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 Greek Byzantine Catholic Church | |
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.jpg) Cathedral of the Holy Trinity | |
| Type | Particular church (sui iuris) |
| Classification | Eastern Catholic |
| Orientation | Eastern Christianity |
| Polity | Papal supremacy -Episcopal |
| Structure | ApostolicExarchates |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Exarch | Manuel Nin |
| Associations | Congregation for the Oriental Churches |
| Region | Greece,Turkey |
| Liturgy | Byzantine Rite |
| Headquarters | Holy Trinity Cathedral |
| Origin | June 11, 1911 |
| Separated from | Greek Orthodox |
| Branched from | Catholic Church |
| Congregations | 4 |
| Members | 6,016 |
| Ministers | 11[1] |
TheGreek Byzantine Catholic Church (Greek:Ελληνόρρυθμη Καθολική Εκκλησία,Ellinórrythmi Katholikí Ekklisía) or theGreek-Catholic Church of Greece is asui iurisEastern Catholicparticular church of theCatholic Church that uses theByzantine Rite inKoine Greek andModern Greek. Its membership includes inhabitants ofGreece andTurkey, with some links withItaly andCorsica.
There were several failed attempts to repair theEast-West Schism between Greek and LatinChristians: theCouncil of Bari in 1098, theCouncil of Lyon in 1274, and theCouncil of Florence in 1439. Subsequently, many individualGreeks, then underOttoman rule, embracedcommunion with theCatholic Church. They typically followed theRoman Rite of theLatin Church, maintaining their parishes through contact and support mostly from theVenetians.[citation needed]
However, it was not until the 1880s that a particular church specifically for Greek Catholics who followed the Byzantine rite was built in the village ofMalgara inThrace. Before the end of the 19th century, two more such churches were built, one inConstantinople and the other inChalcedon.
In 1826, Catholic Jesuit priest John Marangos began a mission among the Orthodox Christians of Constantinople, where he managed the construction of a small community. In 1878, he moved on toAthens, where he died in 1885 after he had founded a church. In addition, he won over two small villages in Thrace to the Catholic faith.
After 1895, theAssumptionists began their mission in Constantinople, a seminary and two other small towns, founded in 1910; there were about 1,000 worshipers with 12 priests, 10 of which were Assumptionists.
In 1907, a nativeGreekpriest,Isaias Papadopoulos, the priest who had built the church in Thrace, was appointedvicar general for the Greek Catholics within the Apostolic Delegation of Constantinople, and in 1911, he receivedepiscopal consecration and was put in charge of the newly established ordinariate for Greek Byzantine Rite Catholics, which later became anexarchate. Theparticular church of Byzantine Rite Greek Catholics was being founded. Much more numerous were the Catholic Greeks of theLatin Church, who formed the majority of the population in someAegean islands.
As a result ofthe conflict between Greece and Turkey after theFirst World War, the Greek Catholics ofMalgara and of the neighbouring village ofDaudeli moved toGiannitsa inMacedonia, where today lives a sizeable community, and many of those who lived inIstanbul emigrated or fled toAthens, one being thebishop who had succeeded to the position ofexarch, and thereligious institute of the Sisters of the Pammakaristos, founded in 1920.
In 1932, the territory of the Exarchate for Byzantine-Rite Greek Catholics was limited to that of theGreek state, and a separateExarchate of Constantinople was established for those resident inTurkey. Continued emigration and anti-Greek nationalist incidents by Turks, such as theIstanbul Pogrom, extremely reduced the number of the Greek Catholics in Turkey. The last resident Greek-Catholic priest inConstantinople died in 1997 and has not since been replaced. The only regular services in theGreek-Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity there are held by exiledChaldean Catholics living in the city.
Vocations to the Greek Byzantine Catholic Church are largely drawn from theGreek islands ofSyros andTinos, which both have sizable Catholic populations.
BishopManuel Nin (titular bishop ofCarcabia) is current ApostolicExarch of the Byzantine Rite Catholics inGreece.
Byzantine Rite Catholic Greeks in Greece number were mildly rising to 6,016 (6,000 in Greece and 16 in Turkey) as of 2017.[2] In Athens, the main Greek Catholic church is theHoly Trinity Cathedral, Athens.
Although not under the jurisdiction of the Greek Byzantine Catholic Church, a Greek-Catholic community of the descendants of expatriated Greeks exists atCargèse, inCorsica. A priest based inAthens,Archimandrite Athanasios Armaos, visits Cargèse several times a year to conduct services in the Greek church.[3]
Notable Greek Byzantine, or Eastern, Catholics (also calledUniates for favouring the Union of the Churches) include:
Related institutions outside Greece:
Historical connections:
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