Here is a quote that came to me from an Eastern Orthodox poster. Is this how Eastern Catholics view themselves? And if so, why do they remain in communion with the Roman Catholic Church?
Having learned quite a bit about the history of the Eastern Catholic Churches and how then came into communion with Rome I would have to conclude that this is entirely a slur that is completely unfounded.
On top of that, in opposition to the claims and perceptions of many Eastern Orthodox, some of the Eastern Catholic Churches represent the authentic continuation of the true heirarchy of the Church and the Church not in communion with Rome represent a rebellous schism that left their own Church to avoid communion with Rome.
The Chaldean Catholic Church has a particualarly interesting history in two parts so I will not get into it as it will take too long.
The Syriac Catholic Church represents the Actual Legitimate Church leadership of that Church coming into Communion with Rome and the current Syraic Orthodox Church was only formed afterwards by a breakaway bishop. The true continuation of this Church is with the Catholic Church.
The Melchite Catholic Church likewise came into communion with Rome by the action of the Church leadership and the current Byzantine Rite Patriarch of Antioch of the Eastern Orthodox Church is a recreated Church to fill in the whole in Orthodoxy that was left.
The history of the Syro Churches in India is an amazing story that takes a long time to get all the facts straight. It is a bit of History that is well worth your time to look into. The final conclusion that you must come to is that the Syro Malabar Church is the legitimate continuation of the Church that was originally in India and the others are in schism. Of the ones in schism, one church of believers who had changed from the Assyrian Church to the Oriental Orthodox communion came back into communion with Rome by the action of the leadership. That is the Syro Malankara Church. The leadership later repudiated the Union but the Reunion had already taken place and the Church remains in communion with Rome to this day. At the very least this church is half and half depending on opinion.
Again, in the case of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, as well as several other of the Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches, it was the decision of the Legitimate Church leadership that made the move to come into communion with Rome. In the case of at least one and if you count the one in Italy then two, of Byzantine Rite Catholic Chuches are in communion with Rome simply because they refused to follow the other “Orthodox” churches out of communion or just didn’t know about the schism.
The Armenian Catholic Church represents actually a completely different Church from the Armenian Apostalic Church from a different country though the same ethnic group. Neither is in schism with the other. The Armenian Catholic Church came into communion with Rome by the Action of the leadership and so all Armenians of its area are are at least were Catholic until the Armenians from the Armenian Apostolic Church moved into their part of the world.
Now the Catholic Church does have some holes. The legitimate leadership of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is not in communion with Rome. The Legitimate leadership of the Greek Orthdox Church in Greece and the Slavonic Orthodox Church in Russia is not in communion with Rome. In these areas, Catholics are interlopers so to speak. In Egypt, the legitimate leadership of the original Church rest with the Coptic Orthodox Church and not with either the Catholic patriarch in the area nor with the Byzantine patriarch in the area.
Considering that the Church in Jerusalem stopped existing after the Muslim conquest (because the muslims cut off all their heads to the last man, woman and child) we can say that the original church there died off. When the Crusades brought Christians back into Jerusalem it was the Latin Church that reestablished Christianity so we can say that the Latin Church is the current oldest church in Jerusalem, though Antioch does have a bit of a claim when these fact are not given any waight. Thus it can be concluded that the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the current original Christian head of the Church there, and if you go to Antioch, all three possible original Churches of Antioch are in communion with Rome.
