The website of the Information Service receives many questions related to joining the Catholic Church, and, in particular, with the question of maintaining or changing the rite in this case. For clarification, we turned to the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow, Monsignor Sergei Timashov.

Boris asks: “Hello! I learned such a thing that, allegedly, when converting from Orthodoxy to Catholicism, after courses of catechesis, one must send a letter to the Vatican about permission to become a Latin rite Catholic, and why then do the abbots say nothing about this?

There are several points in this question that require clarification. First of all, it is incorrect to speak of a "transition" as if it were a transition from one parish to another. The Catholic Church, being convinced of the truth and validity of the sacraments in the Eastern Churches, does not question the Christian tradition that these Churches preserve (this is clearly evidenced, in particular, by the documents of the Second Vatican Council). On the other hand, the Catholic Church is convinced that she has been entrusted with the fullness of the truth, and therefore she cannot but accept among her members people who, having been actually baptized outside the Catholic Church, wish to enter into communion with the Church gathered around the Bishop of Rome, in which, as the same Vatican II Council teaches, the fullness of the Church of Christ abides.

Secondly, the desire of those who enter into full communion with the Catholic Church to do this precisely in the Latin rite is not something obvious at all - at least for the Church itself. Indeed, according to canon 35 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, “baptized non-Catholics who enter into full communion with the Catholic Church are to preserve and practice their rite throughout the world and observe it to the best of their ability. So they must be accepted into the Church sui iuris of the same rite, while retaining the right of persons, communities or regions to address the Holy See in special cases.

As we can see, the Church strongly recommends that Eastern Christians who join her remain in their own, that is, in this case, in the Byzantine rite, and only if this seems impossible, one can petition the Holy See to change the rite.

Why is the Church so insistent on the preservation of the rite?

Insofar as we are talking about baptized people, the Church cannot ignore the fact that they already belong to a certain tradition that led them, or their parents or relatives, to the idea of ​​baptism. The beginning of the Christian life is precisely baptism, and not the moment of more or less conscious knowledge of the catechism. Thus, the fact of a person's baptism in some kind of Christian Church or church community means that, by virtue of his personal history, he is already included in some kind of heritage, which is called a rite. The Catholic Church recognizes the existence within herself of the rites belonging to the six traditions, and affirms the equal dignity of the Churches which are the expression of these rites.

It must be admitted that historically in many cases there was an idea of ​​a certain superiority and perfection of the Latin rite in comparison with others, which very often unconsciously (however, sometimes consciously) led to the desire to convince Christians, who are aware of the need for Catholic unity, to practice faith precisely in Latin rite. It was these delusions that gradually in the 19th century led the Popes of Rome to the need to assert and defend the equal dignity of all rites, and in fact forbid the Latin clergy to lure inexperienced and insufficiently knowledgeable Christians into their rite. The equal dignity of the rites is a firm and clear teaching of the Catholic Church, and this teaching, because it was marred by prejudice, needed such disciplinary and canonical defense.

Guided by the desire to protect the equality of rites and to make life as easy as possible in the Catholic faith, The Church does not leave the question of belonging to the rite to the free choice of a Christian. The rite is determined at the time of baptism. It is determined either by the parents who wish to baptize the child, or by the adult himself who wishes to be baptized.

At the same time, it is important to understand that from the point of view of the discipline of the Church, belonging to a rite is determined by belonging to a certain cultural and spiritual heritage, and not by belonging to a baptismal minister. Let me emphasize again: the rite is determined by the origin of the person being baptized, and not by the temple and by which minister the baptism was performed. For example, if Catholic parents, due to their absence within the reach of a Catholic parish, bring a child to be baptized in an Orthodox church, this does not make him a member of the Russian Orthodox Church.

However, the fact of a real life meeting with Christ in a Church that practices a rite different from the rite of baptism (for example, in the Latin rite for Orthodox Christians) can be a serious motive for entering the Church of the Latin rite. However, to determine whether this motive is a legitimate reason for changing the rite, according to canon law, can not the Christian himself, and not even the rector with whom he is associated, but only the Apostolic See.

“And what about those who were joining before permission was required to change the rite,” Andrey asks. "What is their status?"

The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches has been in force since 1990. Consequently, at least from now on, no implicit desire to join the Catholic Church precisely in the Latin rite, if it was not expressed to the Apostolic See in the corresponding written petition, does not entail any legal consequences. All Christians who were baptized in the Orthodox Church and subsequently received into full communion with the Catholic Church are Catholics of the Byzantine rite, unless they have asked and received permission from the Apostolic See to change the rite.

It must be admitted that for quite a long time the clergy and catechists of the Latin parishes, meeting with requests to join the Catholic Church, did not pay their attention and the attention of those who came to these provisions of church discipline.

Question: “What is the “rite” of accession (if a person has already been baptized in the Orthodox Church), is this the “8th Sacrament”?

Of course, we are not talking about the sacrament. A Catholic is anyone who is either baptized in the Catholic Church or entered into it by a formal act. The act of accession is irrevocable and irrevocable, therefore the Church insists that everything possible be done to ensure that this decision is made consciously. The rector of the parish is responsible for this, and he decides what forms of preparation are necessary for this.

Ivan's question: "Is catechesis obligatory upon transition from the Orthodox Church to the Catholic Church (accession)"?

Since catechesis refers to the transfer of faith in preparation for baptism, it is impossible here to speak of catechesis in the true sense of the word. On the other hand, it is obvious that the very decision to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church must be conscious - not only for the one who asks for it, but also for the Church itself. It must be clear to the community of the Church that the Christian who asks for full communion understands what the Church is and that this is not a momentary decision on his part. Communication exactly provided, into it accept, and this means that only desire is not enough, but the active action of the other side is also needed. Thus, what in this case is customarily called "catechesis" is actually a period of familiarization with the teachings of the Catholic Church, acquaintance with the Catholic community as such, so that a person can clearly see where he is going. This whole period is aimed at ensuring greater freedom in deciding on accession.

Since full communion obviously presupposes the acceptance of the sacraments, the Church, for its part, must make sure that a person is ready for this acceptance of the sacraments, that he has a correct understanding of his church affiliation, an understanding of confession and communion. Traditionally, this time is several months. In particular, the Church pays great attention to the due celebration of the Lord's Resurrection Day, primarily through participation in the Sunday liturgy.

Ivan’s other question is related to this: “If a person does not want to undergo catechesis (due to lack of time, if he already has faith and knowledge), can he join, or is he “obliged” to take a course that is unnecessary for him?”

The only ground for immediate adherence to the Catholic Church can be the immediate danger of death. Any Catholic priest can do this. In all other cases, there is no reason for special haste.

It is important to understand that joining the Church can only be asked for, it cannot be demanded. An attempt to demand something from the Church is evidence of an insufficiently clear understanding of its nature, and does not indicate that a person has a Catholic faith.

Question: “Does this mean, nevertheless, that the Catholics who learned about their belonging to the Byzantine rite, now must to proceed to the sacraments precisely in the parishes of the Byzantine rite?”

Appropriate word: called. Canon 40 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches expresses the firm desire of the Church that the faithful strive to know and love their rite more deeply. At the same time, insisting on belonging to the rite arising from baptism, the Church assumes the possibility for each specific Christian to come and receive the sacraments in the Catholic Church of any rite.

Information Service of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow

"The history of the emergence and features of the Latin and Byzantine rites of the Christian Church"

In order to sufficiently illuminate and reveal this topic, it is necessary to consider what the rite itself is. The rite is a traditional action that accompanies important moments in the life of the human team. Rites associated with birth, wedding, death (Burial, Initiation) are called family; agricultural and other rites are calendar rites, rites that are mysteries (secret rites in which only initiates participate) are religious rites.
Christianity, like any other religion, is no exception and contains rituals. Rites existed in Christianity even at its very origins, evidence and evidence can be found in the Holy Scriptures. With the development and events of Christianity itself and the Christian Church, changes also affected the ritual side of religion, thus, the rites were modified in their theological, semantic and orderly content, which ultimately led to the formation of the Latin and Byzantine rites in the orthodox church.
The Latin or Roman Rite is a liturgical (liturgical) rite that developed in the first centuries of our era in the Roman Church. The consolidation of its basic forms is traditionally associated with the name of Pope Gregory I the Great.
The Byzantine rite is a liturgical (liturgical) rite that developed in the early Middle Ages in the Byzantine Empire. Many elements of the Byzantine rite date back to the ancient liturgical practice of the Church of Antioch.
Considering this topic, it is necessary to consider the very concept of the Liturgy.

The liturgy (Greek, the common cause) is the main of the public services, during which the sacrament of communion is performed. In early Christian times, there were liturgy rites that, over time, fell out of liturgical use (including the liturgy of the Apostle Mark, celebrated in Alexandria until the 12th century, when it was replaced by the Byzantine rite). In view of the common origin, the general structure of the liturgies is the same, the differences concern mainly the prayers of the Eucharistic canon. The rite of the liturgy consists of three parts - the proskomedia (preparatory), the liturgy of the catechumens (at which the catechumens are allowed to attend) and the liturgy of the faithful (at which the catechumens are not allowed to attend). The order of the liturgy in the Latin Rite differs from the order of the liturgy of the Byzantine Rite, as already mentioned, in the prayer content of the Eucharistic canon. The main parts of the Divine Liturgy are the Liturgy of the Catechumens and the Liturgy of the Faithful (in Western terminology, respectively, the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharistic Liturgy). The meaning of both comes down to the meeting of believers with God: in the first it is carried out in listening to His Revelation, in the second - in communion with the living Christ through the tasting of His Body and Blood.
The central part of the Liturgy, consisting of the named sections, is also framed by the opening and closing rites and may contain liturgical inclusions that are not directly related to the main sections. Both sections of the Divine Liturgy have Old Testament roots: for the Liturgy of the Catechumens it is a communal synagogue rite of reading and interpreting the Word of God, for the Liturgy of the Faithful it is the Jewish family rituals of Sabbaths and the Paschal meal (the latter is of particular importance, since it was on it that Christ established the sacrament of the Eucharist).
The Liturgy of the Catechumens owes its name to the ancient church practice of the catechumenate, or catechumenate (preparation for Baptism), when the first part of the Liturgy played an important role in teaching those preparing for Baptism (catechumens) the basics of the faith. In those days, it consisted of several readings of the Holy Scriptures, the main among which was the reading of the Gospel, as well as a sermon that interpreted what was read; in addition, it included various prayer petitions and, finally, prayers for the catechumens and their release, since only the baptized (the so-called "faithful" - hence the name) could participate in the second part of the Liturgy. The main parts of the Liturgy of the faithful were the Proskomidia, during which the gifts (bread and wine) were prepared for the upcoming consecration, the Anaphora, a prayer during which the consecration of the gifts itself takes place, and the rite of Communion, when the priest and all the faithful participating in the Liturgy partake of the Body and Blood of the Lord .
Most of these liturgical elements have been preserved in the Divine Liturgy to the present day, although many of them were greatly transformed in the Middle Ages. Thus, in most Eastern rites, the proskomidia was divided into two parts, and the main part began to be performed at the very beginning, before the Liturgy of the Catechumens, without the direct participation of the faithful; in all liturgical rites, a significant proportion of priestly prayers (including most of the Anaphora) began to be pronounced secretly by the priest; and much more.
In different local churches over the centuries, liturgies of different text, structure, and outward design arose, many of which were fixed in the form of liturgical successions, acquiring their own name. The name that this or that Liturgy bears most often does not mean authorship (with the exception of rare cases), but the authority with which its tradition connects. Over time, however, both in the East and in the West, a process of unification of the liturgical rite and the Liturgy proper took shape. In the Orthodox Church, only two Liturgies were actually preserved - the Liturgy of Basil the Great and the Liturgy of John Chrysostom; The Roman Mass was established in the Catholic Church.

LATIN RITE.
As already mentioned, the Latin (Roman) liturgical rite took shape in the first centuries of our era in the Roman Church. The consolidation of its basic forms is traditionally associated with the name of Pope Gregory I the Great. In the early Middle Ages, it was borrowed by a number of other regions of Western Europe, in particular, by the Frankish kingdom, where it was significantly modified and supplemented. At the dawn of the existence of the Holy Roman Empire, the Latin Rite becomes widespread throughout its territory and undergoes many new changes, which are soon adopted in Rome itself. Despite the diversity of the spoken languages ​​of this area, Latin remains the only liturgical language of the Latin rite.
Shortly after the great division of the Churches, Pope Gregory VII unifies the liturgical rite in the Catholic Church, leaving the Latin rite as the only one acceptable for worship (a minor exception is the Ambrosian rite in Milan, the Mozarabic rite in some parts of Spain and some others; later, as a result of the union, Oriental rituals will be added to them). In the Latin Rite, the Divine Liturgy is called the Mass (Missa Romana) [corrupted lat. missa, originally, perhaps, denoting leave (from the verb mitto - let go, send), and later spread to the whole worship].
The Roman Mass was reformed to some extent at the Council of Trent, and in 1570 Pope Pius V codified its rules and text. This rite of the Mass, referred to as the "Trentine", existed in the Catholic Church until the 1960s. The Tridentine rite of the Mass is preserved today among traditionalist Catholics. The Roman Mass was preserved, albeit with noticeable changes, in the Anglican Church and in some other communities that arose in the West as a result of the Reformation.
The structure of the Roman Mass is generally similar to the structure of all Divine Liturgies. Its two main parts are the Liturgy of the Word (Liturgia verbi: corresponds to the Liturgy of the catechumens in the Byzantine rite) and the Eucharistic Liturgy (Liturgia eucharistica: corresponds to the Liturgy of the faithful); The offering of gifts (corresponding to the Proskomidia) is an integral part of the Eucharistic Liturgy and is not separated from it, as in many Eastern rites. The Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharistic Liturgy, taken together, are framed by the Beginning Rites and the Closing Rites.

Beginning Rites
Entrance of the serving clergy to the presbytery (the altar part of the temple); entrance prayers, the basis of which is psalm 42; rite of repentance (confession of one's sinfulness, first by a priest, then by those who pray, with a prayer for God's condescension and forgiveness); the singing (or recitation, if the Mass is not chanted) of the introductory chant (Introitus; in the reformed Mass called Cantus/Antiphona ad Introitum), which varies depending on the day of the church calendar or the occasion on which the Mass is celebrated, after which the short litany "Kyrie eleison" is sung ("Lord have mercy"); on Sundays and holidays, with the exception of the preparatory periods before Christmas and Easter, the hymn "Gloria" ("Glory to God in the highest") is sung; a variable introductory prayer (Collecta) is read.

Liturgy of the Word
The Apostle is read (Epistola - literally “message”), then a gradual is sung, to which other chants can be added in some cases (tract, sequence, alleluia); the gospel is read; it may be followed by a sermon. On Sundays and holidays, "Credo" ("I Believe": Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) is sung or read.

Beginning of the Eucharistic Liturgy
Offering of gifts, or Offertory (Offertorium). A changeable chant sounds for the Offer of Gifts - Offertory. Offered gifts may be incensed with the words of Psalm 140. Priests prepare Bread and Wine for transubstantiation. The priest washes his hands (with the words of Psalm 25) as a sign of the demand for moral purity. After several prayers over the offered gifts, and the call of the faithful to intensified prayer that the Eucharistic sacrifice be pleasing to God, the modified Secret Prayer (Secreta) follows; in accordance with the practice established since the 8th century, from this moment on, most of the prayers are read secretly by the priest ; in the reformed Mass it is read aloud and is called the "Prayer over the Gifts").

Eucharistic canon
The central part of the Eucharistic Liturgy is the Eucharistic Canon (Anaphora; called The Eucharistic Prayer in the reformed Mass). In the Roman rite, from the time of St. Gregory I the Great until 1969, only the so-called eucharistic prayer was used as the Eucharistic Prayer. The "Roman Canon" (Canon Romanus), which basically took shape already in the 4th century, but took a canonically fixed form at the Council of Trent. The Roman canon is an Alexandrian-type anaphora similar in structure to some of the anaphoras used in the Coptic and Ethiopian Churches.
The Roman canon opens with a preface (the only part of the anaphora pronounced aloud; more than 10 prefaces were used, depending on the day or purpose of the celebration of the Mass, although there were many more before), which expresses gratitude to God the Father for salvation in Christ (emphasizing the special connection with the celebrated event) and ends with the angelic doxology “Holy, Holy, Holy” (“Sanctus”). This is followed by a request to accept and bless the gifts (1st Epiclesis), as an offering made primarily for the Church. This petition is supplemented by a prayer for the Church, for the hierarchy, for all the people coming and for those for whom they make this sacrifice. The unity of the Church of heaven and earth is stated; at the same time, honor is paid to the Mother of God, the apostles and ancient saints who were revered in the Roman Church. There follows a repeated request to accept the offering and another prayer that the offering be accepted, filled with the blessing of God (2nd Epiclesis) and become the Body and Blood of Christ.
Next comes the narrative of the establishment of the Eucharist, containing the institutive words of Jesus Christ over the bread and the cup. The words are added to the words above the bowl: “The Mystery of Faith” (meaning the New Testament-Union concluded by God with people at the Last Supper, which became the marriage union of Christ and His Bride - the Church, which the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians calls the “great mystery” ). The instructive words are continued by the anamnesis (stating that the Eucharistic offering is made in remembrance of the saving sufferings of Christ, His death, resurrection and ascension), which turns into evidence of the offering of the immaculate Sacrifice from God's gifts and gifts. This is supplemented by a request that the Sacrifice be raised up by an angel to the heavenly throne of God, from which, through communion, the participants in the current liturgy will receive the grace sent down to them (3rd epiclesis).
After this, the dead and saints are commemorated - John the Baptist, Stephen and other saints, especially the martyrs and martyrs, revered in the Roman Church from antiquity, supplemented by words about the supreme mediation of Christ, through whom our prayer and liturgy are performed, in whose action God creates everything, sanctifies, gives life, blesses and grants us all that is good. The canon ends with a doxology glorifying the one God in the Trinity.

communion
The last part of the Eucharistic Liturgy is the rite of communion. It opens with the Lord's Prayer ("Our Father"), followed by a petition for peace, a greeting of peace, the breaking of the consecrated Bread and the union of the Eucharistic views (for more details, see the article Liturgy of John Chrysostom). A short litany "Agnus Dei" ("Lamb of God") is sung. Then the actual communion of the clergy and the people takes place, after which the priest purifies sacred vessels and an altered sacramental chant (Communio; in the reformed Mass called ) is sung, followed by an altered prayer of thanksgiving after communion (Postcommunio; called in the reformed Mass). The rite of communion ends with a change depending on the day. church year prayer after communion.

Final rites
A dismissal, which may be followed by a final blessing by the priest, as well as a reading of the final Gospel (usually the beginning of the Gospel of John).
Even more significant is the liturgical reform that began at the 2nd Vatican Council (1962-1965) and continues to this day. Its goal is to return to worship its original function, largely lost over the centuries: in particular, to make the participation of believers in worship more active and conscious, to revive the educational role of worship. The most significant steps in this direction lie in line with the so-called. inculturation (inclusion in a specific national culture), including the translation of worship into modern national languages ​​(while maintaining the “primacy of honor” for Latin), a more daring use of national music (while maintaining the “primacy of honor” for the Gregorian chant), adaptation to worship local customs that do not contradict the spirit of the Gospel, and much more. The liturgy is noticeably simplified: many later strata are excluded from it, distorting the original meaning or making it difficult to understand; at the same time, many things that have been lost over the centuries, which had great spiritual value, are returning. At present, as before, the overwhelming majority of believers of the Catholic Church belong to the Latin rite (this part of it is called the Latin Church).
The Latin rite, with all the tendencies towards its unification, was not homogeneous even in the era of the High Middle Ages. Within it there were some differences, both regional and due to the liturgical practice of various monastic orders and congregations. Separate regional features were developed in the Churches and communities that arose as a result of the Reformation and the further development of Protestantism, some of which retained the Latin Rite to one degree or another in their worship. The closest thing to the worship of the Catholic Church remains the worship of the Anglican Church (based on the Salisbury version of the Latin rite) and the Old Catholics; worship in Lutheranism is somewhat more different.
After the adoption of the reform of the Second Vatican Council, the role of the liturgy of the word was increased. In the Reformed Mass, the Gospel is preceded by one or two (on Sundays and feast days) readings from the extra-Gospel books of the Old and New Testaments (see the article Lectionary); after the first reading, a response psalm (Psalmus responsorius) sounds, the stanzas of which are interspersed with a refrain repeated by all participants in the mass. An important place is given to preaching, which is desirable on weekdays and obligatory on Sundays and holidays. In the final part of the liturgy of the word, the ancient custom of universal prayer, or the prayer of the faithful (Oratio universalis, seu Oratio fidelium), is revived - a series of prayer petitions for the needs of the Church and the whole world, and also, sometimes, of individuals or groups of people. The offering of gifts is noticeably simplified: priestly prayers are replaced by shorter ones dating back to early Christian times. In a number of communities, the ancient custom of offering gifts by the people has been revived (the priest accepts bread and wine from the hands of the parishioners; other fruits of the earth or gifts of believers to the temple are also brought to the altar), sometimes in a solemn procession. All the most important prayers requiring the meaningful participation of the faithful, including the Eucharistic Prayer, are read aloud.
In addition to the Roman Canon (which has been slightly modified; it is called "I Eucharistic Prayer"), three more Eucharistic Prayers were originally introduced (the priest chooses which one to serve at his own discretion): II - based on the Anaphora from the Apostolic Tradition ”, attributed to Saint Hippolytus of Rome; III - the creation of modern liturgists; IV - adaptation of the Alexandrian edition of the Anaphora of Basil the Great. Subsequently, several Eucharistic Prayers were added for special situations: the so-called. "V Eucharistic Prayer" (on occasions of important assemblies of the Church), 2 Eucharistic Prayers for Reconciliation and 3 Eucharistic Prayers of the Mass for Children. (New Eucharistic Prayers continue to be created in some movements of the Catholic Church, but not all such texts are approved by church authorities). In addition, more than 70 additional prefacies were introduced on different days and calendar periods, etc. (some of them are forgotten ancient texts, others are created at the present time). An anamnesis has been added, pronounced after the instructive words by all the people. All the Eucharistic Prayers except I contain an epiclesis in the sense of invoking the Holy Spirit. The communion of the laity under two forms began to be allowed. The complex and obscure texts of a number of places of the Mass have been significantly simplified, duplicated texts have been reduced. Simplified initial and final rites (the final Gospel is not read). Improvisation of the text is allowed in a number of places, a number of prayers and chants allow a large number of options.
Also in the Latin Rite there is a Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (which has an analogue in the Byzantine Rite), called the Missa Praesanctificatorum. It serves only Good Friday when it is not supposed to perform a full Eucharistic service (for the same reason as in the Byzantine rite on all weekdays of Great Lent).
A small number of Roman Catholics refused to accept the reforms of the 2nd Vatican Council and retained the service according to the old (Trident) rite. Some of them remain in communion with Rome, using the old rite with his blessing. Another part of the traditionalists (“lefebvrists”, named after their founder, Archbishop M. Lefevre; the official self-name is “The Brotherhood of St. Pius the Tenth”) is in schism with the Vatican.
Editions of the text:
Order of Trent: Missale Romanum ex Decreto Sacrosancti Concilii Tridentini restitutum Pii V Pontificis Maximi jussu editum. (Reprinted several times since 1570).
Reformed rank: Missale Romanum ex Decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Pauli Pp. VI promulgatum. Editio typica. Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1979; Editio typica altera, 1975.
See the Russian translation of the Tridentine rite in the book: Let us pray to the Lord. Prayer book for Latin Rite Catholics. Rome, 1949.
Translations of the reformed rite of the Mass into Russian have been undertaken more than once; for the text officially approved by church authorities, see the book: I Appeal to Thee. Prayer book for Latin Rite Catholics. M., 1994.

BYZANTINE RITE.
The Byzantine liturgical rite developed in the early Middle Ages in the Byzantine Empire. Many elements of the Byzantine rite date back to the ancient liturgical practice of the Church of Antioch. By the end of the 1st millennium, it became dominant in the Constantinople and other Eastern Churches. In recent centuries, it has been practically the only liturgical rite in the Orthodox Church (with the exception of individual communities). In addition, it is used in those Eastern Catholic Churches that arose as a result of the union or transition under the jurisdiction of Rome of individual Orthodox communities.
During historical development Byzantine rite, many of its elements have undergone significant evolution and vary greatly depending on the national culture and the specific region. Since in the era of the mature and late Middle Ages, cathedral and parish worship was seriously influenced by monastic services, these differences are largely due to the peculiarities of the dominant monastic charter (Tipikon): for example, if in the Middle East and the Balkans such a charter is the Studian charter, then in Russia the Jerusalem charter dominates ( in the 19th century it was also established in Georgia). A vivid example of the “branching” of the Byzantine rite can be the liturgical distinctions of the Russian Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Old Believers (the worship of the Old Believers-bespriests is especially different).
In the Orthodox Church, in fact, only two Liturgies were preserved - the Liturgy of Basil the Great, the Liturgy of John Chrysostom.

Liturgy of John Chrysostom.
It is one of the two main Divine Liturgies (along with the Liturgy of Basil the Great) used in the Byzantine Rite. It traditionally bears the name of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 347-407), but this attribution appears in manuscripts only from the 8th century; before that, it seems to have been called the "Liturgy of the Twelve Apostles." However, it is likely that John Chrysostom was involved in the development of its text.

Liturgy of John Chrysostom
In its basic structure, it is similar to the Liturgy of Basil the Great, from which it differs only in priestly prayers (which eventually began to be read secretly), beginning with the concluding prayer of the Liturgy of the catechumens, including the Anaphora. This structure goes back to the ancient liturgical practice of Antioch, which received from the end of the 4th century. further development in Constantinople. By the 8th c. acquires a form, basically similar to the modern one. Among the most significant differences between the current state of the Liturgy of John Chrysostom (as well as the Liturgy of Basil the Great) from the original one is the separation of the Proskomidia, which was originally located at the very beginning of the Liturgy, and the transfer of its first part to the very beginning, before the Liturgy of the Catechumens (somewhat closer to the original is the hierarchal the rite of the Divine Liturgy, when the first part of the Proskomidia is completed by the bishop during the "Cherubic Hymn"). Another difference is the secret reading by the priest of a number of important prayers, depriving the worshipers of the fullness of the text and the vision of its logical perspective; in reality, this turned out to be the fact that the text breaks up into several parts, most of which are read secretly, and the smaller one (including the end) is pronounced in the form of priestly exclamations (the question of returning secret prayers to their original sound has been publicly raised recently by many Orthodox liturgists and pastors, including during the preparation of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1917).
Formally, the Liturgy of John Chrysostom in its present form is divided into the Proskomedia, preceded by the Entrance Prayers, the Liturgy of the Catechumens and the Liturgy of the Faithful.
Initially, the Liturgy of John Chrysostom was served relatively rarely in Byzantium. Over time, it became the main one in the Orthodox Church. According to the charter, it is served on all days of the year, except for Great Lent, when it is celebrated only on Saturdays of the first six weeks, on the Annunciation and Palm Sunday, as well as on those days adjacent to the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany, when the Liturgy of Basil the Great is celebrated or Liturgy is not supposed to at all.
The text of the Liturgy of John Chrysostom is available in any edition of the Orthodox Missal. There are also separate editions. For a critical edition of the Greek text from early manuscripts, see Arranz M. L "Eucologio Constantinopolitano agli inizi del secolo XI. Roma, 1996.

LITURGY OF BASIL THE GREAT.
It is one of the two main Divine Liturgies (along with the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom) celebrated in the Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches using the Byzantine rite. It bears the name of St. Basil the Great (c. 330-379), although, according to many experts, not the entire text of the liturgy belongs to him.

Features of the Liturgy of Basil the Great
The order of the main sections is identical to the Liturgy of John Chrysostom; the difference is made by some priestly prayers (beginning with the concluding prayer of the Liturgy of the catechumens and further, most of which are pronounced secretly), including its own Anaphora. The text of the Anaphora, apparently, was indeed written by Basil the Great. This is the so-called Byzantine edition of the Anaphora of Basil (in addition to it, there is, in particular, a shorter Alexandrian one, written, perhaps by himself, originally, and then revised into the Byzantine one, which today is used with minor changes in the Roman Mass under the title “IV Eucharistic Prayer "). This Anaphora continues the traditions of the Eucharistic prayers of the East Syrian (or Hellenistic Antiochian) type and is distinguished by the highest poetic and theological merit. In view of the fact that by the era of the mature Middle Ages the practice of secret priestly prayers had developed, most of the text of any Anaphora began to be read secretly by the primate, and only some of its fragments retained their sound for all to hear in the form of priestly exclamations and chants (it is during these chants that secret prayers are read). The same fate befell the Liturgy of Basil the Great (it is precisely because of the volume of its Anaphora that the greater duration of the hymns resounding at this time than in the Liturgy of John Chrysostom is explained). Recently, however, many bishops and priests have been trying to pronounce it aloud and not violate its unity.
Over the centuries, some interpolations invaded the text of the Anaphora of the Liturgy of Basil the Great, some of which were imprinted in the Missal Books of the Russian Orthodox Church and a number of other Churches that experienced its influence. It is primarily a transfer last words epiclesis of the Liturgy of John Chrysostom, as well as the introduction of the troparion of the Third Hour into the epiclesis.
We should also emphasize the features of the Anaphora (the central section of the full Eucharistic service), which is part of the Liturgy of Basil the Great.
The Anaphora of the Liturgy of Basil the Great opens with a lengthy Preface (Intention), the beginning of which is the solemn proclamation of the name of God - "Jesus" (in the Church Slavonic translation: "Sy"; the Greek original is "ho wn", which corresponds to the Hebrew YHWH - the name of God, revealed to Moses from the flame of a burning bush): “This is the Lord, Lord, God, the Father Almighty worship! It is worthy, as truly, and righteously, and splendidly to the splendor of Your sanctuary, praise You, sing to You, bless You, bow down to You, thank You, praise You the One truly existing God ... ". A further development of the Preface, which, like the entire Anaphora, is turned to the Face of God the Father, is the disclosure of the dogma of the Most Holy Trinity. The revelation of God is sung in the sense of God's revelation of Himself to people for the sake of their salvation: "... Thou hast given us the knowledge of Thy truth." But the Divine dispensation itself - the work of saving the world through the Son - is revealed as a revelation of the Father: “... Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the great God and Savior, our hope, Who is the image of Your goodness: an equal seal, showing You the Father in Himself. ..". The dispensation of the Father through the Son, His revelation in the Son, is completed by the appearance of the third Hypostasis of the Trinity: "By him (Christ) the Holy Spirit appeared ...". By the action of the Holy Spirit, people serve God on earth (“... from Worthless, all the creation of words and intelligence is strengthened by You ...”), uniting with the angelic forces in the doxology “Holy, Holy, Holy ...”.
Further, the narrative about the establishment of the Eucharist, which is usual for any Anaphora, is preceded by a detailed account of the history of creation, the fall into sin and God's salvation of the fallen world. This part, like the preceding one, is composed almost entirely of quotations taken from various books of the Old and New Testaments. Here again the revelation of the Father through the Son is emphatically emphasized: “... when the fulfillment of times came, thou spoke unto us by Thy Son Himself, by Him also Thou didst make the world, Who is the radiance of Thy glory and the mark of Thy hypostasis, but bearing all the words of His power, not the theft of the unclean hedgehog is equal to you God and the Father: but this eternal God, appear on earth and live with men ... ”; "... and having lived in this world, having given salutary commandments, leaving us the charms of idols, bring the true God and Father to the knowledge of You ...". The theme of the dispensation of the Father through the Son gradually comes directly to the story of the establishment of the Eucharist, but precisely with an indication of the direct connection of the Last Supper with the sacrifice of Golgotha: Christ “gave Himself treason (i.e., in return) for death, but in it you keep a bekh, sell it under sin ; and having descended into hell with the cross, let Him fill everything with Himself (that is, to fill everything with Himself), resolve mortal illnesses (that is, the birth pangs of death: an image borrowed from the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Romans); and rose again on the third day, and made a way for all flesh, even from the dead by the resurrection...”; “... leave us the memories of Your saving suffering this, even if we offer it according to His commandment: even if you go to your free and ever-memorable and life-giving death, at night in the nude you betray yourself for the worldly belly, accepting bread in His holy and most pure hands. ..” - and the description of the establishment of the Eucharist follows, containing the Institutive words of Christ over the bread and over the cup; to the latter is added: “Do this in remembrance of me,” expanded by the words from the 1st Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians (11:25-26), pronounced here on behalf of Jesus Himself: “If you eat this bread, and this cup you drink, you proclaim my death, you confess my resurrection.”
This is followed by the usual anamnesis for any Anaphora (a statement that the Eucharistic offering is made in remembrance of the saving sufferings of Christ, His death and resurrection, as well as in anticipation of His second coming), which turns into a testimony of the bloodless sacrifice brought here with praise, thanksgiving and prayer. : "Yours from yours ...."; “We sing to you...” (as in the Liturgy of John Chrysostom).
The anamnesis is followed by an epiclesis (a prayerful invocation of the Holy Spirit, by whose power the change of gifts should take place), the introduction to which is the remarkable words: Holy Body and Blood of Christ... The proposed “in place” (Greek “antitypa”) is, firstly, bread and wine, and secondly, the whole history of salvation in Christ, which here, in the earthly Liturgy, is offered as an offering to the Father. The Holy Spirit must descend on the gifts that are presented, “I bless, and sanctify, and show: this bread is the most honest Body of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ; this cup - the most honest Blood of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ, shed for the life of the world. The epiclesis is supplemented by a special prayer for a worthy Communion and the union of all those who partake "in one Holy Spirit communion" so that they can be counted among the righteous.
For many centuries, the Liturgy of Basil the Great occupied a leading position in the Church of Constantinople and was celebrated more often than the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (almost every Sunday). Over time, however, they began to serve it less often, until, finally, the custom was fixed in the statutory order to perform it only 10 times a year: on Thursday and Saturday of Holy Week, on the first five Sundays of Great Lent, on Christmas and Epiphany Eve (or on the day of the holiday itself, if its eve falls on a Sunday) and on the day of memory of St. Basil the Great (January 1/14).

Father Dr. Rostislav Kolupaev, “Russia Cristiana”, Italy, for the magazine "Patriarchat"

The Apostolic Exarchate for Catholics of the Byzantine rite (Esarcato Apostolico per i catholici di rito bizantino), the church of its own right, was formed at the Council, convened on May 28-31, 1917 by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptitsky in Petrograd. The following issues were considered at the Council: the adoption of the constitutional provisions of the legal, canonical status, the directions of church-state relations, the liturgical side and the discipline of the sacraments, the preservation of the purity of the rite from Latinization, the norms of behavior of the clergy were determined, all this was reflected in the relevant resolutions. On February 24, 1921, Pope Benedict XV confirmed the legitimacy of the actions of Kir Andrey Sheptytsky, whose jurisdiction, by virtue of his title of Metropolitan of Kiev, extended to the regions that were part of Russia. Holy Father On March 1, 1921, he approved Protopresbyter Leonid Fedorov (1879 - 1935) appointed exarch, endowed with episcopal power with the subordination of all dioceses within the Russian state to him, with the exception of the dioceses of Little and White Russia within their ethnographic boundaries. The Provisional Government, as the highest legislative and executive body of state power, which acted between the February and October revolutions of 1917 in Russia, recognized the decisions of the Council.

The main task of the Russian Greek Catholic Church was to establish mutual understanding with the Russian Orthodox Church, which freed itself from state control and normalized its canonical position at the Local Council of 1917-1918. Leonid Fedorov was in contact with Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin), whom he met on 08/01/1921. He also communicated with other Orthodox hierarchs, strove for rapprochement with the clergy, and tried to spread sound ideas about Catholicism. In the large cities of Russia, the Orthodox responded with joy to the invitation of the Eastern Catholics; congresses were jointly organized, abstracts were read, conversations and disputes were arranged. In Moscow, Petrograd and other cities, parishes and monastic communities arose, but in 1922-1923, as a result of open persecution by the atheistic state, the activities of the Catholic Church were generally prohibited, the clergy and laity were physically destroyed as a result of repressions, church property was lost. On December 5, 1922, all Catholic churches, both of the Latin and Byzantine rites, were closed, and a little later, the exarch was arrested and sentenced to 10 years; , sister Yulia Danzas (1879-1942) was arrested in Leningrad and sent to Solovki.

In 1956, the surviving nuns N. Rubashova and V. Gorodets were released; they lived in Moscow, V. Kuznetsova and S. Eismont settled in Vilnius.

On February 16, 1931, Vice-Exarch Sergiy Solovyov (1885 - 1942), appointed to this post in 1926 by Bishop Pius Neveu, was arrested, illegal methods of interrogation were used against him, as a result of which he was under compulsory treatment in a psychiatric special hospital in Kazan.

In 1932, the Orthodox Bishop Bartholomew Remov (1888-1935) joined the Russian Church, he organized an underground monastery, in 1933 Pope Pius XII approved him as a vicar bishop for Russian Catholics of the Byzantine rite with the title of Archbishop of Sergius. Meetings were held at Vladyka's apartment with the participation of the hierarchs of the Patriarchal Church, Metropolitans Arseniy (Stadnitsky), Anatoly (Grisyuk), and others, where they discussed the issue of concluding an alliance with Rome in order to overcome church turmoil. In February 1935, Archbishop Bartholomew Remov was arrested and shot a few months later for his connection with the Vatican.

On 10/09/1939, Father Klimenty Sheptytsky (1869-1951) became the next exarch of Russia, he was appointed by Metropolitan Andrei in Lvov, which was confirmed by Pope Pius XII on 12/22/1941. Given the circumstances of the war, the practical possibilities for governing the Russian Greek Catholic Church were limited. The exarch did a lot of theoretical and preparatory work, he analyzed the position of religion in the USSR as a whole, the church-canonical and state-legal state of the Orthodox Church, its lack of freedom in matters of internal life, the destruction of church institutions; the problem of splits and sects; the state of religious literacy of the people, the possibility of catechesis and religious enlightenment; information was collected about the martyrs and confessors of the faith; studied the prospects of church unity. In 1941, the territorial clarification of the exarchate was introduced - ethnographic Great Russia, Finland and Siberia. In 1942, at the Council of Exarchs in Lvov, the issue of division into Russian and Siberian exarchates was considered. Exarch Klementy Sheptytsky died on May 1, 1951 in prison in Vladimir.

Vice-exarch Viktor Novikov (1905 - 1979) was sent to the territory of the USSR for missionary purposes, later Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky blessed him to be the Catholic exarch of Siberia. Novikov was a bishop, which was not disclosed, being arrested on June 23, 1941 and being in a camp in Dzheskazgan, he secretly ordained a deacon on January 1, 1950, the future bishop of the UGCC Pavel Vasilyk (1926-2004).

The work of Russian Catholics of the Byzantine rite continued among the Russian emigration. Having found themselves in Western countries, many Russian people, having experienced a state of freedom of conscience, stopped their religious choice on the Catholicism of the Byzantine rite, which allowed them to enrich their faith with universal unity with the Ecumenical Apostolic See while preserving the usual traditional forms of religious worship in the so-called Russian synodal rite. Hierarchical and church-administrative ministry among them was carried out by the following people. This is Peter Buchis (1872 - 1951), in 1930-1933 the Apostolic Visitor for Russian Catholics in Central and Western Europe, 02/08/1931 he co-served in Rome with Bishop of Stanislavsky Grigory Khomyshyn during the episcopal consecration of Nikolai Charnetsky.

The next one is Alexander Evreinov (1877-1959), bishop from 12/06/1936, for the first time in the history of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome, on May 21, 1938, he celebrated the solemn Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom on the occasion of the celebration of the celebration of the 950th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia, he was co-served by the rector of the Lviv Theological Academy, father Joseph Slipy and hegumen of the Studites, father Klimenty Sheptytsky.

Archbishop Boleslav Sloskans (1893 - 1981), Latgalian, former administrator of the Mogilev Roman Catholic Metropolis, member of the Supreme Council for Emigration at the Sacred Consistorial Congregation. He ended up abroad in 1933 after many years spent in Soviet camps and prisons, including Solovki, where he was with Leonid Fedorov. He was appointed Apostolic Visitor for Russian and Belarusian Catholics in Western Europe on 12/09/1952.

Bishop Pevel Meletyev (1880 - 1962) was hegumen in the Solovetsky Monastery, was arrested by the Soviet authorities in 1920, spent many years in camps, in prisons, in exile, in 1937 -1941 he was in the position of a catacomb Orthodox priest. During the German occupation, he participated in the revival of church life in the Smolensk, Bryansk and Mogilev regions, on 12/7/1943 he was ordained a bishop with the title of Roslavl, participated in the Council of the Autocephalous Belarusian Orthodox Church in Minsk on 12/5/1944. Then he ended up in the West, lived in Czechoslovakia, Austria, in Munich, in 1946 Bishop Pavel, together with his sister Abbess Seraphim, reunited with the Catholic Church, since 1948 he settled in Belgium, first in the Cheveton Monastery (Monastere de la Sainte-Croix, Chevetogne, Belgique ), and then from 1951 in Brussels. In 1955, Meletiev ordained a deacon of the Russian emigrant Vasily von Burman, the author of the famous book "Leonid Fedorov", published by Joseph Slipy in Rome in 1966.

Archbishop Andrey Katkov (1916 - 1995), was born in Irkutsk, then in exile in Harbin, where the Catholic Exarchate of Manchuria was created in the Russian diaspora, which was led by Belarusian Marians. Katkov entered this order and was sent to study in Rome in 1939, became a priest in 1944, was sent to work in refugee camps that were threatened with forced extradition to the USSR, then served in Great Britain and Australia in Russian parishes of the Byzantine rite. Hieromonk Andrei was summoned to Rome by Pope John XXIII and on November 14, 1958 he was appointed Bishop Coadjutor of the Byzantine Rite, from 1960 - Plenipotentiary Visitor, from June 23, 1961 he was awarded the title of Russian Apostolic Exarch (Esarc ap. di Russia). In August 1969, Bishop Andrei Katkov, at the invitation of Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church Nikodim (Rotov), ​​visited the USSR and was officially received in the Moscow Patriarchate. In Omsk, he met with the Orthodox Bishop Nikolai (Kutepov). During this visit, in various cities of Russia and Ukraine, Katkov visited Orthodox churches, where he was met by the hierarchal rank, the abbots and worshipers approached for blessing, the bishops of the ROC MP reverently kissed him. During a visit to the Pskov-Caves Monastery, with an abundant gathering of worshipers, the viceroy, in the presence of His Grace Bishop Andrei Katkov, proclaimed many years to Pope Paul VI. In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Bishop Andrei prayed at the shrine of St. Sergius of Radonezh, and in Odessa he met with Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky), who was resting there, who presented him with a rosary and panagia.

Protopresbyter Georgy Roshko (1915-2003) was appointed the next Plenipotentiary Visitor of the Congregation of the Eastern Churches for the leadership of the Russian Catholic ministry in the world in 1978; in 1955 he met with Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky) and Metropolitan Nikolai (Yaroshevich) in Moscow.

To coordinate the work of various Russian Greek Catholic parishes operating in different countries, Congresses of the clergy and laity were held: in Rome in 1930 and 1933 (Bishop Nikolai Czarnetsky participated) and in 1950, in 1956 - in Brussels.

At that time, the situation in the Soviet Union developed as follows. The Russian exarchate arose thanks to the care of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the years of communist persecution, in joint suffering for Christ, brought them even closer. Thus, during the liquidation of the UGCC, its metropolitan, bishops, clergy, monastics and faithful passed through the Gulag camps and exile, thousands of people left their prayers, pain, tears, the blood of martyrdom and confession of faith in Russia, many died and were buried here. From 1945 to 1963 Cyrus Joseph Slipy (1892-1984) was a prisoner in Siberia, Mordovia and Kamchatka, on February 4, 1963 in Moscow he secretly ordained Bishop Vasily Velichkovsky (1903-1973), thereby restoring the hierarchy in the Catacomb Church.

The revival of the Russian Exarchate follows the legalization of Catholic structures in Russia. In Siberia, thanks to the attention of the Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Werth (born 1952), an ordinary in Novosibirsk, who arrived here in 1991, several Catholic parishes of the Byzantine rite were opened. Since 1992, the papal prelate Joseph Svidnitsky (born 1936), the former Roman Catholic dean of Central Siberia, began to provide pastoral care to Greek Catholic believers deported from Galicia, in 1995 the parish of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was created in Omsk, which received legal registration on 30.6.1999. Priest Sergei Golovanov (born 1968), a graduate of the Ivano-Frankivsk Seminary, served in this parish, until 2005 he was dean. Now the region is served by the priests of the Congregation of the Incarnate Word (VE) and the nuns Sisters Servants of the Lord and the Virgin Mary, they have a single province, including structures in Ukraine and Russia (The Monastic Family of the Incarnate Word) (SSVM).

Registered are Catholic parishes of the Byzantine rite of the Ukrainian tradition in Novokuznetsk and Prokopievsk, Kemerovo region. Since 1959, during the years of the underground, Father Vasily Rudka (1912 - 1991) led the spiritual life here, now Redemptorist priests (CSsR) and sisters from the Congregation of St. Joseph the Betrothed of the Blessed Virgin Mary work in this region, they came from Ukraine.

Divine services are held in communities in Tomsk and Kopeysk, the Chelyabinsk region and in various cities of the Tyumen region. The majority of parish priests are graduates of Western Ukrainian seminaries.

V Russian tradition divine services are performed in the parish of the Martyrs Olympia and Lawrence, operating at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Novosibirsk. The temple in the crypt of the cathedral was created on the initiative of the Jesuit priest Alexei Strichek (born 1916), who devoted his whole life to serving in the Russian apostolate with Russian emigrants in France. The current rector of the parish is Father Michael Desjardins (SJ). Jesuits in Novosibirsk serve in the Byzantine rite and in their monastery church. The female monastic community of Carmelites in Novosibirsk also adheres to the Russian liturgical tradition. In Moscow, the community of Sts. Apostles Peter and Andrew from 16.3.2000. This congregation was founded by Father Andrey Udovenko, who is now a Protopresbyter and Dean in Moscow. The second community in honor of St. Met. Philippa was established in 1995, until the spring of 2002, the Italian priest Stefano Caprio was its rector. In Moscow there is also a pastoral station "The Family of St. Lazarus", and at the parish of St. Ignatius of Antioch operates a convent. Since 2001, communities in St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod have declared their existence. The parish in Obninsk, Kaluga Region, was officially approved in 2004, and now Fr. Valery Shkarubsky, who comes from Kiev, he also leads the Moscow Ukrainian and Russian-speaking communities (“St. Leonidas”). Individual believers live in other cities of Russia.

The processes of revival of church life in Russia prompted part of the clergy to gather on August 23-25, 2004 at the parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Sargatskoye to discuss topical issues, internal problems and a vision of the prospects for church development. They appealed to Pope John Paul II with a request to normalize the canonical and administrative status of the exarchate. In a letter dated 26.8.2004 addressed to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Patriarch Musa Ignatius I, Cardinal Daud, there were 15 parishes, communities and monastic institutions in Russia. The accepted documents were transferred to Rome on August 28, 2004 through Cardinal Walter Kasper, who was in Moscow on the occasion of the return of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

On December 20, 2004, Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Joseph Werth as Ordinary (Ordinarius pro fidelibus Ritus Byzantini in Russia), which was announced by Archbishop Antonio Mennini, Apostolic Nuncio to the Russian Federation, on February 22, 2005 in Novosibirsk at a meeting of Catholic priests of the Byzantine rite serving in the territory Russian Federation. In addition to streamlining the situation in the European part of Russia and in his own diocese, Bishop Werth created church districts corresponding to the territories of the Roman Catholic dioceses of St. Clement in Saratov and St. Joseph in Irkutsk, the coordinator of the latter is Hiermonk Teodor (Andrei) Matsapula (VE). Hieromonk Andrey Startsev (VE) coordinates the district corresponding to the territory of the Preobrazhensky diocese in Novosibirsk.

In the east of the Roman Empire, Christianity began to spread already in the 1st century. At the beginning of the 4th century, under Constantine the Great, the persecution of the Christian church ceased, and Christianity became the official religion of the Roman state. The west of the Roman Empire was predominantly Latin-speaking, while the east was dominated by Greek (the lower classes of Egypt and Syria spoke, respectively, Coptic and Syriac). These languages ​​were used from the very beginning for the preaching of Christianity and for worship: the Christian Bible was translated very early from Greek into Latin, Coptic and Syriac.

The early Christian church was organized as a system of separate and independent communities (churches) with centers in the capitals of countries and provinces and in large cities. The bishops of the major cities supervised the churches in the areas adjacent to these cities. By the 5th c. a system developed under which the bishops of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, who were commonly called popes, were considered the heads of the churches of their respective regions, while the emperor was entrusted with the duty to protect the church and ensure its doctrinal unity.

The fifth century was marked by the beginning of a turbulent Christological controversy that had a profound effect on the church. The Nestorians taught that two persons, divine and human, were united in Christ. Their irreconcilable opponents, the Monophysites, taught that Christ has only one personality and that in him the divine and human natures are inextricably merged into a single divine-human nature. Both of these extremes were condemned as heretical by the established church, but many people in Egypt and Syria embraced these doctrines with enthusiasm. The Coptic population and a significant part of the Syrians preferred Monophysitism, while the other part of the Syrians joined Nestorianism.

At the end of the 5th c. The Western Roman Empire collapsed, and a number of barbarian kingdoms, but in the East the Byzantine Empire continued its existence with its capital in Constantinople. The Byzantine emperors repeatedly persecuted the Monophysites and Nestorians of Egypt and Syria. And when in the 7th c. Muslim conquerors invaded these countries, a significant part of the population met them as liberators. Meanwhile, the gap between the religious culture of Latin and Greek Christians deepened more and more. Thus, the Western clergy began to consider the church as a social institution, completely independent of the state, as a result of which, over time, the popes of Rome assumed a number of powers of the former imperial authorities, while in the East, despite the fact that the Patriarchs of Constantinople bore the title of "ecumenical patriarchs", - the importance of the role of the Byzantine emperor as the visible head of the church constantly increased. Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, was called "equal to the apostles". The split between the Western (Catholic) and Eastern (Orthodox) Churches is usually dated to 1054, but in reality there was a gradual and lengthy process of separation, more due to differences in customs and opinions than dogmatic differences. The capture of Constantinople by the crusaders (1204) can be considered a really important event that caused an irresistible alienation, as a result of which Greek Christians lost confidence in the West for many centuries.

ORTHODOX CHURCH

The word "orthodoxy" (Greek orthodoxia) means "correct faith". The church bases its faith on Holy Scripture, on the teachings of the ancient church fathers - Basil the Great (d. c. 379), Gregory of Nazianzus (d. c. 390), John Chrysostom (d. 407) and others, as well as on Church Tradition preserved primarily in the liturgical tradition. Strict dogmatic formulations of this dogma were worked out by ecumenical councils, of which the Orthodox Church recognizes the first seven. Council of Nicaea (325), condemning Arianism, proclaimed the divinity of Jesus Christ. The First Council of Constantinople (381) recognized the divinity of the Holy Spirit, completing the trinity of the Holy Trinity. The Council of Ephesus (431) condemned the Nestorians, recognizing the hypostatic unity of Christ. The Council of Chalcedon (451), in contrast to the Monophysites, recognized the distinction in Christ of two natures - divine and human. The II Council of Constantinople (553) confirmed the condemnation of Nestorianism. The III Council of Constantinople (680-681) accepted the doctrine of two wills, divine and human, in Christ, condemning the teaching of the Monothelites, who - relying on the support of the imperial authorities - tried to find a compromise between orthodoxy and Monophysitism. Finally, the II Council of Nicaea (787) recognized the canonicity of icon veneration and condemned the iconoclasts, who enjoyed the support of the Byzantine emperors. The most authoritative body of orthodox dogma is considered An Accurate Statement of the Orthodox Faith John of Damascus (d. c. 754).

The most significant doctrinal divergence between the Orthodox Church and the Latin Catholics was the disagreement over the problem of the so-called. filioque. In the ancient creed, adopted at the First Council of Nicaea and supplemented at the First Council of Constantinople, it is said that the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father. However, first in Spain, then in Gaul, and later in Italy, in the Latin creed, the word filioque, meaning "and from the Son," was added to the corresponding verse. Western theologians viewed this addition not as an innovation, but as an anti-Arian clarification, but Orthodox theologians disagreed. Some of them believed that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son, but although this statement could be interpreted in the same sense as the Catholic addition of the filioque, without exception, Orthodox theologians considered it unacceptable to include in the creed a word that was not sanctioned by the ecumenical council. Photius (d. 826) and Michael Cerularius, two patriarchs of Constantinople who played a major role in the Greek-Latin ecclesiastical disputes, spoke of the filioque as the deepest error of the West.

Although the Orthodox Church was extremely conservative in matters of dogmatic purity, especially those relating to divine trinity and Christ's Incarnation - the field of activity for the work of theological thought was still very wide. Maximus the Confessor (d. 662), Theodore the Studite (d. 826), Simeon the New Theologian (d. 1033) and Gregory Palamas (d. 1359) made an enormous contribution to the development of Christian theology, especially in the field of monastic spirituality.

Monasticism played an exceptionally important role in the life of the Orthodox Church. Monasticism can be defined as leaving the world for a life of prayer, either as a hermit or in communion with other monks. Monks do not marry, do not own personal property, and most often impose severe restrictions on food and sleep. The first Christian monks appeared in the Egyptian desert at the turn of the 3rd and 4th centuries. A certain role in the emergence of the monastic movement could be played by the desire to hide from persecution and, possibly, imitation of non-Christian (in particular, Buddhist) models, but from the very beginning, the core of Christian monasticism was the desire for unity with God through the rejection of all other objects of desire. Basil the Great in the 4th century compiled a monastic charter, which - with minor modifications - still governs the life of Orthodox monasticism. The monastic movement very quickly captured Syria, Asia Minor and Greece. The prestige of monasticism was especially strengthened during the iconoclastic disputes of the 8th and 9th centuries, when the monks resolutely resisted the attempts of the Byzantine emperors to remove icons and sacred images from churches, and many monks were persecuted and martyred for the Orthodox faith. In the Middle Ages, Mount Olympus in Bithynia and Constantinople were major monastic centers, but the main center of Orthodox monasticism was and remains to this day Athos in northern Greece - a mountainous peninsula, on which, starting from the 10th century. dozens of monasteries arose.

The first great theoretician of monastic spirituality was Evagrius of Pontus (d. 399), who believed that human soul united with the flesh as a result of the fall and that it was the flesh that was the cause of the passions that distract man from God. Therefore, he considered the achievement of a state of dispassion (apatheia), through which the knowledge of God is achieved, as the main goal of monastic life. The Second Council of Constantinople condemned the Origenist doctrine that the flesh is alien to true human nature. Subsequent theorists of monasticism, in particular, Maximus the Confessor, tried to cleanse the teachings of Evagrius from unorthodox elements, arguing that the whole person (and not just his soul) is sanctified, cultivating love for God and neighbor. Nevertheless, Orthodox asceticism remained predominantly contemplative. In the 14th century - mainly under the influence of the teachings of Gregory Palamas - hesychasm is being established among Orthodox monks, which includes, first of all, a special technique of prayer, which implied control over breathing and prolonged mental concentration on a short prayer addressed to Jesus Christ (the so-called Jesus prayer). According to the teachings of the hesychasts, this kind of “intelligent” prayer allows one to find peace of mind, and later leads to an ecstatic contemplation of that divine light that surrounded Christ at the moment of his transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8).

Hesychasm, like monastic spirituality in general, could be admired, but could hardly become a common practice for ordinary people living in a world of work and carnal love and connected by family ties. However, the church did not neglect their spiritual life, since for the laity, as well as for monasticism, the center of Orthodox religious practice was the liturgy and Christian sacraments. Most Orthodox theologians recognize seven sacraments: baptism, chrismation, Eucharist, priesthood, marriage, repentance, and unction. Since the number of sacraments was not formally determined by the ecumenical councils, the sacrament of monastic tonsure is sometimes added to the seven listed sacraments. The sacramental (related to the sacraments) practice of the Orthodox Church differs in many details from Western practice. Baptism here is carried out through threefold immersion, and, as a rule, it is immediately followed by chrismation, so that the Sacrament of chrismation in Orthodoxy is performed most often on infants, and not on children who have reached adolescence, as among Catholics. In the sacrament of repentance, greater importance is attached to contrition for sins and spiritual guidance on the part of the confessor, and not to receiving a formal remission of sins. The second marriage of people who are widowed or divorced in Orthodoxy is allowed, the third is condemned, and the fourth is prohibited. The church hierarchy includes bishops, priests and deacons. Orthodox clergy may be unmarried, but they can also ordain priests and deacons. married men(which becomes a requirement if they are not ordained), so most parish priests are usually married (although they are not allowed to remarry if they are widowed). Bishops must necessarily be celibate, so they are usually elected from among the monks. The Orthodox Church is particularly strongly opposed to the idea of ​​ordination of women.

The sacrament of the Eucharist is considered the most important of all Christian sacraments in Orthodoxy, and the Eucharistic liturgy is the center of Orthodox worship. The liturgy is celebrated in the church, which is divided into three parts: the vestibule, the middle part and the altar. The altar is separated from the rest of the church by an iconostasis - a barrier on which icons are placed (sculptural images are not used in Orthodoxy) of Christ, the Virgin, saints and angels. The iconostasis has three gates connecting the altar with the middle part of the church. The liturgy begins with a proskomedia, preparation for the sacrament, during which the priest takes out particles from the prosphora (baked from leavened dough) with a special knife (“spear”) and pours red grape wine with water into the cup. Then the liturgy of the catechumens is performed, which includes prayers to the saints whose memory is celebrated on this day, singing Trisagion of song(“Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us”) and the reading of the Apostle and the Gospel (i.e. texts from the apostolic epistles and gospels appointed for this day). After that, the catechumens (catechumens, i.e. people preparing for baptism) in ancient times were ordered to leave the church. Then the liturgy of the faithful begins. The Holy Gifts - bread and wine - are carried by the clergy in front of the parishioners and taken to the altar, where they are placed on the throne. The priest remembers in prayer the Last Supper, during which Jesus Christ turned bread and wine into his Body and Blood. After this, an epiclesis is performed, in which the priest prayerfully asks the Holy Spirit to descend on the Gifts and transubstantiate them. Then everyone sings the Lord's Prayer. Finally, the communion of believers is made with particles of transubstantiated bread, immersed in a cup of transubstantiated wine, with the help of a spoon ("liar"). The most important thing in the liturgy is this very act of communion with the Body and Blood of Christ and union with Christ.

The ultimate goal of spiritual life in Orthodoxy is the communion with the life of God. Already in the New Testament it is said that the goal of a Christian is to become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). St. Athanasius of Alexandria (d. 373) taught that "God became man so that man might become God." Therefore the concept of deification (Greek theosis) is central to the Orthodox tradition. In the West, Augustine (d. 430) developed the doctrine of original sin, according to which the human will was significantly damaged as a result of the fall of Adam, and therefore only the sacrificial death of Christ allows a person to escape hell. This teaching remains the basis of the Catholic and, to an even greater extent, the Protestant conception of the mission of Christ and the redemption of sinners. However, the Eastern tradition has not developed a similar teaching. In Orthodoxy, the Incarnation of Christ is viewed rather as a cosmic event: having incarnated, God brings all material reality to himself, and having become human, he opens up to all people the opportunity to become participants in his own, divine existence. The believer will be able to enjoy the fullness of divine life only after death, in heaven, but the beginning of this life is the acceptance of baptism, and then it is supported by the communion of the Holy Gifts in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Nicholas Cabasilas (d. 1395) wrote that Christ introduced us to heavenly life by tilting the sky for us and bringing it closer to the earth. Monks are most serious about their progress in this heavenly life, but all Orthodox Christians are called—through the sacraments and liturgy—to participate in this life.

The Orthodox Church is sometimes reproached with insufficient attention to the affairs of this world - even those that directly relate to religion, in particular, that the Orthodox Church is not interested in missionary activity. But it must be borne in mind that after the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 and the subsequent fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Greek Church, of course, was mainly concerned with surviving under Muslim rule. However, before that, she was very actively engaged in the Christianization of the Caucasian peoples, in particular Georgians. In addition, she played a major role in the Christianization of the Slavs. Saints Cyril (d. 869) and Methodius (d. 885) were engaged in missionary work among the Slavs of the Balkan Peninsula, and later in Moravia. Russia was converted to Christianity during the reign of Prince Vladimir of Kiev (980–1015). As a result of this missionary activity in the Orthodox Church, the representatives of the Slavic peoples currently outnumber the Greeks. The Russian Orthodox Church, which had escaped Turkish domination, in turn actively engaged in missionary work. So, Stephen of Perm (d. 1396) converted the Komi people to Christianity, and then work among other peoples of northern Europe and Asia followed. Missions of the Russian Orthodox Church were established in China in 1715, in Japan in 1861. While Alaska belonged to Russia, missionaries also worked in Russian America.

The Orthodox Church has always paid attention to its relations with other Christian churches. In 1274, and then in 1439, the Church of the Byzantine Empire formally united with the Western Church under the authority of the pope. Both unions, generated by political considerations and met with hostility by the Orthodox population, were not successful. In the 16th century contacts began with Protestant theologians in Western Europe, and Patriarch Cyril Lukary (d. 1638) made an unsuccessful attempt to give Orthodox theology a Calvinist coloring. In the 19th century contacts were maintained with the Old Catholics. In the 20th century The Orthodox Church has an active position in the World Council of Churches. A decisive step forward in the development of relations with the Roman Catholics was the meeting of Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople with Pope Paul VI, held in Jerusalem in 1964. The following year, they issued a joint declaration in which they expressed regret over the alienation between the two churches and the hope that that the differences between them can be overcome by purification of hearts, awareness of historical mistakes and firm determination to come to a common understanding and confession of the apostolic faith.

The Orthodox Church today unites four ancient patriarchates (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem) and eleven more independent (autocephalous) churches. The Patriarch of Constantinople traditionally occupies the supreme position among the heads of Orthodox churches, but he is not the sole head of the entire Orthodox Church. Orthodox churches are united by a common faith and a common liturgical practice, but they all manage their own affairs independently. Listed below are the Orthodox churches that exist today.

Patriarchate of Constantinople.

After the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks (1453), the Orthodox hierarchy of the former Byzantine Empire underwent many hardships. Nevertheless, the Patriarchs of Constantinople continued to be at the head of the Orthodox Church in the Ottoman Empire, and only when Greece, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria were freed from the Turkish yoke did their religious ties with the Patriarchate of Constantinople weaken. Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) continues to be the main episcopal see of the Orthodox world, and the bishop who occupies this see bears the title of "ecumenical patriarch", but under his jurisdiction is mainly only the greatly reduced Orthodox population of Turkey. As for the Greek territories, the independent Cretan Church (the island of Crete) and the Dodecanese Church (the islands of the Southern Sporades) are subordinate to Constantinople. In addition, the monasteries of Mount Athos, a self-governing territory within Greece, are directly subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople. The patriarch also oversees Greek churches abroad, the largest of which is the Greek Orthodox Church of the Americas, with its head in New York City. The small autonomous Orthodox churches of Finland and Japan are also under the jurisdiction of Constantinople.

Alexandrian Patriarchate.

The ancient Episcopal See of Alexandria directs the spiritual life of the small Greek community in Egypt. However, in the 20th century many new believers in the countries of equatorial Africa joined the Church of Alexandria - in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, etc. In 1990, under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Alexandria was approx. 300,000 believers.

Patriarchate of Antioch.

Under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch, whose residence is in Damascus (Syria), in 1990 there were approx. 400,000 Orthodox believers, approximately half of which were Arabic-speaking Syrians and the other half were from the Syrian diaspora in America.

Jerusalem Patriarchate.

In 1990, the flock of the Patriarch of Jerusalem was approx. 100,000 Arab Christians in Jordan, Israel and Israeli-occupied territories.

Russian Orthodox Church.

Christianity was adopted in Russia at the end of the 10th century. Initially, the metropolitans of Kiev were at the head of the church, and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was the main center of monasticism. However, in the 14th and 15th centuries the center of political life has shifted to the north. In 1448, an independent Moscow metropolia arose, and Kiev retained under its jurisdiction only the territories of modern Ukraine and Belarus. The Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra (Sergiev Posad), founded by Sergius of Radonezh (d. 1392), became one of the main centers of Russian spiritual culture.

Russian church leaders were aware of the special role of their people as the most numerous of all Orthodox peoples. The theory of Moscow as the "Third Rome" arose: according to this theory, Rome itself, under the rule of the popes, fell away from Orthodoxy, Constantinople - the "second Rome" - fell under the onslaught of the Turks, so that Moscow became the great center of the entire Orthodox world. In 1589 the Moscow Patriarchate was established, the first new patriarchate since the era of the ancient church.

In the meantime, Ukraine became part of the Commonwealth, and the Metropolitan of Kiev became subordinate not to Moscow, but to Constantinople. In 1596, the Union of Brest was concluded, as a result of which many Ukrainians became Catholics. Orthodox Ukrainians returned to Moscow's jurisdiction in the 17th and 18th centuries, after the reunification of Ukraine with Russia.

After the church reform carried out by Patriarch Nikon in 1653, designed to bring Russian liturgical practice in line with Greek, opponents of these reforms broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church, who began to be called Old Believers, or schismatics. The Old Believers were divided into priests (who had priests), Bespopovtsy (who did not have priests) and Beglopopovtsy (who themselves did not ordain priests, but received priests who had already been ordained in the Orthodox Church and wished to join the Old Believers).

Over time, the Russian tsars began to play the same role in the Russian Orthodox Church that the Byzantine emperors had previously played. In 1721, Peter the Great abolished the patriarchate in order to achieve closer interaction between the church and the new administrative system. In the 18th and 19th centuries the tsarist regime forced Ukrainian Catholics on the territory of the Russian Empire to enter the Orthodox Church. In addition, the Russian tsars declared themselves the protectors of all Orthodox outside of Russia, millions of whom were subjects of the Ottoman Empire.

Despite tight control by the state, the Russian Orthodox Church continued to live an intense spiritual life. Seraphim of Sarov (d. 1833) inspired a great spiritual renaissance in Russia in the 19th century. John of Krostadt (d. 1909) made significant efforts to introduce the poorest sections of the population to church sacraments and services. In the 19th century Orthodoxy attracted many representatives of the Russian intelligentsia.

In 1917, after the fall of tsarist power, the patriarchate was restored in Russia and a new patriarch of Moscow and All Russia was elected. The Soviet government imposed restrictions on the activities of the church, arrested and executed the clergy, and launched large-scale atheistic propaganda. Thousands of churches and monasteries were closed, many destroyed and some turned into museums. The fall of tsarism prompted the Ukrainians to make an attempt to create a local autocephalous church, but the Soviet authorities stopped this attempt.

During the Second World War, the state changed its attitude towards the church. Orthodoxy has traditionally been associated in Russia with patriotic ideology, and the country's leadership attracted the church to raise the people to defend "Holy Russia" against the Nazi invaders. The position of the church in the late 1950s again became quite difficult.

The church took a stronger position under MS Gorbachev in the late 1980s. The fall of the Soviet system in 1991 opened up new opportunities for Russia to grow and develop, but it also faced new problems associated with the threat that Russia would assimilate the values ​​of the Western consumer society that were new to it. In addition, the refusal to suppress manifestations of the nationalist spirit led to a confrontation with the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The Uniates (Eastern Rite Catholics) of western Ukraine, which joined the Orthodox Church in 1946, gained independence in 1990 to form the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; some of the church property and buildings were returned to them. In 1998, parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP), the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) operated on the territory of Ukraine. Negotiations are underway between the UOC-KP and the UAOC on merging with the formation of the Ukrainian Local Orthodox Church with a patriarchal administration.

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), headed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (since 1990 Alexy II), unites in its bosom a significant part of the population of the former Soviet Union. It is impossible to name the exact number of Orthodox believers (probably 80–90 million). In 1999, the ROC had 128 dioceses (in 1989 - 67), more than 19,000 parishes (in 1988 - 6893), 480 monasteries (in 1980 - 18). The Old Believers-priests, led by the Archbishop of Moscow, number approximately 1 million people. Bespopovtsy, who are part of many independent communities, also have approx. 1 million. And approx. 200,000 believers. The cooperation of the Moscow Patriarchate with the Soviet authorities led to the separation of the right wing of the church from it, which formed the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (Russian Church Abroad); in 1990 this church had approx. 100,000 members. In May 2007, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Laurus, signed the Act of Canonical Communion, establishing the norms for relations between the two Orthodox Churches and aimed at restoring the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Romanian Orthodox Church.

Romanians are the only Romance people who profess Orthodoxy. The Romanian Church received autocephalous status in 1885, and since 1925 it has been headed by the Patriarch of Bucharest. In 1990 it numbered approx. 19 million members.

Orthodox Church of Greece.

Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite) Church.

Religious life in Syria in the 5th–6th centuries underwent almost the same evolution as in Egypt. The majority of the local Syriac-speaking population adopted the teachings of the Monophysites, which was largely due to hostility towards the Hellenized landowners and city dwellers, as well as towards the Greek emperor in Constantinople. Although the most prominent Syrian Monophysite theologian was Severus of Antioch (d. 538), Jacob Baradai (500–578) was so important in building the Monophysite Church of Syria that it came to be called Jacobite. Initially, the population of Syria was predominantly Christian, but later the majority of the population converted to Islam. In 1990, the Syrian Jacobite Church numbered approx. 250,000 members who lived mainly in Syria and Iraq. It is headed by the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, whose residence is in Damascus (Syria).

Malabar Jacobite, or Malankara Syrian Orthodox (Jacobite) Church.

According to legend, the Apostle Thomas brought Christianity to India. By the 6th c. Nestorian communities already existed in southwestern India. As the Nestorian Church declined, these Christians became increasingly self-reliant. In the 16th century under the influence of Portuguese missionaries, some of them became Catholics. However, attempts to introduce Indian Christians to Western religious practice caused protest among many, and in the 17th century. those of the believers who did not wish to join the Roman Catholic Church became Jacobites. At the head of the Malabar Jacobite Church is the Catholicos of the East with a residence in Kottayam, and in 1990 it consisted of approx. 1.7 million members.

Malabar Syrian Church of St. Thomas, which separated from the Jacobite Church under the influence of Anglican missionaries in the first half of the 19th century, numbered in 1990 approx. 700,000 members.

Armenian Apostolic Church.

In 314 Armenia became the first country to proclaim Christianity as the state religion. After the condemnation of Monophysitism in 451, Christological disputes in Armenia did not subside, and in 506 the Armenian Church officially took an anti-Chalcedonian position. In the 12th century Nerses the Gracious declared that the Christological teaching of the Armenian Church does not at all contradict the teaching of the Council of Chalcedon; indeed, the Armenians were committed to the Monophysite doctrine to a much lesser extent than, for example, the Ethiopian Christians. The Armenian Church survived despite the brutal massacres carried out by the Turks during the First World War and the atheism of the Soviet period. In 1990 the Armenian Church consisted of approx. 4 million members in Armenia itself and around the world. At the head of the church is the Patriarch-Catholicos.

ORIENTAL CATHOLIC CHURCHES

The Roman Catholic Church includes 22 "rites", forming six groups. These are the Latin rite, to which 90% of Catholics worldwide belong, the Byzantine rites, the Alexandrian rites, the Antiochian rites, the East Syriac rites and the Armenian rite. Believers of all Catholic rites adhere to the same doctrine and recognize the authority of the pope, but each rite retains its own liturgical traditions, church organization and spirituality, largely coinciding with those characteristic of the respective non-Catholic churches. Thus, for example, Eastern Rite Catholics retain the institution of the married priesthood, since the celibate priesthood is characteristic feature ecclesiastical discipline of Latin Rite Catholics, and not a matter of Catholic doctrine. Eastern Rite Catholics are often referred to as Uniates, but the term is considered offensive. Eastern Rite Catholics enjoy considerable freedom in managing their affairs, since the Pope exercises some of his powers over the Latin Church as the patriarch of the West, and not as pope.

Byzantine rites.

Catholics of the Byzantine rites live in the Middle East and in the countries of Eastern Europe, as well as in expatriate communities around the world. The Melchite rite originated in 1724, after the controversial election of the patriarch of Antioch. Since that time, part of the Melchites adhered to Orthodoxy, while the other part of them joined the Roman Catholic Church. The very word "Melkites" (or "Melkites") means "royalists" and was used to refer to churches that professed the same faith as the Byzantine rulers - in contrast, for example, to the Copts and Jacobites. The Melchite Church is headed by the Patriarch of Antioch, who lives in Damascus, and in 1990 approx. 1 million believers.

As a result of the Union of Brest in 1596, many Ukrainians joined the Roman Catholic Church. Those of them who lived in the territories that became part of the Russian Empire in the 18th century were returned to Orthodoxy under pressure from the tsarist authorities, however, the Ukrainians living in the territory of the Austrian Empire (in Galicia) became Catholics of the Ukrainian rite, and those living in the Hungarian kingdom - Catholics of the Ruthenian rite. Later, Galicia came under the rule of Poland, where on the eve of World War II there were approx. 3-5 million Ukrainian Catholics. They lived predominantly in territory that had been annexed by the Soviet Union in the 1940s and were forcibly incorporated into the Russian Orthodox Church. The Church of the Ukrainian Rite is headed by the Archbishop of Lvov. Many Ukrainians in the US and Canada belong to it, and efforts are underway to restore it in post-Soviet Ukraine. The church of the Rusyn rite, headed by the Archbishop of Pittsburgh, also includes mainly emigrants. Historically close to them, the Hungarian, Slovak and Yugoslav rites generally had a more prosperous fate at home. In total, these five rites in 1990 belonged to approx. 2.5 million active believers.

Catholics of the Romanian rite have existed since 1697, when Transylvania became part of Hungary, and numbered approx. 1.5 million people until the moment when in 1948 they were forcibly joined to the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Approx. 60,000 believers; they are Christians of the Byzantine rite living in Southern Italy and Sicily who have always been Catholics.

Alexandrian rites.

Catholic Copts and Catholic Ethiopians adhere to a rite that goes back to the Alexandrian tradition. At the head of the Catholics of the Coptic rite is the Catholic Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria, and in 1990 there were approx. 170,000. Ethiopian rite Catholics, led by their own archbishop in Addis Ababa, numbered approx. 120,000 people.

Antioch rites.

Three significant groups of Catholics in their religious practice adhere to Western Syrian rites, dating back to the Antiochian tradition. As a result of the union of the Syro-Jacobites with Rome in 1782, the Syrian rite arose. At the head of the Syrian rite Catholics, in 1990 numbering approx. 100,000, is the Catholic Syrian Patriarch of Antioch, whose see is in Beirut. Mar-Ivanios, a Jacobite bishop in southwestern India, became a Catholic in 1930; his example was followed by thousands of Jacobites, who in 1932 received the status of Catholics of the Malankara rite. The residence of their archbishop is in Trivandra, and in 1990 they numbered approx. 300,000.

Catholics of the Maronite rite have their origins in ancient Syria. Once St. Maron (d. 410?) founded a monastery in northern Syria, whose monks played an important role in the Christianization of the local population and the construction of the church, which turned into a difficult task after the Muslim conquest of Syria in the 7th century. According to legend, the first Maronite patriarch was elected in 685. In the 8th and 9th centuries. the Maronite community gradually moved from northern Syria to Lebanon. The Maronites had almost no contact with other Christians, and their doctrine had a visible Monothelite bias, which was explained by their ignorance of the decisions of the Third Council of Constantinople. When the Crusaders came to Lebanon, the Maronites came into contact with Western Christians. in 1180-1181 the Maronites recognized the pope Alexander III. They remained Catholic in a predominantly Muslim environment, and although they spoke Arabic, constituted a special national minority and had their own traditions. Currently, the Maronites play a prominent role in the political life of Lebanon. In the liturgy and the charter of the Maronites, the influence of the Latin rite is noticeable. At the head of the Maronite Church is the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, whose residence is located in the vicinity of Beirut. In 1990 there were approx. 2 million Maronites in Lebanon, other countries of the Middle East and among Lebanese emigrants around the world.

East Syrian rites.

The Catholics of the East Syrian rites include the Catholics of the Chaldean and Malabar churches. The Chaldean Catholic Church arose in 1553, when a split occurred in the Nestorian Church and one part of it recognized the authority of the Pope. In 1990, approx. 600,000 believers. Most of them live in Iraq, where they form the largest Christian community. Christians in the Nestorian Church in southwestern India who became Catholic in the 16th century are referred to as Catholics of the Malabar rite. The Malabar liturgy and ecclesiastical practice bear the stamp of a strong Latin influence. At the head of the Malabar Catholics are the archbishops of Ernakulam and Changanacheri, and in 1990 this church consisted of approx. 2.9 million members.

Armenian rite.

The union of Armenian Christians with the Roman Catholic Church existed from 1198 to 1375. The beginning of this union was laid during the Crusades, when the Armenians became allies of the Latins in the struggle against the Muslims. The modern Armenian rite originated in 1742. Armenian Catholics, especially the Benedictine Mechitarite monks, made a significant contribution to Armenian culture, they published books and established schools. At the head of the Catholics of the Armenian rite is the Patriarch of Cilicia, whose residence is in Beirut. In 1990 there were approx. 150,000 in various countries in the Middle East.

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