I watched the vespers service at the Melkite Cathedral of St. George last night. I must say that EWTN's commentary coverage of the event was atrocious. The commentator had little to no familiarity with the service, the clerical attire, or the people involved. He made rather sad guesses as to what was going on. He mistook Patriarch Gregorios III as an archbishop of Jordan, spoke randomly and often inaccurately about both the standard prayers familiar to anyone who has ever been to a vespers service and those particular to the event. Still, I enjoyed watching after mastering a certain commentator-filtering capability.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Vespers at the Cathedral of St. George
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i'm confused--sorry, i'm a novice about all this but am very curious. This eastern church welcomed the pope even though they don't recognize his authority over their church? does the pope consider the eastern church a part of the catholic church despite their division?
ReplyDeleteMost of the clergy there were actually members of different Eastern Catholic Churches - without getting into the intricacies here is what Wikipedia has to say:
ReplyDeleteEastern Catholic Churches are autonomous (in Latin, sui iuris) particular Churches in full communion with the Bishop of Rome — the Pope. They preserve the liturgical, theological and devotional traditions of the various Eastern Christian Churches with which they are associated, and between which doctrinal differences exist, in particular between the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy and the Assyrian Church of the East.[1] They thus vary with regard to forms of liturgical worship, sacramental[2] and canonical discipline, terminology, traditional prayers and practices of piety. But they recognize that their faith is not at variance with that of the other constituent Churches of the one Catholic Church, including the Latin or Western Church, all of which are of equal dignity.[3] In particular, they recognize the central role of the Bishop of Rome within the College of Bishops. They preserve the special emphases and illuminations that Eastern Christianity has developed over the centuries, some of which Pope John Paul II illustrated in his apostolic letter Orientale Lumen of 2 May 1995.[4]
Most Eastern Catholic Churches have counterparts in other Eastern Churches, whether Assyrian or Oriental Orthodox, from whom they are separated by a number of theological concerns, or the Eastern Orthodox Churches, from whom they are separated primarily by differences in understanding of the role of the Bishop of Rome within the College of Bishops.
The Eastern Catholic Churches were located historically in Eastern Europe, the Asian Middle East, Northern Africa and India, but are now, because of migration, found also in Western Europe, the Americas and Oceania to the extent of forming full-scale ecclesiastical structures such as eparchies, alongside the Latin dioceses. One country, Eritrea, has only an Eastern Catholic hierarchy, with no Latin structure.
The terms Byzantine Catholics and Greek Catholic are used of those who belong to Churches that use the Byzantine liturgical rite. The terms Oriental Catholic and Eastern Catholic include these, but are broader, since they also cover Catholics who follow the Alexandrian, Antiochian, Armenian and Chaldean liturgical traditions.
okay--i got ya now. i thought the Pope here was visiting an Eastern Orthodox Church, thus the confusion.
ReplyDeletethanks for the clarity.