In Both Death and Life: Churches-Catholic Series

Showing posts with label Churches-Catholic Series. Show all posts

Catholics Who Were Cool, Way Before I Was Born: Part I

>> Sunday, November 28, 2010

Housekeeping note: Since I changed templates, all of my links embedded in posts have lost their color, unless you hover over them with your mouse. I'm trying to go back and correct these.

There are 22 self-governing churches in communion with the Pope, the Roman Catholic Church being but one, although the largest. These are not lesser churches, but different traditions, all of which are held to be equal in dignity. There are seven major rites: Alexandrian, Armenian, Antiochene, Assyrian, Byzantine, Chaldean and Roman.

Now, if I can figure out what these 22 churches are. I have pages and pages of notes, but that has served to confuse me more than enlighten me, thus far.

So let me start with some churches I'm less confused about. I'm not going to present anything technical (that would really confuse me), but go to the church links I have provided to get a flavor of their worship practices.

Part II of my doomed series to try and decipher this great big Catholic Church.

Syro-Malankara

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Oriental (Eastern Rite) Catholic Church based in Kerala (on the Arabian sea in the southeast of India). It is one of the largest churches in communion with Rome. It is a Major Archiepiscopal Church, which means that the election of a Major Archbishop requires the Pope's confirmation. A Patriarchal Church, on the other hand, elects a Patriarch and then only notifies the Pope and other Patriarchs of this action. This church, as with the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, is a group of "St. Thomas" Christians, said to be evangelized about 52 AD. Yes, I mean AD, as in the Year of our Lord. This IS a Christian blog. One of their great concerns today is government sponsored information campaigns that denigrate the church's beliefs, in areas where communist governments are in power.

In the US, the Chicago Mission has a website at chicagomalankara.org (this link has since gone dead). One of their Archbishops, Mar Ivanios, was declared Venerable in 2007. He founded the Order of the Imitation of Christ. His monastic experiences led him to believe that he and his followers must be reunited with Rome. He combined the monastic ideals of the East with Indian Sannyasam (renunciation).

Left: Cathedral in Ethiopia.

One of the prayers of the Kadan (testament of the morning, midnight, evening) each divided into 3 parts, that many families of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Churches participate in throughout the day:

O God of light, you are the source of light, the principle of knowledge, the giver of grace that comes from perfect grace, the creator of the soul, the one who gives, the one who grants the Holy Spirit, the treasure of wisdom, the helper, the teacher of saints, the foundation of the world, who accepts the prayer of the pure ones. We glorify you, O only-begotten Son, the first-born Word of the Father; you have granted your universal grace to us who call upon you. O pure and blameless Father, you have the treasures, which moth and rust do not damage. To those who trust in you in all their thoughts you give the understanding of what the angels desire to contemplate. Light which was before the world, you are our unchangeable guardian. Though your Father's good-pleasure you have enlightened the treasure of darkness, which was within us. You have brought us from the abyss to the light.

The Armenian Catholic Church

The Armenian Catholic Church is found in countries all over the world, as Armenian's have emigrated. Armenia was evangelized very early in the Christian era. A brief history of the Armenian Catholic Church may be found at the website of the St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Catholic Church in Toronto.

And speaking of St. Gregory, he is a very important figure in the Armenian Church.

Almighty God, Whose will it is to be glorified in Your saints, and who raised up Your servant Gregory the Illuminator to be a light in the world, and to preach the Gospel to the people of Armenia: Shine, we pray, in our hearts, that we also in our generation may show forth Your praise, Who called us out of darkness into Your marvelous light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

This from Monastic Mumblings, a Friar's Journey (an Episcopalian blog). Another simple but interesting bio on St. Gregory on Glimpses of Christian History. (Christianity Today Magazine).