of the Documents published in the book
J. V. Timkovic, OSBM,
Rusini na Slovensku
v cirkevnych dokumentoch,
I. diel, Uzhorod, 2006, 638 pp.
In the 1990s the Pope in Rome promulgated for Greek Catholics a new body of canon law entitled the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. In this Code, which is intended for all Catholics of the Eastern rite, the Vatican tried to imitate the structure of present-day autocephalous Orthodox churches and apply it to Greek Catholics. For this reason the Code of Canons replaced the traditional term "Greek Catholic" with new terminology and classifications based on the principle of nationality; in other words, the new term that it introduced, Ecclesia sui iuris (Church of its own law), or particular Church, is effectively not based on principles of religion or faith, but on ethno-national principles: "setting off one people from another" (Matthew 24,7).
Into Roman Catholic practice was now added the concept of a Slovak/Ruthenian/Ukrainian/Hungarian/Bulgarian/Romanian/Greek/Russian etc. Catholic Particular (sui iuris) Church.
In 1995, after seven years of study in Rome, Father Jozafat V. Timkovic returned to Slovakia and began to apply in pastoral practice the new church law as outlined in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. He did this in the naive belief that Vatican legal experts who formulated the Code undertook their work in a positive and neutral manner. In fact, that part of the Code dealing with the new terminology was formulated simply as a clever ploy vis-a-vis the Orthodox world; in other words, it was done as part of the Roman Catholic effort to realize future unity with Orthodoxy (or more precisely to promote Latinization), while at the same time to declare openly its policy toward Greek Catholics (Uniates).
One of the first results of Father Timkovic s activity in Slovakia regarding the new Code of Canons was to publish in 1997 an article, "The Rusyn and Slovak Particular Church," in the Basilian scholarly journal Krasnobrodsky zbornik. The adoption of a new Vatican name for the church was accompanied by discrimination against Rusyn intellectuals, Greek Catholic priests, and the faithful in the matter of their national identity and church rite. This prompted the preparation of six professionally worded inquiries sent to the Roman pope between 1997 and 2005. The Roman Curia ignored these inquiries (i. e., they provided no acknowledgement or response), even though paradoxically the new Code of Canons guarantees the right of each member of the faithful to make an inquiry on any matter to the pope in Rome.
Slovak nationalists, who hold high offices in the Roman Curia (Cardinal T., among others), subsequently noted that the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, formulated in the naive belief that it will help to attract the Orthodox to the idea of Church Union, has had the opposite effect. One result has been to persecute in various ways the Code''s supporters, among them since 1997 Father Timkovic. In response, he has submitted four inquiries to the Pope in accordance with the new Code of Canons. All four of his inquiries were considered canonically appropriate; nevertheless, the Roman Curia has to date provided no response. The various documents in this collection illustrate the current modus operandi of the Roman Curia, which is the following: should any Catholic who opposes the Curia decide to turn to the Holy Father, he can expect to face the following two results:
(1) should he be in the right and recognized as such, then the Roman Curia provides him with no response, yet leaving him at the mercy of the Church authorities;
(2) should he not be in the right, then the Roman Curia within three months informs him that his inquiry is canonically inappropriate and that he must abide by the Curia''s ruling.
The resulting dilemma is irresolvable.
Slovak nationalist forces active in Vatican circles have wanted that Father Timkovic cease his activity of behalf of Rusyns, in particular his work as an advisor to them regarding their rights within the Church. For this reason, on November 17, 2003 it was announced that Father Jozafat Timkovic and his brother Gorazd were excluded from the Basilian Order. The distraught brothers prepared to emigrate from Slovakia to the United States or to Canada, but when they realized this would work to the advantage of anti-Rusyn circles in the Vatican they decided instead not to emigrate. They were subsequently threatened with expulsion from the Basilian Order on several occasions between 2003 and 2005, but these efforts proved unsuccessful.
Father Jozafat Timkovic was forced by the Greek Catholic bishop of Presov to abstain from Rusyn-related activity and, from 1997 to 2003 then again since 2004, he has been deprived of any salary or other financial support, even though the funds in question, while administered by the eparchy, are in fact provided from the state budget of the Slovak Republic.
In the interim a new anti-Rusyn oriented bishop, the Jesuit Jan Babjak, was in 2003 appointed to head the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Presov. With this appointment there has begun an "era of threats" directed not only against the Timkovic brothers themselves, but also against other Greek Catholic members of the Rusyn intelligentsia. This approach to the problem has the full support of the papal nuncio to Slovakia and other leading forces in the Vatican responsible for church matters in Slovakia.
The main object of the Roman Curia in its liquidation of Rusyn Greek Catholic activists in Slovakia is to assure their transfer to the Latin rite. The process follows in footsteps of a centuries-old evolutionary scheme whereby
(2) a Rusyn GREEK CATHOLIC, - then
(3) a SLOVAK Greek Catholic, and finally -
(4) a Slovak ROMAN CATHOLIC.
The transforming of Slovak GREEK CATHOLICS to Slovak ROMAN CATHOLICS is made clear in the beginning of the book through the example of the parish in Trebisov and in the second half of the book through the example of the parish in Cizatice (Kosice district, Eastern Slovakia).
Hence, the curia in Rome at the present is consciously engaged in a process of denationalizing Rusyns in an effort to latinize them fully. Put another way, the Roman Curia is striving to create a pro-Western, Latin-oriented European Union - a European Union without the Byzantine rite. In the end the real danger will be a European Union without faith in God. (This commentary of the published documents was copied from the book Rusini na Slovensku v cirkevnych dokumentoch, I. diel, Uzhorod, 2006, pp. 611-614)
The documentary book you can buy from an editor:
Vydavnictvo Valerija Padyaka,
Ukraine, Uzhorod, 88007, vul. Gagarina 14/3,
http: www.padyak.com E-mail: padyak@mail.uzhgorod.ua
or at the author of the book:
Rev. Jozafat Vladimir Timkovic, OSBM,
Presov, Slovakia,
telephone: 00421-905496778
http: www.oocities.org/timkovic/ E-mail: jvtosbm@yahoo.com
Facts in close relation with published book:
9th May 2007 - A newly printed book, "Rusini na Slovensku v cirkevnych dokumentoch, 1. diel, Uzhorod, 2006, 638 pp." was mailed to the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, and all 19 Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs about recent (1997-2005) latinization of Greek-Catholics in Slovakia. Timkovic included a circular letter which accompanied this book and received three "thanksgivings and blessings letters," to date, from Orthodox Patriarchs (His Beatitude Pavle - Patriarch of Serbia, His Beatitude Krystof - Metropolit of Czech Lands and Slovakia, and His Beatitude Sawa - Metropolit of Poland, CLICK HERE).
1st June 2007 - Prefect of Eastern Congregation in Vatican, Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, was retired from his high office "for reasons of age" and Pope Benedict XVI personally visited the Eastern Congregation. An additional possible reason for the retirement in the Congregation was the book, titled, "Rusini na Slovensku v cirkevnych dokumentoch," and a copy of the letter of Cardinal Daoud, from 4th March 2006, acknowledging the Timkovic book which Pope received in his hands with book in May 2007 (click here). Published book "Rusini na Slovensku v cirkevnych dokumentoch" is filled with scandalous documents of various members of the hierarchy.