Yes, I’ve crossed paths with those in the Eastern rite Churches in communion with us. And they seem to me at least to be an interesting mix of Orthodox and Catholic. I actually find it really appealing - don’t know the religious history there that well. Just my impressions. For all I know they may not agree with that assessment.Keep in mind that while the Orthodox are from the Eastern aspect of the Catholic Church, there are 20+ Eastern rite Churches in union with Rome, which also share in the Eastern approach to theology.
From what little I observe, it would look like the Greek Orthodox would be more likely to work for unity than Russian Orthodox. And that, in turn, might in part hinge upon introspection re: history, particularly since the early 1900’s.
Eastern Catholics run the gamut from being all but indistinguishable from their Orthodox counterparts to being very highly latinized in both liturgy and theology. The history, at least in regards to Byzantine rite Catholics, has been troubled at times. Some of the unions were brought about under tremendous pressure from civil authorities. Later on there were great upheavals in the US because of the policies of Rome in regards to Eastern Catholics. Somewhere around 200,000 Ruthenians left the Roman Catholic Church for the Orthodox Church as a result of those policies and practices. Both the Orthodox Church in America and the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Archdiocese (ACROD) exists in very large part because of this exodus. In fact ACROD was actually founded by former Eastern Catholics.Yes, I’ve crossed paths with those in the Eastern rite Churches in communion with us. And they seem to me at least to be an interesting mix of Orthodox and Catholic. I actually find it really appealing - don’t know the religious history there that well. Just my impressions. For all I know they may not agree with that assessment.
Thanks for the info. Just as I suspected. As for my recent encounter, at I least I feel better for initially thinking they were Orthodox. It was quite embarrassing when they had to clarify that they were actually Catholics in my Church!Eastern Catholics run the gamut from being all but indistinguishable from their Orthodox counterparts to being very highly latinized in both liturgy and theology. The history, at least in regards to Byzantine rite Catholics, has been troubled at times. Some of the unions were brought about under tremendous pressure from civil authorities. Later on there were great upheavals in the US because of the policies of Rome in regards to Eastern Catholics. Somewhere around 200,000 Ruthenians left the Roman Catholic Church for the Orthodox Church as a result of those policies and practices. Both the Orthodox Church in America and the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Archdiocese (ACROD) exists in very large part because of this exodus. In fact ACROD was actually founded by former Eastern Catholics.
It’s been a while.It would be great if we were united again.
I was not familiar with the history - wow, that is sad. We have a Ruthinian rite parish in Portland and I have been to the Divine Mysteries several times. They seem such a small parish…Eastern Catholics run the gamut from being all but indistinguishable from their Orthodox counterparts to being very highly latinized in both liturgy and theology. The history, at least in regards to Byzantine rite Catholics, has been troubled at times. Some of the unions were brought about under tremendous pressure from civil authorities. Later on there were great upheavals in the US because of the policies of Rome in regards to Eastern Catholics. Somewhere around 200,000 Ruthenians left the Roman Catholic Church for the Orthodox Church as a result of those policies and practices. Both the Orthodox Church in America and the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Archdiocese (ACROD) exists in very large part because of this exodus. In fact ACROD was actually founded by former Eastern Catholics.