The Byzantine Catholics

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Eastern Catholicism: Churches & Rites - The Concepts

Churches

There are 23 Churches sui iuris that, together, constitute the Catholic Church - 1 Western and 22 Eastern and Oriental Churches. The term sui iuris means, literally, "of their own law", or self-governing. All 23 are in communion with Rome. Obviously, the most well-known and largest is the Latin Church.

Eastern and Oriental Catholic Churches generally represent bodies of persons whose ancestors entered into communion with Rome from the Eastern or Oriental Orthodox Churches. As a consequence, there is a counterpart Eastern or Oriental Orthodox Church to every Eastern or Oriental Catholic Church except two - the Maronite Catholic Church and the Italo-Grieco-Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church. The usual reason advanced as to why these two Churches have no counterpart among the Orthodox Churches is that neither was ever separated from Rome.

Churches that utilize the Byzantine Rite should technically be termed Eastern Catholic Churches, with the remainder being referred to as Oriental Catholic Churches. This distinction mirrors the one that is made among our counterpart or Sister (Orthodox) Churches (i.e., the Churches known as Eastern Orthodox also serve their Divine Liturgy according to the Byzantine Rite; the Oriental Orthodox do not). In point of fact, however, both "Eastern Catholic" and "Oriental Catholic" are often employed as umbrella terms ("Oriental Catholic" is primarily employed by the Vatican; most others are inclined to use "Eastern Catholic") to encompass all Catholic Churches sui iuris other than the Latin or Western Church.

Rites

The 22 Eastern and Oriental Catholic Churches use six different Rites among them. The largest number of Churches (14) use the Byzantine Rite.

Originally, there were three Rites - Latin, Alexandrean, and Antiochene; the Byzantine (or Constantinoplian) Rite was added thereafter. These arose from the customs and style of worship in what were then the four most important Christian centers, other than Jerusalem.

Differences among the Rites in liturgical language, rubrics, ritual, devotionals, prayers, liturgical and clerical vesture, etc., sprang initially from the fact that uniformity of praxis was difficult to maintain over time, as the number of clergy increased, local cultures and customs began to be woven into the rituals used, and both travel and communication were hampered by geography and the limited means available to make and maintain contact between churches and clerics.

Over time, the four original Rites were modified or further developed as they were introduced into new regions. Some of these variations were so distinctive that they themselves came to be de