www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Actual Number of Churches "Sui Juris"

This may be a subject which has been covered before, but being rather new to this, please pardon my ignorance: Can anyone tell me exactly how many "churches sui juris" actually exist? A definition found on the Pontifical College Josephinum's website defines a church sui juris as "a group of Christian faithful united by a hierarchy according to the norms of law which the supreme authority of the Church expressly or tacitly recognizes as sui juris."

I'm fairly confident in guessing that the following are churches sui juris: Latin (Roman) Catholic Church, Coptic Catholic Church, Ethiopian (Ge'ez) Catholic Church, Syrian Catholic Church, Maronite Catholic Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Armenian Catholic Church, Chaldean Catholic Church, and Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

I'm less sure about some of the churches in the Byzantine Catholic Tradition: I'm fairly certain that the Ruthenian, Melkite and Ukrainian churches are sui juris churches (and isn't the Ruthenian Church pretty much limited to the Metropolia of Pittsburgh and associated eparchies?). I'm guessing perhaps that the Byelorussian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak and Italo-Albanian churches are also churches sui juris (and are Italo-Albanians the same as Italo-Greeks?). What's the status of the Greek Catholic and Albanian Catholic Churches? Aren't the Catholics of the Krizevei (former Yugoslavia) eparchy within the province of a Latin metropolitan? And aren't Russian and Georgian Catholics served by apostolic exarchs, not having their own hierarchy?

It seems to me that an ethnic or national group which follows a certain rite, but which does not have its own hierarchy, could not be considered sui juris. I would appreciate any help.

Litterally, sui iuris means under its own, singular law, so any body with its own primary canon law is sui iuris. For the eastern churches it is perfered (but more complicated) to speak of the autocephalus Catholic Churches (Patriachial and Major Archepiscopal), and the autonomous Catholic Churches (those with their own law, but with bishops confirmed by the Universal Pastor) and those formally supervised by the Universal Pastor in one way or another -- generally very small jurisdictions incapable of self-sufficency such as Administrations and Exarchates, along with the Italo-Albanians, who the Pope supervises as Patriarch of the West and Primate of Italy but are independent of any local Latin authority.

Lastly would be those under some sort of Latin episcopal jurisdiction, either for historic reasons (Yugoslavia) or parishes under a Latin Ordinary.

Thank you, Kurt--I learned something today!

But at the risk of being obtuse: Are all the churches I mentioned then "sui juris" (governed by their own law)? Or rather, for example, because the Italo-Albanians fall under the Patriarchate of the West, they are then not sui juris, correct? Similar with the former Yugoslavs and those under the administration of an administrator or exarch?

I guess I'm looking for an "exact number" of churches that could be considered sui juris. This stems from a CCD lesson with my high school students where I said, "there are actually twenty(something) Catholic Churches."

Thanks for the help!

Martin,

To elaborate on what Kurt said, one must distinguish between sui iuris status itself, the degree of autonomy sui iuris curches possess, and the Churches liturgical rite and ethnicity, as all these play a part in the designation of a Church's status. All Eastern Catholic Churches are sui iuris because the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches governs them. In addition, each Church may elaborate on this code promulgating it's own particular law.
The Eastern Code gives these two definitions in Title II.
Canon 27 - A group of Christian faithful united by a hierarchy according to the norm of the law which supreme authority of the Church expressly or tacitly recognizes as sui iuris is called in this Code a Church sui iuris.
Canon 28 - �1. A rite is the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each church sui iuris.

The Eastern Code also recognizes four differing levels of autonomy for the different Eastern Churches.
1. The patriarchate has the highest level of autonomy. The patriarch is elected and enthroned by his synod. He then petitions for ecclesial communion with the Pope.
2. The major archepiscopate operates much like the patriarchate. The major archbishop is elected by his synod. However, he must petition the Pope for confirmation of his election before enthronement. The Pope may decline confirmation and call for a new election.
3. The metropolitanate. The council of hierarchs draws up a list of three candidates from which the Pope selects the metropolitan. The Pope also exercises patriarchal rights over these Churches.
4. Other churches sui iuris. These may be a group of eparchies and/or exarchies, a single eparchy, exarchy, apostolic adminstration, or no erected jurisdiction at all. each of these has its hierarch appointed by the Pope. In addition, thses Churches are given a designated metropolitan (usually from the Latin Church) who has duties restricted to:
-erecting a metropolitan tribunal;
-overseeing that the faith and ecclesiastical discipline are accurately observed;
-conducting a canonical visitation, if the eparchial bishop neglected it;
-appointing or confirming one who was legitimately proposed for or elected to office, if the eparchial bishop, not detained by a just impediment, failed to do so within the time established by law, and also to appoint the eparchial financial officer if the eparchial bishop, having been warned, neglected to appoint one.
All other metropolitan and patriarchal rights are exercised by the Pope.

It should be noted that while Latin metropolitans or the Pope may exercise certain perogatives for some Eastern Churches those Churches are not a part of the Latin province or patriarchate proper, they remain Eastern Churches sui iuris.

So back to your original question, the Churches sui iuris are:
Patriarchates:
Coptic
Melkite
Maronite
Syrian
Chaldean
Armenian

Major Archepiscopates:
Ukrainian
Syro-Malabar

Metropolitanates:
Ethiopian
Syro-Malankar
Romanian
Ruthenian (America)

Others:
Italo-Greek/Italo-Albanian, 2 eparchies and
1 territorial abbacy
Slovak, 2 eparchies and 1 exarchy
Hungarian, 1 eparchy and 1 exarchy
Ruthenian, (Europe) 1 eparchy and 1 exarchy
Croatian, 1 eparchy
Greek, 2 exarchies
Russian, 2 exarchies
Bulgarian, 1 exarchy
Albanian, 1 apostolic administration
Belarus, 12 parishes with about 100,000
faithful but no erected jurisdiction

However, there are some things worth noting. Our own Ruthenian Church is in a unique situation. Both the American and European jurisdictions are considered part of the same Church, but they have no official relationship. I listed them seperately for clarity but they should be counted as one. Also, Georgians are often included on some lists but they only ever had one parish, which I believe is no longer extant, and never had an erected jurisdiction, so I don't include them. I don't believe the Annuario Pontificio lists them anymore as well.

So that makes 22 Eastern Churches plus the Latin Church for a total of 23 Churches that make up the Catholic communion.

In Christ,
Lance


[This message has been edited by Lance (edited 02-11-2001).]

Lance,

Thank for the details. Do we not have a recently errected Macedonian exarchate? Also should is not be noted that the two Russian exarchates and the Albanian Administration are suppressed by the civil situation as is the Eparchy of the Belarusians?

K.

Dear Lance,

Thank you for your thorough list, and for very interesting explanation of the various level's of a Church's autonomy. I have never heard it so clearly explained before.

Can I ask you for more? I believe there is a custom on the 1st Sunday of Great Lent, in the Byzantine Church, of reading the Dyptichs, or the list of the heads of Churches, praying for them all?

Would it be possible to assemble such a list of the heads of the Catholic Churches, that might be used by Byzantine Catholics, for this prayer? I have never seen this done, but often thought that it should be done.

with thanks,

Elias, monk

Kurt,

I am unaware of a Macedonian exarchate, however the Croatian eparchy does have Macedonian parishes.

As far as surpressed jurisdictions go, the Russian exarchy of Harbin, China is the only officially repressed jurisdiction I know. In fact, I don't know if it exists on anything but the Vatican books anymore. The Russian exarchy in Russia is harassed by the bureacracy and is with out a bishop but I wouldn't say it is officially repressed. The same goes for the Belarus Church. However, they have officially petitioned the Vatican for re-establishment of their eparchy. It is Vatican worries about the Moscow Patriarchate's reaction that delay appointing bishops for these Churches, which I find strange.

The Greek Catholic exarchates which the Greek Orthodox absolutley detest are always supplied with bishops. And we are talking about two exarchates that both have the grand total of 3 parishes between them. So the Vatican angers the Greeks over three parishes that were the creation of Assumptionist prosetylism, but neglects the Russian and Belarus Churches who have a couple dozen parishes between them. Also, the Russian exarchate always had good relations with the Moscow patriarchate as strange as that is to believe. I think the current Patriarch Alexei II once gave the last Russian exarch a pectoral cross as a gift.

The Albanian apostolic administration operates freely, as do all churches since Communism was overthrown in Albania. However, since then only a small handful of faithful have emerged. The monks of Grottaferrata minister to them, I believe.

In Christ,
Lance

Lance,

Thank you! Your explanation provided me with exactly what I was looking for--and much more. (Curious--where does one come by such knowledge?) I will be copying and saving your response for future reference.

In Christ,

Martin

Father Elias,

Here you go. I listed them in hierarchic order by seniority of see then by canonical erection of see. However, once I get to the simple eparchies I am unsure for the Ruthenians and Slovaks. Should Metropolitan Judson be the only one commemorated or Bishop Ivan as well, and what about the Exarch of Prague? You might need to consult Fr. Petras for this one.

In Christ,
Lance, deacon-candidate


Alexandria of the Copts:
Patriarch Stephanos II

Antioch of the Maronites:
Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros

Antioch of the Melkites:
Patriarch Gregorios III

Antioch of the Syrians:
Patriarch Ignace Moussa

Babylon of the Chaldeans:
Patriarch Raphael

Cilicia of the Armenians:
Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX

Lviv of the Ukrainians:
Archbishop Lubomyr

Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabars:
Archbishop Varkey

Alba Julia & Fagaras of the Romanians:
Metropolitan Lucian

Addis Ababa of the Ethiopians:
Metropolitan Berhane Yesus

Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars:
Metropolitan Cyril Mar Baselios

Pittsburgh of the Ruthenians:
Metropolitan Judson

Mukachevo of the Ruthenians:
Bishop Ivan

Krizhevci of the Croatians:
Bishop Slavomir

Presov of the Slovaks:
Bishop Jan

Hadudorog of the Hungarians:
Bishop Szilard

Lungro of the Italo-Greeks:
Bishop Lupinacci

Piana degli Albanesi of the Italo-Greeks:
Bishop Ferrara

Toronto of the Slovaks:
Bishop John

Canton of the Romanians:
Bishop John Michael

Athens of the Greeks:
Bishop Anarghyros

Sofia of the Bulgarians:
Bishop Christo

Prague of the Ruthenians:
Bishop Ivan

Kosice of the Slovaks:
Bishop Milan




[This message has been edited by Lance (edited 02-11-2001).]

Martin,

Your welcome. The knowledge comes from the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches, the Annuario Pontificio, the Catholic Almanac published by Our Sunday Visitor, the Encyclopedia of Catholicism published by HarperCollins, websites of the various Eastern Churches, and excellent articles by Archimandrite Robert Taft and Father Ronald Roberson, as well as endless hours spent pouring over these sources preparing papers for the diaconate program and sometimes just for the information. The best comprehensive website I have seen yet is Fr. Ronald Roberson's. Here is the link: http://www.eastern-christian-churches.come.to/

In Christ,
Lance, deacon-candidate

[This message has been edited by Lance (edited 02-11-2001).]

Lance,

The Macedonian exarchy is new (this year) and now has the parishes formerly with Krizhevci.

The Holy See, in its pastoral care of oppressed Catholics may know more than we do (who knew we had 2 cardinals in the former USSR until a few weeks ago?), but you are right, their seems little public evidence that the Byzantine Exarchate of Harbin exists in any fashion, underground or above ground. The Vatican however, has learned from expirience with the civil authorities to never close the books on something.

My understanding is the Russian civil authorities have refused to allow any Greek Catholic entity to legally exist and that for Belarus, the Greek Catholic there have a dean and an apostolic visitor but no eparchy has been legalized by the government.

K.

Okay--so does that make the Macedonian Church the newest sui iuris Church?

Dear Lance,

Very informative and excellent work. Thank you for the effort. I hope that all the candidates for the diaconate are as well informed as yourself.

Maybe the Administrator could find a place for all this information?

In Christ,

David Kennedy, Protodeacon

Would you please post the url for this website? Thank you.

Pax Christi,
John

Martin,

Did you say The Pontifical College Josephinum? That's me alma mater. The ol' Joss.

Joe Thur
Class of 1985 (College)