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<\/a>Although here at Patheos Catholic<\/em> we have a few different Eastern bloggers (Henry Karlson<\/a> and Justin Tse<\/a> to name the two besides me), I recently realized that no one has devoted time to a post explaining the exact terminology that properly describes Eastern Catholicism. Recently, I\u2019ve met quite a few Latin Catholics, who, though confused, were interested in learning more, and so thought I\u2019d produce a very basic primer on appropriate terms and descriptors, so as to avoid the faux pas of telling a Ruthenian Catholic that you\u2019ve attended his or her \u201cMass\u201d or asking a Ukrainian Greek Catholic about his or her \u201cUkrainian Rite service.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the terms presented are official; others represent recommendations on my part, drawn mostly from my experiences interacting with other Eastern Catholics who already often feel marginalized within the Church.<\/p>\n Without further ado: the most basic thing to understand is that the Catholic Church is actually made up of 24 sui iuris <\/em>(self-governing) Churches in union with one another, though distinct in individual hierarchies. The Latin Church, what most people know as the entire Catholic Church, is only one <\/em>of these 24. Here \u201cself-governing\u201d refers to their individual independence. To an outsider, the Ruthenian Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church may have similar-seeming liturgies, but they are totally distinct bodies with different bishops and internal rules, though with a related spiritual patrimony. As one publication<\/a> of the USSCB has described it:<\/p>\n That Church, Holy and Catholic, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, is made up of the faithful who are organically united in the Holy Spirit through the same faith, the same sacraments, and the same government and who, combining into various groups held together by a hierarchy, form separate Churches or rites.\u200e<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here, another point must be made: a \u201crite\u201d is not a \u201cChurch.\u201d The former is, effectively, a specific set of inherited principles, defined by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches <\/em>(Canon 28<\/a>) thus:<\/p>\n A rite is the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each Church sui iuris<\/em>. 2. The rites treated in this code, unless otherwise stated, are those which arise from the Alexandrian, Antiochene, Armenian, Chaldean and Constantinopolitan traditions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, above, I mentioned that the Ruthenian Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church might, to an outsider, appear to be the same Church, at least liturgically. This is because they both share the patrimony that is the Byzantine (or Constantinopolitan) Rite, a set of spiritual traditions handed down from ancient and medieval Constantinople. To create an imperfect parallel, the Latin Church once housed a variety of sub-rites beneath the larger Latin Rite (the Mozarabic and Ambrosian to name just two). You may have not heard of these, because they were largely suppressed by the Latin Church, which gave primacy to the Roman Rite (those traditions finding their origin in Rome). This is the rite most Western Catholics now know, and it itself has several uses (see, for example, the Anglican Use of the Ordinariate<\/a>). By analogy, we might then see how the Byzantine Rite, which is the tradition of multiple Eastern Catholic Churches, could produce a diversity of smaller-scale liturgical, theological, and practical differences. These differences look small to an outsider, but they matter to those within these individual Churches. A Romanian Greek Catholic liturgy is not exactly the same as a Melkite one, even though both are part of the Byzantine Rite.<\/p>\n In sum, there is no \u201cEastern Rite.\u201d There are several \u201cEastern Rites,\u201d each of which is the patrimony of several individual and independent Churches, which share certain traditions, but which are also divided by other (likely less noticeable to an outsider) differences.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To give a concrete example: I am currently practicing as a Ruthenian Catholic. My Church is of the Byzantine Rite, but for a variety of historical reasons is an independent, sui iuris <\/em>Church, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, under the guidance of Metropolitan William Skurla<\/a>, and in union with the Bishop of Rome. Justin Tse, another blogger here, is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic, whose Church is also of the Byzantine Rite, but which is headed by Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk<\/a> in Kiev, Ukraine. In other words, we share a rite, that is, a set of traditions, but our Churches are not the same and, in fact, have totally distinct hierarchies.<\/p>\n Things can get a little confusing, however. Here in America, you\u2019ll often hear people call themselves \u201cByzantines\u201d or \u201cByzantine Catholics.\u201d Typically, they mean \u201cRuthenian,\u201d since the Ruthenian Church has begun calling itself the \u201cByzantine Catholic Church in America<\/a>.\u201d Lots of people whose Churches share the Ruthenians\u2019 Byzantine patrimony (like the Melkites, the Ukrainians, the Romanians, etc.) take offense to this totalizing claim on the term \u201cByzantine.\u201d My advice to outsiders would be to call the individual by his or her Church\u2019s particular name, i.e. Justin is a \u201cUkrainian,\u201d I am a \u201cRuthenian,\u201d and so on (though, of course, different people ask for different things: Justin calls himself an \u201cEastern Catholic Guy.\u201d Others prefer what is now generally considered an old term: \u201cGreek Catholic,\u201d meaning \u201cCatholic of the Greek [Byzantine] Rite\u201d).<\/p>\n Relatedly, this is why it\u2019s often not best to merely call people \u201cEastern Catholic.\u201d It\u2019s true; we are Eastern Catholics, but we also belong to particular rites, and within those rites, particular Churches. Syriac Catholics, who use the West Syriac Rite, are Eastern Catholics as much as Syro-Malabars, who use the East Syriac Rite, who are Easterners as much as Ethiopian Catholics, who use the Alexandrian Rite (and then the Ge\u2019ez Sub-Rite within that rite\u2014it\u2019s complicated!). But as you can see, the differences that separate our individual rites, let alone our individual Churches, are meaningful. For ease of convenience, then, we can be \u201cEastern Catholics,\u201d but in order to feel truly respected, most prefer that outsiders try to learn about their particular patrimony in all its particular loveliness.<\/p>\n As you can see, that\u2019s the hard (and wonderful) thing about this topic: Eastern Catholics are really diverse. Most would say it\u2019s offensive to call them \u201cRoman Catholics\u201d (since they don\u2019t use the Roman Rite). Some, however, are fine with the term. Some Byzantine-Rite Easterners prefer to be called \u201cOrthodox in Communion with Rome\u201d above all, since their traditions are effectively those of the Eastern Orthodox (since the Eastern Orthodox are also, generally, of the Byzantine Rite!), simply while in union with the Bishop of Rome.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no need to worry, however. Eastern Catholics are, in my experience, a welcoming bunch. The effort to try to learn which terms best describe our individual traditions will not go unappreciated. Head down to a Byzantine-Rite \u201cDivine Liturgy\u201d (not a \u201cMass\u201d) and learn the best way anyone can: through interaction with the rich traditions of the East. Keep in mind that your eastern brethren are as integral a part of the Catholic Church as the Latin West, and, though smaller, may be the greatest hope there is for reunion with our separated, Apostolic brethren.<\/p>\n Since, it\u2019s still Christmas, then, I\u2019ll leave you with a hearty Christos Razdajetsja<\/em>! Christ is born!<\/p>\n You may find more information about the Eastern Catholic Churches in the following links:<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sT0m9N_Kkmg&t=2s<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Y6x0iy-7Dd4<\/a><\/p>\n