Chapter 71  Introduction

The Catholic Church is a communion of twenty three autonomous Churches:

The Latin Church and twenty two Eastern Catholic Churches all have Catholic in their name. These include:

Alexandrian tradition
Coptic Orthodox Church
Ethiopian Catholic Church
Antiochene Tradition
Maronite Church of Antioch
Syrian Catholic Church
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Armenian tradition
Armenian Catholic Church
Byzantine (Constantinople) Tradition
Albanian Catholic Church
Bulgarian Catholic Church
Belourussian Catholic Church
Croatian Catholic Church
Greek Catholic ChurchGreek Melkite Catholic Church of Antioch Hungarian
Catholic Church Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
Macedonian Catholic Church
Romanian Catholic Church
Russian Catholic Church
Ruthenian Catholic Church
Slovak Catholic Church
Ukrainian Catholic Church
Chaldean or East Syrian Tradition Chaldean Catholic Church
Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

The Non-Catholic Eastern Churches

 Armenian Apostolic Church
Coptic Church of Alexandria
Ethiopian Church
Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East
Jacobite Church of Syria
Syro-Malabar Church

 Orthodox Churches

The Greek Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church of Constantinople
Orthodox Church of Alexandria
Orthodox Church of Antioch
Orthodox Church of Jerusalem
Orthodox Church of Cyprus
Russian Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church of Carlovitz
Orthodox Church of Czemagora
Church of Sinai
Orthodox Church of Hermannstadt
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church of Czemovitz
Serbian Orthodox Church
Romanian Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church of Bosnia-Herzegovina
Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
Polish Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church of Albania
Orthodox Church of Czech Lands and Slovakia
Ukranian Orthodox Church
Finnish Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church of Belarus
Orthodox Church of Montenegro
Japanese Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church in America
Chinese Orthodox Church
Estonian Orthodox Church
Latvian Orthodox Church
Lithuanian Orthodox Church.

In the book Comparative Sacramental Discipline in the CCEO and CIC (edited by Francis J. Marini; published by CLSA) there is an excellent list on pages 256-257. Do you have access to this book?

In a footnote on page 256 it says, "Some authors hold that there are twenty-two Eastern Churches sui iuris. The official number is twenty-one because the Georgian Catholics of the Constantinopolitan (Byzantine) Rite do not possess their own hierarchy, one of the canonical requirements of a Church sui iuris. See CCEO, c. 27."

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The Eastern Eparchies of the United States

This information is accurate as of June 1, 2002.  The Cities indicate the location of the eparchies' U.S. headquarters.   (As Roman Catholics speak of "diocese" Eastern Catholics speak of "eparchy.") 

Eparchies of Near Eastern Origin

Armenian -- New York, NY
Chaldean -- Southfield, MI, Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle  Headed by (2003) Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim.  [NCR January 24, 2003, p 13. "Vatican Radio said Christians in Iraq number about 670,000 or about 3 percent of the population, and a large majority of them are Catholic.  The Chaldean Catholic Church is one of the seven (?) non-Latin traditions in communion with Rome, While most of its members live in Iraq, approximately 160,000 nor live in the United States.  Of that number about 100,000 live in the Detroit area."]

On December 4, 2003 the synod of the 22 bishops of the Chaldean Church elected Emmanuel III Delly their new patriarch. (Raphael I Bidawid, died July 7) The new patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, whose see is in Baghdad, was born Emmanuel Karim in Iraq, in the town of Telkaif, on Oct. 6, 1927. Until now, he was archbishop of Kaskar of the Chaldeans. Chaldean Catholics constitute about 70% of the 800,000 Christians in Iraq. Baghdad has the largest Chaldean community, more than 350,000 faithful. The official language in the Chaldean liturgy is Aramaic, the tongue spoken by Jesus. Its liturgy also uses Arabic. Chaldean communities also reside in America, Europe and Oceania. (Condensed from an announcement on Zenit, ZE03120402)

Maronite -- Brooklyn, NY, Eparchy of St. Maron; and Los Angeles, CA, Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon
Melkite -- Newton, MA
Syriac -- Union City, NJ, Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance

Arch/Eparchies of Central and East European Origin

Romanian -- Canton, OH
Ruthenian -- Pittsburg, PA and Phoenix, AZ
Ukrainian -- Philadelphia, PA, Parma, OH, Chicago, IL and Stamford, CT

Eparchy of South Indian Origin

Syro-Malabar -- Chicago, IL, Eparchy of St. Thomas  [The Knanaya Catholics are subject to the Syro-Malabar Bishop of the Eparchy of St. Thomas in Chicago. When the Apostolic Visitator met with Cardinal Bernardin and me in 1996, it was clear that the Holy See considered the Knanaya community to be members of the Syro-Malabar Church and when the Syro-Malabar eparchy would be created for North America, that the Knanayans would be part of that eparchy, but would not receive their own separate and distinct hierarchy for North America.  The issue, of course, is endogamy, which prohibits marriage outside the community. People who marry outside the community are considered outcasts and are no longer welcome in the community.]

Syro-Malankar -- Syro-Malankars in India which on February 8, 2007 elected His Beatitude Issac Cleemis Thottunkal, major archbishop of Trivandrum, to be the chief leader and shepherd of the Malankar community. The Syro-Malankar community was established in 1932.

 

Summary 2005  At the Synod of Bishops in Rome, October 11, 2005, Byzantine Archbishop Basil Schott, O.F.M of Pittsburg reported: 

There exists in the United States 17 eparchies of the Byzantine, Antiochian, Chaldean and Armenian traditions:  four of the Byzantine Ruthenian, four of the Byzantine Ukrainian, one of the Byzantine Melkite, one of Byzantine Romanian, two of the Maronite, two of the Chaldean, one of the Syrian, one of the Syro-Malabar, one of the Armenian, each with their own hierarchy and eparchial structures.  There are also faithful and priests of the Syro-Malankar, Ethiopian and Coptic Catholic churches without their own hierarchy.  There also exist eparchies of our brothers of the Orthodox churches of the same traditions. 

This is a unique ecclesial situation in the world, and it has its blessings.  This allows us the fertile ground for a unique ecumenical dialogue both formally and informally with our brothers and sisters of the Orthodox churches.  Practically speaking, we often pray together, even attending the eucharistic celebration of each other.  However, the pain remains of not being able to partake of the eucharist in these celebrations. 

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Guidelines on Eucharist
Between Chaldean and Assyrian Churches
July 20, 2001

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 26, 2001 Chaldean and Assyrian Churches Sign Pact on Eucharist. Access to Communion Approved in Special Cases. (Text taken from Zenit.org)

The Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East have taken a decisive step toward East-West unity by offering access to the Eucharist to each other's faithful in special instances. An agreement published Thursday by the Vatican Press Office states that, when "necessity requires, Assyrian faithful are permitted to participate and to receive Holy Communion in a Chaldean celebration of the Holy Eucharist."  The text was prepared by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in agreement with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

The guidelines permitting this change were signed July 20, but the Vatican has only now made them public, thus accepting the proposals of Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV of the Assyrian Church of the East, and Patriarch Mar Raphaël Bidawid of the Chaldean Church. The Chaldean patriarch is attending the Synod of Bishops in Rome.

The guidelines constitute notable progress in ecumenical relations. However, as the document indicates, the measure "is not equal to full Eucharistic communion," although it spells real progress "toward that blessed day when it will be possible to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in peace."

This is a special decision from the pastoral point of view, as the faithful of these Churches often live in minority situations, and sometimes have great difficulty in gaining access to the Eucharist.  The majority of these faithful live in Iraq, Iran and Turkey. Assyrian Christians number about 400,000. They are in Iraq, the Mideast, Northern Europe, the United States and Australia.

The Chaldeans number 800,000 and they live primarily in Iraq. Both communities suffer from great poverty. The Vatican note explains that for many it is difficult to have a "normal sacramental life," hence the importance of this decision.

The Assyrian Church of the East isolated itself from the rest of Christianity after the Council of Ephesus in 431, which condemned the heresy of Patriarch Nestorius, who suggested that there were two persons (one divine, one human) in Jesus Christ.   In 1552, following a series of individual conversions of bishops, part of this Church re-established communion with Rome, giving birth to the Chaldean Church. Its see is in Baghdad.  Both the Chaldean and Assyrian Churches have continued to share the same theological, liturgical and spiritual tradition. A joint Christological declaration, signed by Mar Dinkha IV and John Paul II in Rome in 1994, eliminated the error of attributing monophysitism to the Assyrians, thus overcoming the cause of the schism.

Summary by John F. Baldovin, S.J. Weston Jesuit School of Theology:   summarizes the issue in this way: The Pope has decided that the Anaphora of Addai and Mari (which does not contain the institution narrative as such) can be considered valid since it virtually contains an institution narrative. This means that "in principle" at least the words "This is my body...." do not absolutely have to be considered the only possible "formula of consecration." I am not advocating dropping the institution narrative so much as pointing out a profound theological implication of this landmark decision.

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Syria

The term "Greek Orthodox" in the Middle East means a member of a Christian body in communion with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople. In the Middle East there are distinct Greek Orthodox Patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria of Egypt. There is also the autonomous Greek Orthodox Church of the Sinai Peninsula.

These are the Byzantine-rite Churches that profess the Nicene-Caledonian faith, but are not currently in communion with the See of Rome.

Confusingly, the Arabic for "Greek Orthodox" is precisely "Roman Orthodox" (Rum Orthodox), in consideration of Constantinople's ancient claim to be the new, second, Rome.

The Catholic "counterpart" are the Greek-Melchite-Catholics headed by the Greek-Melchite-Catholic Patriarch of Antioch. Confusingly again, the Byzantine-rite Greek Catholics are called in Arabic precisely 'Roman Catholics" (Rum Catholiques).

The Syrian Orthodox Church is quite different. This refers to the heirs of the Jacobites, a non-, or pre-Chalcedonian Church - which in pre-ecumenical times we used to call Monophysites. Its rite is West Syrian, essentially like that of the Maronites. The Catholic counterpart is the Syrian Catholic (not Greek Catholic) Church, whose former Patriarch is now, incidentally, one of the major officials of the Roman Curia, the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches.

The Syrian Orthodox Church is one of the several Churches that used to be called Monosphysite, on account of their non-reception of the Council of Chalcedon, the others being the Armenian Orthodox (or Apostolic,), the Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox. The Nestorians of Assyrian form s a Church is by itself, since, at least originally, it did not even accept Ephesus I. In ecumenical language they are often called in the aggregate the Ancient Oriental Churches.

Armenia

On January 19, 2005 Pope John Paul II blessed a statue of St. Gregory the Illuminator which now stands in one of the exterior niches of St. Peter's Basilica.  It is the first time that a statue of an Eastern-rite saint -- in this case, the apostle of Armenia -- has been placed among the founding saints that surround the exterior of St. Peter’s.  The ceremony was attended by Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX of Cilicia of the Armenians, whose see is in Lebanon.  Nerses Bedros XIX leads approximately 10% of the Armenian Christians who are in communion with Rome.  Some 90% of Armenian Christians obey the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate, which separated from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon in 451.  A key step was taken in 1996 to overcome this division, when John Paul II and then Patriarch Karekin I signed a joint declaration that resolved misunderstandings on the nature of Jesus.  With this gesture, the Pope wished to culminate the celebrations for the 1,700th anniversary of the Armenian people's conversion to the Christian faith.  According to Armenian tradition, Gregory, who was born around 250-252, miraculously cured Armenian King Tiridates III, who converted to Christianity in 301 together with all his court, making Armenia the first Christian nation.  [Adapted from Zenit ZE05011923]

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