The Organizational Structure of the Eastern Catholic Church - Essay Example

Eastern Catholic Eastern Catholic The eastern catholic is one of the branches of world Christianity churches. Also known as theOrthodox Catholic Church, it has preserved millions of Christians across the globe. The organizational structure of the Eastern Catholic Church in the Middle East consists of self governing or autocephalous local churches that use various principles. Unity in faith, canonical discipline and the sacraments are some the principles used by this church. They also elect their own bishops and use the patriarch of Constantinople. This patriarch gives bishops chairmanship and initiative privileges with no direct administrative or doctrinal authorities. It also has jurisdiction over the churches in Greek. The Eastern Catholic Church in the Middle East uses autocephalous governing body known as the Patriarch of Antioch. This body resides in Damascus, Syria and heads Arab Christians. It also heads in Iraq, Lebanon and other churches in the Middle East. Other patriarchs include: Patriarch of Alexandria, Serbia, Georgia, Jerusalem, Bulgaria and Romania. The early church of Antioch was very diverse and developed into numerous churches. The liturgical setting of the Antioch church mainly came from the St. James Liturgy despite other liturgies developed later. Having jurisdiction in a large area, the Patriarch of Antioch also covered the modern Israel, Jordan, Palestine and certain parts in south Turkey (O’Mahony & Loosely, 2009). Moreover, the Syrian and Aramaic languages dominated before Islam came. Today, the Antioch church has spread into the Persian Empire also known as Iran. It has also spread its branches in India and China. Therefore, the Middle East Antioch church has widened into the south. The Middle East Catholic church can also be analyzed using the various the religious seven dimensions also known as the Ninian Smart. The seven religious dimensions include: rituals, experimental and emotional, narrative or mythic, ethical and legal. Moreover, doctrinal and philosophical, material, social and institutional dimensions also from the religious dimensions of the Catholic Church. These dimensions describe the various aspects in which the Eastern Catholic religion operates. To begin with, rituals refer to the ceremonies used in the Catholic Church that can either be private or public. The rituals represent traditions that should be followed and how sacraments should be celebrated in the Catholic Church. As Churches spread and grew, sacraments were celebrated in line with individual cultures and as they were received or understood. This means the sacraments were celebrated without changing their essential matter or form. Moreover, Churches evangelized in major cultural centers as a form of ritual or sacrament celebrations (Parry, 2010). The major cultural centers included: Alexandria, Syrian Antioch and Rome. Today, the rites in use have evolved from ecclesiastical and liturgical practices used in these cities. According to the Eastern Catholic, there is a ritual church that represents ecclesiastical traditions. This means that rites of equal dignity in the church enjoy equal rights and operate under the same conditions. Although liturgical, hierarchical and ecclesiastical practices differ in various churches, the Roman pontiff remains the entrusted pastoral governance. The Catholic’s catechism comprises of seven rites. Byzantine, Syriac, Maronite, Chaldean, Latin, Armenian and Alexandrian are the seven rites according to the Catholic Catechism. These rites originated from the main centers, which are Alexandria, Antioch and Rome. The Byzantine rite is considered the largest eastern rites. It liturgy was developed based on the St. James liturgy for the Antioch Church. This liturgy was later modified by St. Chrysostom and St. Basil. They are also similar to the liturgies used by Catholic Orthodox Churches. Similarly, the Syriac liturgy is also attributed to the St. James liturgy and is used by Antioch churches in Syria today (Parry, 2010). The present churches use the Syriac language instead of Greek in their liturgy. Generally, there are seven sacraments that are accepted by the Catholic Church. The seven sacraments include: Eucharist, Penance, Holy Orders, Confirmation, baptism, anointment of the sick and marriage. The Eucharist is the central catholic sacrament. Baptism involves baptizing individuals in water through immersion process. After baptism, confirmation follows and is characterized by individual anointment with chrism. Additionally, the sick are also anointed. On the other hand, other catholic sacraments include: blessing of water and burial. Doctrinal and philosophical dimensions refer to the religious teachings according the Catholic culture. These teachings are systematic and properly woven to help in teaching church practices to the Christian faithful. They are also intellectually put according to the Catholic teachings. The Eastern Catholic accepts various practices for the Catholic faithful. To begin with, the Eastern Catholic accepts early Christian traditions. The accepted Christianity traditions include sacraments which are the same as those of the Roman Catholic. Another doctrine or practice in the Eastern Catholic Church is marriage. In relation to marriage, the Eastern Catholic allows men who are married to become priests. On the other hand, monks and bishops of the Catholic Church are not allowed to marry. This means that priests can marry but not bishops (Catholic News Agency, n. d). Another doctrine is that which relates to Mary. According to the Catholic doctrines, Mary is venerated as the mother of God. This means that Mary is central to the Catholic worship and the saints’ intercessions are emphasized according to the Catholic liturgical traditions. The Byzantine rite is considered as a philosophical liturgy used by the Catholic Church (Catholic News Agency, n. d). This rite has been translated into many languages from Greek that it was originally written. This translation has been made possible to allow comprehension of the rite by different cultures and languages. In the Catholic Church, Byzantine Liturgy allows for the distribution of Holy Communion to the church congregation once it is sung. The Holy Communion involves giving of both wine and bread to the congregation. Moreover, the Byzantine liturgy forms early Christian experiences and also preserves texts. This means church prayers are backed by actions of the Holy Spirit. Generally, the Catholic Church recognizes decisions from the ecumenical councils that define basic doctrines on incarnation and the trinity. According to these councils, the definitions of doctrines are based on Grace and are referenced to western teachings. The Materials in the Eastern Catholic Church refer to places or objects considered holy or sacred. The objects or places can be ordinary, but they symbolize the supernatural deity. Many churches or religions usually have different objects or places that symbolize the supernatural being. The objects can be in the form of drawings or images inscribed in church walls or windows. The materials can also be iconic and portray religious artistic work. Religious artwork is viewed by Catholics as forms of pictorial confessions of faith. This means that the pictures drawn show faith in Catholic believers. Moreover, these images also portray religious experiences among the believers of Catholic faith. There are various icons or images that are used by the Eastern Catholic believers. Icons and images of the Virgin Mary, Christ and the saints are some of the artistic work portrayed in sacred or worship places of the Eastern Catholics. The main function of religious iconic images was fully operational after iconoclastic movement ended in Byzantium (O’Mahony & Loosely, 2009). Icons were rejected as idols while graven images were prohibited by the iconoclasts. On the other hand, the orthodox theologians used the Christian incarnation doctrines to base their arguments. According to their arguments, God is indescribable and invisible. Moreover, the Son of God, Jesus Christ assumed the characteristics of nature when he became man. This means he became describable after possessing these characteristics of nature. Therefore, it is logical that the images of Christ Jesus confirm real incarnation of God. The artistic materials convey the mystery of Christian faith because the divine life is shown through the glorified humanity of the risen Christ. Moreover, the iconic images of saints and Christ provide personal contacts directly with Holy persons who are represented in such iconic images. This also means that materials or objects should be venerable. With the victory of these theological arguments, iconography was widely used leading to inspiration of iconic painters. Therefore, materials and icons are widely used in the Catholic Church. Ethical and legal dimensions refer to the way Catholic Christians perceive life. Christian World and Life view are perceived by Christians globally differently. It is defined as the perceptions which comprises of opinions and beliefs that help Christians to understand their way of living in the world according to the teachings of the Bible (Schaeffer, 2013). As much as the Christian World View is based on the Holy Book, the Bible, there exist various denominations that perceive the Christian World View differently across the entire world. This, therefore, means Christians in most parts of the world have divergent views on the things that take place on earth despite practicing the same religion. However, there are various perceptions that are the same among Catholic Christians regarding the world and life view as found by Lewis (2009). There are various elements that need to be put into consideration when analyzing world view among Christians. Some of the elements that provide a basis for the world view include: understanding how the world originated and its meaning, world inhabitants based on the world view, understanding the total truth that helps human beings to know how they should live in the world and how people should achieve their desired goals in the world (Goheen & Bartholomew, 2008). Moreover, most Christians view the world today as a place full of wrongdoing due to the various activities people are involved in today. For example, today many people in the world practice sinful activities such as idolatry, sexual immorality and murder among others. These sinful activities are against Christian comprehension of the Bible teachings. Therefore, people practicing sinful activities should stop and follow the good ways, such as worshiping only God according to Christian teachings (Lewis, 2009). Additionally, Christians view life according to the teachings of the Bible. As found by Schaeffer (2013), Catholic Christians believe that God is the sole provider of human life on earth and people should appreciate and thank God for giving them life by living according to the Godly ways. Contrarily, other religions in the world have made life to be taken for granted due to the many sinful activities present in the world today. For example, some people have taken human life through illegal abortion and murder. Such practices show that people do not recognize the importance of human life that is God given. The social and institutional dimensions refer to the beliefs and practices that govern the well being of a group of individuals in the society (Sciences 360, 2009). They may also be defined as the rules that manage the interactions between members in the society. According to the Catholic teachings, social issues relate to the maintenance of body integrity. This means that people should ensure they maintain and respect their bodies through practicing chastity. Chastity in Catholic teachings involves maintenance of body spirituality and uprightness of the human body. It gives marriage as the only avenue of practicing sexual activities. Sexual immorality covers a wide scope according to Christianity. Sodomy, lesbianism, sorcery and prostitution among others, are some of sexual immoral practices that are against Christianity. Lesbianism is defined as the process of practicing sexual practices among females while sorcery involves sexual practices between human beings and other animals. Moreover, prostitution and sodomy as immoral practices are against God’s rules. Sexually immoral practices have various consequences such as contraction of deadly diseases. According to Biblical view, people should not engage in sexually immoral practices. Therefore, people who indulge in such immoral practices are committing serious offenses in the eyes of the Lord and deserve punishment. Hence, people should restrain from such practices and follow the Catholic teachings. Moreover, social issues, according to the Catholic teachings also involve caring for sick people in the society and the poor (Vayalilkarottu, 2012). The Catholic uses avenues such as works of mercy to care for the poor and sick persons in the society. On the other hand, cannon law advocates for the promotion societal justice in line with Catholic Biblical teachings. The Catholic Church also engages in providing education and health services to the society through the use of Sister Organizations. Therefore, it is imperative for Catholic Christians to promote positive societal growth by helping people in the society and educating them on the various ways of avoiding societal vices according to Bible teachings. For example, Catholic Christians should teach people that death and curses are some consequences that are associated with sinful societal activities. Exponential and emotional religious dimensions refer to the connection between a believer and God. The connection can either be mysterious or spiritual (Sciences 360, 2009). These dimensions can also involve an individual’s inner peace, devotion, ecstasy and guilt among others. Spiritual connection is mostly associated with personal inner experiences between the believer and God. In these experiences, the believer has veneration feelings towards God that has separation from mysterious experiences. According to the Catholic religion, spiritual experience is sometimes felt when an individual is walking in the Church. It is felt through the standing of an individual’s hair. On the other hand, mystical experience is like being the same with God and does not come from a separate being with God. The mystical feeling is a very inward feeling that helps an individual to understand and discover the mysterious connection between him or her and God. It is an insight of a person being a single item with God. For example, a Catholic believer can sometimes feel as if he or she is the same as God when in deep spiritual prayers. Therefore, experiential and emotional dimensions help in enhancing spiritual believer awareness. Additionally, these religious dimensions provide useful approaches in getting unity among believers. Narrative and mythic religious dimensions generally refer to where religious stories originated. The stories can be in the form of tales, fables or history. Mythical dimensions are sometimes used to interpret the way human beings live in the world. This means that though the stories are also known as myths, they may or may not be true, but they aim at providing meaning of the stories being told (Sciences 360, 2009). The stories usually vary and may include: prophecies, adventures or creation. For example, end of the world prophecies have been widely experienced by different persons who claim to be prophets or prophetesses. According to the Catholic religion, taking of the Holy Communion is considered a mythical religious dimension. In view of the Catholic religion, taking Holy Communion during Catholic masses is an event that replicates Christ’s story and his disciples before he was crucified on the Cross. Another means through which mythical dimension can be explained is through rituals offered. The rituals offered, which can be through sacrifices enables creation of the sacred story. Generally, narratives or mythical religious dimensions are believed to bring believers closer to the Almighty. In conclusion, Eastern Catholic Church in the Middle East consists of self governing or autocephalous principles. On the other hand, every culture has its form of religious beliefs. Religions are usually shaped through the use various religious dimensions. As discussed above, the Catholic Church utilizes the seven religious dimensions differently. For example, Exponential and emotional religious dimensions create connections between believers and God. References Catholic News Agency . The Rites of the Catholic Church. Retrieved on 5th Dec 2014 from: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/liturgy/rites/the-rites-of-the-catholic-church/ Goheen, M.W., & Bartholomew, C.G. (2008). Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Christian Worldview. Michigan: Baker Academic. Lewis, C.S. (2009). Mere Christianity. New York City: HarperCollins. O’Mahony, A., & Loosely, E. (2009). Eastern Christianity in the Modern Middle East. London: Routledge. Parry, K. (2010). The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Schaeffer, F.A. (2013). He Is There and He Is Not Silent. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers. Sciences 360 (2009, July 24). Elements of Religion. Retrieved on 5th Dec 2014 from: http://www.sciences360.com/index.php/elements-of-religion-14101/ Vayalilkarottu, J. (2012). Holistic health and well-being: A psycho-spiritual/religious and theological perspective. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 5, 347-350. Read More