The tumultuous history of Protestantism in Slovakia, former Upper Hungary
The Reformation. The moral decline of society in the 15th and 16th centuries did not spare the Church and its representatives. The troubles in the Western Empire and in the Church culminated in the great Western schism that divided European Christendom. We are in the midst of the Hundred Years' War and these troubles affect all levels of society, from the nobles to the peasants who rise up with the common thread of denouncing corruption in the religious system. These events were among the causes of the reformist movement. The Protestant reform, commonly referred to as "Reformation", marks the desire for religious and social change. Born mainly in Germany, this movement quickly crossed borders and spread to its trading partners, including Slovakia. The news was supported by the nobility against the ruling power. While the period of the greatest development of the Reformation in Slovakia was in 1521-1523, the Catholic Habsburgs still ruled in Hungary.
The Counter-Reformation. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) condemned the Reformation as an aggression, the Counter-Reformation began. The strict Inquisition and the prohibition of religious freedom are restored to a people where 90% of Slovak believers have joined the Reformation movement. The counter-Reformation focuses on the suppression of temples, the expulsion of pro-Reformation preachers and teachers. Various methods are used to bring the population back to Catholicism, including the cruellest punishments and executions. Leopold I, raised by Jesuits, acceded to the Hungarian throne in 1655, followed by a decade of absolutism with the confiscation of 888 churches. But faced with the uprisings of the oppressed people and the Turkish threat, he is forced to relax his rules. On October 8, 1681, the emperor issued a resolution that Protestants could build a temple in Bratislava. This was the first step towards the establishment of strict and binding rules governing the construction of Protestant churches.
The origin of joint lurches
In response to Catholic discontent, Leopold I added restrictions governed by the "articles" (hence the name of the articular churches) on the construction of non-Catholic churches in Upper Hungary. To begin with, there could only be two churches in each administrative unit, and only one in royal towns, mining towns or border towns. Then the rules, which were binding, were as follows: the temple had to be built in less than a year, entirely of wood, without nails or metal elements, on the outskirts of the village or outside the city limits, without a bell tower, with a main entrance not leading directly into the street and a stone foundation that could not exceed one foot above the ground. A second article stipulated that Protestants had to return to the State the churches they had built before the period of persecution, provided they had not received Catholic ordination in the meantime.
Instead of the 888 confiscated temples, this administrative change allowed the construction of only 38 new Protestant temples in the eleven regions not occupied by the Turks. It should also be added that the Habsburg leaders did everything possible to further reduce the sustainability of these new evangelical churches by arbitrarily changing the building rules and tightening restrictive sanctions.
It took a hundred years before Sovereign Joseph II issued a "patent of tolerance" allowing Protestants to build churches in brick, but always outside the central squares and always without towers or bell towers.
The Protestant articulated churches in Slovakia are rare historical monuments because in neighbouring countries, where intolerance did not exist, there were no similar restrictions. Slovak Protestants had to be very ingenious and use architects with specific knowledge to achieve compliance with the articles. To this day, six of these architectural sights remain, including the Svätý Kríž Wooden Articulated Church (Drevený artikulárny kostol Svätý Kríž), the Istebné Wooden Articulated Church (Drevený artikulárny kostol Istebné), and those listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Hronsek Wooden Articular Church (Drevený artikulárny kostol Hronsek), the Leštiny Wooden Articular Church (Drevený artikulárny kostol Leštiny) and the Kežmarok Wooden Articular Church (Drevený artikulárny kostol Kežmarok).The main wooden churches of other denominations
The largest concentration of wooden churches (there are 38) can be found around Bardejov and Svidnik, towns in north-eastern Slovakia. They are the work and pride of the Ruthenians. This small ethnic group with a controversial identity traditionally lives in the Eastern Carpathians, on the borders of Slovakia and Ukraine. They speak a language very close to Ukrainian, write in Cyrillic, but are of the Greek-Catholic (or Uniate) religion. Gathered together with other Catholics under the spiritual direction of the Pope, they nevertheless keep the liturgy in Old Slavic and many rites of the Orthodox Church such as the marriage of priests and baptism by immersion. Their churches are little wonders, made of wood from floor to ceiling, they dot the bucolic roads of the east of the country. The most famous are: the Church of St. Nicholas in Bodružal (Chrám svätého Mikuláša Bodružal), the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Ladomirová (Chrám svätého Michala archanjela Ladomirová) and the Church of St. Nicholas in Ruská Bystrá
(Chrám Prenesenia ostatkov svätého Mikuláša Ruská Bystrá). (Kostol Všetkých svätých Tvrdošín), built in the 15th century, renovated in Renaissance style in the 17th century. (kostol svätého Michala archanjela Rusky Potok) is one of the few Orthodox churches in the country. The highest concentration of these unique buildings can be found around the towns of Svidník and Bardejov.
