Eastern Rite info

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I met some Eastern Rite Byzantine Catholics today, and I was wondering if someone could point me to an easy website or thread here on CAF that will teach me the difference between the RC and the Eastern Rite. Thanks. Sorry if my lingo is wrong, I have no idea what Im talking about here.
 
More like the difference between the RC and the Eastern rites (plural). There are various Eastern rites and they all have beautiful traditions.

The essential difference is that, as all Catholics, they hold to the same doctrines, but not necessarily the same theology. They also have (as I;mentioned above) different traditions, such as the way they do mass, or as they call it the Divine Liturgy. And from what I understand, their Divine Liturgies usually last 2 or 3 hours as opposed to our 1 hour.
 
bzkoss236 said:
More like the difference between the RC and the Eastern rites (plural). There are various Eastern rites and they all have beautiful traditions.

The essential difference is that, as all Catholics, they hold to the same doctrines, but not necessarily the same theology. They also have (as I;mentioned above) different traditions, such as the way they do mass, or as they call it the Divine Liturgy. And from what I understand, their Divine Liturgies usually last 2 or 3 hours as opposed to our 1 hour.
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How can you have different theology and the same doctrine? Couldn’t it be said that different theology mean in some way that you have a different doctrine but agree on essential doctrines? Would this reflect the difference between doctrine and dogma?
 
Oh and their Church is part of the Ruthenian Church. Not sure if that helps any. Thanks
 
The Eastern Orthodox church follows the fasting on Wednesday & Fridays. For the Byzantine Catholic Church, we follow the fast on Fridays(as a minimum). There are some Byzantine Catholics who follow the stricter Orthodox fast.

During Great Lent, the minimum is Wednesday & Friday(meat). Again, there are many Byzantine Catholics who follow the stricter fasting rules of no meat, no dairy, no oil, no wine for the entire period of Great Lent.
 
Anastasia13 said:
How can you have different theology and the same doctrine? Couldn’t it be said that different theology mean in some way that you have a different doctrine but agree on essential doctrines? Would this reflect the difference between doctrine and dogma?
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Doctrine is what you hold to be truth. Theology is the study and understanding of that truth. Eastern Catholics hold to the same doctrines as Western Catholics, but their theology (terminology, study, understanding) is different. Take the Real Presence for example. The Western Church uses the philosophical terminology of Transubstantiation to describe what happens, but the Eastern Church does not use the same philosophical description and prefer to just describe what happens as a Holy Mystery.
 
Here is another info link. catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0804.html
bzkoss236 said:
Doctrine is what you hold to be truth. Theology is the study and understanding of that truth. Eastern Catholics hold to the same doctrines as Western Catholics, but their theology (terminology, study, understanding) is different. Take the Real Presence for example. The Western Church uses the philosophical terminology of Transubstantiation to describe what happens, but the Eastern Church does not use the same philosophical description and prefer to just describe what happens as a Holy Mystery.
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Transubstantiation is not official Catholic Church doctrine??? I’ve never heard that. I just heard over the years that that (transubstantiation) is how Catholics believe that the transformation occurred. Right on…
 
You are confusing the term for the essence. The essence of transubstantiation or metaousiosis is important, whether one uses the Latin, Greek, Syriac or other words is not essential.
 
Anastasia13 said:
Here is another info link. catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0804.html

Transubstantiation is not official Catholic Church doctrine??? I’ve never heard that. I just heard over the years that that (transubstantiation) is how Catholics believe that the transformation occurred. Right on…
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We believe that It looks and tastes like bread and wine. But, it is no longer bread and wine. It is Christ’s Body and Blood. We just don’t necessarily use the words accidents and substance when describing the doctrine. We have the same belief; we don’t use the same terms. 🙂
 
Zekariya said:
We believe that It looks and tastes like bread and wine. But, it is no longer bread and wine. It is Christ’s Body and Blood. We just don’t necessarily use the words accidents and substance when describing the doctrine. We have the same belief; we don’t use the same terms. 🙂
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I don’t understand. Are you saying the transformation is spelled out like the Romans but in different words or that it simply is and is a mystery like the Orthodox?
 
Anastasia13 said:
I don’t understand. Are you saying the transformation is spelled out like the Romans but in different words or that it simply is and is a mystery like the Orthodox?
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We accept the doctrine. We use different words to describe the same doctrine. Just like the Oriental Orthodox teach that Christ has one nature of the union of the divine nature and human nature. We have the some doctrine on Christ (read our joint statements) but, use different wording.
 
bzkoss236 said:
More like the difference between the RC and the Eastern rites (plural). There are various Eastern rites and they all have beautiful traditions.

The essential difference is that, as all Catholics, they hold to the same doctrines, but not necessarily the same theology. They also have (as I;mentioned above) different traditions, such as the way they do mass, or as they call it the Divine Liturgy. And from what I understand, their Divine Liturgies usually last 2 or 3 hours as opposed to our 1 hour.
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WHOA??? That eastern rite liturgies last 2-3 hours as opposed to our 1 hour?
Eastern rites have a high mass or a low mass. The high mass is almost entirely sung by the choir. Usually 60-75 minutes. The low mass, are partly sung, partly recited, usually 45-60 minutes. The choice of which to attend is yours.

I’m interested in your information. Can you tell me SPECIFICALLY which liturgy you attended that was 3 hours long?

ALL RC masses I attend on Sundays are always 60 minutes long.

I’m well over 60 years old, and have never come across a 3- hour liturgy. Of course high holy days may be longer but that is because of the number in the congregation receicing the Eucharist. Are you just trying to scare people off? Then too, if a person attends mass only once a week, can’t you spare that time praising Our Lord?

I see no comparison to Southern Baptists who can literally spend 3-6 hours praising the Lord. Are you confusing the two?
 
Faustinas_frien said:
WHOA??? That eastern rite liturgies last 2-3 hours as opposed to our 1 hour?
Eastern rites have a high mass or a low mass. The high mass is almost entirely sung by the choir. Usually 60-75 minutes. The low mass, are partly sung, partly recited, usually 45-60 minutes. The choice of which to attend is yours.
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The Ruthenian has no formal provisions for a “Low mass” equivalent anymore. The rubrics call for the liturgy to be sung, except for the canon of the anaphora, which may be said by the celebrant, and may be said quietly at that, and the prayer before communion.

Using the low-mass format (all spoken) is a violation of the rubrics, a liturgical abuse, and hasn’t been allowed for over 20 years (not that its not done).
 
  1. FYI, usually in the Eastern rites, we use the Divine Liturgy, and don’t call it “Mass”. (We won’t smack you if you say “Mass”, but you might get some of these :rolleyes: 😃 .) And we never use the phrases “high Mass” or “low Mass” - those are definitely a part of the Latin Rite, not any of the Eastern rites I’ve ever seen or heard of.
  2. A Divine Liturgy of St. Basil (which is what we have every Sunday during Lent), when properly celebrated, may last a good two hours. One and a half is more normal at our church. But if we have a baptism or other additional event going on, it could go longer.
  3. Sometimes at a monastery you may get lucky and get a Liturgy combined with Matins (morning prayer) or Vespers (evening prayer) and that’s probably what would make it last upwards of three hours. Most of the time they’re not that long though.
  4. But - when they do last that long - seriously, it doesn’t SEEM that long because when it’s chanted or sung, you just really get into it and the time flies by! Especially now with the St. Basil liturgy which is just BEAUTIFUL – even more beautiful than the St. John Chrysostom DL in my humble opinion! 👍
 
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