Parishes 164 Phone +421 51/773 14 81 Auxiliary bishop Milan Lach | Ecclesiastical province Prešov Population- Catholics (as of 2012)123,700 | |
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Cathedral Temple of St. John the Baptist | ||
The Slovak (Greek) Catholic Archeparchy of Prešov (Latin: Archieparchia Presoviensis, until 2008 Eparchy of Prešov) is the Metropolitan archeparchy (Eastern Catholic Archdiocese) of the Byzantine Rite Slovak Greek Catholic Church which covers the territory of the Prešov Region.
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As of 2004 it had 136,593 Greek Catholic faithful. and its seat is in Prešov, where it has the cathedral see Greckokatolícka katedrálny chrám sv. Jána Krstiteľa; it also has a minor basilica Farský chrám Nanebovzatia Presvätej Bohorodičky, bazilika minor, in Ľutina. Current archeparch is the Jesuit Ján Babjak.
It has two suffragan dioceses : Eparchy of Košice and Eparchy of Bratislava.
History
The eparchy was erected on 22 September 1818 from the territory of the Eparchy of Mukachevo.
Still in the Habsburg imperial age, on 1912.06.08 it lost its Hungarian territory to establish the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hajdúdorog (meanwhile the Hungarian Catholic Archeparchy).
In July 1995, it enjoyed a papal visit by John Paul II. On 18 January 1996 the eparchy lost its Czech territory to the newly established Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church's Apostolic Exarchate in the Czech Republic. On 17 January 1997, an apostolic exarchate of Košice (today Eparchy of Košice) was created, again split from its former territory.
The last changes occurred on 30 January 2008, when the Eparchy of Bratislava was erected, to which Prešov lost territory of western and central Slovakia. At the same time it was elevated into a Metropolitan archeparchy sui juris.