Manuil Olshavskyi

Mykhaylo Olshavskyi was born in about 1700 in the village of Oľšavica, from which he took his surname (which originally was Židik). He studied philosophy in Košice and then in the Jesuit college of Trnava.{{cite journal |first=I.M. |last=Kondratovic |journal=Slovak Studies |volume=III |title=The Olšavsky bishops and their activity |year=1963 |location=Rome |pages=179–198}} At the end of his studies, he was ordained a secular priest in 1725 and assigned to the Eparchy of Mukacheve, where he later became vicar of the eparchs (bishops) Stefan Olshavskyi (who was his older brother) and Havryil Blazhovskyi.

At the death of his predecessor, he was appointed on 8 February 1743 as vicar general by the Latin Bishop of Eger:{{cite book |last=Pelesz |first=Julian | title = Geschichte der Union der ruthenischen Kirche mit Rom |year=1881 |publisher=Woerl | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29UCAAAAQAAJ | pages=1033–1034 }} as at that time, following the Union of Uzhhorod, the eparch of Mukacheve was formally an apostolic vicar of the Latin diocese.{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Munkács}} In a few months he was elected to the position by the clergy, designated by the Empress Maria Theresa, and so confirmed by Pope Benedict XIV on 5 September 1743.{{Catholic-hierarchy|bishop|bolsavsm|Bishop Mihály Emánuel Olsavszky, O.S.B.M.|23 January 2015}} He received the titular see of Rhosus and was consecrated bishop on 9 December 1743{{cite book |first=Dmytro |last=Blazejowsky |title=Hierarchy of the Kyivan Church (861-1990)| year=1990 |location=Rome | pages=331}} by the bishop of Făgăraş, Inocenţiu Micu-Klein.{{cite book |title=Kalendarium Manuale Utriusque Ecclesiae Orientalis et Occidentalis Vol 3 Part 2 |author=Nicolao Nilles |publisher=Feliciani Rauch |year=1885 |page=572}} A short time before consecration, Mykhaylo Olshavskyi entered the Order of Saint Basil the Great and took the religious name of Manuil.

In 1746, Empress Maria Theresa requested Manuil Olshavskyi to undertake a pastoral visit to Transylvania, that was at the time without a Byzantine Catholic bishop due to the exile of Micu-Klein.{{cite book | first=Charles |last= de Clercq | title =Histoire des conciles d'après les documents originaux, Tome XI Conciles des Orientaux Catholiques | publisher = Letouzey et Ané |location=Paris | year = 1949 |volume=1 |page=208}} He again returned to Transylvania in 1761 to address, with his authority and predication, the disturbance fomented by the Orthodox monk Sofronie.

In 1756, Olshavskyi completed and consecrated the sanctuary of Máriapócs which was started by his predecessor Gennadius Bizanczy. To serve the sanctuary, he built a monastery and assigned it to the Basilian monks. He also built schools in Mukachevo and in Máriapócs for the instruction of the clergy, and succeeded in obtaining the necessary funding. While his predecessors in Mukachevo lived in the Saint Nicholas Monastery, by request of the monks, he built an episcopal residence in town. In 1764 he built, with his own money, a school of theology and one for cantors in Mukachevo.

In 1759 he could write to Propaganda Fide that in his eparchy there remained no Byzantine faithful who were not in communion with the Catholic Church. However, the jurisdictional situation of his eparchy, formally an apostolic vicariate under the Latin Bishop of Eger, was not satisfactory. So Manuil Olshavskyi contested the authority of the Bishop of Eger and tried to persuade Empress Maria Theresa to give full independence to the eparchy. He could not see the results of his work, but four years after his death, in 1771, the Eparchy of Mukacheve got its independence.

Manuil Olshavskyi died in Mukachevo on 5 November 1767, and he was buried in the sanctuary of Máriapócs.

Among his most memorable works might be his {{lang|la|Sermon et orientale de Sacra eccidentalem inter Unione quo ecclesia episcopus Rossensis}}.{{cite web |url=http://mek.niif.hu/03600/03630/html/o/o18332.htm |title=Olsavszky Manó Mihály |author=Szinnyei Jozsef |work=Magyar Irok Elete es Munkai|publisher=MEK |accessdate=23 April 2011}}{{cite book | first=Basil |last=Boysak | title =Ecumenism and Manuel Michael Olshavsky: Bishop of Mukachevo (1743-1767); analysis of the Sermo de unione| publisher = University of Montréal |year=1967 }}

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{{s-bef|before=Havryil Blazhovskyi}}

{{s-ttl|title=Vicar Apostolic for the Ruthenians in Mukacheve

|years=1743–1767}}

{{s-aft|after=Ivan Bradach}}

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Category:1700 births

Category:1767 deaths

Category:18th-century Hungarian people

Category:18th-century Eastern Catholic bishops

Category:Bishops of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church

Category:Order of Saint Basil the Great

Category:People from Levoča District