Greek Catholic

[Matthew_Holford]

The Russian Orthodox Church absorbed the schism lead by Rev. Fr. Alexis Toth. Essentially, Fr. Toth and a couple other Ruthenian priests left for Orthodoxy because of mistreatment by Roman bishops, especially Bishop John Ireland.

Once accepted into Russian Orthodoxy by Bishop Vladimir of San Francisco, Fr. Toth actively pursued a further schism of Ruthenians and Ukrainians into the ROC. Including the ‘Greek Catholic’ in the name made it easier to convert many of them.

In essence, it was a deception.

Note also: Rev. Fr. Alexis Toth has been canonized by the Russian Orthodox…

Thanks Aramis! An interesting snippet of history.

 

[I_Thirst]

Thanks for the info. I’m afraid I don’t know for what your abbreviations AK and CA stand.

AK, Alaska
CA, California

 

[Matthew_Holford]

It may be cumbersome, but I think ‘Constantinopolitan’ would be more appropriate.

Perhaps too many syllables …

Thank you for your reply. I won’t say that I anticipated your answer because that would be pushing the boundaries of veracity. I did wonder if it might feature in your reply. This is only because Wikipedia (that wonderful encyclopaedia) use it as an alternative to ‘Byzantine’ in their article on the Eastern Catholic churches.

Now, that gives rise to another question. Why is Constantinopolitan preferable to Byzantine? I am sure you will provide an enlightening response but for now they seem to me to be adjectives referring to the same city based on its former names.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

AK, Alaska
CA, California

Thanks! I don’t know these abbreviation for US states.

 

[Hesychios]

It is worth noting that aside from Fr. Toth, only two other priests joined him - one of whom was his brother . These two priests, however, returned farily quickly, to the Catholic church.

I am curious …

Do you have a reference for this?

 

[Vico]

I ask why would they use that name. Catholic I can understand as the Orthodox churches have a valid claim to and use of that name (I see corrections coming my way from some quarters). What confuses me is why they would use the terms ‘Greek’ and ‘Russian’. The only conclusion I can draw is they used ‘Greek’ to refer to their use of the Byzantine Liturgy.

It is historical. The “Russian Orthodox Church in North America” received about 25,000 Greek Catholics, mostly Lemkos from Galicia, such that the name was changed to “Russian Orthodox** Greek Catholic **Church in North America”. That was in 1900 and at that time the episcopal seat moved to New York.

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[dvdjs]

I am curious …

Do you have a reference for this?

Of course. I couldn’t know this from my own experience, obviously.
I read this in a collection of documents from the early times and some historical writings by Fr. John Slivka, I assume that you are familiar with his work.

 

[dvdjs]

I dug up the reference: Historical Mirror Greek Rite Catholics 1884-1963.

“Only three priests joined Orthodoxy…”

“The first blow of fate came, when Fr. Victor Toth, his brother returned to Europe and renounced Orthodoxy … and was reaccepted to the Greek Rite Catholic Church … He was followed by Fr. Michael Balogh… He too returned to the Greek Rite Catholic Church, … in Wilkes Barre, Pa, where, during the Divine Liturgy he renounced Orthodoxy …”

 

[Hesychios]

Of course. I couldn’t know this from my own experience, obviously.

Obviously. I didn’t think that you would, but I did want to learn more about it and I was hoping you could steer me in the right direction, my web searches were coming up pretty dry.

I read this in a collection of documents from the early times and some historical writings by Fr. John Slivka, I assume that you are familiar with his work.

Actually no, I cannot recall the name.

But I will be reading the download later, thanks

 

[dvdjs]

Ferencz in “American Orthodoxy and Parish Congregationalism” names six priests - four from an earlier period than V Toth and Balogh, who accompanied A Toth into the ROC; all returned to the GCC.

 

[Alexander_Roman]

This is “Greek” to me . . .

In the Ukrainian world, the term “Greek” was used to truly underscore our relationship to the Byzantine tradition.

Over time, however, that word seemed to establish a cultural connection to modern Greek nationality and so the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada dropped it. The Ukrainian Catholic Church dropped it as a carry-over from the Austro-Hungarian time (as correctly stated above). But it restored its use today due to two factors: 1) the presence of Ukrainian Roman Catholics and 2) because all the UGCC churches taken by the Soviets were registered as ‘Greek Catholic.’

It is interesting that the Russian Catholics formally defines its Church as “Russian Orthodox-Catholic” or “Rossiyska Pravoslavno-Kafolichnaya.”

This is really the best term of all to describe Eastern Catholics since the word “Orthodox” underscores our liturgical/ritual/spiritual identity.

Alex