A History of Central Eastern Europe

The blue field symbolizes the days of yore, as the area has been inhabited since
the earliest times. The color blue refers to the local brooks of Ronyva,
Zsolyomka, Bózsva and the river Bodrog. The crown recalls the historical fact
that Sátoraljaújhely in the past was founded and also owned by the Hungarian
kings, and later still remained a major administrative centre.
The letter on the coat-of-arms is a stylized “U” capital and refers to the name
Új-hely, “New Place.”
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS
COAT-OF-ARMS
In 1646 the Union of Uzgorod (Uzhorod) created a new rite in the Roman Catholic Church: the
Uniate or Greek Catholic rite. To take the 63 Ruthenian Orthodox Catholic churches that wanted
to change allegiance away from the Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Church in
Constantinople, the Vatican had to allow the Eastern Byzantine liturgy and customs (married
priests) to be fully maintained. This tricky move was done with a new rite. Both Roman and
Greek Catholics are under the Vatican. The Vatican says “It is a grave sin to allow priests to
marry” when talking Roman and “Priests can be married” when talking out of the Greek side of
its face.
There was an Augustinian monastery in the early 13 th century but that may be a reference to the
Augustinian church that was built in nearby NAGY-TORONYA. Orders of Dominicans and
Franciscans have been said to have been established here as well. The town had a Roman
Catholic Church as early as 1261, since its inhabitants had been given the right of choosing
freely their own priest. Its church was within the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Esztergom,
while the tithe was given to the parson.
SZENT MIKLÓD PÜSSPOT GÖRÖG KATOLIKUS TEMPLOM Kazinczy Ferenc utca 49
The Greek Catholic
Church came to
prominence in the mid-
18 th century after the
Ottoman occupiers had
left and the Slovaks,
who were Greek
Catholic, returned. They
built the Baroque style
Greek Church of
Sátoraljaújhely in 1738
and the outstanding
iconostasis was added 20
years later. The U.S.S.R.
forcibly abolished the
Greek Catholic Church
in Hungary and all such
churches were forced to
become Russian.
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