Activities of the Orthodox Eparchy in Máramaros County in the First Half of the 18th Century

After the conclusion the Uzhhorod union, the Orthodox episcopate was looking for new ways to preserve and maintain its tradition. As a result, Maramaros County became the centre of church life of Mukachevo Orthodox Eparchy from 1690, where the new Orthodox Eparchy was formed with an active episcopate and full-fledged complex of relevant ecclesiastical structures and units. The purpose of publication is a comprehensive study of the activities of Orthodox and Greek Catholic episcopates, as well as the correspondingly created eparchy and vicariate, as in the church historiography of the Orthodox Church there are practically no studies based on the documents of the State Archive of the Transcarpathian region. The research methodology is based on the general principles of scientific knowledge: neutrality, analysis of sources and their synthesis, objectivity, impartiality, comparison, historicism, historical pluralism, detailing and generalization. Scientific novelty. Some aspects of the activity of the Orthodox Eparchy in the first half of the 18th century in Maramaros County are investigated based on the documents of the State Archive of the Transcarpathian region. Some archival documents are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. They help to correct the permanent and clarify new aspects of the archpastoral activity of the Orthodox Episcopate of the Maramaros Eparchy. Considerable attention is paid to the coverage of the role of the ruling bishops Josyp (Stoyka) and Dosyfey (Feodorovych) in the development of the new church unit. Prospects for further research provide for a more detailed study of the episcopate of the Maramaros Eparchy, its development and enlargement will expand permanent knowledge about the internal religious situation in the region, state-church relations in the county, church policy of Hungary, Romania and Moldova towards the Transcarpathian region during this period. The conclusions state that there was no centralized system of administration in the Maramaros Eparchy. Constant harassment, imprisonment and bans by opponents prevented the bishops from fully administering their eparchy, so the episcopate operated virtually underground.