www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall I need a favor -- Church structure question

Does anyone have a chart of the structure of the Ruthenian Church, starting with our Patriarch and going down?

Would appreciate this.

Ed

We don't have a patriarch, only a lowly Metropolitan Archbishop. I suppose you could say the Pope is the Patriarch of the Ruthenian Metropolitan Church, but he gave up on that title (I'm not sure a Patriarch can renounce a title, but in any case, he chooses not to use it).

ACROD is an autonomous metropolitan Church under the Ecumenical Patriarch, so Bartholemew I is their Patriarch, while Gregory of Nyssa is their Metropolitan Archbishop.

Yeah, I think the Ruthenian Byzantine Church is the only Eastern Catholic Church that I know of not to have a Patriarch outside of the Pope himself, and only served by a Metropolitan under Pope Benedict XVI. Could be wrong, but last I checked, I think other Eastern and Oriental Catholic Churches do have a Patriarch serve them.

EDIT: Oh, and I think the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church, at least in America, is only served by a Bishop. So stand me corrected.

Allow me to supplement Stuart's answer.

I believe this is correct, but I trust that someone will correct me if I'm in error.

There are actually multiple Ruthenian Catholic Churches; I think three are sui iuris (autonomous, self governing) churches. Unjustifiably, we are not in hierarchial communion with each other except through the Roman Pontiff and in ancestral culture, ritual and in spirit.

The Church in the US is a Metropolitan Church, with Metropolitan Archbishop and Bishops.
The Church in Slovakia is likewise a Metropolitan Church with the same type of hierarchy.
The Mukachevo eparchy has a Bishop only
The Exarchate in the Czech Republic is not self-governing.
The Hungarian Church has the Eparchy of Hajdudorog with a Bishop, and the Exarch of Miskolcz (which, like Prague, Czech Rep, is not self governing.

I have taken great liberty, as these Churches are Ruthenian (in Roman terms) but may not be primarily Rusyn. I could take more liberties and include the Croatian and Romanian Churches, but have not.
If I have confused you, then you have great company.

There are several Churches that don't have a Patriarch/Major Archbishop (which is quasi Patriarchal)

Sui iuris Churches of Eparchial Status (currently some of these Churches are without their own bishop and fall under the Latin ordinary, or are governed like an exarchate)

The Albanian Greek Catholic Church
The Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church
The Russian Greek Catholic Church
The Greek Catholic Church
Greek Catholic Churches in Former Yugoslavia (an exarchate)
The Belarusans Greek Catholic Church
The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
The Eparchy of Mukacevo in Ukraine

Metropolitan Churches sui iuris

The Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in America
The Slovak Greek Catholic Church
The Ethiopian Catholic Church


There are of course other Metropolitan Churches (like the Ukrainians in America) but they fall under a Patriarchal Church.

I am so confused Father Deacon. All these Churches are in Communion with each other and the hierarchs concelebrate. Do you mean that we are not administratively one Church sui iuirs?

Hi Nelson,

I can't find any official administrative union of our Greek Catholic Churches except through our communion through Rome. I hope I'm wrong and that someone will point out a mistake.

We can concelebrate because ritually and theologically we are the same, but no Archbishop has any authority over another. Rome has not deemed it proper that we should be united for some reason. Our unique common union is through the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

Deacon Paul,

You are correct. The Churches which decidely are of Ruthenian heritage - the two denominated as Ruthenian (Pittsburgh and Mukachevo), the Slovak, and the Magyar/Hungarian Catholic are, by virtue of being 'sui iuris', distinct from one another. The same is true of the UGCC which, despite having its own 'heritage', serves according to the Ruthenian Rescension and, therefore, could be classed with the others on that basis.

Thus, 'commmunion' among them, in a very narrow sense, is solely by virtue of their being of the greater Catholic Communion. They have no formal canonical, administrative, or hierarchical ties to one another in the nature of an authoritative format nor do they have any standing structure in which they interact on matters that commonly relate to the lot of them - e.g., liturgy.

That same problem afflicts several other Churches as well - all of them Byzantine. (The exception being the Italo-Graeco-Albanians whose three hierarchs have met on several occasions to discuss and address mutual issues/concerns.)

The full breakdown of Churches sui iuris in the Catholic Communion actually totals out to half more than the 22 commonly cited, because the 'stand-alone' status of a number of jurisdictions (putting aside the theoretically stand-alone status of jurisdictions in the diaspora and, thus, outside the 'historic territories') effectively inflates the number.

Patriarchal:
1. Armenian Catholic Church
2. Chaldean (Assyro-Chaldean Catholic) Church
3. Coptic Catholic Church
4. Maronite Church
5. Melkite (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church
6. Syriac Catholic Church

Major Archeparchial:
7. Romanian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church
8. Syro-Malabarese Church
9. Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
10. Ukrainian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church

Metropolitan:
11. Ethiopian (& Eritrean) Catholic Church
12. Byzantine Ruthenian Church (US)
13. Knanaite (Syro-Malabarese) Catholics (Metropolitan Archeparchy of Kottayam of the Knanaites)*
14. Slovak (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church

Eparchial:
15. Bulgarian Byzantine Catholic Church (currently, functioning as an Apostolic Exarchate)
16. Croatian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (Kriveci)
17. Croatian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (Serbia & Montenegro) (currently, functioning as an Exarchate)
18. Greek Byzantine Catholic Church (Constantinople) (currently, functioning as an Exarchate under Apostolic Administration)
19. Greek Byzantine Catholic Church (Greece) (currently, functioning as an Exarchate)
20. Hungarian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (Hajdudorog)
21. Hungarian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (Miskolc) (currently, functioning as an Exarchate)
22. Italo-Greaco-Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church (Eparchy of Lungro degli Italo-Albanesi in Calabria)
23. Italo-Greaco-Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church (Eparchy of Piana in Sicily degli Albenisi)
24. Ruthenian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (Mukacevo)

Eparchial - currently sine episcopi:
25. Albanian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (currently, functioning under an Apostolic Administrator who is, himself, Byzantine but not of the Albanian GC Church)
26. Belarusian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (Belarus) (currently, functioning under an Apostolic Visitator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis)
27. Belarusian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (UK) (currently, functioning under an Apostolic Visitator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis)**

Exarchial (never having been elevated to eparchial status):
28. Italo-Graeco-Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church (Exarchic Abbey & Territorial Monastery sui iuris of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata degli Italo-Graeco)
29. Macedonian Byzantine Catholic Church (Exarch is a Latin hierarch)
30. Russian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (Moscow) (currently, functioning under an Ordinariate, the hierarch of which is Latin))
31. Ruthenian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (Czech Republic)

Exarchial - Of Blessed Memory:
32. Georgian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (Exarchate of undetermined nature***)
33. Russian (Byzantine) Greek-Catholic Church (Harbin) (albeit, not yet formally acknowledged as extinct)

*Not of the same nature as the others but represents a unique instance of ordinary and personal jurisdiction and a not unique, but uncommon, instance of a metropolitanate erected with no suffragn jusridictions attached to it.

**In retrospect, by my exclusion of those jurisdictions outside the 'historical territories', I should not have included this one, as it is a diasporal jurisdiction (but I'm too lazy to remove it and renumber )

***All of the other exarchates are Apostolic - created by and subject to Rome (and, therefore, not part and parcel of the standing canonical jurisdictions of the same Church, even where such exist).

It is unclear by whom the martyred Servant of God Father Exarch Shio (Batmalashvili) was designated as Exarch for the Georgian Byzantines. The most likely possibilities are the Servant of God Archbishop Andrej (Sheptytsky), Blessed Exarch Leonid (Feodorov), or Bishop Michel d'Herbigny.

If the latter, as d'Herbigny was functioning under Rome's authority, the office would have been deemed Apostolic; if either of the others, it would more likely have been deemed Archepiscopal/Episcopal. Father Exarch Shio himself was not elevated to the episcopate, as far as is known.

Many years,

Neil

Thank you Neil for your comprehensive and authoritative post. It's great to have such a knowledgeable moderator.

Perhaps someday the wisdom of the Holy Spirit come upon the Oriental Office it will organize the Eastern Catholic Churches as units, rather than stand-alones.

Divide et impera.

Now for the Ruthenian Byzantine Hierarchy, I think it's as follows, but I might be missing a few ranks, and I'm sure there'll be those that'll correct me on this, so bear with me.

I think it's as follows:

Pope Benedict XVI (the head of the entire Catholic body)
Metropolitan Archbishop
Bishop
Mitred Archpriest
Archpriest
Very Rev. Priest
Rev. Priest
Archdeacon
Deacon
Subdeacon
Lector
Cantor
Altar Server

Perhaps I might not have listed all the ranks of clergy, although it is from highest to lowest as you requested to my knowledge at least. I'm sure there's more in between all of those, but I'll let the more experienced ones handle that.