KOTERBACHY / PORAC SLOVAKIA

Koterbachy (alternate spelling Koterbach, now known as Rudnany, Slovakia ). The name Koterbachy means Copper Creek in English.

48 53 N 20 41 E (map NM 34-11 Miskole)

Southeast of Spisska Nova Ves, West of Kosice in eastern Slovakia.

A Census of Koterbach was taken in 1831 giving surnames and house numbers for all the inhabitants.

The 1877 Hungarian gazetteer lists the following for Kotterbach:

Kotterbach: (has no church of its own)

Roman Cath. = 486 ppl. (went to Markus-Csepanfalu for church)

Greek Cath. = 289 ppl. (went to Porac for church)

Ev. Luth. = 70 ppl. (went to Szepes-Iglo)

Jews = 27 ppl. (went to Szepes-Varalja)

The 1928 CZ gazetteer says that Koterbachy (Rudnany) had 1610 people (Czechoslovaks).

The 1877 Hungarian gazetteer lists the following for Porac:

Rom. Cath. = 22 ppl. (went to Markusfalu for church)

Gr. Cath. = 1301 (had the only church in the village) This church belonged to the Eperjes Presov eclesiastical district founded in 1818 as the first daughter eparchy of the Eparchy of Mukachevo which dates back to 1491.

Ev. Luth. = 1 person

Jews = 16 people (went to Szepes-Varalja)

The CZ gazetteer said Porac had 889 (Rusyn) when it was published in 1928.

Visit the Rudnany Photo Page.

Join is for a virtual tour of Porac, Slovakia, complete with true color photographs courtesy of Charles Stanislav.

In the 1877 Hungarian gazetteer, Kotterbach and Porac are listed within Szepes megye (Hungarian for "county"). These are the Hungarian spellings for these villages.

The Hungarian district for them is Hernadvolgy (I don't know the equivalent Slovak name, but possibly Spisska N.Ves).

The Greek Catholic church headquarters for this area was in Presov.

The only other village in this district with more than just a few Greek Catholics was Zavadka which had 1207 (out of 1229 people in the whole village). Zavadka is another tiny village just west of the other two but over the hill and close to Nalepkovo.

These 3 places also in the same district have a Greek Catholic church:

Helcmanova - 1463 people; Rusyn: Hel'cmanovci, Slovak: Helcmanovce

Kojsov Opaka - 977 ppl; Rusyn & Slovak: Kojsov

Szlavnika - 876 ppl; Rusyn & Slovak: Slovinky

Here's a full list of all the other villages in this whole county of Szepes that had Greek Catholic churches. The names are in Hungarian, followed by Rusyn and Slovak.

Jarembina - 1086 people; Rusyn: Orjabyna, Slovak: Jarabina

Jakubjan - 2605 ppl; Rusyn: Jakubjany, Slovak: Jakubany

Kamjonka (Stein) - 1406 ppl; Rusyn: Kamjunka, Slovak: Kamienka

Littmanova - 777 ppl; Rusyn & Slovak: Litmanova

Szulin - 772 ppl; Rusyn: Vel'kyj Sulyn, Slovak: Sulin

Nagy-Lipnik - 866 ppl; Rusyn: Velykyj Lypnyk, Slovak: Vel'ky Lipnik

Oszturna - 1615 ppl; Rusyn: Osturnja, Slovak: Osturna

Krempach - 262 ppl; Rusyn: Krempach, Slovak: Kremna

Hodermark - 638 ppl; Rusyn: Hodermark (now Ihljany), Slovak: Ihl'any

Also-Repas (Nisni Repasi) - 646 ppl; Rusyn: Nyzni Repasy, Slovak: Nizne

Repase Olsavicza - 698 ppl; Rusyn: Ol'savica, Slovak: Olsavica

Toriszka - 1205 ppl; Rusyn & Slovak: Torysky

The names for Slovinky, Torysky & Litmanova look the same in Rusyn & Slovak but if the Slovak diacritical marks were there, and the Rusyn were transliterated from Cyrillic with diacritical marks, they'd be different.

It's also interesting to note that Spis county was the only one of those in Slovakia where all the Greek Catholic parishes were Rusyn parishes! (Spis, Saris, Zemplin, & Uz)

Thanks to Doug Holmes and Richard Custer for the Greek Catholic Church list.