View source for Eastern Catholic Churches

{{Short description|23 Eastern Christian churches in the Catholic Church}}
{{About|Eastern Churches in full communion within the Catholic Church|other Eastern Christian churches|Eastern Christianity}}
{{Distinguish|Eastern Orthodox Church|Church of the East}}
{{Infobox Christian denomination
| icon               = 
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| name               = Eastern Catholic Churches
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| image              = {{multiple image
| border              = infobox
| total_width         = 270
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| perrow              = 1/2/2/1
| image1 = Lviv - Cathedral of Saint George 01.JPG
| image2 = Champakulam St. Mary's Basilica3.jpg
| image3 = Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Damascus, Syria.jpg
| image4 = St. Marys Cathedral Trivandrum Fassade 2 (retuschiert).jpg
| image5 = Kidanemhret Catholic Church, Asmara, Eritrea.jpg 
| image6 = St Elie - St Gregory Armenian Catholic Cathedral.jpg
}}
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| caption            = Clockwise from top: <br>[[St. George's Cathedral, Lviv|St. George's Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cathedral]], [[Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition|Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition of Our Lady]], [[Kidane Mehret Cathedral|Kidane Mehret Eritrean Catholic Cathedral]], [[Cathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory the Illuminator|Armenian Catholic Cathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory the Illuminator]], [[Cathedral of Saint Mary, Pattom|St. Mary's Syro-Malankara Catholic Cathedral]], [[Basilica of St. Mary, Champakulam|Syro-Malabar Catholic Basilica of St. Mary]]
| abbreviation       = 
| type               = 
| main_classification = [[Catholic]]
| orientation        = [[Eastern Christianity]]
| scripture          = [[Catholic Bible|Bible]] ([[Septuagint]], [[Peshitta]])
| theology           = [[Catholic theology]] and<br> [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern theology]]
| polity             = [[Episcopal polity|Episcopal]]
| governance         = 
| structure          = [[Communion (religion)|Communion]]
| leader_title       = [[Pope]]
| leader_name        = {{Incumbent pope}}
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| associations       = 
| area               = 
| language           = [[Koine Greek]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]], [[Biblical Hebrew|Hebrew]], [[Aramaic]], [[Geʽez]], [[Coptic language|Coptic]], [[Classical Armenian]], [[Church&nbsp;Slavonic]], [[Classical Arabic|Arabic]], and vernaculars ([[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]], etc.)
| liturgy            = [[Eastern Catholic liturgy|Eastern Catholic liturgies]]
| headquarters       = 
| origin_link        = 
| founder            = 
| founded_date       = 
| founded_place      = 
| separated_from     = Various [[autocephaly|autocephalous]] churches of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]], [[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodox]], and [[Church of the East]] throughout the centuries
| branched_from      = [[Catholic Church]]
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| separations        = 
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| defunct            = 
| congregations_type = 
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| members            = 18 million<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/magazine/the-beautiful-witness-of-the-eastern-catholic-churches/|title=The beautiful witness of the Eastern Catholic Churches|date=7 March 2019|website=Catholic Herald|access-date=29 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929010556/https://catholicherald.co.uk/magazine/the-beautiful-witness-of-the-eastern-catholic-churches/|archive-date=29 September 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
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}}
{{Eastern Catholicism}}
{{Catholic Church sidebar}}

The '''Eastern Catholic Churches''' or '''Oriental Catholic Churches''', also known as the '''Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches''', '''Eastern Rite Catholicism''', or simply the '''Eastern Churches''',{{efn|In some historical cases, they are referred to as ''Uniates''.}} are 23 [[Eastern Christian]] autonomous (''[[sui iuris]]'') [[particular church]]es of the [[Catholic Church]] in [[full communion]] with the [[pope]] in [[Holy See|Rome]]. Although they are distinct theologically, liturgically, and historically from the [[Latin Church]], they are all in full communion with it and with each other. Eastern Catholics are a minority within the Catholic Church; of the 1.3 billion Catholics in communion with the pope, approximately 18 million are members of the Eastern churches. The largest numbers of Eastern Catholics are found in [[Eastern Europe]], [[Eastern Africa]], the [[Middle East]], and [[India]]. As of 2022, the [[Syro-Malabar Church]] is the largest Eastern Catholic Church, followed by the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]].<ref name=":0" />

With the exception of the [[Maronite Church]], the Eastern Catholic Churches are groups that, at different points in the past, used to belong to the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[Oriental Orthodox]] churches, or the [[Church of the East]]; these churches underwent various [[Schism in Christianity|schisms]] through history. Eastern Catholic Churches that were formerly part of other communions have been points of controversy in [[Catholic–Eastern Orthodox relations|ecumenical relations with the Eastern Orthodox]] and other non-Catholic churches. The five historic [[liturgical]] traditions of Eastern Christianity, namely the [[Alexandrian Rite]], the [[Armenian Rite]], the [[Byzantine Rite]], the [[East Syriac Rite]], and the [[West Syriac Rite]], are all represented within [[Eastern Catholic liturgy]].<ref name="Yurkus">{{cite web |last=Yurkus |first=Kevin |date=August 2005 |title=The Other Catholics: A Short Guide to the Eastern Catholic Churches |url=https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-other-catholics-a-short-guide-to-the-eastern-catholic-churches.html |access-date=2019-10-03 |archive-date=2019-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825193236/https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-other-catholics-a-short-guide-to-the-eastern-catholic-churches.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> On occasion, this leads to a conflation of the liturgical word "rite" and the institutional word "church".<ref name="LaBanca">{{cite web |last=LaBanca |first=Nicholas |date=January 2019 |title=The Other Catholics: A Short Guide to the Eastern Catholic Churches-The Other 23 Catholic Churches and Why They Exist |url=https://media.ascensionpress.com/2019/01/21/the-other-23-catholic-churches-and-why-they-exist/ |website=Ascension Press |access-date=2019-10-04}}</ref> Some Eastern Catholic jurisdictions admit members of churches not in communion with Rome to the [[Eucharist]] and the other sacraments.{{efn|"Catholic ministers licitly administer the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick to members of Eastern churches which do not have full communion with the Catholic Church if they seek such on their own accord and are properly disposed. This is also valid for members of other Churches which in the judgment of the Apostolic See have the same beliefs in regard to the sacraments as these Eastern Churches"<ref>{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19901018_codex-can-eccl-orient-2_lt.html#TITULUS_XVI canon 671 §3]; {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130144307/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19901018_codex-can-eccl-orient-2_lt.html#TITULUS_XVI |date=November 30, 2012 }} cf. {{abbr|1983{{nbsp}}CIC|1983 Code of Canon Law}} [https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P2T.HTM canon 844 §3] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151221023647/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P2T.HTM |date=December 21, 2015 }}</ref>}}

Full communion with the bishop of Rome constitutes mutual sacramental sharing between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church and the recognition and acceptance of [[papal supremacy]] and [[Papal infallibility|infallibility]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-09 |title=Do Eastern Catholics Accept Papal Infallibility? |url=https://reasonandtheology.com/2023/12/09/do-eastern-catholics-accept-papal-infallibility-2/ |access-date=2025-08-25 |website=REASON & THEOLOGY |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Guy {{!}} 11/07/2023 |first=That Eastern Catholic |title=What does the Eastern Catholic Church believe? |url=https://www.catholic365.com/article/32281/what-does-the-eastern-catholic-church-believe.html |access-date=2025-08-25 |website=Catholic365 |language=en}}</ref> Provisions within the [[1983 Code of Canon Law|1983 Latin canon law]] and the 1990 ''[[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]]'' govern the relationship between the Eastern and Latin churches. Historically, pressure to conform to the norms of the [[Western Christianity]] practiced by the majority Latin Church led to a degree of encroachment ([[liturgical Latinization|Latinization]]) on some of the Eastern Catholic traditions. The [[Second Vatican Council]] document, ''[[Orientalium Ecclesiarum]]'', built on previous reforms to reaffirm the right of Eastern Catholics to maintain their distinct practices.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Parry|editor-first=Ken|editor2=David Melling | title = The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity| publisher = Blackwell Publishing| date = 1999| location = Malden, MA| isbn =0-631-23203-6  }}</ref>

The 1990 ''Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches'' was the first codified body of [[canon law]] governing the Eastern Catholic Churches collectively,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Master Page on Eastern Canon Law (1990) |url=http://www.canonlaw.info/masterpageEastern.htm |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=www.canonlaw.info}}</ref> although each church also has its own internal [[canon (canon law)|canons]] and laws on top of this. Members of Eastern Catholic churches are obliged to follow the norms of their particular church regarding celebration of church feasts, marriage, and other customs. Notable distinct norms include many Eastern Catholic Churches regularly allowing the [[ordination]] of married men to the [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priesthood]] (although not as bishops to the [[episcopacy]]), in contrast to the stricter [[clerical celibacy]] of the Latin Church. Both Latin and Eastern Catholics may freely attend a Catholic liturgy celebrated in any rite.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2018/04/05/becoming-an-eastern-catholic/|title=Becoming (Or at Least Marrying) an Eastern Catholic|first=Cathy|last=Caridi|date=April 5, 2018|website=Canon Law Made Easy}}</ref>

==Terminology==
{{See also|Catholic (term)|Roman Catholic (term)}}
Although Eastern Catholics are in [[full communion]] with the [[pope]] and members of the worldwide [[Catholic Church]],{{efn|"The Catholic Church is also called the Roman Church to emphasize that the centre of unity, which is essential for the Universal Church, is the Roman See"<ref name="OBrien1901">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=An advanced catechism of Catholic faith and practice: based upon The Third Plenary Council Catechism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JioPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA70|editor1-first=Thomas J.|editor1-last=O'Brien|location=Akron, OH; Chicago, IL|publisher=D. H. McBride|year=1901|oclc=669694820|at=n. 133|title = An Advanced Catechism of Catholic Faith and Practice: Based Upon the Third Plenary Council Catechism, for Use in the Higher Grades of Catholic Schools}}}}</ref>}}{{efn|Examples of the use of "[[Roman Catholic (term)|Roman Catholic Church]]" by popes, even when not addressing members of non-Catholic churches, are the encyclicals [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_31121929_divini-illius-magistri_en.html ''Divini illius Magistri''] and [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis_en.html ''Humani generis''], and [[Pope John Paul II]]'s address at the 26 June 1985 general audience, in which he treated "Roman Catholic Church" as synonymous with "Catholic Church".<ref>{{cite speech|title=[catechesis]|author=Pope John Paul II|event=General audience|date=1985-06-26|language=it|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/1985/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19850626_it.html}}</ref> The term "Roman Catholic Church" is repeatedly used to refer to the whole Church in communion with the see of Rome, including Eastern Catholics, in official documents concerning dialogue between the Church as a whole (not just the Western part) and groups outside her fold. Examples of such documents can be found at the links on the Vatican website under the heading [https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/index.htm Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity]. The [[Holy See]] presently does not use "Roman Catholic Church" to refer only to the Western or Latin Church. In the [[First Vatican Council]]'s [http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/V1.HTM#4 Dogmatic Constitution ''de fide catholica''], the phrase ''the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church'' (''{{lang|la|Sancta catholica apostolica Romana ecclesia}}'') also refers to something other than the Latin or Western Church.}} they are not members of the [[Latin Church]], which uses the [[Latin liturgical rites]], among which the [[Roman Rite]] is the most widespread.{{efn|Some Eastern Catholics who use the Byzantine liturgical rite and call themselves "Byzantine Catholics" deny that they are "Roman Catholics", using this word to mean either Catholics who use the Roman Rite or perhaps the whole Latin Church, including those parts that use the [[Ambrosian Rite]] or other non-Roman liturgical rites: "We're Byzantine rite, which is Catholic, but not Roman Catholic" <ref>{{cite news|title=Ukrainian church pastor honored|url=http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/News04/701040473}}{{Dead link|date=December 2014}}</ref>}} The Eastern Catholic churches are instead distinct [[particular church]]es ''[[sui iuris]]'' (autonomous), although they maintain full and equal, mutual sacramental exchange with members of the Latin Church.

===''Rite'' or ''church''===
There are different meanings of the word ''[[Rite (disambiguation)|rite]]''. Apart from its reference to the liturgical patrimony of a [[particular church]], the word has been and is still sometimes, even if rarely, officially used of the particular church itself. Thus the term ''Latin rite'' can refer either to the Latin Church or to one or more of the [[Latin liturgical rites]], which include the [[Roman Rite]], [[Ambrosian Rite]], [[Mozarabic Rite]], and others.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

In the 1990 ''[[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]]'' (CCEO),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intratext.com/X/ENG1199.HTM |title=Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches |publisher=Intratext.com |date=2007-05-04 |access-date=2011-04-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intratext.com/X/LAT0758.HTM|title=Codex canonum Ecclesiarium orientalium |publisher=Intratext.com |date=2007-05-04 |access-date=2011-04-27}}</ref> the terms ''autonomous Church'' and ''rite'' are thus defined:{{blockquote|A group of Christian faithful linked in accordance with the law by a hierarchy and expressly or tacitly recognized by the supreme authority of the Church as autonomous is in this Code called an autonomous Church (canon 27).<ref name="CCEO-27">{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_PR.HTM canon 27]</ref>

# 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 autonomous [''{{lang|la|sui iuris}}''] Church.
# The rites treated in {{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}}, unless otherwise stated, are those that arise from the Alexandrian, Antiochene, Armenian, Chaldean and Constantinopolitan traditions" (canon 28)<ref>{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/__PS.HTM canon 28]</ref> (not just a liturgical heritage, but also a theological, spiritual and disciplinary heritage characteristic of peoples' culture and the circumstances of their history).}}

When speaking of Eastern Catholic Churches, the Latin Church's [[1983 Code of Canon Law]] (1983{{nbsp}}CIC) uses the terms "ritual Church" or "ritual Church ''{{lang|la|sui iuris}}''" (canons 111 and 112), and also speaks of "a subject of an Eastern rite" (canon 1015 §2), "Ordinaries of another rite" (canon 450 §1), "the faithful of a specific rite" (canon 476), etc. The Second Vatican Council spoke of Eastern Catholic Churches as "particular Churches or rites".<ref name="OE"/>{{rp|at=n. 2}}

In 1999, the [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]] stated: "We have been accustomed to speaking of the Latin (Roman or Western) Rite or the Eastern Rites to designate these different Churches. However, the Church's contemporary legislation as contained in the ''Code of Canon Law'' and the ''Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches'' makes it clear that we ought to speak, not of rites, but of Churches. Canon 112 of the Code of Canon Law uses the phrase 'autonomous ritual Churches' to designate the various Churches."<ref>{{cite book|author=Catholic Church. National Council of Catholic Bishops. Committee on the relationship between Eastern and Latin Catholic Churches|title=Eastern Catholics in the United States of America|date=1999|location=Washington, DC|publisher=United States Catholic Conference|isbn=978-1-57455-287-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DLE53cyeLzcC}}</ref> And a writer in a periodical of January 2006 declared: "The Eastern Churches are still mistakenly called 'Eastern-Rite' Churches, a reference to their various liturgical histories. They are most properly called Eastern Churches, or Eastern Catholic Churches."<ref name="Zagano2006">{{cite web|title=What all Catholics should know about Eastern Catholic Churches |last=Zagano |first=Phyllis |date=Jan 2006 |website=americancatholic.org |url=http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0106.asp |access-date=2011-04-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517182136/http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0106.asp |archive-date=May 17, 2011}}</ref> However, the term "rite" continues to be used. The {{abbr|1983{{nbsp}}CIC|1983 Code of Canon Law}} forbids a Latin bishop to ordain, without permission of the Holy See, a subject of his who is "of an Eastern [[particular Church#Autonomous particular Churches or Rites|rite]]" (not "who uses an Eastern [[liturgy|rite]]", the faculty for which is sometimes granted to Latin clergy).<ref>{{abbr|1983{{nbsp}}CIC|1983 Code of Canon Law}} [https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3O.HTM canon 1015 §2] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070402021547/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3O.HTM |date=April 2, 2007 }}; see {{abbr|1983{{nbsp}}CIC|1983 Code of Canon Law}} canons 450 §1, and 476.</ref> 
<!-- Off-topic: Pope Benedict XVI wrote, in his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, that "any Catholic priest of the Latin rite", under certain conditions, "may use either" edition of the Roman Missal. -->

===''Uniate''===
{{further|Ruthenian Uniate Church}}
The term ''Uniat'' or ''Uniate'' has been applied to Eastern Catholic churches and individual members whose church hierarchies were previously part of Eastern Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox churches. The term is sometimes considered derogatory by such people,<ref name="OCA Uniate">{{cite web|location=Syosset, NY|publisher=The Orthodox Church in America|website=oca.org|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title= The Word 'Uniate'{{thinsp}} |url= http://oca.org/questions/romancatholicism/the-word-uniate|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160617214648/http://oca.org/questions/romancatholicism/the-word-uniate |archive-date= 17 June 2016|url-status=live | quote = The term commonly refers to those Orthodox Christians who left Orthodoxy and acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome while retaining the rites and practices observed by Orthodoxy. [...] The term 'uniate' is seen as negative by such individuals, who are more commonly referred to as Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, Greek Catholics, Eastern Rite Catholics, Melkite Catholics, or any number of other titles.}}</ref><ref name="CNEWA2011">{{cite web|title=The Catholic Eastern Churches|website= cnewa.org |location= New York|publisher= [[Catholic Near East Welfare Association]]|url= http://www.cnewa.org/default.aspx?ID=54&pagetypeID=9&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110622004202/http://www.cnewa.org/default.aspx?ID=54&pagetypeID=9&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1|archive-date=22 June 2011|url-status=live|quote=It should be mentioned that in the past the Eastern Catholic churches were often referred to as 'Uniate' churches. Since the term is now considered derogatory, it is no longer used.}}</ref> though it was used by some Latin and Eastern Catholics prior to the [[Second Vatican Council]] of 1962–1965.{{efn|The term was used by the [[Holy See]], for example, [[Pope Benedict XIV]] in ''[[Ex quo primum]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author= Pope Benedict XIV | author-link1 = Pope Benedict XIV |title=Ex quo primum|language= la|date=1756-03-01|location=Rome|at=n. 1|url= 
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/ucm.5317972342?urlappend=%3Bseq=204|quote=sive, uti vocant, ''[[wikt:unitos|Unitos]]''.|publisher= Luxemburgi|hdl=2027/ucm.5317972342?urlappend=%3Bseq=204}} Translated in {{cite web|location=Irondale, AL |publisher= Eternal Word Television Network|website=ewtn.com|title=On the Euchologion|url= http://www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/B14EXQUO.HTM}}</ref> The ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' consistently used the term ''Uniat'' to refer to Eastern Catholics, stating: "The 'Uniat Church' is therefore really synonymous with 'Eastern Churches united to Rome', and 'Uniats' is synonymous with 'Eastern Christians united with Rome'.<ref>{{catholic|inline=1|last= Vailhé|first= Siméon|wstitle= Greek Church|volume= 6}}</ref>}} Official Catholic documents no longer use the term due to its perceived negative overtones.<ref>{{cite book|title= Orthodox Christianity: A Very Short Introduction|last= Siecienski|first= A. Edward|publisher= [[Oxford University Press]] |date= 2019|location=[[New York City]]|series=[[Very Short Introductions]]|page=108}}</ref>

==History==

===Background===

Eastern Catholic Churches have their origins in the [[Christianity in the Middle East|Middle East]], [[North Africa]], [[East Africa]], [[Eastern Europe]] and [[Christianity in India|South India]]. However, since the 19th century, [[diaspora]] has spread to [[Western Europe]], the [[Americas]] and [[Oceania]] in part because of [[Persecution of Christians|persecution]], where [[Eparchy|eparchies]] have been established to serve adherents alongside those of Latin Church [[diocese]]s. [[Latin Church in the Middle East|Latin Catholics in the Middle East]], on the other hand, are traditionally cared for by the [[Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bailey |first1=Betty Jane & J. Marttin |title=Who Are the Christians in the Middle East? |date=November 12, 2010 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing |page=90}}</ref>

The communion between Christian churches has been broken over matters of faith, whereby each side accused the other of [[heresy]] or departure from the true faith ([[orthodoxy]]). Communion has been broken also because of disagreement about questions of authority or the legitimacy of the election of a particular bishop. In these latter cases, each side accused the other of [[Schism (religion)|schism]], but not of heresy.

The following ecumenical councils are major breaches of communion:

==== Council of Ephesus (AD 431) ====
In 431, the churches that accepted the teaching of the [[Council of Ephesus]] (which condemned the views of [[Nestorius]]) were classified as heretics by those who rejected the council's statements. The [[Church of the East]], which was mainly under the [[Sassanid Empire]], never accepted the council's views. It later experienced a period of great expansion in Asia before collapsing after the [[Mongol conquests|Mongol invasion of the Middle East]] in the 14th century.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Monuments of their presence still exist in China. Now they are relatively few in number and have divided into three churches: the Chaldean Catholic Church—an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with Rome—and two Assyrian churches which are not in communion with either Rome or each other. The [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] is the largest of the three. The groups of Assyrians who did not reunify with Rome remained and are known as the [[Assyrian Church of the East]], which experienced an internal schism in 1968 which led to the creation of the [[Ancient Church of the East]].{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

The [[Syro-Malabar Church|Syro-Malabar]] and [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church|Syro-Malankara]] churches are the two Eastern Catholic descendants of the Church of the East in the Indian subcontinent.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

==== Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) ====
In 451, those who accepted the [[Council of Chalcedon]] similarly classified those who rejected it as [[Monophysitism|Monophysite]] heretics. The Churches that refused to accept the Council considered instead that it was they who were orthodox; they rejected the description ''Monophysite'' (meaning ''only-nature'') preferring instead ''[[Miaphysitism|Miaphysite]]'' (meaning ''one-nature''). The difference in terms may appear subtle, but it is theologically very important. "Monophysite" implies a single divine nature alone with no real human nature—a heretical belief according to [[Chalcedonian Christianity]]—whereas "Miaphysite" can be understood to mean one nature as God, existing in the person of Jesus who is both human and divine—an idea more easily reconciled to Chalcedonian doctrine. They are often called, in English, [[Oriental Orthodox Churches]], to distinguish them from the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

This distinction, by which the words ''oriental'' and ''eastern'' that in themselves have exactly the same meaning but are used as labels to describe two different realities, is impossible to translate in most other languages, and is not universally accepted even in English. These churches are also referred to as ''pre-Chalcedonian'' or now more rarely as ''non-Chalcedonian'' or ''anti-Chalcedonian''. In languages other than English other means are used to distinguish the two families of churches. Some reserve the term "Orthodox" for those that are here called "Eastern Orthodox" churches, but members of what is called "[[Oriental Orthodox]]" Churches consider this illicit.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

==== East–West Schism (1054) ====
The [[East–West Schism]] came about in the context of [[Cultural identity|cultural differences]] between the Greek-speaking East and Latin-speaking West, and of rivalry between the churches in Rome—which claimed a primacy not merely of honour but also of authority—and in [[Constantinople]], which claimed parity with Rome.<ref>{{cite web|title=Caesaropapism?: Theodore Balsamon on the powers of the Patriarch of Constantinople|last=Halsall|first=Paul|date=Jan 1996|editor1-last=Halsall|editor1-first=Paul|website=fordham.edu|publisher=Internet History Sourcebooks Project|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/balsamon-cpl.html|access-date=2011-04-27|archive-date=2014-09-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140925085803/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/balsamon-cpl.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The rivalry and lack of comprehension gave rise to controversies, some of which appear already in the acts of the [[Quinisext Council]] of 692. At the [[Council of Florence]] (1431–1445), these controversies about Western theological elaborations and usages were identified as, chiefly, the insertion of "[[Filioque]]" into the [[Nicene Creed]], the use of [[Flatbread|unleavened bread]] for the [[Eucharist]], [[purgatory]], and the authority of the pope.{{efn|"In the third sitting of the Council, Julian, after mutual congratulations, showed that the principal points of dispute between the Greeks and Latins were in the doctrine (a) on the procession of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Ghost]], (b) on [[azymes]] in the Eucharist, (c) on purgatory, and (d) on the Papal supremacy"<ref>{{cite web|title=The Orthodox Response to the Latin Doctrine of Purgatory|editor1-last=Barnes|editor1-first=Patrick|website=orthodoxinfo.com|publisher=Patrick Barnes|url=http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/death/stmark_purg.aspx}} {{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{cite book|last1=Ostroumov|first1=Ivan N.|year=1861|chapter=Opening of the council in Ferrara; private disputes on purgatory|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z_IQAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA40|editor1-last=Neale|editor1-first=John M|editor1-link=John Mason Neale|title=The history of the Council of Florence|others=Translated by Vasiliĭ Popov|location=London|publisher=J. Masters|page=47|oclc=794347635}}}}</ref>}}

The schism is generally considered to have started in 1054, when the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarch of Constantinople]], [[Michael I Cerularius]], and the [[Papal legate|Papal Legate]], [[Humbert of Silva Candida]], issued mutual [[excommunication]]s; in 1965, these excommunications were revoked by both Rome and Constantinople. In spite of that event, for many years both churches continued to maintain friendly relations and seemed to be unaware of any formal or final rupture.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Normans and the schism of 1054|series=Constantinople and Rome|last=Anastos|first=Milton V.|website=myriobiblos.gr|url=http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/milton1_19.html|access-date=2011-04-27}}</ref>

However, estrangement continued. In 1190, Eastern Orthodox theologian [[Theodore Balsamon]], who was [[Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch|patriarch of Antioch]], wrote that "no [[Latin Church|Latin]] should be given Communion unless he first declares that he will abstain from the doctrines and customs that separate him from us".<ref>{{Google books |id=KugGDAAAQBAJ |title=Heresy and the Making of European Culture: Medieval and Modern Perspectives}} p. 42</ref>

Later in 1204, [[Siege of Constantinople (1204)|Constantinople was sacked]] by the Catholic armies of the [[Fourth Crusade]], whereas two decades previously the [[Massacre of the Latins]] (i.e., Catholics) had occurred in Constantinople in 1182. Thus, by the 12th–13th centuries, the two sides had become openly hostile, each considering that the other no longer belonged to the church that was orthodox and catholic. Over time, it became customary to refer to the Eastern side as the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Church]] and the Western as the Catholic Church, without either side thereby renouncing its claim of being the truly orthodox or the truly catholic church.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

====Attempts at restoring communion====
[[File:Sv shevchuk.jpg|thumb|upright|Major Archbishop [[Sviatoslav Shevchuk]] of the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]]]]
Parties within many non-Latin churches repeatedly sought to organize efforts to restore communion. In 1438, the [[Council of Florence]] convened, which featured a strong dialogue focused on understanding the theological differences between the East and West, with the hope of reuniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches.<ref>{{Cite book|title= Constantinople and the West|last= Geanakoplos|first= Deno John|publisher= [[University of Wisconsin Press]]|location= Madison, WI|isbn= 0-299-11880-0|year= 1989}}</ref> Several eastern churches associated themselves with Rome, forming Eastern Catholic churches. The See of Rome accepted them without requiring that they adopt the customs of the Latin Church, so that they all have their own "liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary heritage, differentiated by peoples' culture and historical circumstances, that finds expression in each ''{{lang|la|sui iuris}}'' Church's own way of living the faith".<ref>{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/__PS.HTM canon 28 §1]</ref>

===Emergence of the churches===
[[File:Qozhaya01072003.jpg|thumb|[[Monastery of Qozhaya]] in [[Kadisha Valley]], [[Lebanon]], the historical stronghold of the [[Maronite Church]]]]

Most Eastern Catholic churches arose when a group within an ancient church in disagreement with the See of Rome returned to full communion with that see. The following churches have been in communion with the Bishop of Rome for a large part of their history:
*{{anchor|The Maronite Church}} The [[Maronite Church]], which has no counterpart in [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Byzantine]], nor [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental]], Orthodoxy. The Maronite Church has historical connections to the [[Monothelite]] controversy in the 7th century. It re-affirmed unity with the [[Holy See]] in 1154 during [[the Crusades]].<ref name=Attwater/>
**The Maronite Church has historically been treated as never having fully schismed with the Holy See, despite a dispute over [[Christology|Christological]] doctrine that concluded in 1154; most of the other Eastern Catholic churches came into being from the 16th century onwards.<ref name=Attwater>{{cite book|title=The Christian Churches of the East: Volume I: Churches in Communion With Rome|author=[[Donald Attwater]]|publisher=Bruce Publishing Company|editor=Joseph Husslein|location=[[Milwaukee]]|date=1937}}</ref>{{rp|165–167}} However, the [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]], the [[Syro-Malabar Church]] and the [[Italo-Albanian Catholic Church]] also claim perpetual communion.
* The [[Albanian Greek Catholic Church]] and Italo-Albanian Catholic Church, which, unlike the Maronite Church, use the same liturgical rite as the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].
* The former [[Melkite|Melkite Church]] considered itself in dual communion with Rome and Constantinople until [[Melkite#Orthodox Melkites|an exclusively Orthodox body]] was formed in the 18th century, leaving a remainder unified exclusively with Rome as the [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]].
* The Oriental Orthodox [[Armenian Apostolic Church]] had included a long-standing minority that accepted Roman primacy until the [[Armenian Catholic Church]] was officially established in the 18th century.

{{anchor|CCEO}}The [[canon law]] shared by all Eastern Catholic churches, {{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}}, was codified in 1990. The [[dicastery]] that works with the Eastern Catholic churches is the [[Dicastery for the Eastern Churches]], which by law includes as members all Eastern Catholic patriarchs and major archbishops.

The largest six churches based on membership are, in order, the [[Syro-Malabar Church]] (East Syriac Rite), the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]] (UGCC; Byzantine Rite), the Maronite Church (West Syriac Rite), the Melkite Greek Catholic Church (Byzantine Rite), the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] (East Syriac Rite), and the [[Armenian Catholic Church]] (Armenian Rite).<ref name="cnewa17">{{cite web|title=The Eastern Catholic Churches 2017|last=Roberson|first=Ronald|website=cnewa.org|publisher=Catholic Near East Welfare Association|url=https://cnewa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/2017-Statistics.pdf|access-date=2018-09-17}}</ref> These six churches account for about 85% of the membership of the Eastern Catholic Churches.<ref>{{cite web |last=Roberson |first=Ronald G. |title=The Eastern Catholic Churches 2016 |url=http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/Roberson-eastcath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat16.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020094357/http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/roberson-eastcath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat16.pdf |archive-date=20 October 2016 |access-date=29 November 2016 |work=Eastern Catholic Churches Statistics |publisher=Catholic Near East Welfare Association}}</ref>

===''Orientalium dignitas''===
[[File:Papst Leo XIII 1898.jpg|thumb|[[Pope Leo XIII]] issued the [[apostolic constitution]] ''[[Orientalium dignitas]]''. Photogram of the 1896 film ''[[Sua Santità papa Leone XIII]]'', the first time a pope appeared on film.]]
On 30 November 1894, [[Pope Leo XIII]] issued the [[apostolic constitution]] ''[[Orientalium dignitas]]'', in which he stated:
{{blockquote|The Churches of the East are worthy of the glory and reverence that they hold throughout the whole of Christendom in virtue of those extremely ancient, singular memorials that they have bequeathed to us. For it was in that part of the world that the first actions for the redemption of the human race began, in accord with the all-kind plan of God. They swiftly gave forth their yield: there flowered in first blush the glories of preaching the True Faith to the nations, of martyrdom, and of holiness. They gave us the first joys of the fruits of salvation. From them has come a wondrously grand and powerful flood of benefits upon the other peoples of the world, no matter how far-flung. When blessed Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, intended to cast down the manifold wickedness of error and vice, in accord with the will of Heaven, he brought the light of divine Truth, the Gospel of peace, freedom in Christ to the metropolis of the Gentiles.<ref name="OrientaliumDignitas1894">{{cite web|title=''Orientalium dignitas''|author=Pope Leo XIII|date=1894-11-30|website=papalencyclicals.net|url=http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13orient.htm|at=opening paragraph}}</ref>}}

[[Adrian Fortescue]] wrote that Leo XIII "begins by explaining again that the ancient Eastern rites are a witness to the Apostolicity of the Catholic Church, that their diversity, consistent with unity of the faith, is itself a witness to the unity of the Church, that they add to her dignity and honour. He says that the Catholic Church does not possess one rite only, but that she embraces all the ancient rites of Christendom; her unity consists not in a mechanical uniformity of all her parts, but on the contrary, in their variety, according in one principle and vivified by it."<ref>{{cite book|last=Fortescue|first=Adrian|title=The Uniate Eastern Churches: the Byzantine rite in Italy, Sicily, Syria and Egypt|year=2001|orig-year=First published 1923|editor1-last=Smith|editor1-first=George D.|isbn=0-9715986-3-0|location=Piscataway, NJ|publisher=Gorgias Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QYbgJI7ghroC|page=40}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Leo XIII declared still in force [[Pope Benedict XIV]]'s [[encyclical]] ''[[Demandatam]]'', addressed to the Patriarch and the Bishops of the [[Melkite Catholic Church]], in which Benedict XIV forbade Latin Church clergy to induce Melkite Catholics to transfer to the Roman Rite, and he broadened this prohibition to cover all Eastern Catholics, declaring: "Any Latin rite missionary, whether of the secular or religious clergy, who induces with his advice or assistance any Eastern rite faithful to transfer to the Latin rite, will be deposed and excluded from his benefice in addition to the ''ipso facto'' suspension ''a divinis'' and other punishments that he will incur as imposed in the aforesaid Constitution ''Demandatam''."<ref name="OrientaliumDignitas1894"/>

===Second Vatican Council===
[[File:Second Vatican Council by Lothar Wolleh 001.jpg|thumb|right|[[Pope Paul VI]] presiding over the introductory ingress of the [[Second Vatican Council]], flanked by [[Camerlengo]] [[Benedetto Aloisi Masella]] and two [[Papal gentlemen]]]]
There had been confusion on the part of Western clergy about the legitimate presence of Eastern Catholic Churches in countries seen as belonging to the West, despite firm and repeated papal confirmation of these churches' universal character. The [[Second Vatican Council]] brought the reform impulse to visible fruition. Several documents, from both during and after the Second Vatican Council, have led to significant reform and development within Eastern Catholic Churches.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Remedios |first=Matthew |date=22 December 2022 |title=Vatican II and Liturgical Reform in the Eastern Churches: The Paradox in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church |url=https://saeculumjournal.com/index.php/saeculum/article/view/39948 |journal=Saeculum |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=15–36 |access-date=8 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Klesko | first=Robert | title=Are We on the Verge of an Eastern Catholic Moment? | website=[[National Catholic Register]] | date=12 July 2023 | url=https://www.ncregister.com/blog/are-we-on-the-verge-of-an-eastern-catholic-moment | access-date=8 June 2024}}</ref>

====''Orientalium Ecclesiarum''====
{{Main|Orientalium Ecclesiarum}}
[[File:Second Vatican Council by Lothar Wolleh 007.jpg|thumb|Bishops, including Eastern Catholic ones as seen in their distinctive vestments, assisting at the Second Vatican Council]]
The Second Vatican Council directed, in ''[[Orientalium Ecclesiarum]]'', that the traditions of Eastern Catholic Churches should be maintained. It declared that "it is the mind of the Catholic Church that each individual Church or Rite should retain its traditions whole and entire and likewise that it should adapt its way of life to the different needs of time and place" (n. 2), and that they should all "preserve their legitimate liturgical rite and their established way of life, and&nbsp;... these may not be altered except to obtain for themselves an organic improvement" (n. 6; cf. n. 22).<ref name="OE">{{cite book|location=Vatican City|author1=Catholic Church. Second Vatican Council|author2=Pope Paul VI|date=1964-11-21|title=Orientalium Ecclesiarum|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_orientalium-ecclesiarum_en.html}}</ref>

It confirmed and approved the ancient discipline of the sacraments existing in the Eastern churches, and the ritual practices connected with their celebration and administration, and declared its ardent desire that this should be re-established if circumstances warranted (n. 12). It applied this in particular to administration of sacrament of [[Confirmation]] by priests (n. 13). It expressed the wish that, where the permanent [[deacon|diaconate]] (ordination as deacons of men who are not intended afterwards to become priests) had fallen into disuse, it should be restored (n. 17).

Paragraphs 7–11 are devoted to the powers of the patriarchs and major archbishops of the Eastern Churches, whose rights and privileges, it says, should be re-established in accordance with the ancient tradition of each of the churches and the decrees of the [[ecumenical council]]s, adapted somewhat to modern conditions. Where there is a need, new patriarchates should be established either by an ecumenical council or by the Bishop of Rome.

====''Lumen gentium''====
The Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, ''[[Lumen gentium]]'', deals with Eastern Catholic Churches in paragraph 23, stating:

{{blockquote|By [[divine Providence]] it has come about that various churches, established in various places by the apostles and their successors, have in the course of time coalesced into several groups, organically united, which, preserving the unity of faith and the unique divine constitution of the universal Church, enjoy their own discipline, their own liturgical usage, and their own theological and spiritual heritage. Some of these churches, notably the ancient patriarchal churches, as parent-stocks of the Faith, so to speak, have begotten others as daughter churches, with which they are connected down to our own time by a close bond of charity in their sacramental life and in their mutual respect for their rights and duties. This variety of local churches with one common aspiration is splendid evidence of the catholicity of the undivided Church. In like manner the Episcopal bodies of today are in a position to render a manifold and fruitful assistance, so that this collegiate feeling may be put into practical application.<ref>{{cite book|location=Vatican City|author1=Catholic Church. Second Vatican Council|author2=Pope Paul VI|date=1964-11-21|title=Lumen gentium|at=n. 23|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html}}</ref>}}

====''Unitatis redintegratio''====
The 1964 decree ''[[Unitatis redintegratio]]'' deals with Eastern Catholic Churches in paragraphs 14–17.<ref name="UR">{{cite book|location=Vatican City|author1=Catholic Church. Second Vatican Council|author2=Pope Paul VI|title=Unitatis Redintegratio|date=1964-11-21|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html|at=nn. 14–17}}</ref>

===Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches===
{{main|Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}}
The First Vatican Council discussed the need for a common code for the Eastern churches, but no concrete action was taken. Only after the benefits of the Latin Church's [[1917 Code of Canon Law]] were appreciated was a serious effort made to codify the Eastern Catholic Churches' canon laws.<ref name="Beal2000">
{{cite book|location=New York|publisher=Paulist Press|title=New commentary on the Code of Canon Law|year=2000|isbn=0-8091-0502-0|edition=study|editor1-last=Beal|editor1-first=John P|editor2-last=Coriden|editor2-first=James A|editor3-last=Green|editor3-first=Thomas J|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6YCpraE-7xcC&pg=PA1024}}
</ref>{{rp|page=27}} This came to fruition with the promulgation of the 1990 ''[[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]]'', which took effect in 1991. It is a framework document that contains canons that are a consequence of the ''common'' patrimony of the churches of the East: each individual ''{{lang|la|sui iuris}}'' church also has its own canons, its own particular law, layered on top of this code.

===Joint International Commission===

In 1993 the [[Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church]] submitted the document ''Uniatism, method of union of the past, and the present search for full communion'', also known as the [[Balamand declaration]], "to the authorities of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches for approval and application,"<ref name="Balamand1993">
{{cite conference
 |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/ch_orthodox_docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19930624_lebanon_en.html
 |title=Uniatism, method of union of the past, and the present search for full communion
 |author=Joint international commission for the theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church
 |conference=Seventh plenary session of the joint international commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Balamand, Lebanon. June 17–24, 1993
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031223144638/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/ch_orthodox_docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19930624_lebanon_en.html
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-date=2003-12-23
}}
</ref>
which stated that initiatives that "led to the union of certain communities with the See of Rome and brought with them, as a consequence, the breaking of communion with their Mother Churches of the East&nbsp;... took place not without the interference of extra-ecclesial interests".<ref name="Balamand1993"/>{{rp|at=n. 8}}

Likewise the commission acknowledged that "certain civil authorities [who] made attempts" to force Eastern Catholics to return to the Orthodox Church used "unacceptable means".<ref name="Balamand1993"/>{{rp|at=n. 11}} The missionary outlook and [[proselytism]] that accompanied the Unia<ref name="Balamand1993"/>{{rp|at=n. 10}} was judged incompatible with the rediscovery by the Catholic and Orthodox churches of each other as sister churches.<ref name="Balamand1993"/>{{rp|at=n. 12}} Thus the commission concluded that the "missionary apostolate, ... which has been called 'uniatism', can no longer be accepted either as a method to be followed or as a model of the unity our Churches are seeking."<ref name="Balamand1993"/>{{rp|at=n. 12}}

At the same time, the commission stated:
* that Eastern Catholic Churches, being part of the Catholic Communion, have the right to exist and to act in response to the spiritual needs of their faithful;<ref name="Balamand1993"/>{{rp|at=n. 3}}
* that Oriental Catholic Churches, which desired to re-establish full communion with the See of Rome and have remained faithful to it, have the rights and obligations connected with this communion.<ref name="Balamand1993"/>{{rp|at=n. 16}}
These principles were repeated in the 2016 [[Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill]], which stated that 'It is today clear that the past method of “uniatism”, understood as the union of one community to the other, separating it from its Church, is not the way to re-establish unity. Nonetheless, the ecclesial communities which emerged in these historical circumstances have the right to exist and to undertake all that is necessary to meet the spiritual needs of their faithful, while seeking to live in peace with their neighbours. Orthodox and Greek Catholics are in need of reconciliation and of mutually acceptable forms of co–existence.'<ref>{{cite web |title=Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia|date=2016|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2016/february/documents/papa-francesco_20160212_dichiarazione-comune-kirill.html |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref>

===Liturgical prescriptions===
[[File:Interiors of the Syriac Catholic Cathedral, Damascus.jpg|thumb|Inside a [[Syriac Catholic Church]] building in [[Damascus]], the capital city of [[Syria]]]]
{{main|Eastern Catholic liturgy}}
The 1996 ''Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches'' brought together, in one place, the developments that took place in previous texts,<ref name="Instruction1996">{{cite book|author=Congregation for the Eastern Churches|title=Instruction for applying the liturgical prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches|year=1996|location=Vatican City|publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana|isbn=978-88-209-2232-0|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/orientchurch/Istruzione/pdf/istruzione_inglese.pdf}}</ref> and is "an expository expansion based upon the canons, with constant emphasis upon the preservation of Eastern liturgical traditions and a return to those usages whenever possible—certainly in preference to the usages of the [[Latin Church]], however much some principles and norms of the [[Sacrosanctum Concilium|conciliar constitution]] on the Roman rite, "in the very nature of things, affect other [[Christian liturgy|rites]] as well."<ref name="Beal2000"/>{{rp|page=998}} The ''Instruction'' states:

{{blockquote|The liturgical laws valid for all the Eastern Churches are important because they provide the general orientation. However, being distributed among various texts, they risk remaining ignored, poorly coordinated and poorly interpreted. It seemed opportune, therefore, to gather them in a systematic whole, completing them with further clarification: thus, the intent of the Instruction, presented to the Eastern Churches which are in full communion with the [[Apostolic See]], is to help them fully realize their own identity. The authoritative general directive of this Instruction, formulated to be implemented in Eastern celebrations and liturgical life, articulates itself in propositions of a juridical-pastoral nature, constantly taking initiative from a theological perspective.<ref name="Instruction1996"/>{{rp|at=n. 5}}}}

Past interventions by the Holy See, the Instruction said, were in some ways defective and needed revision, but often served also as a safeguard against aggressive initiatives.
{{blockquote|These interventions felt the effects of the mentality and convictions of the times, according to which a certain subordination of the non-Latin liturgies was perceived toward the Latin-Rite liturgy which was considered "{{Linktext|ritus |praestantior|lang=la}}".{{efn|''{{lang|la|Ritus praestantior}}'' means "preeminent rite" or "more excelling rite".}} This attitude may have led to interventions in the Eastern liturgical texts which today, in light of theological studies and progress, have need of revision, in the sense of a return to ancestral traditions. The work of the commissions, nevertheless, availing themselves of the best experts of the times, succeeded in safeguarding a major part of the Eastern heritage, often defending it against aggressive initiatives and publishing precious editions of liturgical texts for numerous Eastern Churches. Today, particularly after the solemn declarations of the Apostolic Letter ''[[Orientalium dignitas]]'' by Leo XIII, after the creation of the still active special Commission for the liturgy within the Congregation for the Eastern Churches in 1931, and above all after the Second Vatican Council and the Apostolic Letter ''[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_02051995_orientale-lumen_en.html Orientale Lumen]'' by John Paul II, respect for the Eastern liturgies is an indisputable attitude and the Apostolic See can offer a more complete service to the Churches.<ref name="Instruction1996"/>{{rp|at=n. 24}}}}

==Organisation==
{{Catholic canon law}}

===Papal supreme authority===
[[File:Pius XI with Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.jpg|thumb|[[Pope Pius XI]] in an audience with [[Demetrius I Qadi]], [[Melkite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch|Patriarch of Antioch and All the East]] and other bishops of the [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]] in 1923]]
Under the [[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]], the pope has [[Papal supremacy|supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary authority]] in the whole Catholic Church, which he can always freely exercise, including the Eastern Catholic churches.<ref>{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_P17.HTM canon 43]</ref>{{efn|The full description is in {{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} canons 42 to 54.<ref>{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_INDEX.HTM canons 42–54]</ref>}}

===Eastern patriarchs and major archbishops===
[[File:Béchara-Raï.jpg|thumb|[[Patriarch of Antioch|Patriarch]] [[Bechara Boutros al-Rahi]] is the head of the [[Maronite Church]], and also a [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]].]]
 
The Catholic [[patriarch]]s and [[major archbishop]]s derive their titles from the sees of [[See of Alexandria|Alexandria]] ([[Coptic Catholic Church|Coptic]]), [[See of Antioch|Antioch]] (Syriac, Melkite, Maronite), [[List of Chaldean Catholic patriarchs of Baghdad|Baghdad]] (Chaldean), [[Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Cilicia|Cilicia]] (Armenian), [[Ukrainian Catholic Major Archeparchy of Kyiv–Galicia|Kyiv-Halych]] (Ukrainian), [[Syro-Malabar Catholic Major Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly|Ernakulam-Angamaly]] (Syro-Malabar), [[Trivandrum]] ([[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church|Syro-Malankara]]), and [[Greek Catholic Archdiocese of Făgăraş and Alba Iulia|Făgăraş-Alba Iulia]] (Romanian). The Eastern Catholic churches are governed in accordance with Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches and their particular laws.<ref name="canon 1">{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_P1.HTM canon 1]</ref>

Within their proper ''{{lang|la|sui iuris}}'' churches there is no difference between patriarchs and major archbishops. However, differences exist in the [[order of precedence in the Catholic Church|order of precedence]] (i.e. patriarchs take precedence over major archbishops) and in the mode of accession: The election of a major archbishop has to be confirmed by the pope before he may take office.<ref>{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_P49.HTM canon 153]</ref> No papal confirmation is needed for newly elected patriarchs before they take office. They are just required to request as soon as possible that the pope grant them [[communion (Christian)|full ecclesiastical communion]].<ref>{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_P24.HTM canon 76]</ref>{{efn|An example of the petition and the granting of ecclesiastical communion.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20060406_alessandria-copti_en.html|title=Exchange of letters between Benedict XVI and His Beatitude Antonios Naguib|publisher=[[Holy See Press Office]]|access-date=2013-01-18}}</ref>}}

===Variants of organizational structure===
There are significant differences between various Eastern Catholic churches, regarding their present organizational structure. Major Eastern Catholic churches, that are headed by their patriarchs, major archbishops or metropolitans, have fully developed structure and functioning internal autonomy based on the existence of ecclesiastical provinces. On the other hand, minor Eastern Catholic churches often have only one or two hierarchs (in the form of eparchs, apostolic exarchs, or apostolic visitors) and only the most basic forms of internal organization if any, like the [[Belarusian Greek Catholic Church]] or the [[Russian Greek Catholic Church]].<ref>{{cite web|author=David M. Cheney |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/druru.html |title=Apostolic Exarchate of Russia |publisher=Catholic Hierarchy |access-date=2018-04-16}}</ref> Individual eparchies of some Eastern Catholic churches may be suffragan to Latin metropolitans. For example, the [[Greek Catholic Eparchy of Križevci]] is suffragan to the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zagreb]].<ref>{{cite web|author=David M. Cheney |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dkrby.html |title=Diocese of Križevci |publisher=Catholic Hierarchy |access-date=2018-04-16}}</ref> Also, some minor Eastern Catholic churches have Latin prelates. For example, the [[Macedonian Greek Catholic Church]] is organized as a single [[Macedonian Catholic Eparchy of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Strumica-Skopje|Eparchy of Strumica-Skopje]], whose present ordinary is the Roman Catholic bishop of [[Skopje]].<ref>{{cite web|author=David M. Cheney |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dssby.html |title=Eparchy of Beata Maria Vergine Assunta in Strumica-Skopje |publisher=Catholic Hierarchy |access-date=2019-04-24}}</ref> The organization of the [[Albanian Greek Catholic Church]] is unique in that it consists of an "Apostolic Administration".<ref>{{cite web|author=David M. Cheney |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dalbm.html |title=Apostolic Administration of Southern Albania |publisher=Catholic-hierarchy.org |access-date=2018-04-16}}</ref>

===Juridical status===
{{see also|Eastern Catholic canon law}}
Although every diocese in the Catholic Church is considered a [[particular church]], the word is not applied in the same sense as to the 24 ''{{lang|la|sui iuris}}'' particular churches: the Latin Church and the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

[[Canon law (Catholic Church)|Canonically]], each Eastern Catholic Church is ''{{lang|la|[[sui iuris]]}}'' or autonomous with respect to other Catholic churches, whether Latin or Eastern, though all accept the spiritual and juridical [[papal supremacy|supreme authority of the pope]]. Thus a Maronite Catholic is normally directly subject only to a Maronite bishop. However, if members of a particular church are so few that no hierarchy of their own has been established, their spiritual care is entrusted to a bishop of another ritual church. For instance, members of the Latin Church in [[Eritrea]] are under the care of the Eastern rite [[Eritrean Catholic Church]], whereas the other way around may be the case in other parts of the world.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Theologically, all the particular churches can be viewed as "sister churches".<ref>{{cite book|author=Congregation for the doctrine of the faith|date=2000-06-30|title=Note on the expression 'sister Churches'|at=n. 11|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000630_chiese-sorelle_en.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401153744/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000630_chiese-sorelle_en.html|archive-date=2015-04-01}}</ref> According to the [[Second Vatican Council]] these Eastern Catholic churches, along with the larger Latin Church, share "equal dignity, so that none of them is superior to the others as regards rite, and they enjoy the same rights and are under the same obligations, also in respect of preaching the [[Gospel]] to the whole world (cf. {{bibleverse|Mark|16:15|rsvce}}) under the guidance of the [[Bishop of Rome|Roman Pontiff]]."<ref name="OE"/>{{rp|at=n. 3}}

[[File:Syro-Malankara Holy Mass 1.jpg|thumb|left|[[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church|Syro-Malankara Catholic]] Major Archbishop-Catholicos celebrating [[Qurbono Qadisho]] in [[West Syriac Rite|West Syriac]]]]
The Eastern Catholic churches are in [[full communion]] with the whole Catholic Church. While they accept the canonical authority of the Holy See of Rome and share belief in the same [[Dogma in the Catholic Church|dogmas]] as the [[Latin Church|Latin church]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Guy {{!}} 11/07/2023 |first=That Eastern Catholic |title=What does the Eastern Catholic Church believe? |url=https://www.catholic365.com/article/32281/what-does-the-eastern-catholic-church-believe.html |access-date=2025-12-02 |website=Catholic365 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-01-21 |title=The Other 23 Catholic Churches (Rites) and Why They Exist |url=https://ascensionpress.com/blogs/articles/the-other-23-catholic-churches-and-why-they-exist |access-date=2025-12-02 |website=Ascension |language=en}}</ref> they retain their distinctive [[liturgy|liturgical rites]], laws, customs and traditional devotions, and have their own theological emphases. Terminology may vary: for instance, ''diocese'' and ''eparchy'', ''vicar general'' and ''[[protosyncellus]]'', ''[[confirmation]]'' and ''[[chrismation]]'' are respectively Western and Eastern terms for the same realities. The mysteries (sacraments) of [[baptism]] and chrismation are generally administered, according to the ancient tradition of the church, one immediately after the other. Infants who are baptized and chrismated are also given the [[Eucharist]].<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church [https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm n. 1233]</ref>

The Eastern Catholic churches are represented in the [[Holy See]] and the [[Roman Curia]] through the [[Dicastery for the Eastern Churches]], which is "made up of a Cardinal Prefect (who directs and represents it with the help of a Secretary) and 27 cardinals, one archbishop and 4 bishops, designated by the pope ''{{lang|la|ad quinquennium}}'' (for a five-year period). Members by right are the Patriarchs and the Major Archbishops of the Oriental Churches and the President of the [[Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity|Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Unity among Christians]]."<ref>{{cite web|author=Congregation for the Oriental Churches |title=Profile |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/orientchurch/profilo/rc_con_corient_pro_20030320_profile.html |publisher=Vatican.va |date=2003-03-20 |access-date=2011-04-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514004919/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/orientchurch/profilo/rc_con_corient_pro_20030320_profile.html |archive-date=2011-05-14 }}</ref>

===Bi-ritual faculties===
[[File:Jan Babjak SJ.jpg|thumb|A [[bishop]] celebrating [[Divine Liturgy]] in a [[Greek Catholic Church|Greek Catholic]] church in [[Prešov]], eastern [[Slovakia]]. Another bishop stands to his immediate right (white [[omophorion]] visible), and two married priests stand to the side (facing camera).]]
While "clerics and members of [[Religious order|institutes of consecrated life]] are bound to observe their own rite faithfully",<ref>{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_P14.HTM canon 40]</ref> priests are occasionally given permission to celebrate the liturgy of a rite other than the priest's own rite, by what is known as a grant of "biritual faculties". The reason for this permission is usually the service of Catholics who have no priest of their own rite. Thus priests of the [[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church|Syro-Malabar Church]] working as missionaries in areas of India in which there are no structures of their own Church, are authorized to use the Roman Rite in those areas, and Latin priests are, after due preparation, given permission to use an Eastern rite for the service of members of an Eastern Catholic Church living in a country in which there are no priests of their own particular Church. Popes are permitted to celebrate a Mass or Divine Liturgy of any rite in testament to the Catholic Church's universal nature. John Paul II celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Ukraine during his pontificate.

For a just cause, and with the permission of the local bishop, priests of different autonomous ritual churches may concelebrate; however, the rite of the principal celebrant is used whilst each priest wears the [[vestments]] of his own rite.<ref>{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_PJH.HTM#4 canon 701]. This English translation omits the word "''{{lang|la|optabiliter}}''" of the original Latin text.</ref> No indult of bi-ritualism is required for this.

Biritual faculties may concern not only clergy but also [[religious (Catholicism)|religious]], enabling them to become members of an institute of an autonomous Church other than their own.<ref>{{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} canons [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_PCJ.HTM 451] and [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_PED.HTM 517 §2]</ref>

===Clerical celibacy===
{{See also|Clerical marriage}}
[[File:Catholic priest with his Family.jpg|thumb|left|[[Romanian Greek Catholic Church|Romanian Greek Catholic]] priest from Romania with his family.]]
Eastern and Western Christian churches have different traditions concerning [[clerical celibacy]] and the resulting controversies have played a role in the relationship between the two groups in some [[Western world|Western countries]].

In general, Eastern Catholic Churches have always allowed ordination of married men as priests and deacons. Within the lands of the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]], the third largest Eastern Catholic Church,  90% of the [[diocesan priests]] in Ukraine are [[Clerical marriage|married]].<ref name="Galadza 2010 303">{{cite book |last=Galadza |first=Peter |chapter=Eastern Catholic Christianity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWp9JA3aBvcC&pg=PA303 |page=303 |editor1-last=Parry |editor1-first=Kenneth |title=The Blackwell companion to Eastern Christianity |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4443-3361-9 |location=Malden, MA |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |series=Blackwell companions to religion}}</ref>

Most Eastern Churches distinguish between monastic and non-monastic clergy. [[Hieromonk|Monastics]] do not necessarily live in monasteries, but have spent at least part of their period of training in such a context. Their [[Religious vows|monastic vows]] include a vow of celibate chastity.

Bishops are normally selected from the monastic clergy, and in most Eastern Catholic Churches a large percentage of priests and deacons also are celibate, while a large portion of the parish priests are married, having taken a wife when they were still laymen.<ref name="Subtelny2009">{{cite book|last=Subtelny|first=Orest|date=2009|title=Ukraine: a history|edition=4th|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ktyM07I9HXwC&pg=PT119|location=Toronto [u.a.]|publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]]|pages=214–219|isbn=978-1-4426-9728-7}}</ref> If someone preparing for the diaconate or priesthood wishes to marry, this must happen before ordination.

In territories where Eastern traditions prevail, married clergy caused little controversy, but aroused opposition inside traditionally Latin Church territories to which Eastern Catholics migrated; this was particularly so in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ukrainian Catholics upset over ordination instructions {{!}} Патріярхат|url=https://www.patriyarkhat.org.ua/statti-zhurnalu/ukrainian-catholics-upset-over-ordination-instructions/|website=www.patriyarkhat.org.ua|date=2016-12-21|access-date=2025-11-29|language=uk|last=Lida}}</ref> In response to requests from the Latin bishops of those countries, the [[Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith]] set out rules in an 1890 letter to [[François-Marie-Benjamin Richard]], [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris|archbishop of Paris]],<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Acta Sanctae Sedis|oclc=565282294|language=la|volume=24|issue=1890–1891|pages=390–391|author=Catholic Church. Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith|title=Fragmentum epistolae S. C. de Propaganda Fide diei 12 Maii 1890 ad Archiep. Parisien, de auctoritate Patriarcharum orientalium extra proprias Dioeceses&nbsp;... |date=1890-05-12|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ass/documents/ASS%2024%20%5b1891-92%5d%20-%20ocr.pdf}}</ref> which the Congregation applied on 1 May 1897 to the United States, stating that only celibates or widowed priests coming without their children should be permitted in the United States.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Collectanea|title=Collectanea|issue=1966}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=August 2025}}

This celibacy mandate for Eastern Catholic priests in the United States was restated with special reference to [[Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church|Ruthenians]] by the 1 March 1929 decree ''Cum data fuerit'', which was renewed for a further ten years in 1939. Dissatisfaction by many Ruthenian Catholics in the United States gave rise to the [[American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Barringer|first=Lawrence|title=Good Victory|year=1985|publisher=Holy Cross Orthodox Press|location=Brookline, MA|isbn=0-917651-13-8|pages=102–103}}</ref> The mandate, which applied in some other countries also,{{which|date=August 2025}} was removed by a decree of June 2014.<ref>[http://cathnews.co.nz/2014/11/21/vatican-lifts-married-priests-ban-us-canada-australia/ "Vatican lifts married priests ban in US, Canada, and Australia"] in ''CathNews New Zealand'', 21 November 2014</ref>

While most Eastern Catholic Churches admit married men to ordination as priests, some have adopted mandatory clerical celibacy, as in the Latin Church. These include the India-based Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and Syro-Malabar Catholic Church,<ref>{{cite web|title=An Oriental Church returns to unity choosing priestly celibacy|last=Thangalathil|first=Benedict Varghese Gregorios|date=1993-01-01|website=vatican.va|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_cclergy_doc_01011993_oriental_en.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A Source of Hope|last=Ziegler|first=Jeff|date=2011-05-09|website=catholicworldreport.com|url=http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/609/a_source_of_hope.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517144220/http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/609/a_source_of_hope.aspx|archive-date=2013-05-17|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Coptic Catholic Church]].<ref name="Galadza 2010 303"/>

In 2014, [[Pope Francis]] approved new norms for married clergy within Eastern Catholic Churches through {{abbr|CCEO|Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium {{=}} Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}} canon 758 § 3.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}} The new norms abrogated previous norms and now allow those Eastern Catholic Churches with married clergy to ordain married men inside traditionally Latin territories and to grant [[Faculty (instrument)|faculties]] inside traditionally Latin territories to married Eastern Catholic clergy previously ordained elsewhere.<ref name="AAS_106-6">{{cite journal|journal=Acta Apostolicae Sedis|language=la|issn=0001-5199|volume=106|issue=6|publication-date=2014-06-06|pages=496–499|author=Catholic Church. Congregatio pro Ecclesiis Orientalibus|title=Pontificia praecepta de clero uxorato orientali|date=2014-06-14|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/2014/acta-giugno2014.pdf}} Translated in {{cite web|work=Pontifical|title=precepts about married eastern clergy|url=http://eastsidehunky.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/aas_married_priests_061414.pdf|access-date=2014-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219041904/http://eastsidehunky.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/aas_married_priests_061414.pdf|archive-date=2014-12-19|url-status=live}}</ref> This latter change will allow married Eastern Catholic priests to follow their faithful to whatever country they may immigrate to, addressing an issue which has arisen with the migration of Christians from Eastern Europe and the Middle East in recent decades.<ref name="VaticanInsider_2014-11-15">{{cite web|publisher=[[La Stampa]]|website=vaticaninsider.lastampa.it|title=Vatican introduces new norms for Eastern rite married priests|date=2014-11-15|url=http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/medio-oriente-middle-east-oriente-medio-37522/|access-date=2014-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219033507/http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/medio-oriente-middle-east-oriente-medio-37522/|archive-date=2014-12-19|url-status=live}}</ref>{{As of?|date=August 2025}}

==List of Eastern Catholic churches==
[[File:Eastern Catholic countries.svg|thumb|500px|Countries that are covered by circumscriptions of Eastern Catholic particular churches<br/>
{{hidden
|Legend
|{{Legend|#8d0000ff|Deep red: Countries that have the headquarters of Byzantine rite particular churches}}
{{Legend|#356c00ff|Green: Countries that have the headquarters of Alexandrian rite particular churches}}
{{Legend|#ffa900ff|Yellow: Countries that have the headquarters of particular churches of other rites (West Syriac, East Syriac and Armenian)}}
{{Legend|#47afe3ff|Blue: All other countries that are wholly or partially covered by circumscriptions of Eastern Catholic particular churches}}
}}]]
{{see also|List of Christian denominations by number of members#Catholicism – 1.329 billion}}
The Holy See's ''[[Annuario Pontificio]]'' gives the following list of Eastern Catholic churches with the principal [[episcopal see]] of each and the countries (or larger political areas) where they have [[ecclesiastical jurisdiction]], to which are here added the date of union or foundation in parentheses and the membership in brackets. The total membership for all Eastern Catholic churches is at least 18,047,000 people.

{{sticky header}}
{|class="wikitable sortable sticky-header"
|+ Eastern Catholic Churches<br />
Jurisdiction and bishop numbers from GCatholic<ref name="gcatholic">{{cite web|title=Rites of the Catholic Church|website=GCatholic.org|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/rites.htm|access-date=2019-07-09}}</ref> (current as of July 9, 2019)<br/>
Membership numbers from ''Annuario Pontificio'' (2023)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2023-09-09 |title=Annuario Orientale Cattolico - 2023 by Vartan Waldir Boghossian EXARMAL - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/exarmal/docs/annuarioorientale_-_2023_pdf |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=issuu.com |language=en}}</ref><ref group="note">Except as otherwise indicated for the Albanian, Belarusian, and Russian Churches.</ref><ref group="note">Historically, in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, [[Catholic Church in Georgia|Eastern Catholicism]] thrived as a [[Georgian Byzantine-Rite Catholics|unique branch]] of the greater Catholic ecumene, when in 1861, [[Mekhitarists|ex-Mekhistarist]] priest [[Peter Kharischirashvili]] founded the [[Congregation of the Immaculate Conception#Servites of the Immaculate Conception|Servites of the Immaculate Conception]] in [[Istanbul]]. However, the [[Joseph Stalin|Stalinist]] purges in the 1920s and 1930s essentially eradicated the eclassiastical independence of the community, and the remaining members lived only until the late 1950s. Today, Catholics in Georgia adhere to the [[Roman Rite|Latin]] and [[Armenian Rite|Armenian]] rites instead of the [[Byzantine Rite|Byzantine]] one, composed mostly of ethnic [[Georgians]] and [[Armenians]].</ref>
|-
! class="unsortable"|
! Name
! Recognition
! Rite
! Seat
! Polity
! Jurisdictions
! Bishops
! Members
|-
| 
|'''[[Coptic Catholic Church]]'''
|1741
| rowspan=3 | [[Alexandrian Rite|Alexandrian]]
|[[Cathedral of Our Lady of Egypt|Cathedral of Our Lady]], [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]]
|[[Patriarchate]] ||{{nts|8}} ||{{nts|13}} ||{{nts|253,100}}
|-
|
|'''[[Eritrean Catholic Church]]'''<ref name="Eritrean Catholic Church">{{cite web |url=http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/de/bollettino/pubblico/2015/01/19/0048/00098.html |title=Erezione della Chiesa Metropolitana sui iuris eritrea e nomina del primo Metropolita |publisher=[[Holy See Press Office]] |date=January 19, 2015 |access-date=January 19, 2015}}</ref>
|2015
|[[Kidane Mehret Cathedral]], [[Asmara]], [[Eritrea]]
|[[Metropolis (religious jurisdiction)|Metropolitanate]] ||{{nts|4}} ||{{nts|4}} ||{{nts|173,251}}
|-
| [[File:Coat of arms of Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel.svg|frameless|29x29px]]
|'''[[Ethiopian Catholic Church]]'''
|1846
|[[:it:Cattedrale della Natività della Beata Vergine Maria (Addis Abeba)|Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary]], [[Addis Ababa]], [[Ethiopia]]
|[[Metropolis (religious jurisdiction)|Metropolitanate]] ||{{nts|4}} ||{{nts|4}} ||{{nts|80,568}}
|-
|[[File:Igreja armênica católica.svg|27px]]
|'''[[Armenian Catholic Church]]'''
|1742
|[[Armenian Rite|Armenian]]
|[[Cathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory the Illuminator|Cathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory]], [[Beirut]], [[Lebanon]]
|[[Patriarchate]] ||{{nts|18}} ||{{nts|16}} ||{{nts|753,945}}
|-
|
|'''[[Albanian Greek Catholic Church]]'''
|1628
| rowspan=14 | [[Byzantine Rite|Byzantine]]
|[[Pro-Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Louis]], [[Vlorë]], [[Albania]]
|[[Apostolic administrator#Apostolic administrations|Apostolic administration]] ([[Apostolic Administration of Southern Albania|southern Albania]])||{{nts|1}} ||{{nts|2}} ||-<!--{{nts|1,000-4,028}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/salb0.htm|title=Apostolic Administration of Southern Albania, Albania (Albanese Rite)|website=gcatholic.org|access-date=2019-07-09}}</ref>-->
|-
|
|'''[[Belarusian Greek Catholic Church]]'''
|[[Union of Brest|1596]]
|''none''
|''Apostolic Administration''||{{nts|0}} ||{{nts|0}} ||-<!--{{nts|4,000-9,000}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/rite-Bl.htm|title=Belarussian Church (Catholic)|website=gcatholic.org|access-date=2019-07-09}}</ref>-->
|-
|
|'''[[Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church]]'''
|1861
|[[Cathedral of the Dormition, Sofia|Cathedral of the Dormition]], [[Sofia]], [[Bulgaria]]
|[[Eparchy]] ([[Bulgarian Greek Catholic Eparchy of Sofia|Sofia]])||{{nts|1}} ||{{nts|1}} ||{{nts|10,000}}
|-
| [[File:Coat of arms of Đura Džudžar.svg|20px]]
|'''[[Greek Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia]]'''<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Catholic Church|title=Annuario Pontificio|year=2012|publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana|isbn=978-88-209-8722-0}}</ref>{{rp|page=1140}}
|1611
|''several''<ref group=note name=kriz />
|''no unified structure''<ref group="note" name="kriz">The Greek Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia comprises two jurisdictions: [[Greek Catholic Eparchy of Križevci]] covering [[Croatia]], [[Slovenia]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], and [[Greek Catholic Eparchy of Ruski Krstur]] covering [[Serbia]]. The Eparchy of Križevci is in foreign province, and the Eparchy of Ruski Krstur is immediately subject to the Holy See.</ref>||{{nts|2}} ||{{nts|2}} ||{{nts|44,300}}
|-
| [[File:Escudo de Manuel Nin.svg|frameless|29x29px]]
|'''[[Greek Byzantine Catholic Church]]'''
|1911
|''several''<ref group=note name=greek />
|''no unified structure''<ref group="note" name="greek">The Greek Byzantine Catholic Church comprises two independent [[apostolic exarchate]]s covering [[Greece]] and [[Turkey]] respectively, each immediately subject to the Holy See.</ref>||{{nts|2}} ||{{nts|2}} ||{{nts|6,017}}
|-
|
|'''[[Hungarian Greek Catholic Church]]'''
|1912
|[[Cathedral of Hajdúdorog]], [[Debrecen]], [[Hungary]]
|[[Metropolis (religious jurisdiction)|Metropolitanate]] ([[Hungarian Catholic Archeparchy of Hajdúdorog|Hajdúdorog]])||{{nts|3}} ||{{nts|4}}  ||{{nts|296,830}}
|-
|
|'''[[Italo-Albanian Catholic Church]]'''
|1577<ref>In 1576, with the bull ''In Apostolicae Sedis specula'' of 13 January, [[Pope Gregory XIII]] recognized the Italo-Albanians community and established the "Greek College" in Rome for the training of their Greek-Catholic rite priests.<br /> Subsequently in 1732 and 1734: Ordinariate of the Italo-Albanians of the Byzantine rite of Calabria and Sicily appointed. 
After centuries of requests, recognition and birth of eparchies and territorial abbeys in 1919 and 1937.</ref>
|''several''<ref group=note name=italo />
|''no unified structure''<ref group="note" name="italo">The Italo-Albanian Greek-Catholic Church comprises two independent eparchies (based in [[Lungro]] and [[Piana degli Albanesi]]) and one [[territorial abbacy]] (based in [[Grottaferrata]]), each immediately subject to the Holy See.</ref>||{{nts|3}} ||{{nts|2}} ||{{nts|55,909}}
|-
|
|'''[[Macedonian Greek Catholic Church]]'''
|2001
|[[Cathedral of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, Strumica|Cathedral of the Assumption]], [[Strumica]], [[North Macedonia]]
|[[Eparchy]] ([[Macedonian Catholic Eparchy of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Strumica-Skopje|Strumica-Skopje]])||{{nts|1}} ||{{nts|1}}<ref group="note">[[Kiro Stojanov]] serves as bishop of the Macedonian Eparchy of the Assumption in addition to his primary duties as the Latin Church bishop of Skopje, and so GCatholic only counts him as a Latin Church bishop.</ref>||{{nts|11,419}}
|-
|[[File:Patriarch Youssef Absi coat of arms.svg|20px]]
|'''[[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]]'''
|1726
|[[Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition|Cathedral of the Dormition]], [[Damascus]], [[Syria]]
|[[Patriarchate]] ||{{nts|29}} ||{{nts|35}} ||{{nts|1,545,990}}
|-
|
|'''[[Romanian Greek Catholic Church]]'''
|1698
|[[Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Blaj|Cathedral of the Holy Trinity]], [[Blaj]], [[Romania]]
|[[Major archiepiscopal church|Major archiepiscopate]] ([[Romanian Greek Catholic Major Archeparchy of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia|Făgăraș and Alba Iulia]])||{{nts|7}} ||{{nts|8}} ||{{nts|473,710}}
|-
|
|'''[[Russian Greek Catholic Church]]'''
|1905
|''none''<ref group=note name=russ />
|''none''<ref group="note" name="russ">The Russian Greek Catholic Church comprises two [[apostolic exarchate]]s (one for [[Russia]] and one for [[China]]), each immediately subject to the Holy See and each vacant for decades. Bishop [[Joseph Werth]] of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Transfiguration at Novosibirsk|Novosibirsk]] has been appointed by the Holy See as ordinary to the Eastern Catholic faithful in Russia, although not as exarch of the dormant apostolic exarchate and without the creation of a formal ordinariate.</ref>||{{nts|2}} ||{{nts|0}}||-<!--{{nts|30,000}}<ref>{{Cite web |author=Фрэнсис Рокка |date=2017-06-13 |title=Русские католики ищут признания папы |url=https://inosmi.ru/politic/20170613/239567109.html |access-date=2020-06-25 |website=[[ИноСМИ]] |language=ru |quote=}} – Оригинал публикации: [https://www.wsj.com/articles/feeling-abandoned-russian-catholics-appeal-to-the-pope-1496827805 Russian Catholics Seek Pope's Nod]. Статья была опубликована в газете [[The Wall Street Journal]] 2017-06-07. Перевод: портал «[[ИноСМИ]]»'' ''</ref>-->
|-
|
|'''[[Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church]]''' (Also known as the '''Byzantine Catholic Church''' in the United States)
|[[Union of Uzhhorod|1646]]
|[[St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cathedral (Pittsburgh)|Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist]], [[Pittsburgh]], [[United States]]
|[[Metropolis (religious jurisdiction)|Metropolitanate]]<ref group="note">The Ruthenian Catholic Church does not have a unified structure. It includes a Metropolia based in Pittsburgh, which covers the entire United States, but also an eparchy in Ukraine and an apostolic exarchate in the Czech Republic, both of which are directly subject to the Holy See.</ref>||{{nts|6}} ||{{nts|8}}  ||{{nts|365,883}}
|-
| [[File:Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Prešov.svg|20px]]
|'''[[Slovak Greek Catholic Church]]'''
|[[Union of Uzhhorod|1646]]
|[[Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Prešov|Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist]], [[Prešov]], [[Slovakia]]
|[[Metropolis (religious jurisdiction)|Metropolitanate]] ([[Slovak Catholic Metropolitan Archeparchy of Prešov|Prešov]])||{{nts|4}} ||{{nts|6}}  ||{{nts|210,061}}
|-
|[[File:Coat of arms of Sviatoslav Shevchuk.svg|20px]]
|'''[[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]]'''
|[[Union of Brest|1595]]
|[[Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Kyiv|Cathedral of the Resurrection]], [[Kyiv]], [[Ukraine]]
|[[Major archiepiscopal church|Major archiepiscopate]] ([[Ukrainian Catholic Major Archeparchy of Kyiv–Galicia|Kyiv–Galicia]])||{{nts|35}} ||{{nts|50}} ||{{nts|4,295,581}}
|-
|[[File:Chaldean Catholic COA.svg|20px]]
|'''[[Chaldean Catholic Church]]'''
|[[Schism of 1552|1552]]
| rowspan=2 | [[East Syriac Rite|East Syriac]]
|[[Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows]], [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]]
|[[Patriarchate]] ||{{nts|23}} ||{{nts|23}} ||{{nts|646,581}}
|-
| 
|'''[[Syro-Malabar Church]]'''
|1923 (present hierarchy)<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.syromalabarchurch.in/syro-malabar-church-cronology.php| title=CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE SYROMALABAR CHURCH| publisher=Syro-Malabar Church Official website| access-date=13 August 2020| archive-date=4 October 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004221750/http://www.syromalabarchurch.in/syro-malabar-church-cronology.php| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Eugene|last=Tisserant|title=Eastern Christianity in India: A History of the Syro-Malabar Church from the Earliest Times to the Present Day|editor-last=Hambye|editor-first=E. R.|editor-link=Édouard Hambye|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107629|pages=134–135|year=1957|publisher=Newman Press|location=Westminster}}</ref>
|Mount Saint Thomas, [[Kochi]], [[India]]
|[[Major archiepiscopal church|Major archiepiscopate]] ||{{nts|35}} ||{{nts|63}} ||{{nts|4,537,342}}
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of the Maronite Patriarchate.svg|22px]]
|'''[[Maronite Church|Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church]]'''
| data-sort-value="0325" | ''est. Seventh C.'' <br> reentered communion 1154<ref name=Attwater/>
| rowspan=3 | [[West Syriac Rite|West Syriac]]
|[[Bkerké|Church of Bkerké, Bkerké]], [[Lebanon]]
|[[Patriarchate]] ||{{nts|29}} ||{{nts|50}} ||{{nts|3,543,796}}
|-
|
|'''[[Syriac Catholic Church]]'''
|1781
|[[Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Saint Paul]], [[Damascus]], [[Syria]]
|[[Patriarchate]] ||{{nts|16}} ||{{nts|20}} ||{{nts|120,679}}
|-
|[[File:Coat of arms of Cardinal Baselios Cleemis.svg|frameless|27x27px]]
|'''[[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]]'''
|1930
|[[Cathedral of Saint Mary, Pattom|Cathedral of Saint Mary]], [[Pattom]], [[Kerala]], [[India]]
|[[Major archiepiscopal church|Major archiepiscopate]] ||{{nts|12}} ||{{nts|14}} ||{{nts|487,247}}
|-
|
|Other
| 
|''various''<ref group="note">Five of the ordinariates for Eastern Catholics are multi-ritual, encompassing the faithful of all Eastern Catholicism within their territory not otherwise subject to a local ordinary of their own rite. The [[Ordinariate for Byzantine-Rite Catholics in Austria|sixth]] is exclusively Byzantine, but covers all Byzantine Catholics in Austria, no matter which particular Byzantine Church they belong to.</ref>
|''several''<ref group="note">The six ordinariates are based in [[Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in Argentina|Buenos Aires (Argentina)]], [[Ordinariate for Byzantine-rite Catholics in Austria|Vienna (Austria)]], [[Ordinariate for the Faithful of Eastern Rites in Brazil|Belo Horizonte (Brazil)]], [[Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in France|Paris (France)]], [[Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in Poland|Warsaw (Poland)]], and [[Ordinariate for the Faithful of Eastern Rite in Spain|Madrid (Spain)]].</ref>
|[[Ordinariate for Eastern Catholic faithful|Ordinariates]] ||{{nts|6}} ||{{nts|6}}<ref group="note">Technically, each of these ordinariates has an ordinary who is a bishop, but all of the bishops are Latin bishops whose primary assignment is to a Latin see.</ref>||{{nts|134,922}}
|- class="sortbottom"
! <span align=left>Total</span>
!
!
!
!
!
!{{nts|250}}
!{{nts|320}}
!{{nts|18,047,131}}
|}

{{NoteFoot}}

==Persecution==
===Eastern Europe===
{{Main|Eastern Catholic victims of Soviet persecutions}}

A study by Methodios Stadnik states: "The Georgian Byzantine Catholic Exarch, Fr. Shio {{Sic|Batma|nishviii|expected=Batmalashvili}}, and two Georgian Catholic priests of the Latin Church were executed by the Soviet authorities in 1937 after having been held in captivity in Solovki prison and the northern gulags from 1923."<ref>{{cite web|title=A concise history of the Georgian Byzantine Catholic Church|last=Stadnik|first=Methodios|date=1999-01-21|website=stmichaelruscath.org|url=http://www.stmichaelruscath.org/outbound/incommunion/georgiahist.php|access-date=2011-04-27|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715233752/http://www.stmichaelruscath.org/outbound/incommunion/georgiahist.php|archive-date=2011-07-15}}</ref> Christopher Zugger writes, in ''The Forgotten'': "By 1936, the [[Georgian Byzantine-Rite Catholics|Byzantine Catholic Church of Georgia]] had two communities, served by a bishop and four priests, with 8,000 believers", and he identifies the bishop as Shio Batmalashvili.<ref>{{cite book|last=Zugger|first=Christopher L.|chapter=Secret agent and secret hierarchy|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HnUnJ7X10BMC&pg=PA228|title=The forgotten: Catholics of the Soviet Union Empire from Lenin through Stalin|isbn=978-0-8156-0679-6|location=Syracuse, NY|publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]]|year=2001|page=228}}</ref> {{Interlanguage link|Vasyl Ovsiyenko|uk|3=Овсієнко Василь Васильович}} mentions, on the [[Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union]] website, that "the Catholic administrator for Georgia Shio Batmalashvili" was one of those executed as "anti-Soviet elements" in 1937.<ref>{{cite web|title=In memory of the victims of the Solovky embarkation point|last=Ovsiyenko|first=Vasyl|date=2006-10-26|website=helsinki.org.ua|location=Kyiv|publisher=Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union|url=http://www.helsinki.org.ua/en/index.php?id=1161684988|access-date=2011-04-27}}</ref>

Zugger calls Batmalashvili a bishop; Stadnik is ambiguous, calling him an exarch but giving him the title of Father; Ovsiyenko merely refers to him as "the Catholic administrator" without specifying whether he was a bishop or a priest and whether he was in charge of a Latin or a Byzantine jurisdiction.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

If Batmalashvili was an ''exarch'', and not instead a bishop connected with the Latin [[diocese of Tiraspol (Russia)|diocese of Tiraspol]], which had its seat at [[Saratov]] on the [[Volga River]], to which Georgian Catholics even of Byzantine rite belonged <ref>{{cite book|author=Catholic Church. Congregatio pro Ecclesiis Orientalibus|title=Oriente Cattolico : Cenni Storici e Statistiche|language=it|oclc=2905279|location=Vatican City|year=1974|edition=4th|page=194}}</ref> this would mean that a Georgian Byzantine-Rite Catholic Church existed, even if only as a local particular Church. However, since the establishment of a new hierarchical jurisdiction must be published in ''[[Acta Apostolicae Sedis]]'', and no mention of the setting up of such a jurisdiction for Byzantine Georgian Catholics exists in that official gazette of the Holy See, the claim appears to be unfounded.

The 1930s editions of ''Annuario Pontificio'' do not mention Batmalashvili. If indeed he was a bishop, he may then have been one of those secretly ordained for the service of the Church in the [[Soviet Union]] by French Jesuit Bishop [[Michel d'Herbigny]], who was president of the [[Pontifical Commission for Russia]] from 1925 to 1934. In the circumstances of that time, the Holy See would have been incapable of setting up a new Byzantine exarchate within the Soviet Union, since Greek Catholics in the Soviet Union were being forced to join the [[Russian Orthodox Church]].{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Batmalashvili's name is not among those given in as the four "underground" apostolic administrators (only one of whom appears to have been a bishop) for the four sections into which the diocese of Tiraspol was divided after the resignation in 1930 of its already exiled last bishop, [[Josef Alois Kessler]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/rotunda/2209/Catholic_Russia.html |title=Roman Catholic Regional Hierarchy |access-date=2004-06-01 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040601041323/http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/rotunda/2209/Catholic_Russia.html |archive-date=2004-06-01 }}{{tertiary source|date=January 2024}}</ref> This source gives Father Stefan Demurow as [[Apostolic Administrator|apostolic administrator]] of "Tbilisi and Georgia" and says he was executed in 1938. Other sources associate Demurow with [[Azerbaijan]] and say that, rather than being executed, he died in a [[Siberia]]n [[Gulag]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Small Catholic community comes to life in former Communist country |date=2005-09-10 |website=fides.org |location=Vatican City |publisher=[[Agenzia Fides]] |url=http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=5611&lan=eng |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614055105/http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=5611&lan=eng |archive-date=2011-06-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Until 1994, the United States [[annual publication]] ''Catholic Almanac'' listed "Georgian" among the Greek Catholic churches.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Georgian|journal=Catholic Almanac}}</ref> Until corrected in 1995, it appears to have been also making a mistake about the Czech Greek Catholics.

There was a short-lived Greek Catholic movement among the ethnic Estonians in the Orthodox Church in Estonia during the [[interwar period]] of the 20th century, consisting of two to three parishes, not raised to the level of a local particular church with its own head. This group was liquidated by the Soviet regime and is now extinct.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

===Muslim world===
{{main|Christianity in the Middle East|Persecution of Christians|Genocide of Christians by ISIL}}

===United States===
{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2024}}
{{See also|Orthodox Church in America|Alexis Toth}}
While not subject to the kind of physical dangers or persecution from government authorities encountered in Eastern Europe or the Middle East, adherents of Eastern Catholic Churches in United States, most of whom were relatively new immigrants from Eastern Europe, encountered difficulties due to hostility from the Latin Church clergy who dominated the Catholic hierarchy in United States who found them alien. In particular, immigration of Eastern Catholic priests who were married, common in their churches but extremely rare in Latin churches, was forbidden or severely limited and some Latin Church bishops actively interfered with the pastoral work of those who did arrive. Some bishops sought to forbid all non-Latin Catholic priests from coming to United States at all. Many Eastern Catholic immigrants to United States were thus either assimilated into the Latin Church or joined the Eastern Orthodox Church. One former Eastern Catholic priest, Alexis Toth, left the Catholic Church following criticism and sanctions from Latin authorities including [[John Ireland (bishop)|John Ireland]], the Bishop of [[Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis|Saint Paul]], and joining the Orthodox Church. Toth has been canonized as an Eastern Orthodox saint for having led as many as 20,000 disaffected former Eastern Catholics to the Orthodox Church, particularly the [[American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Catholicism|Christianity}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]]
* [[Eastern Catholic canon law]]
* [[Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites]]
* [[List of Eastern Catholic seminaries]]
* [[Catholic Church and ecumenism]]
* [[Eastern Christianity]]
* [[Western Rite Orthodoxy]]
}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Nedungatt|editor-first=George|editor-link=George Nedungatt|title=A Guide to the Eastern Code: A Commentary on the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1fEkAQAAIAAJ|year=2002|location=Rome|publisher=Oriental Institute Press|isbn=9788872103364}}
* Faris, John D., & Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv., eds. ''A Practical Commentary to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches'', 2 vols. Montréal: Librairie Wilson & Lafleur, 2019.

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/Roberson-eastcath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat15.pdf Eastern Catholic Church statistics 2015] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607210107/http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/Roberson-eastcath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat15.pdf |date=2017-06-07 }}
* [https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2006/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20061130_dichiarazione-comune.html Common Declaration of Pope Benedict XVI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, 2006]
* [http://steliasmelkite.org/music/ Example of Eastern Catholic Chant in English]

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{{History of the Catholic Church}}
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[[Category:Eastern Catholic Churches| ]]
[[Category:Religious organizations based in Vatican City]]