Our Faith...
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The Roman (Latin) Rite is the largest Western Catholic Church but there are several Eastern Catholic Churches Rites: Armenian rite, Alexandrian rite, Byzantine rite, East Syrian or Chaldean Rite, West Syrian or Antiochene Rites and they are also in Union with Rome.
The Eastern Catholic Churches are 23 different particular Churches with their own cultural traditions and heritage formed from their geographical and historical roots. They are autonomous or self-governing, yet these churches, as all Catholic Churches, are in communion with each other and with the Pope of Rome.Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk was elected Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to be the Head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and confirmed by Pope Benedict XVI.
Our church different customs and traditions go back centuries. We are not Orthodox. Our church follows The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, as do the Orthodox. The biggest difference is that Ukrainian Catholics acknowledge the supreme leadership of the Pope of Rome (Pope Francis). The Orthodox leadership is their Patriarch.
Our Liturgical year begins on September 1. Holy Communion is given in the species of bread and wine. To receive Holy Communion open your mouth wide and the priest will gently drop the Holy Eucharist onto your tongue and never touches the mouth.Instead of statues we worship icons. Candles are blessed and distributed on the Feast Day of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple. The large icon screen, called the Iconostas, separates the Sanctuary from the Nave of the church. It is our tradition to give Holy Communion to infants and young children. Our belief is that children are innocent and should be able to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. We bless ourselves from right to left as Jesus is seated on the right hand of the Father. We do not genuflect before entering the pew but bow our heads and make the sign of the cross. We stand from Easter Season until Ascension. The celebrant of the Liturgy faces towards the East, where the sun rises and from which Scripture says Christ will return. Many churches were built, as does our church, facing the East, thereby, having the church members and the celebrant facing God. On special Feast Days we are anointed with oil - we call it Myrovannia. On the Feast Day of Transfiguration we bless fruits. The first-fruits of the harvest is giving back to the Lord what is His and what comes from Him, and as a celebration of the promise of the final Transfiguration of all things in Christ. On the Feast Day of Dormition of the Mother of God, flowers are blessed.
Difference Between Rites
The proper way to refer to the Roman Catholic Church under the jurisdiction of Rome is simply, the Latin Church. That is because there are millions of Catholics who are not part of the Roman Catholic Church. But they belong to THE Catholic Church and are subject to the Pope. The Catholic Church is made up of 24 individual churches, all in union with Rome. Roman Catholic is the Latin Rite, and it stands alone among the 24. On November 21, 1964, Pope Paul VI, validated the encyclical, Lumen Gentium, (Light of the Nations). It described not only the Church’s mission in the world as it moved forward toward the 21st century, but most importantly, it declared that the “Church is the People of God.” Lumen Gentium said that the Church is a body of churches that are all united with the Bishop of Rome. He is their guardian.
Lumen Gentium also acknowledged that all the other Catholic Churches have their own hierarchical structure and their own liturgies. These Catholic Churches are not the estranged Eastern Orthodox churches but rather, these are the ones in union with Rome. They were founded by the apostles and are autonomous Churches entitled to their own rightful existence (sui juris). Any Catholic (including you and I) may attend these churches freely and receive the sacraments in any of them. The bottom line to that is—Catholic is Catholic.
So, who are these Catholic Churches that, besides the Latin Rite, number twenty-three? First, we must acknowledge that the Latin Rite makes up about 95% of the whole Catholic Church. And if we are, in fact, ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLIC, how can there be 24 different churches? Well, when Jesus founded His church, He commissioned the apostles to go out and preach and baptize. We all know that St. Peter established the church in Rome and its primacy was affirmed by his blood. But Jesus commissioned ALL of His apostles to go forth and preach and baptize, not just Peter.
Many of us do not realize that the other apostles also founded churches in other places and established bishops to rule over them. And in establishing different churches in different areas of the world, different customs and traditions were incorporated into the liturgies.
So today, there are 24 Catholic Churches, and they are grouped into eight different rites. (A rite being defined as the liturgical, spiritual, theological, and disciplinary heritage of the people of that church). It follows that since languages and customs and history were different, customs from the areas manifested themselves.
However, among the 24 Churches, Catholic dogma remained intact. Eastern Catholics (no matter what rite; Byzantine, Chaldean, Armenian, etc.),will not call themselves Roman Catholic. We know them as Ukrainian Catholics, Maronite Catholics, Greek-Catholic, etc. One thing is obvious and cannot be denied; The Catholic Church is truly a universal Church.
Feast Days
January 6 Baptism of Our Lord (Jordan Blessing of Walter & Myrovannia)
February Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple (Blessing of Candles)
March Annunciation of Our Mother of God
March Palm (Flowery) Sunday (Blessing of Pussy Willows)
March/April Pascha/Easter
April Ascension of Our Lord
May Pentecost Sunday
August Transfiguration of Our Lord (Blessing of Fruit)
August Dormition of the Mother of God (Blessing of Flowers)
September Nativity of the Mother of God
September Exaltation of the Holy Cross
November Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple
December 25 Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas)