ABSTRACT
This study wishes to unravel the role and mission of Basilian monks – regulars of eastern Christianity – in the Transylvanian Greek-Catholic diocese of Făgăraş (Fogaras, Fogarasch) during the eighteenth century. Basilian monks made their appearance on the scene in the context of Transylvania’s recent affiliation to the Habsburg monarchy and the pressures of the late Catholic Reformation, which led to the union of the Eastern Church of Transylvania with the Catholic Church of Rome – resulting in the Greek-Catholic or Uniate Church. New institutions required new personnel and it was the regular rather than the secular clergy who were invested with important roles in the building of this church and in shaping the identity of its members. Regular clergy were also the pool from whence the church recruited its hierarchy. The study addresses issues of background, recruitment and education of this regular clergy as well as questions concerning the Basilian monks’ function within the Uniate Church – for example in organizing the internal life of the monasteries – and in Transylvanian society as a whole (Map 9.1).
