What are Eastern Catholics?

Adapted from “Do you know differences between Roman, Byzantine Catholic Churches?” By Joe Bound | Special to The Compass | November 30, 2011

Within the Catholic Church, there are 24 self-governing or “sui juris” churches such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church, the Maronite Catholic Church and the Romanian Greek Catholic Church.

Each of these Catholic churches uses one of the five distinct Rites. For instance, the Roman Catholic Church uses the Roman Rite, the Armenian Catholic Church uses the Armenian Rite, the Chaldean Catholic Church uses the East Syrian Rite, the Ethiopian Catholic Church uses the Alexandrian Rite, the Romanian Greek Catholic Church uses the Byzantine Rite, etc.

All these individual churches are in union with the Bishop of Rome (Pope), the primary leader, yet are usually watched over by a Metropolitan Bishop or Patriarch. WE ALL SHARE THE SAME CATHOLIC FAITH. We all experience or live it out in different ways. Members of these Catholic churches can attend and are encouraged to receive the sacraments in the other Catholic churches. There is total inter-communion between us.

One of the biggest differences most Roman Catholics would see between the Roman rite and Byzantine rite is the way the Mass — or as it is called in the Byzantine rite, Divine Liturgy, — is celebrated. The whole liturgy is sung or chanted with a continuous back and forth between the priest and the congregation. The priest wears different vestments and uses different-looking religious articles or vessels during the celebration of the liturgy. For most of the liturgy, the priest leads the congregation in worship by facing east — or with his back to the people. However, there is much more movement of the priest between the sanctuary and the nave of the church than in the Roman rite. Also, the congregation has a lot of active parts in the liturgy. The word liturgy comes from the Greek word meaning “Work of the People,” calling all attendants to actively participate in one way or another.

The service is also a little longer as there is more prayers throughout the liturgy and many more signs of the cross. The two main types of liturgies used, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the Liturgy of St. Basil, are approximately 1,600 years old. The bread consecrated into the body of Christ is leavened bread instead of unleavened bread. This symbolizes that Christ is the leaven in our lives. The priest distributes the precious body and blood of our Lord that have been mixed together in the chalice by use of a spoon instead of placing an unleavened host in the hand or on the tongue as in the Roman rite.

As you know, the Roman Catholic Church operates under the Code of Canon Law. However, the Eastern Catholic Churches operate under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Church promulgated by the Pope in 1990 and some, if not all, of the individual Eastern Catholic churches have their own particular set of church law, as well. So, in some of these Eastern Catholic churches, married men can be ordained to the priesthood because they are under a different set of church laws.

In general, there is a strong feeling of the sacred at a Byzantine rite liturgy. This is brought out through the architecture of the church building, the art used in the liturgical setting (icons), multiple candles, incense, actions of the priest and people during the liturgy, as well as the prayers sung throughout the whole liturgy by the priest and people. In fact, some have said that it appears like heaven on earth. As Catholics, we are truly blessed to belong to the universal church established by Christ which recognizes, respects and encourages various ways of expressing the one true faith.

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