www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West The Pope and the Eastern Bishops

Dear dm2:

These rules (or Canons) are extant in the Eastern Code of Canons promulgated in 2001.

To understand the application of the Code, you may want to read through its Preliminary Canons, Canons 1 thru 6. Refer to:

http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_INDEX.HTM

The Eastern Code applies to all the 22 sui juris Eastern Churches now in communion with Rome, with certain historical agreements, not inconsistent with the provisions of the Eastern Code, allowed to continue.

If there are hardships being experienced by any of the sui juris Churches, I think the best recourse is for a review of the specific Canon or Canons in question and for the amendment or abrogation of such Canon or Canons, if warranted.

In fact, the entire Eastern Code could be reviewed by the Eastern Churches and request for its amendment or abrogation, if necessary.

This process presupposes the submission of such "grievance" to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches headed by His Beatitude, Ignace Moussa I Cardinal Daoud for consideration before it is submitted to the Pope for final approval.

We hear complaints every now and then but the procedural steps should be followed for them to be addressed properly.

Amado

From what I understand, this is also an issue for the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. For us, only the state of Kerala counts as "proper territory". (In fact, on the Church's website, the web page about its eparchies begins with this very statement! See http://www.thesyromalabarchurch.org/dioceses.htm .) Slightly less than half of our eparchies are outside of Kerala. Not only does this mean that our Synod and Major Archbishop do not have the authority they ought to in determining bishops, but I recall reading somewhere that the Syro-Malabar Church is not allowed to do missionary work outside of its proper territory (though I may be wrong on this second point). Since only the Latin Catholics are permitted to carry out missionary activities, this means that all converts to Catholicism outside of Kerala are, by default, converts to Latin Catholicism (unless they specifically join one of the Eastern sui juris Churches, which I find unlikely).

Peace,
Alex NvV

What I continue to question is: is this a reason to leave Rome? Is this heretical?

Drewmeister,

Of course it is not a reason to leave! However serious this is (and to many, it is), its essence is unchanged: it is an organizational issue. This is not reason to leave the True Faith. And since it's not a matter of faith it cannot be heretical for the Pope to appoint Eastern bishops, however inappropriate it may be compared to a perfect scenario.

Logos Teen

keep in mind, due to size, and situation no eastern catholic church is autocephalous, but autonomous, they depend on rome somewhat

The ecclesial life of the Eastern Catholic churches is governed in accordance with the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, which was promulgated by Pope John Paul II on October 18, 1990, and began to have the force of law on October 1, 1991. According to the new Oriental Code, the Eastern Catholic churches fall into four categories: (1) Patriarchal (the Chaldean, Armenian, Coptic, Syrian, Maronite, and Melkite churches), (2) Major Archepiscopal (Ukrainian, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholic churches), (3) Metropolitan sui iuris (the Ethiopian, Romanian and American Ruthenian churches), and (4) other churches sui iuris (Bulgarian, Greek, Hungarian, Italo-Albanian, and Slovak churches, as well as the jusdictions in former Yugoslavia). The Belarusian, Albanian, Georgian and Russian Eastern Catholic churches have no hierarchy.

Each Eastern Catholic patriarchal church has the right to choose its own Patriarch. He is elected by the Synod of Bishops and is immediately proclaimed and enthroned. He subsequently requests ecclesiastical communion from the Pope. The synods of patriarchal churches also elect bishops for dioceses within the patriarchal territory from a list of candidates that have been approved by the Holy See. If the one elected has not been previously approved, he must obtain the consent of the Pope before ordination as bishop. A Major Archbishop is elected in the same manner as a Patriarch, but his election must be confirmed by the Roman Pontiff before he can be enthroned. Metropolitans are named by the Pope on the basis of a list of at least three candidates submitted by the church�s council of bishops.

http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=54&IndexView=toc

The Melkites gave The Roman Curia headaches at the first Vatican Council and agan at the second. Mavericks is a good description of them.
During the Reign of Pope Paul VI .Their pariarch use to write to the Pope.From the succesor of Saint Peter at Antioch to the successor of Saint Peter at Rome.
They are very keen to re-unite with their Orthodox counterpart.They started ordaining married men in North America, without Romes Prmission and inviolation of a missguided decree from the 1920's .
.So Mavericks,I'd say so.

Why call the Melkites mavericks? They are fully loyal to the Catholic Church, and stand side by side with Rome in defending the faith. They are as Catholic as the Pope in all ways. Why cass aspersions in their direction?

Maverick is not an insult, it describes an indepedndent person. That does not go along with the group.It does not question the loyalty of the Melkites ,at all !
A little stirring of the pot at times is a good thing .

If you intend it as a compliment, that's a different matter. Melkites are definately a breed apart, and that's why they're so wonderful. I'm used to maverick being a negative term, though, hence my response. Miscommunication, miscommunication :p

The Nuntio reading a . . . ah . . . document is not a good enough reason to break communion with Rome. However, one might consider the possibility of simply walking out of the religious edifice until the Nuntio has finished, and then returning calmly to one's place. That just might give him the idea.

Incognitus

I like it!

Is there any document available that tells which territories belong to which Church (sui iuris), or at least gives a complete list of the territories which are claimed by the Roman patriachate?

Thanks,
Peter.