CHANGES IN THE RELIGIOUS STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION ON THE TERRITORY OF PRESENT TRANSCARPATHIA IN 1851–1941: MAIN REASONS AND TENDENCIES

Abstract

In the present study we attempted to determine the religious structure of the population that has lived on the territory that is now known as Transcarpathia between 1851 and 1941, based on the data from several sources: the book by Elek Fényes “Geographic Dictionary of Hungary” published in 1851, statistic brochure entitled “Data on Religions of the 1869 Census” reviewed and edited by László Sebők in 2005 as well as data from subsequent Hungarian censuses, issued by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office in 2000, edited by József Kepecs. According to the results of our research, we can state that throughout the last 170 years the prevalent religious community of the region was that of the Greek Catholics’, who have predominantly lived in the mountainous territories of Transcarpathia. Though, during the period of examination their proportion was constantly diminishing, substantially due to the so called Schismatic Peasant Movement which meant the return of the local Rusyn-Ukrainian population from Greek Catholicism to their original religion, Orthodoxy. Beside the Rusyn-Ukrainians, a minor part of Hungarians and Romanians of Transcarpathia have also identified and keep identifying themselves as Greek Catholics. An important role in the religious composition was also played by the representatives of Calvinism (the so called “Hungarian religion”, as the vast majority of its believers are ethnic Hungarians), Roman Catholicism, Judaism and Orthodoxy.