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I went Catholic, just FYI.

It was more about coming to terms with some of my own flaws. I had to recognize the following:

1) Hyper-focusing on this issue was actually preventing me from advancing in the spiritual life. So I needed to choose a home even without having ultimate certainty. It required humility for me to admit that.

2) Lots of scholarly minds that are eminently more intelligent than I am disagree about this issue. You aren't going to find crushing arguments on one side or another. I can't expect I'll find or devise an answer that has 100% epistemological certitude.

3) Catholics and Orthodox have a lot of the same problems. A lot of the time, I simply had the perception that the grass was greener on one side or the other, when that's not the case in reality. Again, that requires humility to admit.

4) I've been able to see more unifying trends in the various apostolic traditions over time. I think reading the Church Fathers was extraordinarily helpful in this. As such, being inside a Church that is in communion with all the apostolic traditions means a lot to me.

And I've accepted not being 100% sure, in the same way I've accepted that I can't be 100% sure of my salvation. The choice wasn't purely arbitrary; I do think the Catholic Church is the one Christ founded. I can discuss, give my perspective, and present my conclusions for why I think this is correct. But I am working with the evidence that I was given to the best of my ability. I do not condemn those in the Orthodox Church who may have a different perspective. They will answer for themselves on Judgment Day. May the Lord have mercy on us all.

As for the actual process? I was following a Spiritual Father's recommendation. In additional to the usual (participating in liturgical life of the Church, regular Communion/Confession, Morning and Evening prayer rule), I had some dedicated time for the Jesus Prayer with this intention in mind.

If you have any considerable number of people, you're not likely to get 100% of anything. I'm not interested enough to go look at census data myself, but I found this source that summarizes the desired info (Table 4): https://bgazrt.hu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/5.Majo_jav.pdf

About 2% of Hungarian Slovaks would appear to by Byzantine, and the percentage would appear to be increasing. The largest in the table is 2.1%, back in 1930 (the earliest census included), so it is possible that there was a more significant number >100 years ago.

There are some limits on photo uploads. Posters are limited to 5 photos per thread with a max of just under 4 M per photo. Our hope is that you will reduce the file size to under 4 M each to save on sever space. Thanks!

I had a report of a typo in the 2025 Liturgical Calendar, fixed it and took the opportunity to put up the 2026 liturgical calendar.

If anyone has a chance, can you please review them for accuracy and report to me any typos (either her or via email at the address at the bottom of this page).

You can find them from byzcath.org by boing to "Resources" and choosing them from the pull-down menu.

Thanks!

See:

2025 Constantelos Lecture Series - NICAEA and the Challenge of a Common Date for Easter [youtube.com].

For the start of the presentation (skipping the introductions): Dr. George E. Demacopoulos (Fordham...metrios J. Constantelos Memorial Lecture [youtu.be]

It should still be active on the Google Play store. I use the app daily. I also still get daily emails with the vespers and little hours texts from EC Pubs. They did recently send out an email saying it may be closed down soon though:

BDO Might Stop

We thank those who have contributed to our publication of the Byzantine Daily Office, both one-time and ongoing stipend payments. But we have received less than half of the cost of ongoing publication and are losing nearly $500/month. After nearly 10 years, this is no longer sustainable and will impact both the daily email service and smartphone app. If we don't have an influx of financial support by April 15, we will need to reduce the service or cancel it completely. You can contribute through our GoFundMe campaign (ECPubs) or directly on our website:

https://ecpubs.com/product-category/stipend-payments/

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Jack Figel
Eastern Christian Publications

I do understand your meaning and would like to share it. But for me it's a struggle because Rome "does" claim itself to be perfect (at least in teaching matters of faith and morality). So when the Orthodox point out authoritative contradictions (like Moritalium Animos saying you can't be saved if you die out of communion with the pope, even as a martyr and then later Nostra Aetate teaching that Jews Muslims and even Hindus all magically worship the same God as us it is clearly a contradiction that can't exist in Roman Catholic theology). So by staying in communion with Rome I am making those errors my own and since I "know" better, I can't claim ignorance on judgement day. That said, I don't feel like I know enough about Orthodoxy and the history between the two to commit to converting as the last thing I'd want to do is convert too quickly and then revert shortly after. I also recognize that if 1000 years of the best scholars of East and West cannot overcome this divide, my own ability to reason through it is not going to cut it. It feels like I'm damned either way (not in terms of salvation, just in terms of finding peace in navigating this issue).

Christ is in our midst!!

AnnaG:

Welcome to the forum. We hope your time with us will be spiritually beneficial.

Bob
Moderator

My first book has been published. It is designed to help families guide their children in God's ways. Carson D. Lauffer, "The Healing of a Soul" can be purchased through Amazon. I recommend it for use in every Church.

We anticipate starting a Zoom group that will utilize this book for young families and friends of these young families. We hope it will A. Aid all in rearing their children in God's ways. B. Bring new families to the Church. Any advice is most welcome.

Moreover, do you have other ways to suggest for helping young families or any other books we may find helpful?

We have many young families in our Church and several single, primarily men, who may someday be married and have children. I will be teaching them how to pray and hope to utilize Zoom. I wish to focus on intercessory prayers for friends, family, and neighbors who may not yet be followers of Christ or attend Church. We plan to have weekly Zoom meetings at which we can use parts of the Prayers for Vespers. We will most likely meet around 9 p.m. after the children have gone to bed. May we use parts of the prayer of Vespers without doing a disfavor to the prayers. We wish to use the prayers of intercession followed by "Lord, Have Mercy." We should also want to use the Prayer of St. Ephrem.

Any advice is welcome, and prayers for our efforts are also appreciated.

I "do" respect the latin custom by not making a spectacle of myself. I will never kneel for the Liturgy on the Lord's Day since it is prohibited by Canon 20 of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. But I make sure to stand with my family along the back wall out of sight from everyone so as not to become a distraction.

My brother, you must have heard about ritualistic development. If the ritual of the Mass, which is the most sacred thing we have, has become something so distinct over time in different languages ​​and cultures, what can we say about the creed, which has been translated and proclaimed for the entire Catholic Church. We Latins have the Apostles' Creed, which our Doctors and Fathers say we received from the Apostles, and the Orientals do not recite it. The Armenian Creed is also somewhat distinct from the Greek Creed, and yet they are exactly the same creed. Personally, I believe that the creed is immutable in the substance of its content, not necessarily in the form it is recited, because then we get into questions of linguistics and also of culture. Adding or removing the phrase "Filioque" does not alter, adulterate or corrupt the Creed, so much so that Saint Hilary, Saint Ephrem, Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome, Saint Leo the Great, Saint Epiphanius, Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Saint Maximus (who dealt with both the Latin and Greek usages), Saint Faustus, Saint Gennadius, Saint Isidore, Saint Fulgentius, Saint Leander, Saint Theodore, Saint Paulinus, Saint Tarasius, Saint John of Damascus, Saint Gregory Palamas and many other Saints have always reaffirmed the orthodoxy of proclaiming that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and the legitimacy of both the Latin and Greek usages. After so many centuries, it is useless to discuss whether such usage is heterodox among the Latins.

Christ is in our midst!!

I am closing this thread because it has become a distraction during Great Lent. We are becoming focused on partisan political issues that are draining Christian civility.

Bob
Moderator

Memory Eternal [youtube.com]

I am also curious about the history of this.

From the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, St. Volodymyr Parish Established in the Chicago Eparchy
"On March 22, 2025, the parish of St. Volodymyr was officially established at St. Volodymyr’s Church in Santa Clara, California. Parishioners, together with church administrator Fr. Roman Bobesiuk, Fr. Denys Smoliarsky, and Deacon Oleh Zatvarsky, solemnly welcomed Bishop Venedykt Aleksiichuk of the Eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago. They greeted the bishop with bread, salt, and flowers as a sign of respect and spiritual unity." St. Volodymyr Parish Established In Chicago Eparchy [ugcc.ua]
It's nice to see good news! I don't live anywhere near California (nor do I plan to), but, it's nice to see out east, out west. I actually had the privilege of getting to know a priest (now a Hieromonk) who is based in a different part of California, when he was in Augusta, Georgia.
So, I am aware that the Eastern Church already has a presence there. But, California is a big state. I'd imagine some people still have to go quite the distance to find the nearest Eastern Catholic (or, in some cases, even Eastern Orthodox) temple.
I just felt like sharing good news, you know?

from the Holy See Bulletin:

Seems to me that it is taken for granted that he knows Italian

Can we not acknowledge even here on a specifically Byzantine Catholic forum, that Patriarch Shevchuk is indeed a PATRIARCH? Rome continues to disrespect the UGCC by referring to its Patriarch as a mAjOr aRcHbIsHoP in their efforts to appease the Russian Orthodox Church/Patriarch Kirill. We do not need Rome to recognize Patriarch Shevchuk for him to be acknowledged as Patriarch. To my knowledge all of the Eastern Catholic heads refer to him as a Patriarch. So let's give his office the respect it deserves, yes?

That said I "do" believe it weird how we promote Orthodoxy so much. Our gift shops are full of Orthodox icons, books from Orthodox saints and monastics, we adopt Orthodox spirituality, etc All coming from people who would not even view us as Christians since we are outside the Orthodox Church. Some of those we call saints were unapologetic in their condemnations of the heresies of Rome/"papism" as they'd call it. It's weird for us to cling to that and still maintain communion. Why venerate a saint who doesn't view us as being inside the church? If we want to venerate them, why not return to communion with them?

Christ is in our midst!!

Francis W.,

Have your physicians suggested surgery to straighten your spine? I have heard of successful results from such attempts.

Meanwhile prayers go up for the easing of your pain.

Bob

Let your voice be heard! God bless.

Hopefully something will be officially stated eventually. It is not a good impression if there is a sizeable (or at least vocal) portion of the flock that is raising an issue about the liturgy and there has been no official response.

Language chosen to be as inclusive as possible without preserving the faith would seem to be a serious issue. Similar to what EasternChristian19 is planning, I may ask Bishop Kurt when he visits my parish. At least to show him that this remains an issue that he would have support addressing. Even if not to change anything, perhaps just offering some reasoning for why certain things were changed and officially dialoguing would help us all move forward together.

P.S. In case my comments make it seem like I am much more against the RDL than I actually am: I simply recognize that there are legitimate concerns that seem to be being ignored, and I don't think that's a healthy way to pastor a church.