The publication was created under the scientific grant project VEGA in cooperation of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic, the Roman Catholic Faculty of Theology, of Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Comenius University - the Department of Church History and other institutions. The motivations to publish the book were results obtained from the Slovak Republic Census 2001. Since the team of editors could operate with the data from 1991 Census, the unique possibility to compare both censuses from various points of view was possible, and this especially in the field of a detailed hierarchical structure of church administration (in Roman and Greek Catholic Church dioceses, parishes, deaneries). Full data on religiosity in Slovakia were provided thanks to the helpfulness and co-operation of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic.

Readers can reflect the idea concept of the publication through several levels - social, cultural, cognitive, or ecumenical. However, the team of editors perceive the book primarily as a scientific work, since the topic relates to several natural sciences as well as humanities , while interdisciplinary knowledge from specific disciplines, such as church history, geograpgy of religions, and historic geography contribute to making the picture complex. The atlas offers valuable information through the illustrative visualisation and maps. The maps figure the results of the statistical findings as well as the researchers' own calculations. Maps are described by complex text commentaries. Moreover, the book also includes a complex historical overview showing high-rank representatives of the Catholic Church from its beginning in the Slovak territory [Enclosure: Overview (Picture 1)]

We express our special thanks to His Eminence Ján Chryzostom Cardinal Korec for enriching the book with his foreword. Also, the reviewers of the book deserve our thanks for giving the book scientific correctness. ThDr. Ladislav Belás enriched the book with his deep and valuable knowledge on Roman Catholic Church history. Doc. ThDr. Peter Šturák, PhD. precised textual and conceptual side of the book and elaborated the history of the Greek Catholic Church. Prof. RNDr. Ján Drdoš, DrSc. reviewed the book from the geographical point of view.

Editors