Ján Hirka

Who was Ján Hirka?

The Most Reverend Ján Hirka was a bishop of the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia.

Hirka was born in Abranovce, Czechoslovakia and was ordained a priest on 31 July 1949. Hirka was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Archeparchy of Prešov when it was revived on 2 April 1969, after years of suppression under the Communist regime. This was in place of the existing Auxiliary Bishop, Basil Hopko, who had survived years of imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Communists, because of complaints by nationalist members of the Church, who believed that a native Slovak should be the one to head the Church there. He was appointed eparch on 21 December 1989 and ordained as a bishop on 17 February 1990. Hirka retired on 11 December 2002.