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    STUDIA THEOLOGIA%20CATHOLICA - Issue no. 3 / 2008  
         
  Article:   ECUMENICAL OPENNESS IN 19TH AUSTRIA. A SPECIAL IMPACT ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMUNITIES OF BYZANTINE TRADITION IN THE HAPSBURG MONARCHY / ÖKUMENISCHE OFFENHEIT IM ÖSTERREICH DES 20. JAHRHUNDERTS: EINE AUSWIRKUNG INSBESONDERE DER KIRCHENGEMEINDEN VON BYZANTINISCHER TRADITION IN DER HABSBURGERMONARCHIE.

Authors:  ERNST CHRISTOPH SUTTNER.
 
       
         
  Abstract:  Ecumenical openness in 19th Austria. A special impact on the ecclesiastical communities of Byzantine tradition in the Hapsburg monarchy. In the last quarter of the 20th century Austria was characterized (in comparison to other European states) by a climate of cooperation between the (dominant) Catholic Church and several other confessions. At the origin of this climate stood and stands the Hapsburg heritage. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, within the Hapsburg monarchy several ethnic groups (Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Serbians, Romanians, Saxons) and numerous national Churches were living together, some even having more than one language (e. g. the Orthodox Church of the Ukrainians, Slovaks, Czechs, Serbs etc.). The Austrian emperors led (especially since Joseph II) a tolerant confessional policy. This occurred after the expansion, since 1683, of the Austrian state towards the East and South-East, almost totally expelling the Turks from Europe. In the first phase of the reorganization of the conquered territories, the religious policy was generally pro-Catholic. The Orthodox Metropolitan however, received already in 1690 imperial privileges and the jurisdiction over all Orthodox communities in the Empire. At the same time, the emperors promoted the union of some of the Orthodox communities with the Roman Church, with the purpose of strengthening Catholicism. The main promoter of this policy was the emperor Leopold I. The union with the Roman Church was achieved in several phases (the Armenians, the Romanians, the Slovaks, the Hungarians, the Slovenians). In 1773 the empress Maria Theresia launched the name of “Greek-Catholic” and organized for the Uniates teaching institutions, publishing houses etc. Her son gave a tolerance edict, which assured the national structures for these Churches. In 1843 negotiations began between the Austrian Empire and the Holy See for the signing of a Concordate, which assured (after 1853) a better situation for the Uniate and later also for the Orthodox bishoprics.

Keywords: Danube monarchy, church politics, ecumenism, tolerance Denominational, Catholic Church, union with the Roman Church, Hapsburg heritage.

Schlüsselwörter: Donaumonarchie, Kirchenpolitik, Ökumenismus, Konfessionelle Toleranz, Katholische Kirche, Kirchenunion, Habsburgisches Erbe.
 
         
     
         
         
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