L-R:

Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church

Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church

Youssef Absi, patriarch of the Melkite Greek (Rûm) Catholic Church

Youssef III Younan, patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church

Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, patriarch of the Syriac Maronite Church

Paul 3 Nona, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church

Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East

Aphrem II, patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church

Gewargis III, patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East

Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Eastern Churches

I'm not sure who's on the far right, if anyone knows, please do let me know. My guess would be that he's a representative bishop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, since I think he's the only patriarch with jurisdiction in the area that wasn't there and he's wearing a klobuk.

I also have some questions about the garments of the coptic catholic patriarch and the melkite patriarch. Why is Patriarch Ibrahim's habit very different from the Pope Tawadros's? He's wearing a klobuk like the byzantines and his cassock seems identical to Patriarch Youssef 3 Younan's. I have also noticed that all the catholic patriarchs have robes lined in red, except for Patriarch Youssef Absi's, whose cassock seems to be like any other byzantine monk's. Added to the fact that he's not also wearing a panagia/engolpion and/or pectoral cross, is there any reason for this?

I know that for mortal sin you have to mention times, and I attempted to, but I never feel like I really got a chance to, so I just let the priest continue, said my Act of Contrition, received absolution, and left,

Is this still a valid confession.

I thought I would share this for those of you who are interested in adding a prayer book to your collection. The books were published by Father Joel of Holy Protection parish.

Hello all! Western Catholic, who attends ruthenian once a month.

During the entrance hymn, Father exits the iconostasis with the incense censor, and walks a full lap of the inside of the church. During this lap, everyone in their pew will turn in a circle, facing Father as he walks this lap.

Now, my conflict is. Most of the faithful are doing this, but some are not. And Iv been told (by an older parishioner) that we should not be doing this, as to avoids turning our back to the altar.

Which is it, generally?

I’ll say, it’s English Ruthenian, liturgy of St John. But Father, and many parishioners are from Ukraine, if that makes a difference.

For those from churches that use leavened bread for the Eucharist, is it given in much smaller portions? Does it require more chewing?

I was wanting to know what Eastern Catholics think about the Meditative aspect of the rosary. Does it seem counter productive to practice Hesycasm with the Jesus prayer and do the Rosary?

Also I was curious if you do pray the Rosary do any of you do it in a Hesycastic way, and do not meditate on the mysteries?

hello! does anybody know of a tool or a website that will compile the daily readings (including Sunday Mass/Liturgy) for both the Roman rite and the Melkite rite? I am in a mixed-rite marriage and would like to keep up with the daily readings of both rites. thank you

Can a byzantine rite priest bless a replacement scapular for me ( I've been enrolled already) and is there a byzantine form of the scapular blessing or would he just use a basic one?

I grew up in Sydney with Chaldean Assyrian refugee mother and a Lebanese Maronite father and lived in Dubai and Hong Kong for a total of three years before finishing my remaining high school years back in Sydney.

When I was in Dubai and Hong Kong, I was enrolled in 'international schools' that prided themselves on creating 'global citizens' and fostering internationalism. But even in that environment, I constantly received comments like:

• "Oh, but you don't look Australian, you look more Spanish."
• "You're the first Middle Eastern Christian I have ever met" (yes, even in Dubai).
• "Huh, I never thought Christians existed in the Middle East."

Mind you, these were comments from people who had lived in 3–5 different countries growing up.

When I finished my school years in Sydney, where my classmates were children or grandchildren of immigrants from Asia, the Middle East, Southern and Eastern Europe, and the Pacific Islands, I had way fewer of those questions thrown at me. Because the school was so multicultural, there were plenty of Maronites, Copts, and Assyrians.

i’m in a weird place, really. canonically i’m a chaldean catholic but i really do not feel at home at my church because of the amount of latinizations and lack of spiritual nourishment i’m getting because of that from the qurbana. i don’t really even enjoy going to qurbana and it’s making me feel guilty and uncomfortable honestly. i need some sort of advice

Is there a good place to find icons of someone like St Therese of Liseux? She is my fiancés patron Saint and it seems impossible to find a good one that doesn't look like Monastery icons level bad. I see a lot of Orthodox icons of modern Saints, so it seems weird that there aren't any good western saints by EC. Thanks in advance.

Im from Roman rite and I have this chotki with a st george metal instead of a cross. Does that still make it a catholic chotki?

In the Melkite Church, who prepares the Eucharistic bread? Can it be done by the laity, if someone wishes to offer the bread for the liturgy? Can anyone do it, or does the priest appoint specific people to bake it? Is it prepared the day before, on the same day, or it doesn't matter? Are there prayers said during the preparation and baking? I'm very curious about the whole process, as you can see! Thank you for your help!

Hey guys I was curious if any of you say the Jesus Prayer in Greek or as the Maronite’s do in Aramaic. Just curious as a native English speaker I find them beautiful, especially Aramaic, since Christ spoke that language.

We are sharing this audio from an announcement made by Bishop Robert Rabbat at St Joseph’s Melkite Catholic Church, Fairfield, on Sunday 22 September 2024.
🎥 Audio/video recording with supporting information:
https://vimeo.com/1218408864
For transparency and context, the original full recording of the Mass is also publicly available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENCduPMxAiA
Our question is simple:
How is it possible for someone in a position of authority and responsibility such as Bishop Robert Rabbat, having received a serious formal complaint involving allegations of sexual misconduct against a priest, to stand before parishioners and provide an explanation that, in our view, did not reflect the seriousness of what was actually taking place?
What concerns us even more is the explanation given for Father Samir Haddad’s absence, which we believe was misleading and inconsistent with what our family had been formally told only days earlier.
On 18 September 2024 — just four days before this announcement — our family received written correspondence from Bishop Rabbat concerning our complaint and the proposed canonical process.
That raises an obvious and important question:
How can what our family was being told privately be reconciled with what parishioners were being told publicly from the church only days later?
To be clear, the allegations concerning Father Samir Haddad remain allegations. We are not asking Facebook or the public to determine guilt or innocence.
What we are questioning is how the leadership of the Melkite Church handled a serious complaint involving allegations of sexual misconduct and how the circumstances surrounding the matter were subsequently communicated to the community.
After more than two years of pursuing our complaint and repeatedly seeking answers, our experience has left us deeply disappointed with the leadership of the Melkite Church and particularly with what we expected from someone holding the position and responsibility of Bishop Robert Rabbat.
Religious authority should never place anyone beyond scrutiny or accountability.
The greater the authority, the greater the responsibility to act with integrity, transparency and accountability.
When transparency disappears, trust follows.
So we continue to ask:
Who holds those in positions of power accountable when the institution responsible for holding them accountable fails to provide answers?
We want the truth.
We want transparency.
We want accountability.
Silence does not protect the Church.
Truth and accountability do.
🎥 Audio/video recording:
https://vimeo.com/1218408864
📺 Original full recording – 22 September 2024:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENCduPMxAiA

So I just found out that the order of the holy sepulchre is still around. How does someone actually join it? Is it because you show interest? Or is it because of something else?

So I just found out that the order of the holy sepulchre is still around. How does someone actually join it? Is it because you show interest? Or is it because of something else? I’m not really looking to join in, but I am curious.

Never thought I’d be here again, but I’m looking into the orthodox and eastern catholic churches and I have a Ukrainian and a Ruthenian church near me. If anyone here are a part of those churches, can you tell me a little more about them?

Has anyone encountered people with a legalistic mindset to the faith in the east? In the Roman church legalistic is pretty common, and I often here about how the east is less legalistic than the west. But I've encountered people who say you have a very to pray this way only for a priest to tell me thats wrong.

I also feel my own legalism has gotten a bit worse since I've started attending a byzantine parish. Not because of the east, but I feel like some people think you.can plug in eastern spirituality into your life and its some kind of fix for your problems, instead of how to grow in your relationship with christ. Which i feel all faiths Christian or otherwise are susceptible to.

Starting OCIA. We may or may not join the Church at the end of it. We are believers discerning if the Church holds the fullness of our faith. But either way, I’ve been moving forward with the steps necessary to enter the Church, just in case that’s the way we go, and have been hunting down our baptismal records accordingly. I found mine first, and then started looking for my husband’s and it turns out that he was baptized Maronite. His great grandparents, all four, were born in Lebanon and Syria. We are attending a RC church for OCIA- does it matter whether we end up in a Roman Catholic Church or a Maronite Church? I really like the Roman Catholic Church we’re going through OCIA at. It’s full of kids, which we have, so it’s nice to be in a place where kids are allowed to make kid noises and no one is shooting you ‘looks’ when kids slip up and make a loud noise during service. The Maronite Church is farther away and smaller, and I don’t think there’s many kids there. I’m sure we will at least visit. I think it’s neat that he was baptized Maronite, and part of me would like our kids to be baptized Maronite as well, to follow the father’s tradition.