Ordinariate for Byzantine-rite Catholics in Austria


The [Russian Greek Catholic Church|]Ordinariate for Byzantine-rite Catholics in Austria is a Catholic Ordinariate for Eastern Catholic faithful, jointly for all Eastern Catholics of Byzantine Rite in the various languages of particular churches sui iuris in Austria.
It is exempt, i.e. immediately subject to the Holy See and its Roman Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

History

The Greek Catholic Churches were present in the Austrian Empire since November 21, 1611 when the Serbian Orthodox Bishop Simeon Vratanja of Marča traveled to Rome and formally accepted the jurisdiction of the pope over his bishopric, which eventually became the Eparchy of Križevci in 1777. As a result of the incorporation of Ukrainian territories into the Empire, in 1783 the first Ukrainian Greek-Catholic parish of St. Barbara in Vienna, approved by Emperor Joseph II of Austria, was founded.
With the Republic of Austria, the 1933 Holy See's Concordat was the legal basis.
In the course of the Cold War, when the Eastern Churches were in distress, in 1956 the Ordinariat was established as a diocese of the Austrian faithful. It is exempt, directly subordinate to the Holy See, and is personally headed by the Archbishop of Vienna. Until the 1980s, several other missions were created next to St. Barbara.
On December 12, 1935 a decree of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches decided that the parish of Santa Barbara in Vienna was transferred from the archieparchy of Lviv to the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Vienna in a personal capacity as apostolic delegate, meaning that it was not included in the archdiocese of Vienna. The same decree arranged that all the Byzantine Catholic faithful of Austria should pass into the personal jurisdiction of the archbishop: In erga fideles rite commorantes Byzantini fines intra Reipublicae Austriacae.
Another decree of October 3, 1945, decided to extend the jurisdiction of the archbishop and on November 1, 1945 he was appointed vicar general of the Byzantine Catholics in Austria.
The ordinariate was established on 13 June 1956, on territory previously only served pastorally by the Latin church. It is vested in the Archbishop of Vienna, once capital of the Habsburg Monarchy, which included many of the present Eastern 'Greek' Catholic communities.

Territory and statistics

The diocese extends to all the faithful who live in Austria and belong to the Byzantine rite. Its episcopal see is the St. Barbara church, in Vienna, capital of Austria.
There are larger Ukrainian and Romanian communities and smaller Melkite, Byzantine groups of Italo-Albanians, Ruthenians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Slovaks and Hungarians.
The ordinary is regularly the archbishop of Vienna, who entrusts his administration to a vicar general protosyncellus based in Vienna, who since 2014 is Yurij Kolasa. The Romanian Mission has a rector, Vasile Lutai.
As per 2016, it pastorally served 10,000 Catholics in 1 parish and 8 missions.

Parish and chapels

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic
central parish is in the church of Santa Barbara in Vienna, which is the only parish of the Ordinariate, together with three other Byzantine chapels in Lower Austria.
Except in Vienna are currently Ukrainian Greek Catholic chapels in Salzburg Innsbruck Graz and Linz.
The first congregation in present-day Austria was founded in Vienna in 1783, when Galicia and Lodomeria became part of the Habsburg monarchy during the Polish partition and Ukrainians, also called Ruthenians increasingly came to the capital of the empire. As early as 1773, Maria Theresa had handed over the repealed Viennese Jesuit convent as barbarous to the Greek Catholic.
After the end of the Second World War, the number of Ukrainian Greek Catholic faithful in Austria increased again significantly. The newcomers mostly migrated to North America and Australia. In the 1990s, Ukrainian Catholic war refugees from Bosnia Herzegovina, mostly from the Republika Srpska, fled to Austria, and more emigrations from Ukraine and Poland took place, which in turn increased the number of believers.

Romanian Greek Catholic Church

The Romanian Greek Catholic
mission is based in the Saint Roch Chapel in Vienna also using the church of St. George in Kagran. Other communities exist in Graz, Linz, Murau and Wiener Neustadt.
There was also a community in Salzburg, which was dissolved in the 1950s.

Melkite Greek Catholic Church

The Melkite Greek Catholic community is based at Saint Jacob in Vienna.

German-speaking Catholic Byzantine communities

There are also German-speaking Catholic Byzantine communities that meet in the church of Santa Barbara in Vienna and in Salzburg.
In the decade of 1950 a small
Russian Byzantine Catholic community existed in Salzburg, but it disappeared after the death of its priest.

List of parishes with churches, chapels and pastoral offices

Parish/Other organizationSeatByzantine Catholic ChurchSincePatronageChurches, chapels and pastoral centers
Saint Barbara ChurchInnere Stadt, ViennaUkrainian Greek Catholic Church1783Saint Barbara Parish: Saint Barbara Church
Chapels: Castle Chapel,
Gaming Charterhouse
Geras Abbey
Other Greek Catholic pastoral and student care: International Theological Institute, Trumau,
Social Medical Center East - Donauspital
Ukrainian community in SalzburgSalzburgUkrainian Greek Catholic Church1970sSaint Mark Church: Saint Mark
Pastoral center: Byzantine Prayer Center
Ukrainian community in InnsbruckInnsbruckUkrainian Greek Catholic Church1970sSaint Olga and Saint Vladimir Chapel of Saints Vladimir and Olga in Collegium Canisianum
Ukrainian community in LinzLinzUkrainian Greek Catholic Church1970sChurch: Carmelite Church
Ukrainian community in GrazGrazUkrainian Greek Catholic Church1970sChurch:Mary Help of Christians Church
Romanian community in ViennaPenzing, ViennaRomanian Greek Catholic Church1970sChapel: Saint Roch
Pastoral centers:Geriatric Center Baumgarten, Hanusch Hospital and Social Medical Center East - Donauspital
Romanian community in GrazEggenberg, GrazRomanian Greek Catholic Church1980sJohn the Evangelist Church:Fourteen Holy Helpers Church
Pastoral care: Hospital of the Brothers of Charity
Melkite community in ViennaHeiligenstadt, ViennaMelkite Greek Catholic Church1970sSaint James Church
German-speaking Catholic Byzantine communityInnere Stadt, Vienna1980sChurch: Saint Barbara
Pastoral care for Hungarian and Ruthenian Greek Catholics

Episcopal ordinaries

;Ordinaries of Austria of Eastern Rite