Where to begin with Eastern Catholicism?

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StudentMI

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I was wondering if anyone can recommend any books that explain the differences between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Catholicism, or just the latter in general. I don’t know where to begin with it all.
 
StudentMI said:
I was wondering if anyone can recommend any books that explain the differences between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Catholicism, or just the latter in general. I don’t know where to begin with it all.
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What a mnemonic glut! Before I joined any Church, I was working on translation issues online on Carl Conrad’s Bible-Greek site, and I started to get pm’s, and one from a guy named John, who wrote: “You sound Orthodox…” And I replied: “What’s Orthodox?” And he said “The Church since 34AD…” So I replied: “Cool - Have they written anything?” So he fired back: “Well, the Bible, for starters…” And I wrote back: “Anything else?”

And it is like opening the doors at Maci’s on Black Friday morning… It’s a stampede, I say! So He told me: “The Way of a Pilgrim”, “Father Arseny”, and “The Philokalia” vol’s 1-4… The first gave me the Jesus Prayer, the second the life of a Gulag Priest-Prisoner so I could vicariously enter this life to see it in action from the inside - Without all the bells and smells of the Liturgy, and in the third - (I started with vol 2), I found myself sitting down with lifelong best friends over coffee, finally (I was in my 50s) talking about important things…

The most helpful I have found that are contemporary are Fr. John Romanides and Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos… If you are seriously philosophic and theologically inclined as well, read “The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church”…

geo
 
Not what you asked for, but maybe try attending an Eastern Divine Liturgy and talking to the priest too.
 
Try the Light for Life series if you’re looking for a rundown on Byzantine Catholicism. It’s been incredibly helpful for me.
 
Thank you for your post! I totally forgot about the Light for Life series - and I have the entire series in my bookcase! 😣
 
StudentMI said:
Where to begin?
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Salibi said:
maybe try attending an Eastern Divine Liturgy
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The acapella chant of the Hymn of the Cherubim as Christ draws near…
And the Faithful set aside all earthly care…
This one by Tchaikovsky…


The Divine Liturgy is always a good place to begin…

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As others have recommended, the best place to start is by attending the Divine Liturgy and then talking to the priest afterward.

Judging from your screen name, I’m guessing you’re a student in Michigan. Shoot me a PM if you’re in the Ann Arbor or Detroit area. I can make recommendations for several Byzantine, Maronite, and other Eastern parishes for you to visit.

The Light for Life series is also a wonderful series. And if you want a really good introduction to the liturgical/sacramental spirituality of the Byzantine East, you’d be doing yourself a favor by reading Archbishop Joseph Raya’s The Face of God.
 
Small Steps into the Kingdom by Father Spyridon Bailey. It is a very easy read and he covers the history of the church as well as some details I have not read in other sources. It is short , but contemporary as it was first publish in 2016.
 
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