Wiching
{{Short description|First Bishop of Nitra from 880 to 891}}
File:Nitra, Cathedral from lower town.gif Wiching or Viching"Wiching", :sk:Encyklopédia Slovenska ({{WorldCat|oclc=4259985|name=Encyklopédia Slovenska}}) was the first bishop of Nitra, in present-day Slovakia.
Life
He served between 880 and 891 AD.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|pp=21-22}} Wiching was originally a Benedictine monk from Swabia. After 874, he served Svatopluk I. From 874 to 879 he worked with John of Venice. At the end of 879 he was appointed a bishop of Great Moravia, after St Methodius, and in 880 visited the Pope in Rome, who made him Bishop of Nitra. He was known for accusing the Saints Cyril and Methodius of heresy for holding Divine Liturgy in Old Church Slavonic instead of the standard Latin of the Roman Church.{{cite web|last1=Melito|first1=C.|title=The Lives of Ss. Cyril and Methodius|url=http://www.sscyrilandmethodius.org/Parish-Information/Ss-Cyril-and-Methodius|website=Roman Catholic Church of Ss. Cyril and Methodius|access-date=26 October 2015}}
Wiching was a counselor for Svätopluk I and the only known suffragan of Archbishop Methodius.Wiching. In: LUTOVSKÝ, Michal. Encyklopedie slovanské archeologie v Čechách, na Moravě a ve Slezsku. 1. vyd. (Praha : Libri, 2001.) p365.[http://dai.fmph.uniba.sk/~filit/fvw/wiching.html Wicking]. Wiching was notorious for his disputes with St. Methodius. He remained in Rome and sent to king Svätopluk an allegedly forged letter from the pope, which caused Svätopluk to unseat Methodius. In 881, Methodius learned from the Pope about the forgery and appealed to the Pope, who deposed Wiching.MĚŘÍNSKÝ, Zdeněk. České země od příchodu Slovanů po Velkou Moravu II. 1. vyd. (Praha : Libri, 2006). p550, 711-714.
In 885, shortly before Methodius' death, Wiching left Poland and with the consent of Svatopluk went to Rome, where he falsely accused Methodius to the new Pope, Stephen V who issued papal bull Quia te zelo fidei forbidding the Slavonic liturgy.{{r|Quia te zelo fidei}} During the summer of 885, when the Pope learned of the death of Methodius, he named Wiching once again as bishop of Nitra and, in addition, gave him the title of Ecclesiastical Administrator. Wiching used this position to expel Methodius' students.KOVÁČ, Dušan, et al. Kronika Slovenska : od najstarších čias do konca 19. storočia. (Bratislava : Fortuna Print, 1998). p101 In 891/892, he left Svatopluk to serve Arnulf of Carinthia with whom Svatopluk was having a conflict. Wiching was part of the delegation sent to Svatopluk to negotiate peace. After Arnulf of Carinthia died, and with the fall of Great Moravia, Wiching withdrew from public life. He died between 900 and 912, likely on September 12.
References
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite encyclopedia
|author = Stephanus Papa V
|author-link = Pope Stephen V
|title = Stephanus episcopus servus servorum Dei Zuentopoloco regi Sclavorum (Quia te zelo fidei)
|trans-title = Pope Stephen, the servant of the servants of God, to Svatopluk, king of the Slavs
|editor1 = Anastasius Abbas
|editor-link1 = Anastasius Bibliothecarius
|editor2 = J.-P. Migne
|editor-link2 = Jacques Paul Migne
|encyclopedia = Opera Omnia
|volume = 3
|page = 801
|orig-date = 9th century
|publisher = Bibliotheca Cleri Universae
|date = 1853
|location = Paris
|language = la
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xMYUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA801
}}
}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last1=Bartl |first1=Július |last2=Čičaj |first2=Viliam |last3=Kohútova |first3=Mária |last4=Letz |first4=Róbert |last5=Segeš |first5=Vladimír |last6=Škvarna |first6=Dušan |year=2002|title=Slovak History: Chronology & Lexicon |publisher= Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Slovenské Pedegogické Nakladatel'stvo |isbn=0-86516-444-4 }}
- {{cite book
| title=Franks, Moravians and Magyars: The Struggle for the Middle Danube, 788–907
| last=Bowlus
| first=Charles R.
| publisher= University of Pennsylvania Press
| year=1994
| isbn=0-8122-3276-3
}}
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