Is there an eastern catholic equivalent to this roman rite men's group?

No.

Joe

I beg your pardon Joe, but:

Yes, there is.

It's called the Holy Name Society. Many of our parishes have them.

In fact, in northeast Pennsylvania there are Ruthenian and Ukrainian HNSs that collectively make up a district. They have joint prayer services during the Great Fast, rotating among the various parishes.

The Cathedral in Passaic has one.

Of course, with the general decline in parish societies in the life of our parishes (how many sodalities have survived?), young people are no longer interested in them, and probably within 20 years, Joe's answer will be correct.

Exactly what is the "Holy Name Society"? I am aware that many of our Byzantine Catholic parishes have had or currently have such organizations. It seems to me that, for the most part, they were men's organizations that assisted the parish church (more-or-less a men's club), emphasizing service together with prayer. Is there more to the Roman Catholic "Holy Name Society" than a loose organization of parish 'chapters'? Or is the use of the term "Holy Name Society" by Byzantine Catholics nothing more than using the Roman Catholic equivalent term for our traditional "brotherhoods" or "sobors"?

It is a substitute for GCU that does not require the selling of insurance, an obvious latinization and denial of our true Byzantine patrimony.

What is an obvious latinization about having devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus? Sounds like that flows naturally from the Prayer of the Heart.

Now, in practice... ;-)

RichC,

Our parishes also had/have Rosary Societies too. Unfortunately, no one started an Akathist Society in our Church. Why does it always work in only one direction and not the other? Yes, Holy Name Societies exist. But the question was whether there was an Eastern equivalent and not a Latinization. BINGO anyone? Stations on Friday?

Joe

Joe, I up for starting a BYZANTINGO group after stations on Friday nights!

Dear Friends,
Glory to Jesus Christ!

My father used to belong to the "Brotherhood of Ukrainian Catholics."

This was parish-based but had a national committee. Different parishes had different uses for them, everything from assisting the pastor to carrying the candles.

Our more Eastern Rite parishes have brotherhoods and sisterhoods, but they are entirely parish-based and are named after Saints. They have no central coordinating committee governing them.

The Orthodox Brotherhoods of the Kyivan Metropolia that were in existence in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries tended to wield a good deal of power.

They resisted the Union with Rome as did the Skete Manyavsky and others. They were trusted by the Patriarch of Constantinople, when the Orthodox Bishops, appointed by the Polish King, were not.

Oddly enough, the action by the Constantinople Patriarch to give the Brotherhoods Stauropeghial powers was one of the precipitating factors that "pushed" the Bishops toward union with Rome.

Perhaps you will forgive me this digression.

After the Union was achieved, Orthodox students would travel to the West to learn about Roman Catholicism so that they might be able to better combat "uniatism" at home.

A number of these students brought back Roman Catholic traditions that soon became an integral part of the Kyivan Orthodox heritage.

One such tradition was devotion to the Immaculate Conception.

Orthodox Brotherhoods existed that took the name of the Immaculate Conception as their patron.

Following their Roman Catholic counterparts, they made the "bloody vow" to defend to the death that Our Lady was conceived in Holiness (both sides believed that in different ways!).

They also wore the medal of the Immaculate Conception and had their own version of the Panaghia Prayer: All Immaculate Theotokos, save us!

There are a few miraculous Orthodox Icons that relate to the theology and/or symbolism of the Immaculate Conception. One is a local one called the "Immaculate Mother."

Interestingly enough, when eye-witnesses were asked to paint a picture of the Mother of God as She appeared over the church in Zeitoun in Egypt ("Zeitoun" means "olive oil"), they painted Her just the way She is represented in the western Immaculate Conception pictures.

All in all, the role of the Brotherhood in the Eastern Church is a crucially important one that deserves to be maintained and/or resurrected.

God bless,

Alex

Bingo/Byzantingo? It's a well kept secret, but Bingo is really the major difference between the Otrhodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. SSSSHHHHHHHH....don't tell anyone!

Al,

And to make that difference (Byzantingo) real, we Byzantines even slant our cards the opposite way - like in our crosses. Herumph! Its going to take several ecumenical talks and another ECF book to untangle the mess. Chuckle.

Joe