Eastern Catholic Churches

This article refers to Eastern Churches in full communion with the See of Rome. For other eastern Churches, see Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Syrian Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Mar Thoma Church, and Oriental Orthodoxy. The Eastern Catholic Churches are autonomous (in Latin, sui iuris) particular Churches in full communion with the Bishop of Rome — the Pope. They preserve the liturgical, theological and devotional traditions of the various Eastern Christian Churches with which they are associated, and between which doctrinal differences exist, in particular between the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy and the Assyrian Church of the East. Eastern Catholics recognize that their faith is not at variance with that of other Eastern Catholics and of Latin Catholics, whom they see as equal members of the same Catholic Church. In particular, they recognize the central role of the Bishop of Rome within the College of Bishops. They hold distinct forms (different both from the Latin forms and from those of other Eastern Catholic Churches) of liturgical worship, sacramental and canonical discipline, terminology, traditional prayers and practices of piety. They preserve the special emphases and illuminations that Eastern Christianity has developed over the centuries, some of which Pope John Paul II illustrated in his apostolic letter Orientale Lumen of 2 May 1995.
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