I know, I asked more questions than I intended. I do not mean to offend, but to understand history. My thinking, which may be fallacious, is that, for many of these demands to be included in the treaty means that these atrocities had happened in the past/were possibly happening as the treaty was being written. Am I wrong?
I see that most of your questions revolve around the presumption that if it is prohibited in the treaty, then it must have been previously imposed upon the Eastern Catholics by the Latin Church. However that is an incorrect inference.
Some Eastern churches were using Latinisations before the Union of Brest, but these were not compelled by the Latin Church. This was because there were Eastern Catholics who were trying to appear more “Roman” and acceptable to Western Catholics who were unfamiliar with their tradition. The bishops of the Church of Rus were afraid of this happening. It did not mean that the Latin Church was already imposing any of these on the Easterners. Rather, it was simply because there are particular phenomena in the Western Church that the bishops found would be particularly likely to creep into the Eastern Church. Furthermore, it was likely that in the future, individual bishops politicking amongst each other might try to overstep each other’s authority and influence over the other. As such, as a preventive measure, the bishops ensured that it was enshrined in the treaty to ward off any dilution of the authentic Eastern tradition.
And so, to tackle your individual questions…
- Concerning article 5 - Does this mean that Byzantines accept the teaching on purgatory?
Not as the Latin Church traditionally defines it. After all, you’ve been taught the Byzantine understanding of purification, haven’t you?
- Concerning article 7 - Was there a time when Eastern Christians * were* compelled to take part in processions?
No, but Western Catholics are. However, Corpus Christi is not a feast found in the Eastern calendar, and the bishops were afraid that their flock might be obligated to join.
- Concerning article 8 - Were Eastern Christians forced to include ceremonies that were not a part of the church?
No, but they didn’t want to include these particular practices as Lent and Holy Week are greatly important to both the Western and Eastern churches and they didn’t want these particular practices of the Western Church to spill over and displace their own treasured Lenten traditions.
- Concerning article 11 - Was the Metropolitan at one time not allowed to ordain bishops?
In the Latin Church, the Pope or a nuncio may ordain the bishop, not just the metropolitan. It does not mean that the Eastern Metropolitan was prohibited. They simply did not want to see the tradition of ordination practiced otherwise in the Church of Rus.
- Concerning article 15 - Why has this not been enforced?
It is enforced, which is why it is exceedingly difficult for Eastern Catholics to transfer to the Western Church, while it is relatively easier for the opposite to occur. Only in a truly compelling reason would such a transfer be authorised.
- Concerning article 22 - Did the Roman Church actually forbid the ringing of bells on Good Friday?
See your question on article 8.
- Concerning article 23 - Priests were actually forbidden to visit the sick with the Holy Mysteries?
No. This one I’m honestly not very clear about.
- Concerning article 24 - And to hold processions?
This is simply the converse of article 7. They simply wanted the right to not follow Western observances, while being able to observe their own, in case any Latin bishops tried to stop them in the name of ‘uniformity’.
- Concerning article 25 - This one really bothers me… Were our churches taken away and converted into Roman churches: just like the Communists in Russia did, when they took them away and gave them to others?
No, they never did. You’re just reading too much into this statement. They wanted to retain ownership and control over their own church properties, and to prevent the gradual attrition of the Church of Rus against the influence of a larger Latin Church.
Hope this helps.
