TheEastern Catholic Churches of theCatholic Church utilizeliturgies originating inEastern Christianity, distinguishing them from the majority ofCatholic liturgies which are celebrated according to theLatin liturgical rites of theLatin Church. While some of thesesui iuris churches use the sameliturgical ritual families as other Eastern Catholic churches and Eastern churches not infull communion withRome, each church retains the right to institute its owncanonical norms,liturgical books, and practices for theritual celebration of theEucharist, othersacraments, andcanonical hours.[1]
Historically, tension between Latin Catholics and those worshipping with Eastern liturgies resulted in thelatinization, restriction, or prohibition of Eastern liturgies within the Catholic Church. Since the early 20th century,popes have encouraged the usage of traditional liturgies among Eastern Catholics and delatinization. Further emphasis on Eastern Catholic liturgical practice was made during theSecond Vatican Council with the publication of the 1964Orientalium Ecclesiarum.
While theEastern Catholic Churches areautonomous particular churches that practice multiple liturgical rites, they have been collectively addressed as "Eastern-rite Churches" to distinguish themselves from theLatin Church and itsLatin liturgical rites.[2] The term "rite" has also been used to meansui iuris particular churches; theSecond Vatican Council's 1964 decreesOrientalium Ecclesiarum specified that, withinCatholic contexts, "rite" addresses the particular "liturgy, ecclesiastical discipline and spiritual heritage" of a given group of Christians.[3][4]: 369–370 Increasingly, the term "rite" has been considered more appropriate only when discussingliturgical ritual families[5]: 63 or the ritual celebration of theEucharist, othersacraments, andcanonical hours.[1][4]: 375–376
Some liturgical rites used by Eastern Catholics possess multiple names, both within the same church or to distinguish use of the same rite by different churches.[6] For example, in the context of theMelkite Greek Catholic Church, theByzantine Rite has also been called the "Greek Rite" while Melkite worship according to this rite has also been called the "Melkite Rite".[7][8] Additionally, the specific version of the Byzantine Rite used by Melkites might be referred to as the Melkite "recension" of that rite;[9] the term "use" is also applied to this concept among other Eastern Catholics such as theMaronite Church's permutation of theWest Syriac Rite.[10]: xv
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The Byzantine Rite was regularly practiced in territories adjacent to traditionally Latin liturgical regions in the southernItalian peninsula andSicily through the first millennium, the result of hellenizedmonasteries and political divisions. This lineage of Byzantine ritual practice within Latindioceses survived inReggio Calabria until the early 18th century, but was gradually absorbed following an influx ofAlbanian immigrants in the 15th century; this later lineage forms the historic basis of theItalo-Albanian Catholic Church.[11]
Michael Rohoza, theMetropolitan of Kiev and all Rus', spent the latter years of the 16th century pushing for union between theEastern Orthodox Church and Rome on the terms of theCouncil of Florence.[12]: 406–408 TheUnion of Brest in 1595-1596 was an agreement amongRuthenian members of the Eastern Orthodox Church to break withConstantinople and enter intofull communion with thepope and Catholic Church. The union, both political and religious in nature, saw a list of 35 concessions written by Eastern Orthodoxeparchs that would preserve their Byzantine liturgical practices.[13] The accepted terms, particularly with regard to retaining Byzantine liturgy and not requiring theFilioque within theNicene Creed, were assessed as "remarkably liberal" by historianWalter Frederic Adeney.[12]: 408 TheRuthenian Uniate Church would be among the bodies formed from those who became Catholic under this union and it evolved intoUkrainian Greek Catholic Church, the largest Eastern Catholic Church.[14]
Other Eastern Catholics saw their liturgies largely treated with suspicion from the Latin Church and the broad introduction ofLiturgical Latinization, wherein Latin practices were added to or replaced native ritual. Among these were theMaronites of theLevant and theSyrian Christians of theMalabar Coast ofIndia that eventually became theSyro-Malabar Catholic Church.[15] The latter group resisted Latin impositions, resulting in significant schism.[16]
In 1964 at the Second Vatican Council, the decreeOrientalium Ecclesiarum was issued. This document sought to improve unity both between Latin and Eastern Catholics and between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Christian churches while placing a renewed emphasis on the distinctive elements of each tradition.[4]: 365 These elements included not only liturgy but alsocanon law and autonomous administration. Scholarship on Eastern Catholic spirituality and liturgy benefited from the decree, resulting in some Eastern Catholics "rediscovering their own distinctive liturgicalvestments and actions."[17]Orientalium Ecclesiarum also sought to undo "mutilations" accrued within Eastern Catholic liturgies through latinization and ethnic interests;Boniface Luykx appraised these efforts as incomplete 30 years after the council.[4]: 377, 384 The process of reviving Eastern Catholic patrimony was bolstered by the post-conciliarCode of Canons for the Eastern Churches–containing the revisedEastern Catholic canon law–and the 1996Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches–which provided guidance on further implementing objectives described inOrientalium Ecclesiarum.[18]
"Latinization" was a general name applied to efforts to modify Eastern Catholic practices with "the spirit, practices and priorities of Latin liturgy and theology." These processes were sometimes imposed by Latin authorities upon Eastern Catholics, though it was not uncommon for some Eastern Catholics to self-latinize.[19]
Despite long-standing claims from members of the Maronite Church, communion between Rome andMaronites was inconsistent from their origins by the 6th century until the 12th century. Following the stabilization of communion, the West Syriac liturgies of the Maronite Church were gradually modified to matchRoman Rite liturgies and norms. For instance, the practice ofcommunicating infants was prohibited byPope Benedict XIV. The Maronite liturgies as they existed in the early 20th century were considered "disfigured" by this latinization and were distinguished from other Eastern Catholic liturgies by the significant adaptation to Roman Rite forms.[20]
The arrival of the Portuguese on the Malabar Coast saw efforts to integrate the indigenousSaint Thomas Christians into the LatinPadroado ecclesiastical structure. The 1599Synod of Diamper was the result of thePadroado efforts, bolstered byJesuit missionaries. The synod prohibited nativeEast Syriac Rite practices–these practices likely closely related to those of theApostolic Assyrians–and subordinated Saint Thomas Christians to Latinordinaries. Resentment towards this arrangement spurred the 1653Coonan Cross Oath and the establishment of theMalankara Church.[21]
While some Saint Thomas Christians remained in communion with Rome or returned shortly after the 1653 oath, others joined the Malankara Church that has itself divided into several churches, some influenced or in communion with theSyriac Orthodox Church. Late 19th-century efforts by Syro-Malabar Catholics to achieve greater ecclesial and liturgical autonomy failed to subordinate them to theChaldean Catholic Church but resulted in the creation of a papal commission in 1934 to create a de-latinizedpontifical. This process of de-latinization has continued progressively with opposition from a significant proportion of the Syro-Malabar; the debate continues to divide the church.[22] Also in the 20th-century, the creation of theSyro-Malankara Catholic Church for Saint Thomas Christians converts from theMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church–previously in communion with the Syriac Orthodox–that used theMalankara Rite version of theWest Syriac Rite saw efforts to address latinization within that church, sometimes leading to increased rifts between them and the Latin Catholics in India.[23]
At the 1720Synod of Zamość, the Ruthenian Uniate Church unilaterally authorized "latinizing" modifications to theirDivine Liturgy to emphasize unity with Latin Catholics. These alterations included the insertion of theFilioque into the creed and a commemoration of the pope in theEktene.Russian Orthodox commentators would harshly criticize the move, while later Catholic criticism would point to the unmodified Byzantine liturgies of the Melkite, Italo-Albanian, andRomanian Greek Catholics as evidence that the 1720 revisions were unnecessary.[6] The synod's Latinizations have also been contrasted with the guidance described withinOrientalium Ecclesiarum.[4]: 377 Latinization of the Byzantine Rite continued in the successive centuries in both Europe and the United States due to influence from the Latin Church. For the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the United States, Latinization was slowed during the 20th century by the arrival of educated native clergy and increased independence, particularly following the increased repression of theUkrainian Greek Catholic Church in the Soviet Union in 1945–1946. These de-latinization trends continued in the 50 years following the Second Vatican Council.[24]
A form of theAnaphora of Addai and Mari, an East Syriacanaphora, was adapted for use by Eastern Catholics. The anaphora has traditionally lacked explicitWords of Institution–"Take and eat; this is my body...Take and drink: this is my blood...Do this in memory of me"–which the Catholic Church has long held as necessary for the consecration of theEucharist; an explicit narrative of consecration was introduced to the Catholic version of the anaphora. The matter became anecumenical barrier between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church. Ultimately, thePontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity issued a statement that the unmodified Anaphora of Addai and Mari without the institution narrative implicitly consecrates the Eucharist. This allowed theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to formally approve reciprocal admission to the Eucharist between Chaldean Catholics and Assyrians in 2001. The decision was met with criticism by sometraditionalist Latin theologians and church officials.[25] Chaldean Eucharistic liturgies—such as that celebrated byPope Francis during his2021 visit to Iraq—are still celebrated with the Words of Institution and the 2001 document encourages clergy of the Assyrian Church of the East to include them when Chaldeans are in attendance.[26]
While Eastern Catholic liturgies vary, the rituals celebrated generally have corresponding liturgies in the Latin liturgical rites and the other Eastern rites. For example, the Eucharistic celebration of theMass in the Latin rites is analogous to the Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine andAlexandrian liturgical rites, theHoly Qurbono of the West Syriac Rite, theHoly Qurbana of the Eastern Syriac Rite, and the Eucharistic celebrations of theArmenian Rite. Just as there exist Latincanonical hours according to texts including theRoman Breviary andLiturgy of the Hours, so too are there forms in each form of Eastern Catholic liturgy. These and other rituals are typically contained within authorizedliturgical books.[27]
The celebration of a specific Catholic sacramental liturgy is only permitted by those clergy canonically approved to utilize the form. As such, only clergy of a particular church that uses a rite may celebrate according to that rite, with exceptions among priests with bi-ritual faculties, who have received canonical approval to celebrate according to multiple forms. Both Latin and Eastern Catholic clergy can possess bi-ritual faculties; before it was normative for Latin Church liturgies to be in the vernacular, bi-ritual Latin clergy including BishopFulton J. Sheen would celebrate Eastern Catholic liturgies in the vernacular.[28][29] Attendance and reception of the Eucharist is permitted among all Catholics at all Catholic liturgies, regardless of which particular church a person is canonically a member of; attendance of an Eastern Catholic Eucharistic liturgy fulfills the LatinSunday obligation.[30]
Descending from theLiturgy of Saint Mark, the Alexandrian Rite has been influenced by multiple other rites, particularly Byzantine ritual.[31] Alexandrian liturgical rites are used by theCoptic Catholic Church (which practices according to theCoptic Rite),Ethiopian Catholic Church,[32] andEritrean Catholic Church; the latter was separated from the Ethiopian Catholic Church in 2015.[33] WhileCoptic–a linguistic descendant ofAncient Egyptian–was long used in Coptic liturgies, Arabic replaced it in common practice by the early 20th century;[34] in 1906, Coptic Catholics celebrating the canonical hours according to theAgpeya would do so officially in Arabic.[10]: 140, 146 Ethiopian liturgies utilizedGe'ez as aliturgical language and are subsequently sometimes known as the Ge'ez Rite.[35]
The present Catholic Eucharistic liturgies in the Alexandrian rites contain little of the original Liturgy of Saint Mark, with the exception of an anaphora composed byCyril of Alexandria in the Coptic Rite. Liturgies attributed toBasil of Caesarea andGregory Nazianzus are also used. Within the Ethiopian Catholic Church, Cyril's anaphora is the most common and also known as the Liturgy of the Twelve Apostles; Ethiopian Catholics worship according to 14 anaphoras.[32][10]: 156 The Ethiopian Catholic Church also celebrates some liturgies according to Latin practice;[35] the near complete latinization of the Pontifical Ethiopian College was a point of division between Ethiopian Catholics and Rome.[10]: 155 Catholic Ge'ez Rite altar vessels were similarly latinized and a hybridized scheme developed for using unleavened bread at the equivalent of aLow Mass while having leavened bread at the equivalent of aSolemn Mass; inEritrea, it was universal custom to use unleavened bread as in Latin practice.[10]: 156 Unique to the Catholic Ge'ez Eucharistic liturgy is the recitation of a modified form of theHail Mary.[10]: 157
Among the Coptic Catholics, theAgpeya (also transliteratedal-Agbieh) is composed of seven hours, with an extra evening office "of the Veil" (as-Satar) for clergy. Night prayer is composed of threenocturns with twelve psalms and a gospel apiece, with each followed bytroparia, prayers, and the creed. With the exception of thedawn houral-Baker with its 19 psalms, the other hours are each twelve psalms.[10]: 146 The Ge'ez Catholic Divine Office is almost entirely composed of psalms with short poems.[10]: 160 There is also a Ge'ezMarian office.[10]: 156
During the early 20th century, Ethiopian Catholics utilized Ge'ez translations of theRoman Ritual andRoman Pontifical.[10]: 156 Marriage among the Coptic Catholics remained acrowning ceremony while the Ethiopians adopted the Roman Rite's practice.[10]: 148, 160 Infant baptism among Coptic Catholics is a lengthy rite featuring the anointment of the child with theoil of catechumens and followed immediately by theinfant being confirmed.[10]: 146–147 Ordination rites among Coptic Catholics vary betweenminor orders and those for deacons, priests, and bishops; diaconal and presbyterial candidates receive twoimpositions of the ordaining bishop's right hand on their head while episcopal ordinands receive impositions twice on their shoulders and forearms followed by the ordaining bishop breathing on their face.[10]: 147
Armenian_Catholic_Church_Lidcombe-3.jpg)
The only Eastern Catholics who worship according to the Armenian Rite, theArmenian Catholic Church, celebrate in its traditional liturgical language,Classical Armenian. It is a development of the originally GreekLiturgy of Saint Basil with attributes modified along Antiochene lines.[31] Other modifications unique to the Armenian Rite as used by Eastern Catholics can be traced to Latin influence during theCrusades. Some long-standing communities of Armenian Catholics in Europe have unique ritual practices divorced entirely from the Armenian Rite in everything but language.[36]: 45–46
The Armenian Catholic Divine Office is divided into nine hours. Each of these hours are associated with a particulardevotion, including to the threePersons of theTrinity, and are composed primarily of psalms, variable hymns known askanons, and other prayers. The psalms are divided into seven groups for each day of the week. Some of thekanons are attributed toNerses IV the Gracious while some of the prayers are attributed to John Mantaguni.[10]: 219 Mantaguni is credited with assembling much of the Armenian Catholic Divine Office.[37] Recitation of the Divine Office has been required among Armenian Catholic clergy since 1911.[10]: 220
The Eucharistic liturgy was traditionally celebrated in aquiet, almost inaudible voice while the choir or people sing, only ending his prayers aloud. Armenian Catholics only worship with a single anaphora.[10]: 45 The liturgy begins with the celebrant washing his hands while recitingPsalm 25.[10]: 213 The hymns sung by the choir and people follow the season or feast;[10]: 214 the calendar only contains seven fixed-date feasts with the remainder falling on a Sunday.[10]: 221
Formal celebration ofExtreme Unction was a long celebration that required the presence of seven priests, but this full service fell into disuse in the non-CatholicArmenian Apostolic Church by the 14th century. For practicality, Armenian Catholics had by the 20th century adopted the Roman Ritual's formula of administering unction. As in other Eastern liturgical rites, marriage involves a crowning ceremony.[10]: 221
Most Eastern Catholics worship according to the Byzantine Rite, with many of thesui iuris churches utilizing it.[31] While sharing some elements with the Latin rites, the Byzantine Rite developed around the use of Greek, thevernacular of those who worshiped according to that rite, as opposed to the former's use of Latin, an "unknown tongue" among many Western worshippers.[12]: 278 This use of the vernacular extended to other languages over the centuries, but Greek continued to be used in occasional solemn liturgies even among those who did not regularly speak it.[38] As in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Byzantine Rite as used by Eastern Catholics developed first out of theLiturgy of Saint James, a rite developed inJerusalem andAntioch, which was later modified into theLiturgies of Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Basil.[31]
At the Eucharistic liturgy, known as the Divine Liturgy, the reception of Communion differs from Latin practice, in which it was traditional toreceive only the Body directly on an extended tongue.[39] Byzantine practice typically dictates that celebrant hold the chalice's veil is held under the communicant's chin and both the Eucharistic elements–the Body having beenimmersed with a liturgical knife known as aspear into the Blood–are administered with aliturgical spoon into the communicant's mouth.[40][41] The Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom and Liturgy of Saint Basil have similar prayers and patterns for attendees, but the Liturgy of Saint Basil features longer prayers recited quietly by the celebrant.[42] The Divine Liturgy is not celebrated on "strictfast days", such as those duringGreat Lent beforePascha. A solemn evening service, theLiturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, is celebrated during these days. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts does not feature any consecration but rather Vespers followed by a distribution of previously consecrated Communion.[43]
The Catholic Byzantine Rite contains nine standard canonical hours, with these offices sometimes being referred to collectively as the "Divine Praises". The offices are contained within a liturgical book known as theHorologion. Vespers and Matins were the typical public daily liturgies prior to Latinizations–which reached their zenith among some Byzantine Rite Catholics in the 1950s–that supplanted them with daily Divine Liturgies; the Second Vatican Council would push against this trend and sought to restore regular practice of the canonical hours. This restoration of the canonical hours continued with the 1996Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. Within Catholic Greek monastic communities andRussian ("Muscovite") parishes, theall-night vigil combines the pre-Divine Liturgy offices of a feast day into a single service. This practice is extant but not normative within the Ruthenian Recension.[43]
Byzantine music is considered a culturally valuable component of the Catholic Byzantine Rite particularly with the growing number of choral compositions during the last two centuries. Among the most significant Byzantine Catholic musical traditions are those of the Ruthenians and Ukrainians, with theGreek Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia's tradition sharing much with the latter. Within the several Byzantine liturgical music traditions, differences in rhythm–particularly between those who celebrate in Greek and those who celebrate in Slavonic–are distinguishing.[5]: 46–47
The East Syriac Rite is used by Chaldean and Syro-Malabar Catholics. Sometimes called the Chaldean Rite, it is a development of Antiochene practice and was traditionally celebrated in theSyriac language.[31][44] The liturgy as used by the Chaldeans developed out ofEdessa (nowUrfa) and is almost entirely in Syriac; the Scriptural lessons and other minor elements are said in the vernacular.[36]: 162 Traditional Chaldean Catholic architecture places thesanctuary and altar behind a solid wall with three doors that can be obscured by curtains.[36]: 163 Traditional Syro-Malabar liturgical architecture is similarly distinctive, but most other elements were for a long time latinized.[36]: 185
The Eucharistic liturgies of the Chaldean and Syro-Malabar Catholics, while still both of the East Syriac Rite, accrued significant Latin elements prior to the 20th century; significant portions of the Chaldean anaphora were directly taken from the Roman Canon as a historic "hallowing" had been lost.[36]: 175, 185 A single anaphora, the Liturgy of Addai and Mari, was long used by the Syro-Malabar Catholics.[36]: 186 Since Vatican II, some Syro-Malabars have introduced theversus populum stance of the celebrant that had been widely adopted within the Roman Rite'sOrdinary Form, as opposed to the traditionalad orientem, resulting in discord within thesui iuris church and appeals to the Vatican.[45]
Chaldean Catholics have three canonical hours:Ramsha (equivalent toVespers),Lilya (a night office), andSapra (equivalent toMatins). The entire Psalter is recited over the week alongside hymns and prayers–many authored byEphrem the Syrian–with theGloria in excelsis Deo sung atSapra on Sundays and feasts. The office is sung in the churchyard rather than within the church fromAscension Day to November.[10]: 239
West Syriac liturgies descend from the Liturgy of Saint James and are in use by the Maronite Church,Syriac Catholic Church, and Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. It also influenced the Byzantine, East Syriac, and Armenian ritual families. The Syriac Catholic Church has historically utilized seven anaphoras and the Maronite Church has used eight, the latter including a newer common form based on the Roman Canon. These liturgies have traditionally been celebrated in the Syriac language.[36]: 114–115, 140 The Syro-Malankara use of the West Syriac Rite, known as theMalankara Rite, has been understood as a less modified form of the rite relative to those liturgies of Syriac Catholics and Maronites;Eucharistic adoration in the form of exposition andbenediction alongside theStations of the Cross had been introduced by the late 1930s.[10]: 199
The Syriac Catholic Church traditionally did not practiceconcelebration at their Eucharistic liturgies–though onMaundy Thursday several concurrent liturgies could be celebrated on a shared improvisedaltar–and only celebrated their form of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts onGood Friday. During a standard liturgy, it was typical for the priest to enter the sanctuary unvested to say preparatory prayers before drawing a curtain, vesting in thesacristy, and withdrawing the curtain.[10]: 171 The priestlysign of peace has been described as similar to theRoman or fascist salute in appearance.[10]: 172 The Divine Office–divided into seven hours–is largely composed of poetry and hymns, with some hours featuring no Psalms. Baptism and confirmation are celebrated in the same liturgy; marriage is divided across a rite for blessing therings followed by the Mystery of Crowning.[10]: 177–178
The Maronite Church–like that of the Italo-Albanian Byzantines–uses an Eastern Catholic liturgy without direct non-Catholic analogue.[5]: 11 Maronite liturgy and most vestments were heavily influenced by Roman practices, though post-Vatican II efforts removed some of these accretions.[10]: 171, 188–189 [17] The Maronite Eucharistic liturgy is known as theQurbono orQorbono in Syriac,Quddas in Arabic, and the Holy Mystery of Offering in English.[46][47]Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, aMaronite Patriarch of Antioch, described the MaroniteQurbono as "marked by simplicity, clarity and active participation by the congregation."[48] Among the few anaphoras included in early printings of theQurbono in Rome between 1592 and 1594 was the "Sharrar" attributed toSaint Peter; this was deleted in subsequent more latinized printings.[49] Until at least the late 17th century, it was standard for the Maronite Divine Office (Syriac:Shehimto) to be publicly said at monasteries with participation of the lay public; later Latinizations spurred by theMaronite College in Rome and changes in lifestyle saw the Divine Office become an increasingly private practice. Some efforts to incorporate more public celebrations of the offices were made in the 20th century.[27] Thefestal propers for both theQurbono andShehimto are contained within theFenqitho; prayers present in theQurbono are introduced in the morning prayer ofSafro.[50]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Italo-Greeks".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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