PHOTOGRAPHY PLACEHOLDER
August 8–11, 2026
Košice, Slovakia
The Sts. Cyril and Methodius Enrichment Days bring American and Central European students together in Košice for four days of lectures, liturgy, pilgrimage, and conversation rooted in the Byzantine Catholic tradition. Organized by the Eparchy of Košice, thanks to the generous support of partner institutions including the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C., the program draws faculty from academic partner institutions including The Catholic University of America and Wyoming Catholic College — aiming to build lasting academic and spiritual ties between the Eparchy and its American partner institutions.
Košice is home to one of the easternmost Gothic cathedrals in Europe — seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Košice — and, a few streets away, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God — seat of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Košice. Two cathedrals, two lungs of the same Church, breathing in the same city.
Day 1
Saturday, August 8
13:30
16:30
Akathist Prayer
Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God
Day 2
Sunday, August 9
10:30
Hierarchical Divine Liturgy
Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God
14:30
Departure for Klokočov
Day 3
Monday, August 10
Day 4
Tuesday, August 11
08:00
Breakfast and packing
09:00
Hotel Ambassador, Conference Hall
10:30
Coffee Break
11:00
Feedback round
12:00
Lunch (optional)
13:00
Departures
Seminar 1
One Church, Two Lungs
Speaker:
What is the difference between a Church and a rite? How can there be twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches, all in full communion with the Bishop of Rome? What does full communion entail, and what does it not imply? Why do the Eastern Catholic Churches preserve their own liturgical, theological, spiritual, and disciplinary traditions while remaining part of the one Catholic Church? In this opening session of the Enrichment Days, Vladyka Cyril introduces participants to the Eparchy of Košice and offers an overview of the Eastern Catholic Churches, providing foundations for the days ahead.
Seminar 2
Sacred Space as Theology
A Byzantine church is a catechism in stone, glass, and gold — teaching through space before a word is spoken. Held inside the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God, this session reads the architecture and iconography of Byzantine liturgical space as theology made visible. Participants will leave able to “read” any Eastern church they enter afterward.
Seminar 3
Saints Cyril and Methodius Night
The Apostles to the Slavs raise an enduring question: what does it mean to bring the Gospel into a culture without erasing it? This evening seminar explores Cyril and Methodius’s missionary method as a model of cultural incarnation, and asks why their legacy still defines Slovak Greek Catholic identity today. The evening will be accompanied by church Slavonic chanting.
Seminar 4
Heaven on Earth: The Logic of Byzantine Worship
Speaker:
Byzantine worship engages the whole person — sight, sound, smell, movement — rather than the mind alone. This seminar introduces the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom and explains why “active participation” in the Byzantine tradition means something richer than simply watching. The Liturgy, participants will see, makes present the whole life of Christ: birth, ministry, passion, resurrection, and glory.
Seminar 5
Understanding the Calling to Theosis
Speaker:
“God became man so that man might become God” — St. Athanasius’s words name the goal of the entire Christian life as understood in the East. Held at the Klokčov Parish Church following a visit to its miraculous icon, this seminar introduces theosis, the Prayer of the Heart, and the path toward union with God, closing with the Jesus Prayer prayed together.
Seminar 6
Blood and Resurrection: The Church Under Communism
Speaker:
In 1950, the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia was forcibly liquidated overnight. Held in Michalovce’s Basilica beside the tomb of Blessed Martyr Metod Dominik Trčka, this seminar recounts life in the ecclesial catacombs, the witness of Blessed Bishop Gojdič and Blessed Bishop Hopko, and the Church’s restoration after 1989 — asking what that resurrection demands of the generation that inherits it.
Seminar 7
The Faith That Crossed the Ocean
Speaker:
Hundreds of thousands of Byzantine Catholics left the Carpathian Mountains for the coal mines of Pennsylvania between the 1880s and the First World War, carrying with them far more than their possessions. They brought the faith, liturgy, and traditions of the Old World, laying the foundations of the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church in North America. This seminar traces that remarkable journey, explains how the Church is organized today, explores what the name Ruthenian really means, and shows why Byzantine Catholics in Europe and North America remain part of the same living tradition of the Church.
Seminar 8
What the Christian East Offers the World Today
Speaker:
In an age of fragmentation and distraction, does the Byzantine tradition still have something to say? This closing seminar asks why young people are increasingly drawn to ancient forms of Christianity, and what the universal Church stands to learn from the East’s sense of beauty, mystery, and transcendence — setting up the final day’s synthesis.
Faculty Synthesis Panel
Full Faculty Roundtable
Speaker:
Drawing together the themes explored throughout the week, Fr. Dcn. Kyle Washut revisits the key ideas from each lecture and leads a conversation with participants, highlighting the connections between the seminars, drawing out the program’s central themes, and concluding the Enrichment Days with an opportunity for Q&A with the full faculty.
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Archbishop Cyril Vasiľ
Born in Košice, Archbishop Cyril Vasiľ, SJ, is the Eparchial Bishop of Košice, a Jesuit, and an internationally recognized expert in Eastern Catholic canon law. After studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, where he later served as Dean and Rector, he was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches by Pope Benedict XVI, serving in the Roman Curia from 2009 to 2020. Since 2021, he has led the Eparchy of Košice, while continuing to serve the Holy See in several consultative and judicial roles.
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Robert Royal
President of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C., and Editor-in-Chief of The Catholic Thing. A former Fulbright Scholar, he earned his Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America, where he also taught. A longtime friend of Slovakia, Dr. Royal has helped continue the Free Society Seminar, founded by Michael Novak, and is widely respected for his deep knowledge of Slovak history, culture, and the life of the local Church. He writes and speaks frequently on questions of ethics, culture, religion, and politics, and has appeared on various television and radio stations.
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Fr. Dcn. Kyle Washut
Fr. Dcn. Kyle Washut is President of Wyoming Catholic College and a Byzantine Catholic deacon of the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix. He completed graduate studies in sacred theology at the International Theological Institute (ITI) in Austria, just outside Vienna, where he also specialized in Eastern Christian Studies. He has taught theology and philosophy at Wyoming Catholic College and served as a visiting professor at Saints Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary in Pittsburgh. His work focuses on the encounter between the Christian East and West.
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Fr. Juraj Terek
Born in Košice, Fr. Juraj Terek is a priest of the Eparchy of Košice and serves as Chaplain and Director of Student Life and Development at the International Theological Institute (ITI) in Austria. A graduate of the ITI himself, he has dedicated his priestly ministry to accompanying students from around the world in the Byzantine Catholic tradition. He is married to an American from Colorado.
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Dominic Cassella
A doctoral candidate in theology at The Catholic University of America and Editorial and Online Assistant at The Catholic Thing. He earned his B.A. from Thomas More College of Liberal Arts and his M.A. in Theology from the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh. His research focuses on Trinitarian theology, Christology, and the theological heritage of the Christian East.
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Daniel Černý
A historian and researcher at the Slovak Academy of Sciences who formerly served as Director of the Slovak Historical Institute in Rome. He holds a Ph.D. in Church History from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. His research focuses on the history of the Greek Catholic Church, with particular interest in the Carpathian Rusyn diaspora and the development of the Byzantine Catholic Churches in North America.
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The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God
The cathedral church of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Košice, located on Moyzesova Street, just beside Košice’s historic Old Town. Built between 1882 and 1898 in the Neo-Romanesque style, it became the seat of the newly established Košice Apostolic Exarchate in 1997.
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Marian Shrine of Klokočov
The largest pilgrimage site of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Košice, situated on the shores of Lake Zemplínska Šírava. According to tradition, during the Kuruc Wars — a series of anti-Habsburg uprisings in the late seventeenth century — the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Klokočov began to weep in 1670 as the region suffered from war and devastation. Although the original icon never returned to Klokočov, its revered copy is enshrined in the local Greek Catholic parish church, which welcomes tens of thousands of pilgrims each year, especially for the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God.
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Basilica of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Michalovce
The Neo-Byzantine monastic church of the Greek Catholic Redemptorists, built between 1934 and 1935 and elevated to the dignity of a minor basilica in 2012. Home to the relics of Blessed Martyr Metod Dominik Trčka, C.Ss.R., the basilica stands as a powerful witness to the persecution and restoration of the Greek Catholic Church, having served as an Orthodox cathedral during the Church’s suppression under Communism (1950–1990).
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Seven Holy Fathers Collegium, Košice
Located on Komenského Street, the Seven Holy Fathers Collegium offers the formation program of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Košice for university students and young professionals. It combines intellectual formation, spiritual life, and community, while regularly hosting public lectures, discussions, and cultural events that engage both students and the wider community.
Language
English
Accommodation
Provided
Meals
Included
Transportation
Bus from Spiš for Free Society participants
Arrival
Collegium of the Seven Holy Fathers
What to Bring
Smart casual clothing
Questions
info@sophiainstitute.eu
ORGANIZERS
Organized by: Eparchy of Košice, in partnership with the Faith and Reason Institute (Washington, D.C.)
Academic Partners: The Catholic University of America, Wyoming Catholic College
CONTACT
info@sophiainstitute.eu