The Apostles and first Christians retained from the Old Testament the feasts of Passover (Easter) as well as the feast of Pentecost (Pentecost – the same name is used). Why? Because of the similarity in the ideas that essentially brought … Continue reading
Category Archives: Getting to Know Something About Our Greek Catholic Faith
Sources of the first three centuries do not speak of the feast of the Ascension. Experts in Liturgy are of the opinion that in the first three centuries the celebration of this feast was combined with the feast of Pentecost. … Continue reading
It is the contention of many scholars, and mine also, that Byzantium made its real and permanent contribution to the history of mankind in the field of religious thought. Byzantine theology, which is the basis for our particular Catholicism and … Continue reading
The Eastern Church looks at human nature differently than does the Western Church. Eastern theology asserts that God created human beings innocent and good, but not complete. So life calls human beings to grow in God-likeness. The Eastern Church makes … Continue reading
It is the glory of Byzantine Christianity to have established and elucidated, as much as the human mind can, the characteristic truths of Christianity. Those truths include: (1) the oneness of God in his divine Trinity; (2) the Incarnation; (3) … Continue reading
Charles Diehl (a French historian who was a native of Strasbourg, is a leading authority on Byzantine art and history. He received his education at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and later taught classes on Byzantine history at the Sorbonne) summarizes … Continue reading
The state of mind, the forms of worship, the spirituality and theology of the Eastern Church are not merely a matter of rite: they imply a specific vision of life and eternity, uniting Easterners of many different backgrounds: Melkites, Ukrainians, … Continue reading
The magnificence of Constantinople and the refined civilization of its empire excited the envy of many peoples and nations. Grandeur and dignity, security and ease, progress and glory wafted from every story, from every piece of information coming from the … Continue reading
Until recently the common expression by which we identified ourselves as a Church was Ukrainian Catholic. When Ukraine gained its independence, we reverted to our original name, Ukrainian Greek-Catholic. Although we have referred to ourselves as Christians using the Byzantine … Continue reading
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is the largest Eastern Particular Church in the Catholic union of churches. The Primate of the Church holds the office of Archbishop-Major of Kyiv-Halych and All Rus, although the bishops and faithful of the church have acclaimed him a Patriarch … Continue reading