Reznik's Poem Dedicated to Saint Gorazd Has Premiere at Cathedral

Bratislava, July 28 (TASR) – A commemorative event devoted to Saint Gorazd, who is viewed as being the first Slovak saint (9th century) on his feast day of July 27 in Bratislava also featured a tribute to three other personages who died on the same day of the year – poet Gorazd Zvonicky, bishop Rudolf Balaz and archbishop Dominik Hrusovsky, the last of which died earlier on Wednesday, TASR learnt on Thursday.

“As part of one of the first commemorations [of Saint Gorazd] in the capital city at the Blumental Church, the Mass was celebrated by then bishop and chairman of the Cyril-Methodius Society Dominik Hrusovsky. He opened it with a tribute to poet Gorazd Zvonicky, who had died on the same day,” Miroslav Holecko, chairman of the Saint Gorazd Society, told TASR. He added that Banska Bystrica bishop Rudolf Balaz died on the same date in 2011.

“It’s more than symbolic that archbishop Hrusovsky, 90, was the third one to pass on to the Father’s house [on the same date],” said Holecko.

The annual event has been taking place each year at the Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Bratislava for nine years now. Organised under the auspices of former president Ivan Gasparovic, it currently makes up part of the Saint Gorazd Decade (2016-25).

A musical and poetic composition called ‘For the Praise and Glory of Our First Saint’, which was staged at the cathedral and directed by Holecko, featured the first performance of a poem entitled Monument Gorazdovi (Monument to Gorazd) by current Slovak poet Jaroslav Reznik Sr.