THE
P RTAL
August 2015
Page 10
The Catholic Churches:
Unity in Diversity
Dr Harry Schnitker continues his series on
the diversity of the Catholic Church
L
et us first of all recap on last month’s article and provide a list of the
Byzantine Greek Catholic Churches:
Italo-Albanian Greek Catholic Church (15th
century). It has no Orthodox counterpart.
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
(1596). The most important Byzantine
Rite Church, which split from the
Moscow Patriarchate.
Križevci or Serb Greek Catholic
Church (1611). Serb refugees who
settled under Habsburg protection and
left the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Albanian Greek Catholic Church
(1628). Albanian Orthodox Christians who
sought the protection of Venice and joined Rome.
Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church
(1646). Ruthenians or Little Russians,
who joined Rome whilst living under
Habsburg rule. The Hungarian Church
was declared independent from it
in 1911, whilst the Slovak Church
emerged from the Hungarian Church
in 1937.
The Romanian Greek Catholic Church (1697).
Romanian Orthodox in Transylvania who sought
Habsburg protection after the annexation of their
country by that Catholic dynasty.
Melkite Greek Catholic Church (1729). Orthodox,
both Greek and Arab, who had remained loyal to
Constantinople after the schisms of the fifth century.
With the arrival of a strong French presence in Greek
Church (1829). A small group of Greek Orthodox
who joined Rome on the eve of Greek independence
from Turkey.
Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church (1861/1926).
Again a small group of Bulgarians who joined Rome
as a political statement on the future of their country
as it was gaining independence.
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