Greek Catholic churches (in Russian pre-revolutionary and Soviet literature, Uniate churches , Uniate [1] ) are Eastern Catholic churches of the Byzantine liturgical tradition . The definition of “Greek Catholic” allows us to distinguish them from the Catholic churches of other traditions - primarily from the Roman Catholic Church (“Latin liturgical tradition”), as well as from the churches of the Armenian, Syrian and Coptic liturgical traditions. Together with the latter, the Greek Catholic churches belong to the Eastern Catholic churches .
Until 1917, the Russian Orthodox Church in official documents was sometimes called the Russian Eastern Greek-Catholic Church, i.e. Before, the concepts of Greek-catholic (Greek-Catholic) and Orthodox were by and large synonymous. However, in order to dissociate themselves with Greek Catholics, the Orthodox refused to use this term, which entailed a change in meaning in the mass consciousness, as well as with the epithet Catholic (ecumenical).
In a narrow sense, the term applies to Catholic churches in which worship is performed according to the Byzantine rite in Greek :
- Greek Catholic Church
- Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
- Melkite Greek Catholic Church .
In a broader sense, also to other Eastern Catholic churches of the Byzantine tradition , services in which are performed in other languages:
- Albanian Greek Catholic Church
- Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
- Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church
- Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
- Macedonian Greek Catholic Church
- Catholic church of the Byzantine-Slavic rite in Poland
- Russian Greek Catholic Church
- Romanian Greek Catholic Church
- Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church
- Slovak Greek Catholic Church
- Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
- Croatian Greek Catholic Church ( Križević Diocese ).
Greek Catholic churches have different statuses:
- Albanian Greek Catholic Church - Apostolic Administration : Albania (1628)
- Belarusian Greek Catholic Church - no hierarchy has been established at present: Belarus (1596)
- Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church - Apostolic Exarchate : Bulgaria (1861)
- Hungarian Greek Catholic Church - Diocese and Apostolic Exarchate: Hungary (1646)
- Greek Catholic Church - Two Apostolic Exarchates: Greece, Turkey (1829)
- Italo-Albanian Catholic Church - Two Dioceses and Territorial Abbey : Italy
- Macedonian Greek Catholic Church - Apostolic Exarchate: Macedonia (1918)
- Melkite Catholic Church - Patriarchate : Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Jerusalem, Brazil, USA, Canada, Mexico, Iraq, Egypt and Sudan, Kuwait, Australia, Venezuela, Argentina (1726)
- The Russian Greek Catholic Church - two apostolic exarchates , currently without a hierarch : Russia (1917), China (1928); Currently, approximately 20 counties and communities are scattered throughout the world, including five in Russia directly, responding to bishops of other jurisdictions.
- Romanian Greek Catholic Church - High Archbishopric : Romania, United States of America (1697)
- Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church - Archdiocese , 4 Dioceses, and Apostolic Exarchate: United States of America, Ukraine, Czech Republic (1646)
- Slovak Greek Catholic Church - archdiocese and three dioceses: Slovakia , Canada (1646)
- Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church - supreme archbishopric : Ukraine, Poland, USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Germany and Scandinavia, France, Brazil, Argentina (1596)
- Croatian Greek Catholic Church - Diocese : Croatia, Diaspora (1611)
History
The Byzantine tradition in Sicily and in southern Italy arose in the 5th - 6th centuries. . In the VIII century, the Byzantine emperor Leo III transferred this area from the jurisdiction of the pope to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople , however, after the Norman conquest and the loss of southern Italy by the Byzantine Empire, the Roman popes regained their authority over the Greek-speaking communities of Italy. Many of these communities did not participate in the Great schism of the XI century and preserved church communion with the Roman throne, thus forming the Byzantine Catholic Church - the first Greek Catholic church .
In the second half of the 15th century, after the defeat of the Skanderbeg rebellion, a significant number of Albanian emigrants migrated to southern Italy, some of whom professed Orthodoxy , and after emigrating joined the Catholic Church of the Byzantine rite. From this period, the traditional name "Italo-Greek Church" begins to gradually change to "Italo-Albanian." Now this church is called the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church .
As a result of the conclusion of the Union of Brest in the Commonwealth , the Russian Uniate Church was created, which also belonged to the Eastern Catholic churches of the Byzantine liturgical tradition. Modern Ukrainian and Belarusian Greek Catholic churches are its heirs.
On April 24, 1646, the Orthodox Bishop of Mukachev and 63 Orthodox Ruthenian priests concluded the Union of Uzhgorod and were accepted into the Catholic Church with the preservation of the Byzantine rite of worship. They formed the Rusyn Greek Catholic Church . In 1664, a union was concluded in Mukachevo, annexing the Orthodox population of Transcarpathia and the Hungarian diocese of Haidudorog to the Ruthenian church. In 1713, a union was made in Maramures (now Romania ).
On September 22, 1818, the Prešov Diocese, the future center of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church, was allocated from the Mukachevo diocese. After the Second World War , when the territory of the Mukachevo diocese passed to the USSR , the Prešov diocese began to unite all Greek Catholics of Czechoslovakia, most of them were ethnic Slovaks, with Ruthenian and Czech minorities. On October 13, 1980, an independent diocese of Saints Cyril and Methodius was organized in the center in Toronto to nurture the Greek Catholics of the Czechoslovak diaspora in North America. In 1997, Pope John Paul II created an apostolic exarchate centered in Kosice . On January 30, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI radically reformed the structure of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church. The Prešov Diocese received the status of the Metropolitanate Archdiocese, the Kosice exarchate was elevated to the diocese, and a third diocese was organized in Slovakia, with its center in Bratislava .
In the late 1850s, among the Bulgarians who were under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople , the movement for the independence of the national church from Constantinople intensified. Part of the clergy on this basis advocated a union with Rome. Archimandrite Joseph Sokolsky , who led the union’s supporters , was ordained bishop by Pope Pius IX on April 8, 1861 and appointed head of the Byzantine rite of the Bulgarian Catholic Church .
See also
- The Greek Catholic Diocese of Ruski Krstur
Notes
- ↑ Currently, the term is used primarily in the literature of the Russian Orthodox Church , usually in relation to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church : See Uniates