Why Byzantine Catholics?
Posted by Eric (April 22, 2006 at 10:43 am)
Here is pictured one of the towers of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Chicago, a sight I cannot behold without some feeling of sorrow.
I took this picture a couple of weeks ago when I happened to be passing through the Chicago neighborhood that is home to several Eastern Christian churches. Only a few blocks away from this church, which is the cathedral church of the Diocese of the Midwest of the Orthodox Church in America, is St. Nicholas Church, the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. Same liturgy, same spirituality, two Cathedrals
Five centuries after the beginning of the Great Schism of 1054, the most of the Orthodox bishops of Ruthenia in Eastern Europe entered communion with the Pope of Rome in the Union of Brest, by which act they also left communion with the Orthodox. In succeeding centuries, a few other Orthodox bishops have done likewise (in Romania, for example), and today there are several Byzantine Catholic churches, occupying a strange sort of territory between Orthodoxy and the Roman Catholicism. Last November I became a citizen of that strange territory, formally switching from the Latin Rite to the Byzantine Rite (specifically, Ruthenian).
The very existence of we Byzantine Catholics is a source of bitter resentment to many Orthodox, who tend to consider us, variously, as traitors of the East or dupes of the West. Meanwhile, few Roman Catholics have ever heard of us (in Catholic school I learned more about Zoroastrianism than Orthodoxy, and not one thing about Byzantine Catholicism).
I can understand why the Orthodox might be troubled by the very existence of Byzantine Catholics. Without going into the debates surrounding the Union of Brest—whether the Ruthenians were forced into union by the Catholic Kingdom of Poland which annexed their land in 1569, or whether the Ruthenians turned to Rome to overcome corruption and disorder in their church—there is something strange about this small group of churches being in union with Rome. The Orthodox have always maintained that union should be negotiated with the whole of Orthodoxy; they consider it unfair for Rome to “pick off,” so to speak, a couple of vulnerable churches here and there.
Of course, it’s hard to say what it would mean to negotiate union with all the Orthodox. Who do you talk to? Everybody knows who leads the Catholic Church. But with whom do you hold negotiations among the Orthodox. They’re not all in communion with each other—the list of schisms among the Orthodox over the centuries is long and dismaying.
Nevertheless, there is a good argument that the Byzantine Catholic churches should not exist. All the same, it seems to me—even aside from my conviction as a Catholic that it’s never a bad thing for a bishop to be in union with Rome—that the Church needs Byzantine Catholics.
The Church—and I mean here the whole Church, Catholic and Orthodox—needs a group of the faithful whose special task it is to lament in a very personal and pointed way the separation between Rome and Byzantium. Somebody needs to be permanently and painfully uncomfortable about the Great Schism. Someone needs to be praying and fasting unceasingly for the union of East and West.
And to the extent that Byzantine Catholics, in their provincialism and distrust of both Orthodox and Catholics, have forgotten this role, it seems to me the Holy Spirit has called forth certain Latin Rite Catholics to make Byzantine Catholicism their own and take on the task of offering these desperately needed prayers for union.
Because those prayers are so desperate—because union seems so unlikely—the sight of an Orthodox church will always bring sorrow to my heart. It’s not that I wouldn’t be welcomed there; quite the contrary, I’ve always found Orthodox individuals to be most welcoming. It is, simply, that I cannot fully participate in the liturgical life of those churches—I cannot receive there the Body of Christ, even though He is there.
[Crossposted at Square Zero.]
I feel the same way.
Except that it is not purely sorrow. I grieve over the schism. But I also am glad they are there, being who they are, worshipping the way they worship. What if Byzantine Catholics were the only Eastern Christians? How would you feel if you drove by and found out that that Orthodox church had become a Methodist church or a Presbyterian church, or a Baptist church? Wouldn’t that make you feel worse? It is joy at the goodness, and joy at the closeness, which makes the remaining separation so very painful.
I even feel this pain about Protestants sometimes, even though they are more distant relatives. Back in my college days I was going somewhere with a professor who was the music minister (he was seminary trained but chose to teach) of his United Church of Christ church. (This was a long time ago before UCC got involved with all sorts of modern heresies) I watched all the churches of various denominations go by, feeling sadder and sadder, and then it suddenly occurred to me, and I said outloud “But, the Church Triumphant is One.” He understood me without any explanation. Back then I knew only Roman Rite Catholics and Protestants.( well…I knew one Orthodox and went to the Greek Orthodox church in my college town with her once, but it was purely ethnic,all in Greek, and didn’t make a real impression on me as a possibility. Also no one went to communion…people brought their babies up for communion, but the adults didn’t receive. ) So I was more aware of the Christianity of Protestants and grieved over the schism at the time of the Reformation and fantasized over schemes to resolve those issues.
This past year one of my sons, who was not practicing ..or believing..the Catholic faith I had tried to teach him, became an Orthodox catechumen. I went to church with him and fell in love with the Divine Liturgy. But I am a convert to Catholicism, at just about his age now, and I did that after very intensely seeking the truth and God’s will for me. I couldn’t not be a Catholic.
When we were looking, on Christmas eve, for Sts. Peter and Paul Orthodox church, we saw first, Sts. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church…just around the corner. I tucked that away in my mind, and after loving Orthodox worship and having the contrast between that and what went on at my Roman rite parish just make me miserable, I looked up the church in the phone book, found out that its sister parish had services at more convenient times for me, and started going there. What a difference it has made to my life to experience devout and reverent worship again!
I would like to know what is involved in switching rites, whether one is encouraged or discouraged from doing so, what exactly it means, if there are any strong reasons to do it or not to do it, if people think someone should attend a Byzantine church for a certain length of time before switching, etc. I haven’t been through a full church year yet. Any advice?
Susan Peterson
Comment posted June 7th, 2006 at 9:52 pm
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Susan,
We welcome your interest. The rule of thumb is that you would wish to commune for at least a year before enrolling. In any event, make your wishes known to the priest and he can advise.
CDL
Comment posted June 23rd, 2006 at 4:58 am
Eric,
I must offer a belated word of thanks not only for this blog but for this specific article. You have expressed the desire of my heart. I doubt that I have seen the reason for our existence stated any better than you have in this article.
Thank you,
CDL
Comment posted August 9th, 2006 at 5:26 am
Nicely stated Susan. Moi Aussi.
I discern that for myself, no switch
is really required until one does something
definitive with one’s life like marriage or
a religious vocation.
Historically, switching was not encouraged.
One switches with the bishop’s approval, but
why bother until, as stated, one’s whole
vocational reality changes first in one’s commitments.
There can be wise advantages one can forsee in
postponing such a switch until required. And in
the meantime, enjoy!
Comment posted November 9th, 2006 at 1:29 am
“Somebody needs to be permanently and painfully uncomfortable about the Great Schism. Someone needs to be praying and fasting unceasingly for the union of East and West.”
What a powerful thought! My grandfather was a Byzantine priest, his wife was a cousin of the Blessed Bishop Gojdich, and one of my cousins is now an Orthodox priest . . . so this article truly hits home for me!
Comment posted December 29th, 2007 at 12:06 am