Michail Lučkaj’s "Cerkovné Besedy" (1831): Sermon on Holy Communion in Last Supper. An Attempt of Presentation

Abstract

This study focuses on Michail Lučkaj, prominent Carpatho-Rusyn intellectual and church official of the Mukachevo eparchy. Besides his scientific activity, Lučkaj dedicated his time to pastoral activities in Uzhhorod and Italy. After seeing a lack of homiletic literature that could be instrumental in pastoral work in the Mukachevo and Prešov eparchies (present-day Slovakia) Lučkaj wrote a two-volume book entitled Cerkovné Besedy. The second volume can be found in the repository of the library at the University of Prešov in Prešov (Slovakia). Michail Lučkaj prepared sermons according to the Eastern Church’s liturgical calendar. These sermons reflect author’s vast philosophical, theological, and Biblical knowledge. A sermon we chose to analyse in the presented article has also a deep personal and existential dimension proving that Canon Lučkaj was a very spiritual man indeed.

Keywords

• sermon, the greek catholic church, pericope, homiletics, the bible.