Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox

[Eastern_Guy]

Ok so I have 2 questions.

1. How did the Eastern Catholics come to be? Was it as a result of the Council of Florence with some of the Orthodox bishops opting to go forward with the reunification with Rome??
2. If reunification with the Eastern Orthodox would happen, what would happen with the Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox? What would you speculate their nomenclature to be after all is said and done? They are in essence byzantine in tradition and celebrate the sacraments alike and even look alike (except the EOs would probably keep the long unkept beard look)

Thanks

 

[Peter_J]

Eastern Guy,

1. How did the Eastern Catholics come to be?

The answer varies from one EC Church to another. If you go to:

ewtn.com/expert/answers/catholic_rites_and_churches.htm

and scroll down to the section titled “Eastern Rites and Churches”, there follows a description of each of the 22 EC Churches, including when it came into full communion with Rome (except in the case of the Maronite Church and the Italo–Albanian Church, which simply say “Never separated from Rome”).

God bless,
Peter.

 

[Eastern_Guy]

My apologies…I MEANT TO TITLE THIS POST RELATIVE TO BYZANTINE / GREEK CATHOLICS.

Please answer relative to Byzantine Catholics and if the Eastern Orthodox were to reunite with Rome.

 

[Peter_J]

My apologies…I MEANT TO TITLE THIS POST RELATIVE TO BYZANTINE / GREEK CATHOLICS.

Please answer relative to Byzantine Catholics and if the Eastern Orthodox were to reunite with Rome.

Your use of “Eastern Catholic” wasn’t incorrect strictly speaking. “Eastern Catholic” can mean either all the non-Latin Catholic Churches (which is how I took it) or just the Greek Catholics (which is how you meant it) – in which case the others (Maronites, Chaldeans, etc.) might be termed “Oriental Catholics”.

With regard to your second question …

1. If reunification with the Eastern Orthodox would happen, what would happen with the Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox? What would you speculate their nomenclature to be after all is said and done? They are in essence byzantine in tradition and celebrate the sacraments alike and even look alike (except the EOs would probably keep the long unkept beard look)

… it’s a little harder to provide resources, since as you say it’s largely a matter of speculation. However, this

ewtn.com/expert/answers/churches_rites_or_sisters.htm

which is another FAQ page at the EWTN site, might be a good place to start.

Then there’s always the document “Uniatism, Method of Union of the Past, and the Present Search for Full Communion”, also known as the Balamand Statement.

Blessings,
Peter.

 

[A_Sombra]

The so-called “Eastern Catholics,” for the most part, came to be when Poland rose from nothing to a major power, and its military advanced into Ukraine, where the Orthodox population was told, basically, “Convert or die!” This is why the Eastern Orthodox, ESPECIALLY the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox do not have what one could call a “good attitude” towards “Eastern Catholicism.”
The “conversion by force” was made even worse when Josaphat Kuntsevich, an “Eastern Catholic” Bishop decided to convert even more Orthodox people to “Eastern Catholicism” in areas newly under his control. When the Orthodox refused to convert, he burned Orthodox churches full of people worshipping; he even had Orthodox graves dug up and threw the bodies to dogs to “deny them entrance to heaven.” This man was basically an insane murderer; the Roman Catholic Church calls him an “Apostle of Unity,” and thought for some strange reason that when they canonized him, that would somehow please the Orthodox!
I sincerely doubt there will ever be Catholic-Orthodox Unity as long as “Eastern Catholic” churches exist! They are nothing more than a reminder of the violent murders of our forefathers!

 

[ronyodish]

A Sombra,

Why do you put Eastern Catholics in quotation marks?

God bless,

Rony

P.S. Saint Josaphat Kuntsevich, pray for the fullness of Communion between Catholics and Orthodox!

 

[Peter_J]

A Sombra,

I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t come in here and try to pick a fight.

 

[ASimpleSinner]

A Sombra,

I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t come in here and try to pick a fight.

I second this. Your response was the equivalent of throwing a shovel-full of cow manure on to the floor of the living room.

I would tread lightly on the matter of “being done wrong” and using that as the source or justification of your animus towards ECs (why DO you put ‘Eastern Catholic’ in quotes, BTW?)… When it comes to being done wrong, the Eastern Catholics have some of their own complaints… The Eastern Orthodox have not been spotless. Rather bluntly, that isn’t a great place to start a discussion - but it has proven to be popular among polemicists.

 

[Madaglan]

A Sombra,

Why do you put Eastern Catholics in quotation marks?

God bless,

Rony

P.S. Saint Josaphat Kuntsevich, pray for the fullness of Communion between Catholics and Orthodox!

Have you heard of the Priestly Society of St. Josaphat? I think I’ve come across them in reading a while ago, but I didn’t realize that they were Eastern Catholics working alongside the SSPX. Quite odd. Has anyone ever come across them?

Here is an article on them (I’d give the official homepage, except it’s not in English): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priestly_Society_of_Saint_Josaphat

 

[Madaglan]

I second this. Your response was the equivalent of throwing a shovel-full of cow manure on to the floor of the living room.

I would tread lightly on the matter of “being done wrong” and using that as the source or justification of your animus towards ECs (why DO you put ‘Eastern Catholic’ in quotes, BTW?)… When it comes to being done wrong, the Eastern Catholics have some of their own complaints… The Eastern Orthodox have not been spotles. Rather bluntly, that isn’t a great place to start a discussion - but it has proven to be popular among polemicists.

http://www.poster.net/anonymous/anonymous-cows-5000235.jpg

The one on the right is responsible (he’s Orthodox, too).

 

[ronyodish]

Have you heard of the Priestly Society of St. Josaphat? I think I’ve come across them in reading a while ago, but I didn’t realize that they were Eastern Catholics working alongside the SSPX. Quite odd. Has anyone ever come across them?

Here is an article on them (I’d give the official homepage, except it’s not in English): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priestl…Saint_Josaphat

Madaglan,

I’ve never heard of them, as I don’t usually keep up with the info. on my Ukrainian brethren (or Greek-Catholic brethren in general) as much as I should. Thanks for the link, this a problematic group, as the link says: “The Society operates in direct defiance of the hierarchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church”, and so I urge people to stay away from them.

God bless,

Rony