Eastern Catholic church of the Byzantine Rite
This article is about the modern Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. For the Eastern Catholic Church historically called "Ruthenian", see
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
.
The
Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church
,
[a]
also known in the United States as the
Byzantine Catholic Church
, is a
sui iuris
(autonomous)
Eastern Catholic
church based in Eastern Europe and North America. As a
particular church
of the
Catholic Church
, it is in
full communion
with the
Holy See
. It uses the
Byzantine Rite
for its liturgies, laws, and cultural identity.
Name
[
edit
]
While not directly associated with the former
Ruthenian Uniate Church
, the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church also derives its name from the
Rusyn
and
Ruthenian
Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe and their
communion
with
Rome
.
[3]
While Ruthenian Catholics are not the only
Eastern Catholics
to utilize the
Byzantine Rite
in the United States, the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church refers to itself as the "Byzantine Catholic Church" within the US.
[4]
History
[
edit
]
The Ruthenian Church originally developed among the
Rusyn people
who lived in
Carpathian Ruthenia
.
[5]
Christianity and the Byzantine Rite was brought to the
Slavic peoples
in the 9th century as a result of the missionary outreach of
Saints Cyril and Methodius
.
Following the
Great Schism
of 1054, the Ruthenian Church retained its Orthodox ties
[6]
[7]
until the Union of Uzhhorod.
Union of Uzhhorod
[
edit
]
The present structure of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church traces its origins to the 1646
Union of Uzhhorod
, when Eastern Orthodox clergy were received into communion with the Holy See of Rome. Sixty three Ruthenian clergy were received into the Catholic Church; in 1664 a union reached at
Munkacs
(today Mukachevo, Ukraine) brought additional communities into the Catholic communion.
[7]
[8]
Initially, the Union only included lands owned or administered by the noble Drugeth family; essentially, most of the modern-day
Presov Region
and part of
Zakarpattia Oblast
:
Abov County
,
Gomor County
,
Saros County
,
Szepes County
,
Torna County
, northern
Zemplen County
, parts of
Ung County
, and the city of
Uzhhorod
itself.
The resulting
dioceses
retained their Byzantine patrimony and
liturgical
traditions, and their
bishops
were elected by a council composed of
Basilian monks
and
eparchial clergy
. In this part of central and eastern Europe, the
Carpathian Mountains
straddle the borders of the present-day states of
Hungary
,
Poland
,
Slovakia
,
Romania
and
Ukraine
. Today, the church is multi-ethnic. Members of the metropolitan province of Pittsburgh are predominantly English-speaking. Most are descendants of Rusyns ? including sub-groups like the
Boikos
,
Hutsuls
and
Lemkos
? but the descendants of other nationalities are also present such as Slovaks, Hungarians and Croats as well as those of non-Slavic and non-Eastern European ancestry. The modern Eparchy of Mukacheve in Ukraine is mostly Ukrainian-speaking but remains part of the greater Ruthenian Church.
After almost a thousand years of Hungarian rule the region became, in part, incorporated in
Czechoslovakia
after
World War I
. Annexation to the
Soviet Union
after the war led to persecution of the Ruthenian Catholic Church.
[9]
Since the collapse of
Communism
the Ruthenian Catholic Church in
Eastern Europe
has seen a resurgence in numbers of
faithful
and
priests
.
[10]
United States
[
edit
]
In the 19th and 20th centuries, various Byzantine Catholics from
Austria-Hungary
arrived in the United States, particularly in
coal
mining towns.
[6]
Members of the predominant
Latin Church
Catholic hierarchy were sometimes disturbed by what they saw as the innovation, for the United States, of a married Catholic clergy. At their persistent request, the
Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith
applied, on 1 May 1897, to the United States
[11]
rules already set out in a letter of 2 May 1890 to
Francois-Marie-Benjamin Richard
, the Latin
Archbishop of Paris
.
[12]
These rules stated that only
celibates
and widowed priests coming without their children should be permitted in the United States.
The dissatisfaction of many Ruthenian Catholics had already given rise to some groups placing themselves under the jurisdiction of what is today the
Orthodox Church in America
(at that time a mission of the
Russian Orthodox Church
). The leader of this movement was the widowed Ruthenian Catholic priest
Alexis Toth
, whose mistreatment by Archbishop
John Ireland
of Saint Paul, Minnesota, led to Toth's transfer to Eastern Orthodoxy. He brought with him many Ruthenian Catholics, around 20,000 by the time of his death with many who followed afterward, and was canonized a saint by the Orthodox Church in America in 1996.
[
citation needed
]
The situation with Alexis Toth and the Latin Catholic bishops highlighted the need for American Eastern Catholics to have their own bishop. Pope Pius X appointed the Ukrainian bishop
Soter Ortynsky
in 1907 as bishop for all Slavic Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine rite in America. For this period the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholics were united to the
Ukrainian Greek Catholics
in the same eparchy. Ethnic tensions flared due to cultural differences (mostly of a political nature) between Ukrainians who came from Austrian-ruled
Galicia
and the Rusyns and other Byzantine Catholics who came from the
Kingdom of Hungary
.
This caused Rome to split the groups after Ortynsky's death, creating two ecclesiastical administrations for Eastern-rite Catholics in the United States, divided along nationality lines: one Ukrainian and the other Carpatho-Rusyn. Each was headed not by a bishop, but by an administrator: Father Peter Poniatyshyn for the Ukrainians and Father Gabriel Martyak for the Carpatho-Rusyns.
[13]
[14]
Later, the Rusyn priest
Basil Takach
was appointed and consecrated in Rome on his way to America as the new eparchy's bishop. Bishop Takach is considered the first bishop of Ruthenian Catholics in America, and his appointment as the official founding of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh.
Clerical celibacy of American Eastern Catholics was restated with special reference to the Byzantine/Ruthenian Church by the 1 March 1929 decree
Cum data fuerit
, which was renewed for a further 10 years in 1939. Due to this and other similar factors, 37 Ruthenian parishes transferred themselves into the jurisdiction of the
Greek Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarch
in 1938, creating the
American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese
.
Relations with the Latin Church Catholic hierarchy have improved, especially since the
Second Vatican Council
, at which the Ruthenian Church influenced decisions regarding using the vernacular (i.e. the language of the people) in the
liturgy
.
[15]
In its decree
Orientalium Ecclesiarum
, the Second Vatican Council declared:
The Catholic Church holds in high esteem the institutions, liturgical rites, ecclesiastical traditions and the established standards of the Christian life of the Eastern Churches, for in them, distinguished as they are for their venerable antiquity, there remains conspicuous the tradition that has been handed down from the Apostles through the Fathers and that forms part of the divinely revealed and undivided heritage of the universal Church.
[16]
The Second Vatican Council urged the
Eastern Rite Churches
to eliminate
liturgical Latinization
and to strengthen their Eastern Christian identity. In June 1999 the Council of Hierarchs of the Byzantine Metropolitan Church Sui Iuris of Pittsburgh USA promulgated the norms of
particular law
to govern itself. In January 2007, the Revised
Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
and the Revised
Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
were promulgated. In December 2013, the Pope approved the request of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches that appropriate Eastern Church authorities be granted the faculty to allow pastoral service of Eastern married clergy also outside the traditional Eastern territory.
Membership within the Ruthenian Catholic Church, like the other
sui iuris
churches, is not limited to those who trace their heritage to the ethnic groups affiliated with the church.
[17]
Structure
[
edit
]
As of 2016
[update]
, the membership of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church was estimated at some 419,500 faithful, with seven bishops, 664 parishes, 557 priests, 76 deacons, and 192 men and women
religious
.
[18]
The Church is not organised as a single
synod
. This is mainly because some of the priests and faithful of the Eparchy of Mukacheve desire that it should be part of the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
.
[19]
-
- The
canonical
territory of the
metropolis
includes the whole of the
United States of America
and
Canada
. It was erected as a metropolis (
archdiocese
) by
Pope Paul VI
in 1969. The
apostolic exarchate
in Canada serves
Slovak Greek Catholics
.
Saints
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
People
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Rusyn
:
Русиньска ?рекокатолицька церьков
;
Latin
:
Ecclesia Graeco-Catholica Ruthenica
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Brockhaus, Hannah (19 July 2021).
"Pope Francis to visit Slovakia during important anniversary year for Ruthenian Catholics"
.
Catholic News Agency
. Retrieved
15 November
2021
.
- ^
"Eastern Catholic Churches Worldwide 2017"
(PDF)
.
Catholic Near East Welfare Association
. 2017
. Retrieved
3 March
2022
.
- ^
Andrew Jackson Shipman (1913).
"Ruthenians"
. In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
Catholic Encyclopedia
. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^
Senz, Paul (1 May 2019).
"Get to know the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church"
.
Our Sunday Visitor
. Retrieved
1 November
2021
.
- ^
Kinder, Cole (March 6, 2022).
"The Myth of the "Crusader Putin"
"
.
Corrispondenza Romana
. Retrieved
8 March
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Paul Robert Magocsi.
"Carpatho-Rusyn Americans"
.
- ^
a
b
"The Ruthenian Catholic Church"
. Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Archived from
the original
on August 6, 2007
. Retrieved
April 20,
2010
.
- ^
Pope John Paul II (April 18, 1996).
"The 350th anniversary of the Union of Uzhorod"
.
EWTN
. Retrieved
April 20,
2010
.
- ^
"Ruthenian Church"
. Eastern Catholic Pastoral Association of Southern California. Archived from
the original
on October 16, 2018
. Retrieved
April 20,
2010
.
- ^
"Uzhhorod Union of 1646"
.
Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine
. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.
- ^
"Collectanea". n. 1966.
;
- ^
"Acta Sanctae Sedis"
(PDF)
.
24
. S. Congr. de Propaganda Fide. 1891?92: 390?391.
- ^
PAUL R. MAGOCSI.
"Our People: Carpatho-Rusyns and Their Descendants in North America"
(PDF)
. p. 36
. Retrieved
2023-11-07
.
- ^
"The Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh"
. Retrieved
2023-11-07
.
- ^
KEVIN R. YURKUS.
"The Other Catholics: A Short Guide to the Eastern Catholic Churches"
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-07-13
. Retrieved
2014-05-30
.
- ^
Catholic Church (Second Vatican Council) (November 21, 1964).
"Decree on the Catholic Eastern Churches"
. Holy See.
- ^
The Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh.
"Reverend Phillip J. Linden Jr. SSJ"
. The Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh. Archived from
the original
on 2021-01-28
. Retrieved
2019-06-26
.
- ^
Ronald Roberson.
"The Eastern Catholic Churches Statistics"
. Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
- ^
Paul Robert Magocsi, Ivan Pop.
"Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo"
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Dyrud, Keith P. (1992).
The Quest for the Rusyn Soul: The Politics of Religion and Culture in Eastern Europe and in America, 1890-World War I
. Philadelphia: Balch Institute Press.
ISBN
9780944190104
.
- Marti, Federico (2009).
I rutheni negli Stati Uniti: Santa Sede e mobilita umana tra Ottocento e Novecento
. Milano: Giuffre.
ISBN
9788814145902
.
- Magocsi, Paul R. (1997).
"Adaptation Without Assimilation: The Genius of the Greco-Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo"
(PDF)
.
Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies
.
38
(1?4): 269?281.
- Magocsi, Paul R. (2015).
With Their Backs to the Mountains: A History of Carpathian Rus' and Carpatho-Rusyns
. Budapest-New York: Central European University Press.
ISBN
9786155053467
.
- Pekar, Athanasius B. (1979).
The Bishops of the Eparchy of Mukachevo, with Historical Outlines
. Pittsburgh: Byzantine Seminary Pres.
- Procko, Bohdan P. (1973).
"Soter Ortynsky: First Ruthenian Bishop in the United States, 1907-1916"
.
The Catholic Historical Review
.
58
(4): 513?533.
JSTOR
25019169
.
- Shipman, Andrew J. (1912a).
"Ruthenian Rite"
.
The Catholic Encyclopedia
. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company. pp. 276?277.
- Shipman, Andrew J. (1912b).
"Ruthenians"
.
The Catholic Encyclopedia
. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company. pp. 277?279.
- Slivka, John (1973).
Correct nomenclature: Greek rite or Byzantine rite; Rusin or Ruthenian; Rusin or Slovak?
. Brooklyn, N.Y.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- Slivka, John (1978).
Historical Mirror: Sources of the Rusin and Hungarian Greek Rite Catholics in the United States of America, 1884-1963
. Brooklyn, N.Y.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- Slivka, John (1989) [1977].
Who are we?: Nationality: Rusin, Russian, Ruthenian, Slovak? Ecclesiastical name: Greek Rite Catholic, Byzantine Rite Catholic?
(2. ed.). Brooklyn, N.Y.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- Veghse?, Tamas (2015).
"Reflections on the Background to the Union of Uzhhorod / Ungvar (1646)"
(PDF)
.
Eastern Theological Journal
.
1
(1): 147?181.
External links
[
edit
]
General Information:
History:
Eparchies:
Parishes:
Documents:
48°37′24″N
22°18′08″E
/
48.6232°N 22.3022°E
/
48.6232; 22.3022