Curious about the Byzantine Catholic traditions?

Catholic

  • In short, yes. The Catholic Church is a union of 24 self governing (sui iuris) churches in union with the Pope of Rome, where the Roman Catholic Church is one and the other 23 Catholic Churches are Eastern Catholic. We are officially known as the Ruthenian Catholic Church, one of the Eastern Catholic Churches in union with the Pope of Rome which uses the Byzantine Rite.

  • Roman Catholic priests must be celebate, but that is not the case for the Eastern Catholic Churches. We may have our married men become ordained, but once a man is ordained to the diaconate or priesthood he may no longer marry. Our bishops are celibate just like Roman Catholic bishops.

Divine Liturgy

  • Our Mass times are listed under the name Divine Liturgy. Byzantine Catholics don't generally use the word "Mass" to refer to our Eucharistic liturgy like Roman Catholics do, rather we call it the Divine Liturgy. Just like the Mass, the Divine Liturgy has two parts, known as the Liturgy of the Catechumen (or Liturgy of the Word) and Liturgy of the Faithful (or Liturgy of the Eucharist).

  • We keep the ancient tradition of standing during the Divine liturgy from Canon 20 of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea which states that on Sundays and during the Paschal season prayer should be said standing. Also in the East historically, kneeling was considered a penitential act rather than an act of reverence or adoration. Since Sundays are not penitential days, we do not kneel during Divine Liturgy on these days for this reason.

  • The early church fathers expressed that musical instruments could distract from the prayer that we say as we sing during our liturgy. For this reason, early church fathers tended to be against using musical instruments during the liturgy and we continue this tradition.

  • Because we are currently sharing a space in a Roman Catholic Church, we do not currently have many icons present during our Divine liturgy, however a standard Byzantine church will be filled with icons. During the Divine Liturgy, we experience the joining all time and space, of heaven and Earth. This means that all the angels and saints are celebrating with us during the Divine Liturgy, even though we don't see them. To make these "cloud of witnesses" (Heb 12:1-2) present to us, we have icons of saints to show us this truth of the presence of angels and saints during the Divine Liturgy.

  • You may see some of our women parishioners wearing a headcovering during the Divine Liturgy. We do not require women to wear head coverings during the liturgy, although this is an ancient practice can be traced back to the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor 11) where St. Paul talks about women wearing veils while praying and prophesying.

Eucharist

  • We do believe that it is the body and blood of Jesus. One scriptural example is in the bread of life discourse in John 6, which indicates to us the realness of the Eucharist. Part of the discourse says:

    Whoever eats my f lesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. (Jn 6:54-56)

    The church fathers also attest to this realness. St John Chrysostom says:

    When the word says, 'This is My Body,' be convinced of it and believe it, and look at it with the eyes of the mind... How many now say, 'I wish I could see His shape, His appearance, His garments, His sandals.' Only look! You see Him! You touch Him! You eat Him! ("Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew" [82,4] 370 A.D.)

    In our prayer before receiving the Eucharist we say:

    ...May the partaking of your holy mysteries O Lord be not for my judgement or condemnation, but for the healing of soul and body. O Lord I also believe and profess that this which I am about to receive is truly your most pure body and your life giving blood which, I pray, make me worthy to receive for the remission of all my sins and for life everlasting.(1 Cor 11:23-30)

  • Anyone who is Catholic in communion with Pope of Rome, cleared of conscience, and in a state of mercy may receive the Eucharist at our parish. If you are not Catholic, we ask that you refrain from receiving the Eucharist. If you wish to come up for a blessing during Communion, when you come up to the priest you may put your hand in front of your mouth and the priest will bless you with the chalice.

  • If you're a Catholic who is currently disposed to consume Jesus in the Eucharist, during communion you go up to the priest, say your name (if he doesn't know it already), cross your arms over your chest, tilt your head back, and open your mouth. The priest will use a spoon to give you the Eucharist to eat. If you are not going to receive the Eucharist, you may still come forward to receive a blessing by putting a finger over your mouth in a "hush" gesture.

  • The Mysteries of Initiation (Baptism, Chrismation/Confirmation, and Eucharist) are received all together by adults in the Catholic Church. The Byzantine tradition has always kept these three Mysteries together for infants, rather than separating them as the Roman Church has during the second millenium.

  • We don't have Eucharistic Adoration in the same way that Roman Catholics would practice it. Our Eucharistic Adoration is throughout the Liturgy of the Faithful, culminating in receiving the Eucharist. If you wish to, you may show reverence to the Eucharist with a bow after receiving or by kissing the purificator the altar servers hold.

Sign of the Cross

  • We know that Christians have made the sign of the cross since the very early church. Tertullian (+ AD 220) described the practice as being something that was already a very old practice while he was alive. The sign of the cross is a prayer, a creed, and a reminder of salvation through active faith in Christ.

  • The Sign of the Cross is a prayer all on its own which Christians should pray regularly even outside of Divine Liturgy. It helps remind us that all that we do is done "in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen" During Divine Liturgy we especially use the Sign of the Cross whenever the Trinity is invoked.

  • The way we make the sign of the cross is touching ourselves on the forehead, belly, right shoulder, then left shoulder. This will look backwards to Roman Catholics, but is actually the older way to make the sign of the cross.

  • We hold our hand so that the thumb and first two fingers meet and the ring and pinky fingers touch together on our palm. Thinking of the palm as the earth, this reminds us that God is triune in heaven and Jesus condesended to earth in two natures joined together while never leaving heaven.

Theology

  • Theosis is the path of deification, or that through divine grace we will be made to be like God is in his divine nature. In the words of St. Maximos the Confessor:

    "God made us so that we might become 'partakers of the divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4) and sharers in His eternity, and so that we might come to be like him (1 John 3:2) through deification by grace. It is through deification that all things are reconstituted and achieve their permanence, and it is for its [deification's] sake that what is not is brought into being and given existence."

  • Mary the Mother of God is the Theotokos. Theotokos (Θεοτόκος) is a Greek word meaning "God-Bearer" or "One who gave birth to God." Although it doesn't explicitly mean the Mother of God, the connotation is similar. Through it we proclaim that Jesus Christ was God even before his birth.

  • Veneration is how Catholic and Orthodox Christians show respect to those saints who have come before us, what we know as "the cloud of witnesses" (Heb 12:1). The practice of veneration of icons refers to any way that Christians show respect to a saint through their icon and can take many forms, but for the Byzantine Catholic this most commonly refers to bowing and kissing icons.

  • We believe that worship and adoration (latreia in Greek) is due to God alone. The Seventh Ecumenical Council taught us that, because God became man, we could represent Christ in images since it is his humanity that is depicted and rightly show honor and respect to Him through his image. In a similar fashion, we are allowed to represent and honor holy people with icons. St. John of Damascus said: "I venerate the icon of Christ the incarnate God ... because the honour that we render unto the image belongs to the Prototype." (Ukrainian Catechism section 591). We do not offer any sacrifices to icons, so we cannot say that venerating icons is worship or adoration, and therefore it is not idolatry.

  • Confession, or the Mystery of Repentance, is a structured way to reconcile with both God and the Church. When we sin, we affect the whole Body of Christ. When we receive absolution during confession, we receive the grace of God and a complete washing and remission of our sins. The church fathers call confession the "second baptism." A more detailed answer can be found in on our Confessions page.

  • How often you should go to confession should be something you discuss with your confessor or spiritual father. The Byzantine bishops generally hold to a minimum of once every fast season (the Great Fast/Lent, Apostles Fast, Dormition Fast, and Philip's Fast). A common recommendation is once a month, but sometimes people prefer to go each week before receiving the Eucharist.