Russian Catholic Church

Russian Catholic Church

The Russian Catholic Church ( _ru. Российская греко-католическая церковь) is a Byzantine Rite church "sui juris" of the Catholic Church. Historically it represents a schism from the Russian Orthodox Church. It is now in full communion with and subject to the authority of the Pope as defined by Eastern canon law. As of 2006, Russian Catholics have no hierarchy; their few parishes are served by priests ordained in other Byzantine Catholic Churches, former Orthodox priests, and Roman Catholic priests with biritual faculties, many of them Jesuits.

In Russia, it is purported that after the gradual development of the East-West Schism, a tiny group of Russian families maintained themselves as “Old Catholics,” (rus: старокатолики (starokatoliki)), a name which should not be confused with the Döllingerite Old Catholic Churches of Europe and the U.S., who formally split with the Roman Catholic Church in the wake of the reforms of the First Vatican Council. The status of this group of Russian "Old Catholics", families and groups of individuals to whom the union with Rome remains dear and essential, or its relation to the current Russian (Rite) Catholic Church is unclear.

The modern Russian Catholic church owes much to the inspiration of visionary poet and philosopher Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (1853-1900), who urged, following Dante, that, just as the world needed the Tsar as a universal monarch, the Church needed the Pope of Rome as a universal ecclesial hierarch. Following Solovyov's teachings a Russian Orthodox priest, Nicholas Tolstoy, entered into full communion with the See of Rome under the Melkite Greek-Catholic, Byzantine Rite Patriarchate of Antioch. Solovyov received sacramental last holy communion from Father Tolstoy believing that in doing so he remained also a faithful member of the Russian Orthodox Church. Orthodox authorities refer to Tolstoy as an apostate and “ex-priest,” but tend to imply that Solovyov still died an Orthodox Christian. Nevertheless, Solovyov never retracted his sentiments in favor of union with the Catholic Church and the See of Rome, and to this day, many Russian Catholics refer to themselves as members of the 'Russian "Orthodox" Church in communion with Rome'.

The Russian Catholic Church formally united with Rome in 1905. Old Believers were very prominent in the early years of the movement. Despite enduring persecutions of Russian Catholics, even though Nicholas II and especially the February Revolution relieved a bit of the persecution, the first Apostolic Exarchate for Russian Catholics was formed in 1917 with Most Reverend Leonid Feodorov, formerly a Russian Orthodox seminarian, as Exarch, but the Bolshevik Revolution soon followed, dispersing Russian Rite Catholics into the Siberian Gulag and the centers of the Russian diaspora throughout the world. Exarch Leonid Feodorov was deported to the communist concentration camp at Solovki. Released in 1932, he died three years later. He was beatified in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. In 1928, a second Apostolic Exarchate was set up for the Russian Catholics in China, based in Harbin.

In the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, some Russian Catholics have cautiously begun to appear in the open. In a 2005 ariticle, Russian Catholic priest Sergei Golovanov stated that three Russian Catholic priests serve on Russian soil celebrating the Russian Byzantine Divine Liturgy. Two of them use the recension of the Russian Liturgy as reformed by Patriarch Nikon of Moscow in the 1600s, and the other priest uses the medieval rite of the Old Believers, that is to say, as the Russian liturgical recension existed before Patriarch Nikon's (minor) reforms of the Russian Liturgy. All Russian Catholics strictly maintain the use of Church Slavonic. As of 2006, the two Exarchates are still at least officially extant but have not yet been reconstituted, neither have new Russian Rite bishops been appointed to head them.

There are also Russian Catholic parishes and faith communities in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, San Francisco, New York, Denver, Melbourne, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Meudon, Paris, Chevetogne, Lyon, Berlin, Munich, Rome, Milan, and Singapore.

ee also

*Eastern Catholic Churches
*Florentine Union
*Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov
*Metropolitan Isidore of Kiev, All Russia and Moscow
*Patriarch Ignatius
*Byzantine Rite
*Byzantine Discalced Carmelites
*Church Slavonic language

ource

* [http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-eastern-cathol-comm.htm Eastern Catholic Communities Without Hierarchies]

External links

* [http://stmichaelruscath.org/ The website of Saint Michael's Russian Catholic Church in New York City is a must for anyone desiring to delve deeper into the history of the Russian Catholic Movement.]
* [http://rumkatkilise.org/necplus.htm “A Brief History of The Russian Byzantine Catholic Church and the Russian Catholics.”]
* [http://www.redemptorists.org.uk/red/mag/russian1.htm The Servant of God Exarch Leonid Feodorov. An online biography of Exarch Leonid Feodorov, with little known details of how Russian Catholics survived in the bolshevik GULAG.]
* [http://stmichaelruscath.org/outbound/parishes/rc-moscow-pa-1998.php An online article about a visit to Moscow's Russian Catholics shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union.]
* [http://stmichaelruscath.org/outbound/parishes/rc-moscow-pa-2001.php A visit to the same Russian rite Catholic community from 2001.]
* [http://en.catholicmartyrs.org/ The Catholic Newmartyrs of Russia]
* [http://stmichaelruscath.org/news/news-20050131.php Normalization of the Position of Byzantine Rite Catholics in Russia]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Russian Catholic church — ▪ religion       an Eastern Catholic church of the Byzantine rite, in communion with Rome since the early 20th century. A small number of Orthodox Russians, influenced by Vladimir Solovyov, a philosopher and theologian, converted to Catholicism… …   Universalium

  • Russian Orthodox Church — This article is about the Russian Orthodox Church. For the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, see Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Russian Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Moscow) Church of Christ the Saviour in …   Wikipedia

  • Russian Orthodox Church — Russian Or|tho|dox Church, the the main religious group of Russia. It is a Christian church that began in the 11th century by separating from the Catholic Church. The Orthodox Church has very complicated religious ceremonies in which the words… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Catholic Church — This article is about the church in communion with the See of Rome. For other uses, see Catholic Church (disambiguation). Roman Christianity redirects here. For other uses, see Roman Christianity (disambiguation). Part of a series on the Catholic …   Wikipedia

  • Russian Orthodox Church — (ROC)    Also known as the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest autocephalous or self governing Eastern Orthodox Church. With approximately 135 million followers, the ROC is second only to the Catholic Church in terms… …   Historical Dictionary of the Russian Federation

  • Russian Orthodox Church — noun an independent church with its own Patriarch; until 1917 it was the established church or Russia • Hypernyms: ↑Orthodox Church, ↑Orthodox Catholic Church, ↑Eastern Orthodox Church, ↑Eastern Church, ↑Eastern Orthodox …   Useful english dictionary

  • Greek Catholic Church — is a term which refers to the Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine (Constantinopolitan) liturgical tradition. It can also refer to the Roman Catholic Church in Greece.List of Greek Catholic Churches*Albanian Greek Catholic Church… …   Wikipedia

  • Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia — The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia ( ru. Русская Православная Церковь Заграницей, ru. Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov Zagranitsey ), also called the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, ROCA, or ROCOR) is a semi autonomous part of the Russian… …   Wikipedia

  • Catholic Church of St. Catherine — The Catholic Church of St. Catherine (Russian: Католическая церковь Святой Екатерины) in St. Petersburg is one of the oldest Catholic churches in all of Russia. It is part of the Archdiocese of Moscow headed by H.E. Msgr. Paolo Pezzi. It is… …   Wikipedia

  • Catholic Church hierarchy — The term Hierarchy in the Catholic Church has a variety of related usages. Literally, holy government , the term is employed in different instances. There is a Hierarchy of Truths,[1] which refers to the levels of solemnity of the official… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”