SEALS AND COAT OF ARMS OF MUCACHEVO (MARAMOROSH) BISHOPS
/ПЕЧАТКИ ТА ГЕРБИ МУКАЧІВСЬКИХ (МАРАМОРОСЬКИХ) ЄПИСКОПІВ/

Ivan MISKOV

candidate of historical sciences, associate professor, Department of Culture and Social and Humanitarian Disciplines of the Transcarpathian Academy of Arts, street Voloshin 37, 88015, Uzhhorod, Ukraine; doctoral student of the Higher Educational Institution «Uzhhorod National University», Narodna Square 3, 88000 Uzhhorod, Ukraine, miskoviv@gmail.com, 00380506723812

Abstract

This article deals with the seals and coats of arms of the bishops of Mukachevo (Maramorosh) (from Bishop Vasyl Tarasovych, after the Uzhhorod Union of 1646 to 1934). The author found in the State Archives of the Transcarpathian region of Beregovo 2 seals of Orthodox bishops (Methodius and Dosopheus) and 12 Union (later Greek Catholic) bishops and described these seals. The author also described four coats of arms of Greek Catholic bishops on the facade of the episcopal residence in Uzhhorod. This article is supplemented by three portraits with the coats of arms of bishops A. Bachynsky, P. Gebey and O. Stoyka. Today these portraits are stored in the museums of Uzhhorod. All 14 seals of Mukachevo (Maramorosh) bishops are published together by the author for the first time. The list of episcopal seals is not complete, as search and research work is needed to find new seals.

Keywords

Bishop, Mukachevo, Maramures, Orthodox, union, uniat, Greek Catholic, seal, coat of arms, portrait

SUMMARY

As a result of research work in the State Archives of the Transcarpathian region, the author of this article found various documents certified by the seals of Mukachevo (Maramorosh) bishops, their coats of arms on the facade of the episcopal residence in Uzhhorod, three portraits, two stored in the Transcarpathian Art Museum and one in the Transcarpathian Museum of Local Lore . Among the seals (soot): two of Orthodox bishops Methodius (1689) and Dosopheus (1719), coats of arms and seals (soot, wax, sealing wax, four coats of arms on the facade of the episcopal residence, Uzhhorod, three portraits) of the uniat ( Greek Catholic) bishops: Vasyl Tarasovych (1638), Ivan Yosyp de Kamelis (1705), Yuri Gennady Byzantsii (1719), Yuri Gavriil Blazhovsky (1739, 1742), Mikhail Manuil Olshavsky (1746), Ivan Bradach (1768 - two), Andriy Bachynsky (1773, 1780, 1798, 1801, episcopal residence), Vasyl Popovych (1838, 1858 , episcopal residence), Stefan Pankovych (episcopal residence), Yuliy Firtsak (episcopal residence), Peter Gebey (coat of arms in the portrait of 1929), Oleksandr Stoyka (coat of arms in the portrait of 1934).

The Orthodox bishops Methodius and Dosopheus, respectively certified by their documents in 1689 and 1719, did not have their own seals. In the first case, Bishop Methodius certified the document of 1689 with the seal of the Mukachevo monastery (the image of St. Nicholas on the seal). In the second case, we failed to describe the seal on the document of 1719, certified by Bishop Dosopheus.

Uniat (later Greek Catholic) bishops had their own seals. So far, we have not been able to investigate the question of who gave (granted) them the right to the seal and coat of arms, church or secular authorities. From Bishop Vasyl Tarasovych to Bishop Ivan Bradach, the most commonly used material for seals was soot, wax, and sealing wax. In the era of Bishop Andriy Bachynsky, we often see seals made of wax and sealing wax on documents. The traditional coat of arms of the bishop consisted of the shape of a shield (oval, French, German, Renaissance), in the field of the shield there was an image of a saint or a symbolic figure or other signs and symbols, the top of the shield did not do without the symbols of the ecclesiastical authority of the episcopal staff and the miter, the cross, the bishop's hat (klobuk) with six tassels. Almost all the found seals of the Uniat bishops (except for the seals of Bishops V. Tarasovych and I. Y. de Camelis) have a bishop's hat (klobuk) with six tassels. An exception is also the coat of arms of Bishop Vasyl Popovych (bishop's hat (klobuk) with four tassels), painted by the artist Ferdinand Vydra (1858) on the reverse side of the iconostasis of the Exaltation of the Cross Cathedral in Uzhhorod. A portrait with the church coat of arms of Bishop A. Bachynsky, painted by an unknown artist, dates from about 1780. Today this portrait is kept in Uzhhorod Castle. The artist Joseph Bokshay once painted portraits with the coats of arms of Bishops P. Gebey and O. Stoyka. In total, the author found and illustrated in this article  14 bishops’ seals.

Not all the seals and coats of arms of the Mukachevo (Maramures) bishops have been found, so this issue requires further research.

(Language: ukrainian)

full text

 

Back on content