Are the Eastern Catholic Churches related to the Roman Catholic Church?

Question

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Rite_Catholic_Churches

Answer 1

I am Eastern Catholic and most of the people above have good meaning errors, but errors none the less.

There are two ancient groupings of Christians, Western and Eastern. The dividing line is the boundary of the Eastern and Western Roman Empire.

In the West, there was the Gallican, Celt, Anglican, Mozarabic, Ambrosian, Italo-Greek and Latin rites. The Western Patriarchate was the only patriarchate not to have a uniform liturgy. The diversity is part of the cause of the diversity of Protestantism. The Mozarabic, Italo-Greek and Ambrosian rites are still in use. Napolean suppressed the Gallican rites. The Anglican Church separated and the Celts absorbed into the Latin or vice versa. All use either a liturgy based upon the liturgies left to us by Peter, the Apostle, or borrow heavily from Eastern Churches.

The Eastern Catholic Churches are not just Orthodox who returned to the Catholic Church, but also non-Orthodox who never split with Rome.

The largest grouping of Eastern Catholic Churches are those using the Greek rite, in the United States they are usually called Byzantine rite, but also Ukranian, Ruthenian and Melkite. The Melkites are Antiochean Christians while the Ukranian and Ruthenian are Slav and would properly be under Constantinopolitan or Moskovite jurisdiction if the split with the Orthodox ended. In addition, there are the Maronites of Lebanon, who are also Antiochean Christians and still use Aramaic and teach it in Sunday school. If you wonder where they got all the Aramaic speakers for "The Passion," now you know. All use liturgies based upon the liturgy provided by the Apostle James.

In addition to the Byzantine Group and the Maronites, you have the Copts and Ge'ez from Egypt and Ethiopia. They use the liturgy provided to us by the Evangelist Mark.

The Armenian Church has a primitive liturgy of its own, I believe it descends from James' liturgy, but I cannot confirm it.

The Chaldean Church, the Iraqi Christians from Ninevah and related areas, use I believe a liturgy desended from James' liturgy.

The Thomas Christians use a liturgy descended to use from Mari and Addai and who received their liturgy from the Apostle Thomas. They were the disciples of Thomas but they are almost unknown in the West as the Thomas Christians were cut off for almost 1000 years.

Each Eastern Christian Church is self governing to varying levels. The Byzantine Ruthenian Metropolitan and Archbishop of Pittsburgh is a "major metropolitan." He promulgated his own code of canon law and he is the head of the Ruthenian Church in the United States. He is not quite a peer to the Pope, but very close. The Patriarch of Antioch, on the other hand, is a peer to the pope. In all senses the Antiochean Church is both self-governing but also autocephalous. The Patriarch has a duty upon election to seek immediate communion with the Pope and the Pope has an immediate duty to send the pallium to the Patriarch to acknowledge his authority over his Church.

The Eastern Churches are in union with Rome, but not governed by Rome. They have their own canons, theology, liturgies, practices, art forms, music, internal structures, clothing and approaches. They complete the Church by providing varieties of Christianity as they were left to us by the apostles. They provide alternative models of what Christianity is and do so while in perfect communion with each other.

The Church of Rome is the center of unity. The most ancient canons the patriarchal or independent metropolitan churches to seek communion with Rome. Communion with Peter's Church is Communion with all Churches. If you are in communion with your bishop, you are in communion with Christ and your bishop is in communion with all other bishops through Rome.

The Eastern Churches are sister Churches to the Church that sojourns at Rome.

Answer 2

So called Eastern Catholic Churches are churches that accept the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the authority of the Pope, but retain certain other practices that are distinct from the Roman Church such as married parish clergy and especially adherence to an Eastern Liturgical Rite, usually the Byzantine Rite, though there are others, such as the Maronites in Lebanon that have their own rite entirely. Most of these churches broke away from the Eastern Orthodox Church at some point in time usually for political reasons, again however this is not true of the Maronites who have been in constant communion with the Pope of Rome.

Answer 3

Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic are closely related in varying degrees. The differences are more substantially over administration than over theology. Liturgical differences (ie, what is said and done in Church) have rarely been on major significance in terms of unity of the Church.

For those who asked, Eastern Catholic is not the same as Eastern Orthodox. These follow a very similar, but nuancedly different theology, and do adhere to a Patriarch over a Pope.

Any seminary-level text on Church history or systemic theology should be able to answer the deeper questions.

Answer 4

Hi, Since you say Catholics worship Mary I suggest you need to educate yourself a little more on that Church. Are you worshiping a minister of friends when you ask them to pray for you? The the Church Of England is very much close to the Roman Catholic church. They even have the same readings every Sunday. It was formed in the time of Henry VIII who broke ties with Rome since he could not get his marriage to Catherine Of Aragon annulled. They always have the Eucharist as part of the mass and to be honest, you hardly notice a difference when attending services. Cheers, Michael Kelly

Answer 5

It was one Church centered in Rome and the State Religion of the Roman Empire.
But, a new Empire took over in the East in what is now Turkey. It's capital was Constantinople or in modern times Istanbul.
The Church was named the Eastern Orthodox Church or Eastern Catholic Churches.

Answer 6

They split around 1014 or so over the use of Icon(ography) and other stuff. The Eastern Church uses Icons (graven images or statues) for almost EVERYTHING, it was one of the problems that Catherine the Great had converting to it, however when she was that crown, any problem disappeared, lol, as I'm sure it would for most.

In 1014, however, irreconcilable differences arose over the word filoque, which means "and from the Son" - the standard Christian creed in the West was rendered to read "I believe ... in the Holy Spirit ... who proceeds from the Father and the Son, " which church leaders of the East regarded as heretical. The reason why the difference was irreconcilable was the different ways approached the issue: in the West the popes considered themselves the ultimate judges in matters of faith and doctrine, but in the East leaders followed the authority of councils where the local churches spoke as equals.

The principle split between the Eastern Orthodox Christians and those who were under the authority of Rome occurred in 1054 when patriarch Michael Cerularius and papal legates exchanged anathemas.

Their "pope" is not called a pope but the Patriarch and is not said to be or claim "infallability."
http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/western/bldef_easternorthodox.htm

Answer 7

I must be getting old or something, is Eastern Catholic one and the same with Eastern Orthodox? Or do you mean Eastern as in Eastern European Catholicism? As far as I know Catholicism in Poland is related to the Roman Catholic Church as are most Eastern European catholic churches, except for the Orthodox churches.

Answer 8

Two Greeks, Cyril and Methodius, traveled north to spread their gospel in the area now known as Russia. They were met with hostility and a deeply entrenched pagal culture. Seems the Russians were secretive even back then (forgive me for not recalling the exact dates). The pagan Russians conducted their religious services behind a screen, out of the view of the people. The folks in the "congregation" were just expected to have faith that there was something mysterious, holy and magical going on behind the screen. Also, among the tribes of ancient Russia, the local chief was considered the authority on all religious matters. Ol' Cyril and Methodius decided the only way they would win over the Russians was to adapt the Catholic mass to coincide with the pagan rituals. If you go into a Russian Orthodox church you will notice a large screen, deorated with icons. The altar is behind this screen. The mass is conducted largely behind the screen, and the priest only emerges to reveal the host, the wine, and to read from the gospel. Also, the pagan Russian priests chanted their services; to this day, the entire Eastern Orthodox liturgy is chanted. You're expected not to question what goes on behind the screen, only to know it's sacred. As part of their conversion, the Eastern Orthodox churches do not recognize the authority of the Pope in Rome; to them, their local bishop is their Pope, and defer to him for all religious matters. For all this, Cyril and Methodius were made saints.
Incidently: One of the ways Cyril won over the Russians was to make them literate. He devised an alphabet, modifying Greek characters and making up a few of his own; hence the reason the Russian alphabet is said to consist of "Cyrilic" characters.

Answer 9

The Eastern Orthodox Churches are semi-related to the Roman Church. They claim a common heritage, but the Eastern Churches broke away when they declined to accept the authority of the Pope. The churches excomunicated each other, and that was reversed (I believe with Vatican 2). They accept the validity of each other's sacraments, including the priesthood.

Answer 10

its like twins seperated at birth that grew up with their own character

the earthern orthodox holds to the apostles creed, the 12 line statement of faith but a few parts of the expanded 24 lines nicean creed they would not phrase the same in a few spots

protestants, catholics and eastern orthodox agree on many stunning truths... some disagreements yes... but the eastern orthodox church does have an advantage in that they have very ancient beliefs
unchanged for centuries.

protestants and eastern orthodox also havent got entangled in some of the mariology problems that catholic theology has