Ján Babjak, S.J. (born 28 October 1953, in Hažín nad Cirochou) is Slovak

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

prelate and a first Archieparch of Prešov, previously serving as the 10th Bishop, and the highest representative of the Greek Catholic sui iuris Church in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Early life and studies

After studying at the Bratislava seminary was ordained a priest on 11 June 1978 in

Prešov Prešov () is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region () and Šariš. With a population of approximately 85,000 for the city, and in total more than 100,000 with the urban area, it is the second-largest city i ...

. His pastoral service performed as a chaplain in Prešov from 1978 to 1983. In August 1983 he began work as a parish administrator in the

Ľubica Ľubica (, , ) is a large village and municipality in Kežmarok District in the Prešov Region of north Slovakia. It is now a mostly housing development district with many panel block houses. History In historical records the village was first ...

Kežmarok District Kežmarok District (Slovak: ''okres Kežmarok'') is a Districts of Slovakia, district in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia. Its seat, cultural and economic center is Kežmarok, the traditional center of the historic Spiš region. The Kežmaro ...

. On 18 June 1987, he secretly joined the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

. From 1989 to 1990 he was the Prefect of the Seminary of St. Cyril and Methodius at

Comenius University Comenius University Bratislava () is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th-century ...

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

. In 1990 he became pastor of the Greek Catholic parish in Bratislava, where he served one year. From 1991 to 1993 he studied at the

Pontifical Oriental Institute The Pontifical Oriental Institute, also known as the Orientale, is a Catholic institution of higher education located in Rome and focusing on Eastern Christianity. The plan of creating a school of higher learning for Eastern Christianity had bee ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where he received a licentiate of spirituality.

Society of Jesus

After his return to newly independent

in 1993 and 1994, he was responsible for the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

retreat house of St. Ignatius in

. In 1994 he returned to

, where he worked in the

Slovak Radio Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arkan ...

and the Vatican department in addition, he studied spirituality from which in 1996 at the

, defended his doctoral thesis on "P. Michal Lacko - teacher formatter and Greek Catholics." From 1996 until now served as Director of Works at the

P. Michael Lack's Center of Spirituality East-West. He also lectured Eastern spirituality at the Faculty of Theology at

. He replaced

Named bishop

On 11 December 2002,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

named him the 10th Eparchal Bishop of Prešov, being consecrated in

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initiall ...

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on 6 January 2003 by the Polish

Pontiff In Roman antiquity, a pontiff () was a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term ''pontiff'' was later applied to any h ...

. In Eparchal office, he replaced 79-year old Eparchal Bishop

Ján Hirka The Most Reverend Ján Hirka (16 November 1923 – 10 April 2014) was a bishop of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church. Life Hirka was born in Abranovce, Abranovce, Czechoslovakia and was ordination, ordained a priest (Catholic Church), priest on 31 ...

, who served as the Apostolic Administrator and the Bishop of the Eparchy since 1968. On 30 January 2008, Babjak was appointed by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

as the first

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

of Prešov and also promoted to the rank of Archeparch. The enthronement of the first Archeparch and Metropolite Ján Babjak took place on Sunday of 17 February 2008 in

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in

and the celebration elevation of Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia to the level of sui iuris church occurred in the city hall. On 25 April 2022,

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

accepted Ján Babjak's resignation prior to reaching the

canonical age In the canon law of the Catholic Church, a person is a subject of certain legal rights and obligations. Persons may be distinguished between physical and juridic persons. Juridic persons may be distinguished as collegial or non-collegial, and pub ...

and named Peter Rusnák Greek Catholic Eparchal Bishop of Bratislava the

apostolic administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

to the vacated Archeparchy of Prešov. According to Eparchal sources, Babjak requested the release from his pastoral duties in February 2022. In his statement, Archbishop presented his resignation in favour of "peace and wellbeing of the Church"

Works

*Babjak, John P. Michal Lacko, SJ, and informant formatter Catholics. Trnava: Good Book Publishing, 1997. Dialogues. *Babjak, John: remain faithful: I. volume. Prešov: Petra, 2009. *Babjak, John: remain faithful: I. volume. Prešov: Petra, 2009.

References

External links

* http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbabjak.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20071020063613/http://www.kbs.sk/do_pdf/index.php?cid=1117710452 * http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/pres1.htm#3777 * http://www.grkatpo.sk/?jan_babjak {{DEFAULTSORT:Babjak, Jan Slovak Eastern Catholics Slovak Greek Catholic bishops Slovak Jesuits Living people Pontifical Oriental Institute alumni 1953 births People from Humenné District Jesuit bishops