TheEastern Catholic Churches orOriental Catholic Churches, also known as theEastern-Rite Catholic Churches,Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply theEastern Churches,[a] are 23Eastern Christian autonomous (sui iuris)particular churches of theCatholic Church infull communion with thepope inRome. Although they are distinct theologically, liturgically, and historically from theLatin Church, they are all in full communion with it and with each other. Eastern Catholics are a minority within the Catholic Church; of the 1.3 billion Catholics in communion with the pope, approximately 18 million are members of the eastern churches. The largest numbers of Eastern Catholics are found inEastern Europe,Eastern Africa, theMiddle East, andIndia. As of 2022, theSyro-Malabar Church is the largest Eastern Catholic Church, followed by theUkrainian Greek Catholic Church.[2]
Full communion with the bishop of Rome constitutes mutual sacramental sharing between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church and the recognition and acceptance ofpapal supremacy andinfallibility.[6][7] Provisions within the1983 Latin canon law and the 1990Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches govern the relationship between the Eastern and Latin churches. Historically, pressure to conform to the norms of theWestern Christianity practiced by the majority Latin Church led to a degree of encroachment (Latinization) on some of the Eastern Catholic traditions. TheSecond Vatican Council document,Orientalium Ecclesiarum, built on previous reforms to reaffirm the right of Eastern Catholics to maintain their distinct practices.[8]
The 1990Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches was the first codified body ofcanon law governing the Eastern Catholic Churches collectively,[9] although each church also has its own internalcanons and laws on top of this. Members of Eastern Catholic churches are obliged to follow the norms of their particular church regarding celebration of church feasts, marriage, and other customs. Notable distinct norms include many Eastern Catholic Churches regularly allowing theordination of married men to thepriesthood (although not as bishops to theepiscopacy), in contrast to the stricterclerical celibacy of the Latin Church. Both Latin and Eastern Catholics may freely attend a Catholic liturgy celebrated in any rite.[10]
There are different meanings of the wordrite. Apart from its reference to the liturgical patrimony of aparticular church, the word has been and is still sometimes, even if rarely, officially used of the particular church itself. Thus the termLatin rite can refer either to the Latin Church or to one or more of theLatin liturgical rites, which include theRoman Rite,Ambrosian Rite,Mozarabic Rite, and others.[citation needed]
A group of Christian faithful linked in accordance with the law by a hierarchy and expressly or tacitly recognized by the supreme authority of the Church as autonomous is in this Code called an autonomous Church (canon 27).[16]
A rite is the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each autonomous [sui iuris] Church.
When speaking of Eastern Catholic Churches, the Latin Church's1983 Code of Canon Law (1983CIC) uses the terms "ritual Church" or "ritual Churchsui iuris" (canons 111 and 112), and also speaks of "a subject of an Eastern rite" (canon 1015 §2), "Ordinaries of another rite" (canon 450 §1), "the faithful of a specific rite" (canon 476), etc. The Second Vatican Council spoke of Eastern Catholic Churches as "particular Churches or rites".[18]: n. 2
In 1999, theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated: "We have been accustomed to speaking of the Latin (Roman or Western) Rite or the Eastern Rites to designate these different Churches. However, the Church's contemporary legislation as contained in theCode of Canon Law and theCode of Canons of the Eastern Churches makes it clear that we ought to speak, not of rites, but of Churches. Canon 112 of the Code of Canon Law uses the phrase 'autonomous ritual Churches' to designate the various Churches."[19] And a writer in a periodical of January 2006 declared: "The Eastern Churches are still mistakenly called 'Eastern-Rite' Churches, a reference to their various liturgical histories. They are most properly called Eastern Churches, or Eastern Catholic Churches."[20] However, the term "rite" continues to be used. The1983CIC forbids a Latin bishop to ordain, without permission of the Holy See, a subject of his who is "of an Easternrite" (not "who uses an Easternrite", the faculty for which is sometimes granted to Latin clergy).[21]
The termUniat orUniate has been applied to Eastern Catholic churches and individual members whose church hierarchies were previously part of Eastern Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox churches. The term is sometimes considered derogatory by such people,[22][23] though it was used by some Latin and Eastern Catholics prior to theSecond Vatican Council of 1962–1965.[f] Official Catholic documents no longer use the term due to its perceived negative overtones.[26]
The communion between Christian churches has been broken over matters of faith, whereby each side accused the other ofheresy or departure from the true faith (orthodoxy). Communion has been broken also because of disagreement about questions of authority or the legitimacy of the election of a particular bishop. In these latter cases, each side accused the other ofschism, but not of heresy.
The following ecumenical councils are major breaches of communion:
In 431, the churches that accepted the teaching of theCouncil of Ephesus (which condemned the views ofNestorius) were classified as heretics by those who rejected the council's statements. TheChurch of the East, which was mainly under theSassanid Empire, never accepted the council's views. It later experienced a period of great expansion in Asia before collapsing after theMongol invasion of the Middle East in the 14th century.[citation needed]
Monuments of their presence still exist in China. Now they are relatively few in number and have divided into three churches: the Chaldean Catholic Church—an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with Rome—and two Assyrian churches which are not in communion with either Rome or each other. TheChaldean Catholic Church is the largest of the three. The groups of Assyrians who did not reunify with Rome remained and are known as theAssyrian Church of the East, which experienced an internal schism in 1968 which led to the creation of theAncient Church of the East.[citation needed]
In 451, those who accepted theCouncil of Chalcedon similarly classified those who rejected it asMonophysite heretics. The Churches that refused to accept the Council considered instead that it was they who were orthodox; they rejected the descriptionMonophysite (meaningonly-nature) preferring insteadMiaphysite (meaningone-nature). The difference in terms may appear subtle, but it is theologically very important. "Monophysite" implies a single divine nature alone with no real human nature—a heretical belief according toChalcedonian Christianity—whereas "Miaphysite" can be understood to mean one nature as God, existing in the person of Jesus who is both human and divine—an idea more easily reconciled to Chalcedonian doctrine. They are often called, in English,Oriental Orthodox Churches, to distinguish them from theEastern Orthodox Church.[citation needed]
This distinction, by which the wordsoriental andeastern that in themselves have exactly the same meaning but are used as labels to describe two different realities, is impossible to translate in most other languages, and is not universally accepted even in English. These churches are also referred to aspre-Chalcedonian or now more rarely asnon-Chalcedonian oranti-Chalcedonian. In languages other than English other means are used to distinguish the two families of churches. Some reserve the term "Orthodox" for those that are here called "Eastern Orthodox" churches, but members of what is called "Oriental Orthodox" Churches consider this illicit.[citation needed]
TheEast–West Schism came about in the context ofcultural differences between the Greek-speaking East and Latin-speaking West, and of rivalry between the churches in Rome—which claimed a primacy not merely of honour but also of authority—and inConstantinople, which claimed parity with Rome.[28] The rivalry and lack of comprehension gave rise to controversies, some of which appear already in the acts of theQuinisext Council of 692. At theCouncil of Florence (1431–1445), these controversies about Western theological elaborations and usages were identified as, chiefly, the insertion of "Filioque" into theNicene Creed, the use ofunleavened bread for theEucharist,purgatory, and the authority of the pope.[g]
The schism is generally considered to have started in 1054, when thePatriarch of Constantinople,Michael I Cerularius, and thePapal Legate,Humbert of Silva Candida, issued mutualexcommunications; in 1965, these excommunications were revoked by both Rome and Constantinople. In spite of that event, for many years both churches continued to maintain friendly relations and seemed to be unaware of any formal or final rupture.[30]
However, estrangement continued. In 1190, Eastern Orthodox theologianTheodore Balsamon, who waspatriarch of Antioch, wrote that "noLatin should be given Communion unless he first declares that he will abstain from the doctrines and customs that separate him from us".[31]
Later in 1204,Constantinople was sacked by the Catholic armies of theFourth Crusade, whereas two decades previously theMassacre of the Latins (i.e., Catholics) had occurred in Constantinople in 1182. Thus, by the 12th–13th centuries, the two sides had become openly hostile, each considering that the other no longer belonged to the church that was orthodox and catholic. Over time, it became customary to refer to the Eastern side as theOrthodox Church and the Western as the Catholic Church, without either side thereby renouncing its claim of being the truly orthodox or the truly catholic church.[citation needed]
Parties within many non-Latin churches repeatedly sought to organize efforts to restore communion. In 1438, theCouncil of Florence convened, which featured a strong dialogue focused on understanding the theological differences between the East and West, with the hope of reuniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches.[32] Several eastern churches associated themselves with Rome, forming Eastern Catholic churches. The See of Rome accepted them without requiring that they adopt the customs of the Latin Church, so that they all have their own "liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary heritage, differentiated by peoples' culture and historical circumstances, that finds expression in eachsui iuris Church's own way of living the faith".[33]
Most Eastern Catholic churches arose when a group within an ancient church in disagreement with the See of Rome returned to full communion with that see. The following churches have been in communion with the Bishop of Rome for a large part of their history:
The Maronite Church has historically been treated as never having fully schismed with the Holy See, despite a dispute overChristological doctrine that concluded in 1154; most of the other Eastern Catholic churches came into being from the 16th century onwards.[34]: 165–167 However, theMelkite Greek Catholic Church, theSyro-Malabar Church and theItalo-Albanian Catholic Church also claim perpetual communion.
The largest six churches based on membership are, in order, theSyro-Malabar Church (East Syriac Rite), theUkrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC; Byzantine Rite), the Maronite Church (West Syriac Rite), the Melkite Greek Catholic Church (Byzantine Rite), theChaldean Catholic Church (East Syriac Rite), and theArmenian Catholic Church (Armenian Rite).[35] These six churches account for about 85% of the membership of the Eastern Catholic Churches.[36]
The Churches of the East are worthy of the glory and reverence that they hold throughout the whole of Christendom in virtue of those extremely ancient, singular memorials that they have bequeathed to us. For it was in that part of the world that the first actions for the redemption of the human race began, in accord with the all-kind plan of God. They swiftly gave forth their yield: there flowered in first blush the glories of preaching the True Faith to the nations, of martyrdom, and of holiness. They gave us the first joys of the fruits of salvation. From them has come a wondrously grand and powerful flood of benefits upon the other peoples of the world, no matter how far-flung. When blessed Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, intended to cast down the manifold wickedness of error and vice, in accord with the will of Heaven, he brought the light of divine Truth, the Gospel of peace, freedom in Christ to the metropolis of the Gentiles.[37]
Adrian Fortescue wrote that Leo XIII "begins by explaining again that the ancient Eastern rites are a witness to the Apostolicity of the Catholic Church, that their diversity, consistent with unity of the faith, is itself a witness to the unity of the Church, that they add to her dignity and honour. He says that the Catholic Church does not possess one rite only, but that she embraces all the ancient rites of Christendom; her unity consists not in a mechanical uniformity of all her parts, but on the contrary, in their variety, according in one principle and vivified by it."[38]
Leo XIII declared still in forcePope Benedict XIV'sencyclicalDemandatam, addressed to the Patriarch and the Bishops of theMelkite Catholic Church, in which Benedict XIV forbade Latin Church clergy to induce Melkite Catholics to transfer to the Roman Rite, and he broadened this prohibition to cover all Eastern Catholics, declaring: "Any Latin rite missionary, whether of the secular or religious clergy, who induces with his advice or assistance any Eastern rite faithful to transfer to the Latin rite, will be deposed and excluded from his benefice in addition to theipso facto suspensiona divinis and other punishments that he will incur as imposed in the aforesaid ConstitutionDemandatam."[37]
There had been confusion on the part of Western clergy about the legitimate presence of Eastern Catholic Churches in countries seen as belonging to the West, despite firm and repeated papal confirmation of these churches' universal character. TheSecond Vatican Council brought the reform impulse to visible fruition. Several documents, from both during and after the Second Vatican Council, have led to significant reform and development within Eastern Catholic Churches.[39][40]
Bishops, including Eastern Catholic ones as seen in their distinctive vestments, assisting at the Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council directed, inOrientalium Ecclesiarum, that the traditions of Eastern Catholic Churches should be maintained. It declared that "it is the mind of the Catholic Church that each individual Church or Rite should retain its traditions whole and entire and likewise that it should adapt its way of life to the different needs of time and place" (n. 2), and that they should all "preserve their legitimate liturgical rite and their established way of life, and ... these may not be altered except to obtain for themselves an organic improvement" (n. 6; cf. n. 22).[18]
It confirmed and approved the ancient discipline of the sacraments existing in the Eastern churches, and the ritual practices connected with their celebration and administration, and declared its ardent desire that this should be re-established if circumstances warranted (n. 12). It applied this in particular to administration of sacrament ofConfirmation by priests (n. 13). It expressed the wish that, where the permanentdiaconate (ordination as deacons of men who are not intended afterwards to become priests) had fallen into disuse, it should be restored (n. 17).
Paragraphs 7–11 are devoted to the powers of the patriarchs and major archbishops of the Eastern Churches, whose rights and privileges, it says, should be re-established in accordance with the ancient tradition of each of the churches and the decrees of theecumenical councils, adapted somewhat to modern conditions. Where there is a need, new patriarchates should be established either by an ecumenical council or by the Bishop of Rome.
The Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,Lumen gentium, deals with Eastern Catholic Churches in paragraph 23, stating:
Bydivine Providence it has come about that various churches, established in various places by the apostles and their successors, have in the course of time coalesced into several groups, organically united, which, preserving the unity of faith and the unique divine constitution of the universal Church, enjoy their own discipline, their own liturgical usage, and their own theological and spiritual heritage. Some of these churches, notably the ancient patriarchal churches, as parent-stocks of the Faith, so to speak, have begotten others as daughter churches, with which they are connected down to our own time by a close bond of charity in their sacramental life and in their mutual respect for their rights and duties. This variety of local churches with one common aspiration is splendid evidence of the catholicity of the undivided Church. In like manner the Episcopal bodies of today are in a position to render a manifold and fruitful assistance, so that this collegiate feeling may be put into practical application.[41]
The First Vatican Council discussed the need for a common code for the Eastern churches, but no concrete action was taken. Only after the benefits of the Latin Church's1917 Code of Canon Law were appreciated was a serious effort made to codify the Eastern Catholic Churches' canon laws.[43]: 27 This came to fruition with the promulgation of the 1990Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, which took effect in 1991. It is a framework document that contains canons that are a consequence of thecommon patrimony of the churches of the East: each individualsui iuris church also has its own canons, its own particular law, layered on top of this code.
In 1993 theJoint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church submitted the documentUniatism, method of union of the past, and the present search for full communion, also known as theBalamand declaration, "to the authorities of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches for approval and application,"[44]which stated that initiatives that "led to the union of certain communities with the See of Rome and brought with them, as a consequence, the breaking of communion with their Mother Churches of the East ... took place not without the interference of extra-ecclesial interests".[44]: n. 8
Likewise the commission acknowledged that "certain civil authorities [who] made attempts" to force Eastern Catholics to return to the Orthodox Church used "unacceptable means".[44]: n. 11 The missionary outlook andproselytism that accompanied the Unia[44]: n. 10 was judged incompatible with the rediscovery by the Catholic and Orthodox churches of each other as sister churches.[44]: n. 12 Thus the commission concluded that the "missionary apostolate, ... which has been called 'uniatism', can no longer be accepted either as a method to be followed or as a model of the unity our Churches are seeking."[44]: n. 12
At the same time, the commission stated:
that Eastern Catholic Churches, being part of the Catholic Communion, have the right to exist and to act in response to the spiritual needs of their faithful;[44]: n. 3
that Oriental Catholic Churches, which desired to re-establish full communion with the See of Rome and have remained faithful to it, have the rights and obligations connected with this communion.[44]: n. 16
These principles were repeated in the 2016Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, which stated that 'It is today clear that the past method of “uniatism”, understood as the union of one community to the other, separating it from its Church, is not the way to re-establish unity. Nonetheless, the ecclesial communities which emerged in these historical circumstances have the right to exist and to undertake all that is necessary to meet the spiritual needs of their faithful, while seeking to live in peace with their neighbours. Orthodox and Greek Catholics are in need of reconciliation and of mutually acceptable forms of co–existence.'[45]
The 1996Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches brought together, in one place, the developments that took place in previous texts,[46] and is "an expository expansion based upon the canons, with constant emphasis upon the preservation of Eastern liturgical traditions and a return to those usages whenever possible—certainly in preference to the usages of theLatin Church, however much some principles and norms of theconciliar constitution on the Roman rite, "in the very nature of things, affect otherrites as well."[43]: 998 TheInstruction states:
The liturgical laws valid for all the Eastern Churches are important because they provide the general orientation. However, being distributed among various texts, they risk remaining ignored, poorly coordinated and poorly interpreted. It seemed opportune, therefore, to gather them in a systematic whole, completing them with further clarification: thus, the intent of the Instruction, presented to the Eastern Churches which are in full communion with theApostolic See, is to help them fully realize their own identity. The authoritative general directive of this Instruction, formulated to be implemented in Eastern celebrations and liturgical life, articulates itself in propositions of a juridical-pastoral nature, constantly taking initiative from a theological perspective.[46]: n. 5
Past interventions by the Holy See, the Instruction said, were in some ways defective and needed revision, but often served also as a safeguard against aggressive initiatives.
These interventions felt the effects of the mentality and convictions of the times, according to which a certain subordination of the non-Latin liturgies was perceived toward the Latin-Rite liturgy which was considered "rituspraestantior".[h] This attitude may have led to interventions in the Eastern liturgical texts which today, in light of theological studies and progress, have need of revision, in the sense of a return to ancestral traditions. The work of the commissions, nevertheless, availing themselves of the best experts of the times, succeeded in safeguarding a major part of the Eastern heritage, often defending it against aggressive initiatives and publishing precious editions of liturgical texts for numerous Eastern Churches. Today, particularly after the solemn declarations of the Apostolic LetterOrientalium dignitas by Leo XIII, after the creation of the still active special Commission for the liturgy within the Congregation for the Eastern Churches in 1931, and above all after the Second Vatican Council and the Apostolic LetterOrientale Lumen by John Paul II, respect for the Eastern liturgies is an indisputable attitude and the Apostolic See can offer a more complete service to the Churches.[46]: n. 24
Under theCode of Canons of the Eastern Churches, the pope has supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary authority in the whole Catholic Church, which he can always freely exercise, including the Eastern Catholic churches.[47][i]
Within their propersui iuris churches there is no difference between patriarchs and major archbishops. However, differences exist in theorder of precedence (i.e. patriarchs take precedence over major archbishops) and in the mode of accession: The election of a major archbishop has to be confirmed by the pope before he may take office.[50] No papal confirmation is needed for newly elected patriarchs before they take office. They are just required to request as soon as possible that the pope grant themfull ecclesiastical communion.[51][j]
There are significant differences between various Eastern Catholic churches, regarding their present organizational structure. Major Eastern Catholic churches, that are headed by their patriarchs, major archbishops or metropolitans, have fully developed structure and functioning internal autonomy based on the existence of ecclesiastical provinces. On the other hand, minor Eastern Catholic churches often have only one or two hierarchs (in the form of eparchs, apostolic exarchs, or apostolic visitors) and only the most basic forms of internal organization if any, like theBelarusian Greek Catholic Church or theRussian Greek Catholic Church.[53] Individual eparchies of some Eastern Catholic churches may be suffragan to Latin metropolitans. For example, theGreek Catholic Eparchy of Križevci is suffragan to theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Zagreb.[54] Also, some minor Eastern Catholic churches have Latin prelates. For example, theMacedonian Greek Catholic Church is organized as a singleEparchy of Strumica-Skopje, whose present ordinary is the Roman Catholic bishop ofSkopje.[55] The organization of theAlbanian Greek Catholic Church is unique in that it consists of an "Apostolic Administration".[56]
Although every diocese in the Catholic Church is considered aparticular church, the word is not applied in the same sense as to the 24sui iuris particular churches: the Latin Church and the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches.[citation needed]
Canonically, each Eastern Catholic Church issui iuris or autonomous with respect to other Catholic churches, whether Latin or Eastern, though all accept the spiritual and juridicalsupreme authority of the pope. Thus a Maronite Catholic is normally directly subject only to a Maronite bishop. However, if members of a particular church are so few that no hierarchy of their own has been established, their spiritual care is entrusted to a bishop of another ritual church. For instance, members of the Latin Church inEritrea are under the care of the Eastern riteEritrean Catholic Church, whereas the other way around may be the case in other parts of the world.[citation needed]
Theologically, all the particular churches can be viewed as "sister churches".[57] According to theSecond Vatican Council these Eastern Catholic churches, along with the larger Latin Church, share "equal dignity, so that none of them is superior to the others as regards rite, and they enjoy the same rights and are under the same obligations, also in respect of preaching theGospel to the whole world (cf.Mark 16:15) under the guidance of theRoman Pontiff."[18]: n. 3
The Eastern Catholic churches are infull communion with the whole Catholic Church. While they accept the canonical authority of the Holy See of Rome, they retain their distinctiveliturgical rites, laws, customs and traditional devotions, and have their own theological emphases. Terminology may vary: for instance,diocese andeparchy,vicar general andprotosyncellus,confirmation andchrismation are respectively Western and Eastern terms for the same realities. The mysteries (sacraments) ofbaptism and chrismation are generally administered, according to the ancient tradition of the church, one immediately after the other. Infants who are baptized and chrismated are also given theEucharist.[58]
The Eastern Catholic churches are represented in theHoly See and theRoman Curia through theDicastery for the Eastern Churches, which is "made up of a Cardinal Prefect (who directs and represents it with the help of a Secretary) and 27 cardinals, one archbishop and 4 bishops, designated by the popead quinquennium (for a five-year period). Members by right are the Patriarchs and the Major Archbishops of the Oriental Churches and the President of thePontifical Council for the Promotion of Unity among Christians."[59]
While "clerics and members ofinstitutes of consecrated life are bound to observe their own rite faithfully",[60] priests are occasionally given permission to celebrate the liturgy of a rite other than the priest's own rite, by what is known as a grant of "biritual faculties". The reason for this permission is usually the service of Catholics who have no priest of their own rite. Thus priests of theSyro-Malabar Church working as missionaries in areas of India in which there are no structures of their own Church, are authorized to use the Roman Rite in those areas, and Latin priests are, after due preparation, given permission to use an Eastern rite for the service of members of an Eastern Catholic Church living in a country in which there are no priests of their own particular Church. Popes are permitted to celebrate a Mass or Divine Liturgy of any rite in testament to the Catholic Church's universal nature. John Paul II celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Ukraine during his pontificate.
For a just cause, and with the permission of the local bishop, priests of different autonomous ritual churches may concelebrate; however, the rite of the principal celebrant is used whilst each priest wears thevestments of his own rite.[61] No indult of bi-ritualism is required for this.
Biritual faculties may concern not only clergy but alsoreligious, enabling them to become members of an institute of an autonomous Church other than their own.[62]
Eastern and Western Christian churches have different traditions concerningclerical celibacy and the resulting controversies have played a role in the relationship between the two groups in someWestern countries.
Most Eastern Churches distinguish between monastic and non-monastic clergy.Monastics do not necessarily live in monasteries, but have spent at least part of their period of training in such a context. Theirmonastic vows include a vow of celibate chastity.
Bishops are normally selected from the monastic clergy, and in most Eastern Catholic Churches a large percentage of priests and deacons also are celibate, while a large portion of the parish priests are married, having taken a wife when they were still laymen.[64] If someone preparing for the diaconate or priesthood wishes to marry, this must happen before ordination.
In territories where Eastern traditions prevail, married clergy caused little controversy, but aroused opposition inside traditionally Latin Church territories to which Eastern Catholics migrated;[citation needed] this was particularly so in the United States.[dubious –discuss] In response to requests from the Latin bishops of those countries, theCongregation for the Propagation of the Faith set out rules in an 1890 letter toFrançois-Marie-Benjamin Richard,archbishop of Paris,[65] which the Congregation applied on 1 May 1897 to the United States, stating that only celibates or widowed priests coming without their children should be permitted in the United States.[66][full citation needed]
This celibacy mandate for Eastern Catholic priests in the United States was restated with special reference toRuthenians by the 1 March 1929 decreeCum data fuerit, which was renewed for a further ten years in 1939. Dissatisfaction by many Ruthenian Catholics in the United States gave rise to theAmerican Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese.[67] The mandate, which applied in some other countries also,[which?] was removed by a decree of June 2014.[68]
While most Eastern Catholic Churches admit married men to ordination as priests, some have adopted mandatory clerical celibacy, as in the Latin Church. These include the India-based Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and Syro-Malabar Catholic Church,[69][70] and theCoptic Catholic Church.[63]
In 2014,Pope Francis approved new norms for married clergy within Eastern Catholic Churches throughCCEO canon 758 § 3.[citation needed] The new norms abrogated previous norms and now allow those Eastern Catholic Churches with married clergy to ordain married men inside traditionally Latin territories and to grantfaculties inside traditionally Latin territories to married Eastern Catholic clergy previously ordained elsewhere.[71] This latter change will allow married Eastern Catholic priests to follow their faithful to whatever country they may immigrate to, addressing an issue which has arisen with the migration of Christians from Eastern Europe and the Middle East in recent decades.[72][as of?]
The Holy See'sAnnuario Pontificio gives the following list of Eastern Catholic churches with the principalepiscopal see of each and the countries (or larger political areas) where they haveecclesiastical jurisdiction, to which are here added the date of union or foundation in parentheses and the membership in brackets. The total membership for all Eastern Catholic churches is at least 18,047,000 people.
Eastern Catholic Churches Jurisdiction and bishop numbers from GCatholic[73] (current as of July 9, 2019) Membership numbers fromAnnuario Pontificio (2023)[2][note 1][note 2]
^abThe Greek Byzantine Catholic Church comprises two independentapostolic exarchates coveringGreece andTurkey respectively, each immediately subject to the Holy See.
^Kiro Stojanov serves as bishop of the Macedonian Eparchy of the Assumption in addition to his primary duties as the Latin Church bishop of Skopje, and so GCatholic only counts him as a Latin Church bishop.
^abThe Russian Greek Catholic Church comprises twoapostolic exarchates (one forRussia and one forChina), each immediately subject to the Holy See and each vacant for decades. BishopJoseph Werth ofNovosibirsk has been appointed by the Holy See as ordinary to the Eastern Catholic faithful in Russia, although not as exarch of the dormant apostolic exarchate and without the creation of a formal ordinariate.
^The Ruthenian Catholic Church does not have a unified structure. It includes a Metropolia based in Pittsburgh, which covers the entire United States, but also an eparchy in Ukraine and an apostolic exarchate in the Czech Republic, both of which are directly subject to the Holy See.
^Five of the ordinariates for Eastern Catholics are multi-ritual, encompassing the faithful of all Eastern Catholicism within their territory not otherwise subject to a local ordinary of their own rite. Thesixth is exclusively Byzantine, but covers all Byzantine Catholics in Austria, no matter which particular Byzantine Church they belong to.
^Technically, each of these ordinariates has an ordinary who is a bishop, but all of the bishops are Latin bishops whose primary assignment is to a Latin see.
A study by Methodios Stadnik states: "The Georgian Byzantine Catholic Exarch, Fr. Shio Batmanishviii [sic], and two Georgian Catholic priests of the Latin Church were executed by the Soviet authorities in 1937 after having been held in captivity in Solovki prison and the northern gulags from 1923."[78] Christopher Zugger writes, inThe Forgotten: "By 1936, theByzantine Catholic Church of Georgia had two communities, served by a bishop and four priests, with 8,000 believers", and he identifies the bishop as Shio Batmalashvili.[79]Vasyl Ovsiyenko [uk] mentions, on theUkrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union website, that "the Catholic administrator for Georgia Shio Batmalashvili" was one of those executed as "anti-Soviet elements" in 1937.[80]
Zugger calls Batmalashvili a bishop; Stadnik is ambiguous, calling him an exarch but giving him the title of Father; Ovsiyenko merely refers to him as "the Catholic administrator" without specifying whether he was a bishop or a priest and whether he was in charge of a Latin or a Byzantine jurisdiction.[citation needed]
If Batmalashvili was anexarch, and not instead a bishop connected with the Latindiocese of Tiraspol, which had its seat atSaratov on theVolga River, to which Georgian Catholics even of Byzantine rite belonged[81] this would mean that a Georgian Byzantine-Rite Catholic Church existed, even if only as a local particular Church. However, since the establishment of a new hierarchical jurisdiction must be published inActa Apostolicae Sedis, and no mention of the setting up of such a jurisdiction for Byzantine Georgian Catholics exists in that official gazette of the Holy See, the claim appears to be unfounded.
The 1930s editions ofAnnuario Pontificio do not mention Batmalashvili. If indeed he was a bishop, he may then have been one of those secretly ordained for the service of the Church in theSoviet Union by French Jesuit BishopMichel d'Herbigny, who was president of thePontifical Commission for Russia from 1925 to 1934. In the circumstances of that time, the Holy See would have been incapable of setting up a new Byzantine exarchate within the Soviet Union, since Greek Catholics in the Soviet Union were being forced to join theRussian Orthodox Church.[citation needed]
Batmalashvili's name is not among those given in as the four "underground" apostolic administrators (only one of whom appears to have been a bishop) for the four sections into which the diocese of Tiraspol was divided after the resignation in 1930 of its already exiled last bishop,Josef Alois Kessler.[82] This source gives Father Stefan Demurow asapostolic administrator of "Tbilisi and Georgia" and says he was executed in 1938. Other sources associate Demurow withAzerbaijan and say that, rather than being executed, he died in aSiberianGulag.[83]
Until 1994, the United Statesannual publicationCatholic Almanac listed "Georgian" among the Greek Catholic churches.[84] Until corrected in 1995, it appears to have been also making a mistake about the Czech Greek Catholics.
There was a short-lived Greek Catholic movement among the ethnic Estonians in the Orthodox Church in Estonia during theinterwar period of the 20th century, consisting of two to three parishes, not raised to the level of a local particular church with its own head. This group was liquidated by the Soviet regime and is now extinct.[citation needed]
While not subject to the kind of physical dangers or persecution from government authorities encountered in Eastern Europe or the Middle East, adherents of Eastern Catholic Churches in United States, most of whom were relatively new immigrants from Eastern Europe, encountered difficulties due to hostility from the Latin Church clergy who dominated the Catholic hierarchy in United States who found them alien. In particular, immigration of Eastern Catholic priests who were married, common in their churches but extremely rare in Latin churches, was forbidden or severely limited and some Latin Church bishops actively interfered with the pastoral work of those who did arrive. Some bishops sought to forbid all non-Latin Catholic priests from coming to United States at all. Many Eastern Catholic immigrants to United States were thus either assimilated into the Latin Church or joined the Eastern Orthodox Church. One former Eastern Catholic priest, Alexis Toth, left the Catholic Church following criticism and sanctions from Latin authorities includingJohn Ireland, the Bishop ofSaint Paul, and joining the Orthodox Church. Toth has been canonized as an Eastern Orthodox saint for having led as many as 20,000 disaffected former Eastern Catholics to the Orthodox Church, particularly theAmerican Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese.
^In some historical cases, they are referred to asUniates.
^"Catholic ministers licitly administer the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick to members of Eastern churches which do not have full communion with the Catholic Church if they seek such on their own accord and are properly disposed. This is also valid for members of other Churches which in the judgment of the Apostolic See have the same beliefs in regard to the sacraments as these Eastern Churches"[5]
^"The Catholic Church is also called the Roman Church to emphasize that the centre of unity, which is essential for the Universal Church, is the Roman See"[11]
^Examples of the use of "Roman Catholic Church" by popes, even when not addressing members of non-Catholic churches, are the encyclicalsDivini illius Magistri andHumani generis, andPope John Paul II's address at the 26 June 1985 general audience, in which he treated "Roman Catholic Church" as synonymous with "Catholic Church".[12] The term "Roman Catholic Church" is repeatedly used to refer to the whole Church in communion with the see of Rome, including Eastern Catholics, in official documents concerning dialogue between the Church as a whole (not just the Western part) and groups outside her fold. Examples of such documents can be found at the links on the Vatican website under the headingPontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. TheHoly See presently does not use "Roman Catholic Church" to refer only to the Western or Latin Church. In theFirst Vatican Council'sDogmatic Constitutionde fide catholica, the phrasethe Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church (Sancta catholica apostolica Romana ecclesia) also refers to something other than the Latin or Western Church.
^Some Eastern Catholics who use the Byzantine liturgical rite and call themselves "Byzantine Catholics" deny that they are "Roman Catholics", using this word to mean either Catholics who use the Roman Rite or perhaps the whole Latin Church, including those parts that use theAmbrosian Rite or other non-Roman liturgical rites: "We're Byzantine rite, which is Catholic, but not Roman Catholic"[13]
^The term was used by theHoly See, for example,Pope Benedict XIV inEx quo primum.[24] TheCatholic Encyclopedia consistently used the termUniat to refer to Eastern Catholics, stating: "The 'Uniat Church' is therefore really synonymous with 'Eastern Churches united to Rome', and 'Uniats' is synonymous with 'Eastern Christians united with Rome'.[25]
^"In the third sitting of the Council, Julian, after mutual congratulations, showed that the principal points of dispute between the Greeks and Latins were in the doctrine (a) on the procession of theHoly Ghost, (b) onazymes in the Eucharist, (c) on purgatory, and (d) on the Papal supremacy"[29]
^Ritus praestantior means "preeminent rite" or "more excelling rite".
^abcCatholic Church. Second Vatican Council; Pope Paul VI (1964-11-21).Orientalium Ecclesiarum. Vatican City.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^"The Word 'Uniate'".oca.org. Syosset, NY: The Orthodox Church in America.Archived from the original on 17 June 2016.The term commonly refers to those Orthodox Christians who left Orthodoxy and acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome while retaining the rites and practices observed by Orthodoxy. [...] The term 'uniate' is seen as negative by such individuals, who are more commonly referred to as Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, Greek Catholics, Eastern Rite Catholics, Melkite Catholics, or any number of other titles.
^"The Catholic Eastern Churches".cnewa.org. New York:Catholic Near East Welfare Association.Archived from the original on 22 June 2011.It should be mentioned that in the past the Eastern Catholic churches were often referred to as 'Uniate' churches. Since the term is now considered derogatory, it is no longer used.
^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Vailhé, Siméon (1909). "Greek Church". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^abcDonald Attwater (1937). Joseph Husslein (ed.).The Christian Churches of the East: Volume I: Churches in Communion With Rome.Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company.
^Roberson, Ronald G."The Eastern Catholic Churches 2016"(PDF).Eastern Catholic Churches Statistics. Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved29 November 2016.
^Catholic Church. Second Vatican Council; Pope Paul VI (1964-11-21).Lumen gentium. Vatican City. n. 23.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Catholic Church. Second Vatican Council; Pope Paul VI (1964-11-21).Unitatis Redintegratio. Vatican City. nn. 14–17.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^abcdefghJoint international commission for the theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.Uniatism, method of union of the past, and the present search for full communion. Seventh plenary session of the joint international commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Balamand, Lebanon. June 17–24, 1993. Archived fromthe original on 2003-12-23.
^abGaladza, Peter (2010)."Eastern Catholic Christianity". In Parry, Kenneth (ed.).The Blackwell companion to Eastern Christianity. Blackwell companions to religion. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 303.ISBN978-1-4443-3361-9.
Faris, John D., & Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv., eds.A Practical Commentary to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, 2 vols. Montréal: Librairie Wilson & Lafleur, 2019.
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