Byzantine, or Eastern? - 04/24/02 07:40 PM
A week or so ago, I was helping a friend formulate some thoughts for discussion at a "mini-sobor" that was held in Philadelphia for the Ukrainian Catholic Archdiocese there. We got to talking about identity, Rite, Church, etc. and how we both felt that Ukrainian Catholics have isolated themselves from the majority of their fellow Eastern Catholics in the US & Canada (who are Byzantines of one type or another) by identifying themselves -- when they don't just say they're Ukrainian -- as "Eastern Catholics" or "Eastern Rite".
It occurs to me, from reading various publications of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in North America, that they don't seem to think of themselves as "Byzantine Catholics" whatever that might mean. Even the few Ukrainian Catholic mission parishes in the USA seem to prefer to say they are "St. xxx Eastern Catholic Church" even though we might be justified in assuming that they are Maronite or Armenian until we actually visit the church in question.
I seem to have noticed that professors of the Sheptytsky Institute have quite consistently spoken of our liturgical tradition as Byzantine, as in the study of "Byzantine Liturgy", but when they speak of our theology, spirituality, and our church tradition in general, they refer to it as "Eastern" and never as "Byzantine." It's always "the Eastern Tradition" and "Eastern Theology" and the "Eastern Church." They also don't use the term "Byzantine Catholics", rather, Greco-Catholics.
Can we say that there is anything particularly Byzantine about our shared Tradition, beyond the liturgy itself?
Is there a particular Byzantine spirituality? Or is there just an "Eastern" spirituality? Or perhaps it's even more particular and we can say our spirituality is Ukrainian, or Melkite as no doubt there is enough particularity in each.
Is there a particular Byzantine theology? (The existence of Meyendorff's book by that title would seem to imply that there is.) Or is there just an "Eastern" theology? I am quite sure there is no such thing as a Ukrainian theology, but reading some materials put out by Ukrainian churches I think that many Ukrainian Christians do believe that such a thing exists.
I don't mean to pick on the Ukrainians by any means, I'd just like to be able to decide if they are correct about their terminology and the assumptions behind it.
It occurs to me, from reading various publications of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in North America, that they don't seem to think of themselves as "Byzantine Catholics" whatever that might mean. Even the few Ukrainian Catholic mission parishes in the USA seem to prefer to say they are "St. xxx Eastern Catholic Church" even though we might be justified in assuming that they are Maronite or Armenian until we actually visit the church in question.
I seem to have noticed that professors of the Sheptytsky Institute have quite consistently spoken of our liturgical tradition as Byzantine, as in the study of "Byzantine Liturgy", but when they speak of our theology, spirituality, and our church tradition in general, they refer to it as "Eastern" and never as "Byzantine." It's always "the Eastern Tradition" and "Eastern Theology" and the "Eastern Church." They also don't use the term "Byzantine Catholics", rather, Greco-Catholics.
Can we say that there is anything particularly Byzantine about our shared Tradition, beyond the liturgy itself?
Is there a particular Byzantine spirituality? Or is there just an "Eastern" spirituality? Or perhaps it's even more particular and we can say our spirituality is Ukrainian, or Melkite as no doubt there is enough particularity in each.
Is there a particular Byzantine theology? (The existence of Meyendorff's book by that title would seem to imply that there is.) Or is there just an "Eastern" theology? I am quite sure there is no such thing as a Ukrainian theology, but reading some materials put out by Ukrainian churches I think that many Ukrainian Christians do believe that such a thing exists.
I don't mean to pick on the Ukrainians by any means, I'd just like to be able to decide if they are correct about their terminology and the assumptions behind it.