Slovak Language in the Liturgical Use of Greek-Catholic Church

Authors

  • Peter Žeňuch Jan Stanislav Institute of Slavistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences image/svg+xml

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31168/

Keywords:

Liturgical language, Church Slavonic, Slovak national language, linguistic consciousness, Greek Catholics in Slovakia

Abstract

The Church Slavonic language of the various Slavic liturgical traditions does not have a common orthoepical norm. Native speakers of a particular Slavic language adapt Church Slavonic phonetics to the phonetic structure of their native language. This is also true for the Carpatho-Ruthenian version of the liturgical Church Slavonic language. The article highlights, first of all, the cultural and historical context of the use of the Church Slavonic language among Greek Catholic Slovaks. Particular attention is paid to the linguistic identity of Greek Catholic Slovaks, mainly in connection with the use of the Slovak language in the liturgy.

Funding

The article was prepared within the framework of the VEGA 2/0006/25 project “Linguocultural contexts of thinking in Cyrillic handwritten songbooks of the 18th–19th centuries in Slovakia: monograph”.

Received 10 July 2025

Revised 10 December 2025

Accepted 14 December 2025

For citation: Žeňuch, P., 2025. Slovak Language in the Liturgical Use of Greek-Catholic Church. Slavic World in the Third Millennium, 20 (3–4), pp. 173–194. https://doi.org/10.31168/2412-6446.2025.20.3-4.08

Author Biography

  • Peter Žeňuch, Jan Stanislav Institute of Slavistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences

    Doctor of Philology, Professor, Leading Researcher, Jan Stanislav Institute of Slavic Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences

    Postal address: Dubravská cesta 9, Bratislava, 84104, Slovakia

    E-mail: peter.zenuch@savba.sk

    ORCID: 0000-0002-5108-5425

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Published

24-01-2026

Issue

Section

Current issues of Slavic linguistics