Eugen Kočiš, Auxiliary Bishop, Titular Bishop of Abrittum (April 24, 2004 – October 7, 2006)^[3][4]

See also[]

• List of Catholic dioceses (structured view)
• Ruthenian Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the Ruthenian Catholic's only province, in Northern America

References[]

Sources and external links[]

• GigaCatholic.org, with incumbent biography links
• Apoštolský exarchát řeckokatolické církve v České republice (Czech language)
• Profile at catholic-hierarchy.org

This article about an Eastern Catholic diocese is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t