Melman,
I recognize the list you posted, but can’t remember from where it originated. It’s close, but not fully accurate; it doesn’t include the Georgian Church, uses an obsolete name (Greeks in former Yugoslavia) for the Croatian Church, doesn’t employ the full name of the Italo-Greico-Albanian Church, and assigns the Ethiopian Church to a Rite of its own.
Ryan,
There are 23 Churches *sui iuris *(“of their own law” or self-governing). They are also described in some documents as autonomous Particular Churches.
By the term “Western Church” is meant the Latin or Roman Catholic Church. Collectively, the other 22 Churches are generally referred to as the Eastern Catholic Churches or, sometimes, as the Oriental Catholic Churches. Strictly speaking, the 14 Churches which utilize the Byzantine Rite are the Eastern Catholic Churches; the other 8 Churches are the Oriental Catholic Churches. This distinction reflects that which is made among the counterpart or Sister (Orthodox) Churches, where Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches are also distinguished by the Rite that each uses.
For a long time, each group of Eastern Catholics was referred to by their name (usually relective of their historical national identity or ethnic origin), followed by the word “Rite”. Thus, you would hear references to someone being of the “Ukrainian Rite” or to “Melkite Rite Catholics”. At the urging of the Eastern Catholic hierarchs participating in Vatican II, particularly His Beatitude Maximos IV Saigh, Patriarch of Antioch & All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem of the Melkites, of blessed memory, the Church recognized the status of the Churches as *sui iuris *ecclesial entities, each of which uses a particular Rite.
A Rite is the collected liturgical patrimony or heritage by which a group of persons conduct their religious life. It is more than just differences in language, culture, and vesture, although those are often among the most immediately obvious distinctions. It’s often thought of as strictly applicable to their liturgical worship service; it actually includes the totality of a people’s religious expression, including their sacraments, sacramentals, prayers, music and even aspects of their religious artistic expression and ecclesial architecture.
Originally, there were 3 Rites - Latin, Alexandrean, and Antiochene; the Byzantine Rite was added shortly thereafter. These Rites arose from the customs and style of worship in what were then the 4 most important Christian centers. The differences among them sprung from the fact that uniformity of worship and liturgical practice was difficult to maintain over time, as the number of clergy increased, local cultures and customs began to be woven into the rituals used, and both travel and communication was hampered by geography and the limited means available to make and maintain contact between churches and clerics.
Over time, the 4 were modified or developed further in new regions. Some variations were so distinctive as to be deemed separate Rites. Here, I’m referring to the Maronite and Armenian Rites, both of which developed in relative isolation because of geography. The result is that most authorities would term Maronite as a Rite unto itself; while a minority would either place it within the West Syrian Tradition of the Antiochene Rite, where it originated. As to the Armenian, it is almost invariably deemed a separate Rite; it is uncommon to see it categorized within the Byzantine Rite, where it originated. The Latin, Armenian, and Maronite Rites are each used by only a single Church sui iuris; the others are all used by two or more such Churches.
“Traditions” are breakdowns within a Rite that principally reflect variations of culture or ecclesial language. Within some Traditions, there are also what are styled “Rescensions”; Rescensions occur where there has been further defining of the form of worship by characteristics unique to one or more of the Churches in a Tradition. “Usage” is a term of recent origin that ordinarily denotes limited, localized differences within a Church itself (as opposed to Rescensions, which occur within a Tradition).
The breakout, then, is:
Rite
*Traditions
***Rescensions
****Churches
*****Usages
Within the Italo-Greco-Albanian, Russian, and Ruthenian Catholic Churches, there are also separate canonical jurisdictions that, technically, each constitute a separate Church sui iuris since there is no formal canonical relationship between or among the jurisdictions and none of the hierarchs are singularly designated as the Church’s principal hierarch.
(continued, because I know I’m going to exceed the character count)
