EN
Byzantine-rite Christians have always been of little importance to general public living in Czechoslovakia, especially to inhabitants of Bohemia. Moreover, Slovak elites did not always choose an even-handed approach to the Greek Catholic Church. This was caused by the different character of Byzantine-rite Christians, very often Rusyns by origin. That was why the history of Byzantine-rite Christians was so complicated within the defined territory throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. It is even truer of Greek Catholic monasticism. Those who decided to be an enemy of the Greek Catholics had to start with the elimination of their elite – monks and nuns. The worst time for Byzantine-rite Christians came in the second half of the 20th century when the states where they lived were ruled by Communists regimes.