Difference in theology between Eastern and Roman Catholic?

[ac_claire]

Hi!

Are there any matters of doctrine/theology that differ between Eastern Catholics and Roman Catholics…?

 

[Alexius]

Hi!
Are there any matters of doctrine/theology that differ between Eastern Catholics and Roman Catholics…?

Hello!
Ideally, there are no theological differences between Eastern and Western Catholics. I like to say that for Eastern Catholics, Latin dogmas and councils are a buffet. Some have a salad and pasta, others just a drink, while some eat all they can. That is not how it is supposed to be, though…

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius

 

[Aramis]

Eastern Church:

• one or more of the non-Roman catholic churches
• one or more of the Eastern Erthodox communion churches
• The Byzantine and Antiochene (Syriac) Rite Churches (catholic, orthodox, and/or Nestorian)
• some admixutre of the above

The understanding of the Eucharist is the same. The term Transubstatiation is particularly Catholic, but the actual understanding it embodies is shared amongst the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Nestorian, and Oriental Churches.

Most of the EO accept the Assumption vis-a-vis Mary was taken to heaven bodily at the time of her death. Whether or not she was still in her body is another matter.

The Immaculate conception is trickier. Some do, some don’t, and many don’t understand why it is even an issue. Suffice it to say that Mary is held in higher esteem than any other saint (including the Archangels) by the EC’s and the EO. She’s commemorated more than any other mortal in the Liturgy of St. John and of St. Basil.

This may help, it’s from the Ruthenian Catholic usage of the DL of St. John: “It is truly proper to Glorify you, Oh Theotokos, the ever blessed, immaculate, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the cherubim, and beyond compare, more glorious than the seraphim, who a virgin gave birth to God the Word, you truly the Theotokos, we magnify” (Theotokos = God-Birther). It is called the Theotokion, the hymn to the God-birther. The orthodox ones are very similar, differing in various translations.

Here’s the one from Orthodox Wiki:
“It is truly right to bless you, O Theotokos, ever blessed, and most pure, and the Mother of our God: more honorable than the cherubim, beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim — without corruption you gave birth to God, the Word. True Theotokos, we magnify you!”
orthodoxwiki.org/Troparion#Theotokion

The Theotokion is sung at almost every divine liturgy of St John and of St Basil. It is also sung during vespers and matins. In any case, alternate wordings are used on specific feasts.

 

[Aramis]

Hi!

Are there any matters of doctrine/theology that differ between Eastern Catholics and Roman Catholics…?

1. the nature of purgatory.
2. the nature of religious obligation to assist at liturgies.

there are more, but these are the two I’m most familiar with.

The Byzantine View of Purgatory is where ones process of Theosis continues after death, aided by prayers from the living and the dead, until one is finally able to enter into heaven.

The Roman view is more of: You still owe God for all the tarnish acquired by your soul in this life, even if absolved. That Tarnish has to come off, and God does this through a painful place called purgatory.

In general, the byzantine view on obligation to attend is mellow: you want to be there, so you will. The more you go, the more you want to go. Salvation as an addiction. Have to go at Feasts of the Resurrection and the Nativity. Really should go for the 12 major feasts. It would be a good thing to go to the solemn feasts. Simple feasts, well, they’re nice too. Your obligation is to pray, and to keep the Lord’s day. Not of need to be in the parish, but still, you should be there if you can. Oh, and confession is good, and required for even the least twice a year.

The Roman is that of the “Sunday Obligation” which can only be filled by going to the church. You MUST go to Mass if you can at all arrange it. Confession varies by parish…

 

[Harmony1988]

Then what stops a Roman Catholic saying to himself, ‘Ok I’m Eastern Catholic now, I will go to mass when I feel like it’

Theoretically, Catholicism is ONE, so it shouldn’t matter if people keep changing.

 

[Aramis]

Then what stops a Roman Catholic saying to himself, ‘Ok I’m Eastern Catholic now, I will go to mass when I feel like it’

Theoretically, Catholicism is ONE, so it shouldn’t matter if people keep changing.

You’re bound by your rite of cannonical enrollment, not the parish one attends.

 

[Deacon_Ed]

Then what stops a Roman Catholic saying to himself, ‘Ok I’m Eastern Catholic now, I will go to mass when I feel like it’

Theoretically, Catholicism is ONE, so it shouldn’t matter if people keep changing.

As was noted, you are bound by the rules of the Rite in which you are enrolled. However, it may be that there was a slight simplification of the Eastern concept of “obligation.” While it is certainly true that there is no “obligation” to go to Church, the East views this the same as the fact that there is no obligation to eat or to breath. Stop doing those two things and you die, stop going to church regularly and you die spiritually.

Deacon Ed

 

[ELEUTHERIUS]

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

In the East, there is one reason why you participate in Divine Liturgy on Sundays, Feast days or during the week. There is one reason we pray or read Holy Scripture or the works of the Church Fathers.

All is done out of love for God. The more you do it the more you will grow in your love of God. The closer you will come to know Him.

Therefore it is not just a matter of fulfilling an obligation or on the other hand your being willing to say I will go to church just when I feel like it. It should become part of your life.

Father Deacon Paul

 

[ac_claire]

Then what stops a Roman Catholic saying to himself, ‘Ok I’m Eastern Catholic now, I will go to mass when I feel like it’

Theoretically, Catholicism is ONE, so it shouldn’t matter if people keep changing.

Thanks everyone for all the replies.

I understand that they don’t emphasize the issue as much, but do Eastern Catholics believe missing mass on purpose carries the guilt of a mortal sin and must be confessed…?

 

[ELEUTHERIUS]

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Yes! Missing the Divine Liturgy separates you from God. Anything that separates you from God should be confessed.

Yours in Christ,

Father Deacon Paul

 

[Woodstock]

The Byzantine Rite, used by 14 different Catholic Churches, has a different “liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested.” (Canon law)

 

[dessert]

Thanks everyone for all the replies.

I understand that they don’t emphasize the issue as much, but do Eastern Catholics believe missing mass on purpose carries the guilt of a mortal sin and must be confessed…?

Why would you want to miss Mass on purpose?

Most have a good reason even if it seemed not, like a fight with spouse or holes in nylons, some can be excused, confession would be a good start to resolving problems.
Once missed may lead to other misses and could become a habit, the priest may not notice, ours does, but other members of the family will.
Blessings and Peace

 

[Lapell]

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Yes! Missing the Divine Liturgy separates you from God. Anything that separates you from God should be confessed.

Yours in Christ,

Father Deacon Paul

Somebody asked on the program Web Of Faith if it was a mortal sin to skip the Sunday Mass (at any time from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night), and to my surprise Fr Levis answered yes without hesitation (even though they came out with a few reasonable exceptions, but normally it’s a grave thing to do)…
(I find it logical, don’t make me wrong, but it seems that it’s the 1st time I did hear it said, or the 1st time in years, hence my surprise.)
So, it’s a grave sin also in the Latin Rite.

 

[Lapell]

Why would you want to miss Mass on purpose?

Most have a good reason even if it seemed not, like a fight with spouse or holes in nylons, some can be excused, confession would be a good start to resolving problems.
Once missed may lead to other misses and could become a habit, the priest may not notice, ours does, but other members of the family will.
Blessings and Peace

I hardly would consider holes in nylons to be a valid reason not to go to Mass! A long skirt or trousers would cover them, wouldn’t they?

 

[dessert]

I hardly would consider holes in nylons to be a valid reason not to go to Mass! A long skirt or trousers would cover them, wouldn’t they?

Yes, I was being sarcastic.

 

[dessert]

I hardly would consider holes in nylons to be a valid reason not to go to Mass! A long skirt or trousers would cover them, wouldn’t they?

I don’t think the East believes in mortal sin, per say, but then maybe I am wrong?

 

[Aramis]

I don’t think the East believes in mortal sin, per say, but then maybe I am wrong?

In general, Eastern Theology avoids the term, but the concept of differing severity of sins does exist. The rigid hierarchy of sins espoused by some Roman theologians (and the doctrinal approach which was put forward with the doctrine of Indulgences) is alien to the continuum of sinful acts which pervades at least the Slavic traditions. Some are known to be minor, some major, but it’s not so cut and dried.

And as Father Deacon implied above, missing liturgy does nothing to help one’s relationship with God. But it is not defined in terms of Obligation in the canon law of the Eastern Catholics.

 

[ac_claire]

I don’t think the East believes in mortal sin, per say, but then maybe I am wrong?

Is this true?
What is the Eastern Catholic view of mortal sin?
(And how does it compare to the EO tradition on the same subject? - if anyone knows)

 

[Woodstock]

The Melkite Church at the Council
Discourses and Memoranda of Patriarch Maximos IV and of the Hierarchs of His Church at the Second Vatican Council
Chapter 3 – The Liturgy

The Liturgical Commission had submitted to the Central Preparatory Commission an excellent schema “On the Sacred Liturgy.” At the March-April, 1962, meeting of the Central Commission, the patriarch praised this schema. That did not prevent him from making some reservations on the points where the Eastern liturgical practices did not seem to have been sufficiently taken into consideration.

The Obligation to Attend Mass on Sundays and Feast Days

The schema rightly recommends to the pastors of souls that they make the faithful understand that they should participate in the whole and entire Mass, and not only in those parts that are called “essential” or “integral.” On this proposal, I hope that the council can find a way to prevent the casuistry of the moralists who have dissected the Mass into segments differing in nature and involving an unequal obligation. I am delighted that this schema, while retaining the obligation to attend Mass, has avoided talking of mortal sin and venial sin. Western moralists, since the Middle Ages, have indulged in two excesses: juridical excess, which seeks to specify rigorously the limits of serious sin, and the excess of casuistry, which corrupts the moral sense of the Christian. A Christian must be able to go to God without the constant threat of serious sin and of censures, and likewise ought to serve God a bit more fully than the subtleties of casuistry may indicate.

 

[Lapell]

Yes, I was being sarcastic.

I may have misread you, dessert. Sorry about it!