The Circulars of András Bacsinszky, Bishop of Munkács (1732-1772-1809) Belonging to the Period of Maria Therese

Abstract

The ideas of enlightenment spread in various ways to the Rusyn intelligentsia the majority of whom consisted of priests. The higher clergy of the Greek Catholic Church became acquainted with the ideas of enlightenment in Vienna as they were frequent visitors to the capital. The lower clergy had only indirect access to these enlightened ideas. As the investigations show they could read about them in the church circulars where the bishop explained to them the orders issued by the Office of the Governor General. The greatest representative of the Rusyn enlightenment is bishop Andras Bacsinszky, consecrated during the reign of Maria Therese. For Bacsinszky it was clear that the legal and economic emancipation of the Rusyn clergy would have been impossible if not for the open-handed policy of the empress. Although he gives no exact historical data and comparison, he emphasised that in the last decades the leaders of the Rusyn nation, the Rusyn clergy, formerly in such a miserable situation, had acquired equal ...