The Byzantine Catholic Church shares in the inheritance of the Byzantine Religious Culture of the Christian East. A landmark event in the history of the Church, and particularly the Eastern Church, was the decision in 325 by the Roman Emperor Constantine to move the Imperial capital from Rome to Byzantion, a small town on the Bosphorus strait which he renamed Constantinople (and which is presently Istanbul, Turkey). This shift in the secular political balance had a dramatic impact on the Eastern Church, for a new secular and religious center Constantinople was created in the heart of the Christian East. The Eastern Roman, or _dqt_Byzantine_dqt_, Empire centered on Constantinople was a Christian Empire that flourished for over 1,000 years, and which engendered a new and unique culture infused with Christianity. Naturally, the Church based in the capital city of Constantinople gradually came to have a pre-eminent influence in the Christian East, spreading a religious culture that was both a synthesis and dynamic restatement of the existing strands of Eastern Christian culture that had been cultivated in the Greek-speaking world the _dqt_Byzantine_dqt_ religious culture. Byzantine Catholics in America are the spiritual descendants of Christians in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East who are the heirs of this Byzantine religious culture, and who therefore trace their spiritual heritage to the Great Church of Constantinople, known as Hagia Sophia (The Church of Holy Wisdom). The spiritual heritage of the Byzantine Catholic Church is the same given to us by the Apostles and which matured in the Christian East, during the period of the Byzantine Empire. This heritage includes the doctrines, liturgical practices and underlying theology and spirituality which come to us from the Christian Church of the Byzantine Empire. This heritage is shared among all of the Christian peoples, regardless of ethnicity or nationality, who trace their spiritual roots to the Great Church of Constantinople, and the Byzantine religious culture which grew from that Church. From the First Millennium, Christians of the Byzantine tradition have referred to themselves as _dqt_Orthodox Christians_dqt_. Byzantine Catholics are Orthodox Christians who embrace full communion with the Church of Rome and its primate, Pope Benedict XVI, the successor of St. Peter, the first among the Apostles. Sadly, however, the break in communion between the Orthodox East and the Catholic West of 1054 still affects us today, as our communion with Rome means we are not in full communion with our mother Orthodox Church. We pray for the day when the Churches will again be one. -- The Byzantine Catholic Church traces its foundation to the 12 Apostles of Christ who were the companions of Jesus as he walked on this earth some 2000 years ago. After the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), the Apostles began to proclaim the Gospel, first to Jerusalem, then to the Gentiles. The first mission of the New Testament Church to the Greek-speaking Gentiles of the Levant was to Antioch, in the Roman province of Syria, where _dqt_the disciples were first called Christians_dqt_ (Acts 11:26). Antioch became the staging area for the great missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul, which resulted in the foundation of a string of Greek-speaking Christian communities in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) and Greece. Similar missionary journeys were undertaken by other Apostles throughout the Hellenized Eastern Mediterranean, as well as deep into the heart of the Latin West, to Rome itself, the capital of the Empire. As the Christian Church grew, each nation and culture who received the Gospel in turn influenced the growth of the Church. Even at a relatively early stage in the history of the Church, two major heritages developed and remain with us today: the Eastern or _dqt_Greek_dqt_ tradition, and the Western or _dqt_Latin_dqt_ tradition. The Church in the West had its principal center at the Imperial capital of Rome, and is known in our present-day as the Roman Catholic Church. The Church in the East grew and developed from the Churches in Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria. These three Eastern centers shared a common language, Greek, and similar mode of discourse which formed the basis for the subsequent development of the Eastern Christian tradition. The Byzantine Catholic Church shares in the inheritance of the first Greek-speaking Christian communities of the Eastern Mediterranean world, founded by the Apostles of Jesus Christ. WHY is ORTHODOX/BYZANTINE CROSS using 3 bars? The Orthodox, Byzantine[1][2][3][need quotation to verify] or Russian (Orthodox) Cross,[4][5] also known as the Suppedaneum cross,[6] is a variation of the Christian cross, commonly[quantify] found in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, as well as the Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite, and used widely by groups to connote the Byzantine Rite. The cross has three horizontal crossbeams\u2014the top one represents the plate which in the older Greek tradition is inscribed with a phrase based on John's Gospel _dqt_The King of Glory_dqt_, but in later images it represents INRI, and the bottom one, a footrest. In many depictions, the side to Christ's right is higher. This is because the footrest slants upward toward the penitent thief St. Dismas, who was (according to tradition[citation needed]) crucified on Jesus' right, and downward toward impenitent thief Gestas. It is also a common perception that the foot-rest points up, toward Heaven, on Christ\u2019s right hand-side, and downward, to Hades, on Christ\u2019s left. One of the Orthodox Church\u2019s Friday prayers clearly explains the meaning: _dqt_In the midst, between two thieves, was Your Cross found as the balance-beam of righteousness,, For while one was led down to hell by the burden of his blaspheming, the other was lightened of his sins unto the knowledge of things divine, O Christ God glory to You._dqt_[citation needed] Though commonly associated with the Russian Orthodox Church, this version is found also in the Greek and Serbian Orthodox churches,[7] although other varieties are also common, including those with a straight footstool and one slanted in the opposite direction. Common variations include the _dqt_Cross over Crescent_dqt_ and the _dqt_Calvary cross_dqt_. A VARIANTION EXPLAINED One variation of the Orthodox Cross is the 'Cross over Crescent', which is sometimes accompanied by _dqt_Gabriel perched on the top of the Cross blowing his trumpet._dqt_[8] Didier Chaudet, in the academic journal China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, writes that an _dqt_emblem of the Orthodox Church is a cross on top on a crescent. It is said that this symbol was devised by Ivan the Terrible, after the conquest of the city of Kazan, as a symbol of the victory of Christianity over Islam through his soldiers_dqt_,, the Orthodox World Encyclopaedia concurs with this view.[9][10][11] However, B.A. Uspensky offers another view, stating that in pre-Christian times, the 'Cross over Crescent' symbolized the sun and the moon, and that in the Christian Era, the cross is a symbol of Christ and the moon is a symbol of the Virgin Mary.[12] ------------- EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES ref::: httOFF:/OFF/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Catholic_Churches (cut and paste of core passages) The Eastern Catholic Churches, also called the Oriental Catholic Churches and historically known as the Eastern-rite Catholic Churches or Uniate Churches,[a][discuss] are 23 Eastern Christian particular churches sui iuris in full communion with the Pope in Rome. With about 18 million members, they make up a small part (about 1 percent) of the Catholic Church together with the Latin Church (Western Church). Headed by patriarchs, metropolitans, and major archbishops, the Eastern Catholic Churches are governed in accordance with the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, although each church also has its own canons and laws on top of this, and the preservation of their own traditions is explicitly encouraged. While the Maronite Church is considered the sole of them to permanently have remained in full communion with the Holy See, most of the other churches unified at some point from the 16th century onwards. The most recent of the Eastern Catholic Churches is the Eritrean Catholic Church, which was unified in 2015. Full communion constitutes mutual sacramental sharing between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church, including Eucharistic intercommunion. Notably, Eastern Catholic churches have different traditions concerning clerical celibacy than the Latin Church: in general, Eastern Catholic Churches allow the ordination of married men as priests. Eastern Catholic churches have their origins in the Middle East, East Africa, Eastern Europe and India. However, since the 19th century, they have spread to Western Europe, the Americas and Oceania by emigration partly because of persecution, where eparchies have been established to serve adherents alongside those of Latin Church dioceses. Latin Catholics in the Middle East, on the other hand, are traditionally served by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Thus the term Latin rite can refer either to the Latin Church or to one or more of the Western liturgical rites, which include the majority Roman Rite but also the Ambrosian Rite, the Mozarabic Rite, and others. In 1999, the United States National Conference of Catholic Bishops stated: _dqt_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 the Code of Canon Law and the Code 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._dqt_[10] And a writer in a periodical of January 2006 declared: _dqt_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._dqt_[11] However, the term _dqt_rite_dqt_ continues to be used. The 1983 CIC forbids a Latin bishop to ordain, without permission of the Holy See, a subject of his who is _dqt_of an Eastern rite_dqt_ (not _dqt_who uses an Eastern rite_dqt_, the faculty for which is sometimes granted to Latin clergy).[12] The Second Vatican Council affirmed rather that Eastern Catholics constituted churches whose vocation was to provide a bridge to the separated churches of the East. ---------------------------------------- COMMUNION and SCHISM and RE-UNIFICATION ref: same as above (cut and paste .. non edit) Background Communion between Christian churches has been broken over matters of faith, whereby each side accused the other of heresy 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 of schism, but not of heresy. Major breaches of communion: Council of Ephesus (431 AD) In 431 the Churches that accepted the teaching of the Council of Ephesus (which condemned the views of Nestorius) classified as heretics those who rejected the Council's statements. The Church of the East, which was mainly under the Sassanid Empire, never accepted the council's views. It later experienced a period of great expansion in Asia before collapsing after the Mongol invasion of the Middle East in the 14th century. Monuments of their presence still exist in China. Now they are relatively few in numbers and are divided into Four Churches, of which the Chaldaean Church, which is in communion with Rome, is the largest, while the territory in India become under the direct jurisdiction of Pope. Later it received autonomy to form Syro Malabar Church and others have recently split between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East. Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) In 451 those who accepted the Council of Chalcedon similarly classified those who rejected it as Monophysite heretics. The Churches that refused to accept the Council considered instead that it was they who were orthodox,, they reject the description Monophysite preferring instead Miaphysite. They are often called, in English, Oriental Orthodox Churches, to distinguish them from the Eastern Orthodox Churches. This distinction, by which the words oriental and eastern 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 as pre-Chalcedonian or now more rarely as non-Chalcedonian or anti-Chalcedonian. In languages other than English other means are used to distinguish the two families of Churches. Some reserve the term _dqt_Orthodox_dqt_ for those that are here called _dqt_Eastern Orthodox_dqt_ Churches, but members of what are called _dqt_Oriental/Eastern Orthodox_dqt_ Churches consider this illicit. East\u2013West Schism (1054) The East\u2013West Schism came about in the context of cultural 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\u2014and in Constantinople, which claimed parity with Rome.[20] The rivalry and lack of comprehension gave rise to controversies, some of which appear already in the acts of the Quinisext Council of 692. At the Council of Florence (1431\u20131445), these controversies about Western theological elaborations and usages were identified as, chiefly, the insertion of _dqt_Filioque_dqt_ into the Nicene Creed, the use of unleavened bread for the Eucharist, Purgatory, and the authority of the Pope.[h] The schism is conventionally dated as occurring at 1054, when the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael I Cerularius, and the Papal Legate, Humbert of Silva Candida, issued mutual excommunications. (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.[22] However, estrangement continued to grow. In 1190, Eastern Orthodox theologian Theodore Balsamon who was patriarch of Antioch, wrote that _dqt_no Latin should be given Communion unless he first declares that he will abstain from the doctrines and customs that separate him from us_dqt_.[23] Later, Constantinople was sacked in 1204 by the Catholic armies of the Fourth Crusade, whereas two decades previously the Massacre of the Latins (i.e. Catholics) had occurred in Constantinople in 1182. Thus, by the 12th\u201313th 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 the Orthodox Church and the Western as the Catholic Church, without either side thereby renouncing its claim to be the truly orthodox or the truly catholic Church. --- Attempts at restoring communion Within each Church, no longer in communion with the Church of Rome, there arose a group that considered it important to restore that communion. In 1438, the Council 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.[24] 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 _dqt_liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary heritage, differentiated by peoples' culture and historical circumstances, that finds expression in each sui iuris Church's own way of living the faith_dqt_.[25] In 1993 the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church submitted the document Uniatism, method of union of the past, and the present search for full communion, also known as the Balamand declaration, _dqt_to the authorities of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches for approval and application,_dqt_[26] which stated that initiatives that _dqt_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_dqt_.[26](n. 8) Likewise the commission acknowledged that _dqt_certain civil authorities [who] made attempts_dqt_ to force Eastern Catholics to return to the Orthodox Church used _dqt_unacceptable means_dqt_.[26](n. 11) The missionary outlook and proselytism that accompanied the Unia[26](n. 10) was judged incompatible with the rediscovery by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches of each other as Sister Churches.[26](n. 12) Thus the commission concluded that the _dqt_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._dqt_[26](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[26](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[26](n. 16) 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, which has no counterpart in Byzantine, nor Oriental, Orthodoxy. The Maronite Church has historical connections to the Monothelite controversy in the 7th century. It affirmed unity with the Holy See in 1181 during the Crusades.[citation needed] The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church, unlike the Maronite Church, uses the same liturgical rite as the Eastern Orthodox Church. The canon law shared by all Eastern Catholic churches, CCEO, was codified in 1990. The dicastery that works with the Eastern Catholic churches is the Congregation for the Oriental Churches which, by law, includes as members all Eastern Catholic patriarchs and major archbishops. On 30 November 1894 Pope Leo XIII issued the apostolic constitution Orientalium dignitas in which he stated: 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.[27] Adrian Fortescue wrote that Leo XIII _dqt_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._dqt_[28] Leo XIII declared still in force Pope Benedict XIV's encyclical Demandatam, addressed to the Patriarch and the Bishops of the Melkite Catholic Church, in which Benedict XIV forbade Latin Rite clergy to induce Melkite Catholics to transfer to the Latin rite, and he broadened this prohibition to cover all Eastern Catholics, declaring: _dqt_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 the ipso facto suspension a divinis and other punishments that he will incur as imposed in the aforesaid Constitution Demandatam._dqt_[27] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vatican II ref: same as above Orientalium Ecclesiarum The Second Vatican Council directed, in Orientalium Ecclesiarum, that the traditions of Eastern Catholic Churches should be maintained. It declared that _dqt_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_dqt_ (n. 2), and that they should all _dqt_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_dqt_ (n. 6,, cf. n. 22).[9] 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 of Confirmation by priests (n. 13). It expressed the wish that, where the permanent diaconate (ordination as deacons of men who are not intended afterwards to become priests) had fallen into disuse, it should be restored (n. 17). REF: byzcath.org/ cpccx. |