Greek Byzantine Catholic Church

The Greek Byzantine Catholic Church (Greek: Ελληνόρρυθμη

Καθολική Εκκλησία, Ellinórrythmi Katholikí Ekklisía) or the
Greek-Catholic Church of Greece is a sui iuris Eastern Catholic
particular church of the Catholic Church that uses the Byzantine
Rite in Koine Greek and Modern Greek. Its membership includes
inhabitants of Greece and Turkey, with some links with Italy and
Corsica. Greek Byzantine Catholic
Church
History
There were several failed attempts to repair the East-West Schism
between Greek and Latin Christians: the Council of Bari in 1098,
the Council of Lyon in 1274, and the Council of Florence in 1439.
Subsequently, many individual Greeks, then under Ottoman rule,
embraced communion with the Catholic Church. They typically
followed the Roman Rite of the Latin Church, maintaining their
parishes through contact and support mostly from the Venetians. Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
Classification Eastern Catholic
However, it was not until the 1880s that a particular church
specifically for Greek Catholics who followed the Byzantine rite Governance Sui iuris
was built in the village of Malgara in Thrace. Before the end of the Structure Apostolic
19th century, two more such churches were built, one in
Exarchates
Constantinople and the other in Chalcedon.
Pope Francis
In 1826, Catholic priest John Marangos began a mission among Leader Bishop Manuel
the Orthodox Christians of Constantinople, where he managed the Nin
construction of a small community. In 1878, he moved on to
Apostolic Exarch of
Athens, where he died in 1885 after he had founded a church. In
Greece
addition, he won over two small villages in Thrace to the Catholic
faith. Associations Congregation for
the Oriental
After 1895, the Assumptionists began their mission in
Churches
Constantinople, a seminary and two other small towns, founded in
1910; there were about 1,000 worshipers with 12 priests, 10 of Region Greece, Turkey
which were Assumptionists. Liturgy Byzantine Rite

In 1907, a native Greek priest, Isaias Papadopoulos, the priest who Headquarters Holy Trinity
had built the church in Thrace, was appointed vicar general for the Cathedral
Greek Catholics within the Apostolic Delegation of Origin June 11, 1911
Constantinople, and in 1911, he received episcopal consecration
Separated from Greek Orthodox
and was put in charge of the newly established ordinariate for
Greek Byzantine Rite Catholics, which later became an exarchate. Branched from Catholic Church
The particular Church of Byzantine Rite Greek Catholics was Congregations 4
being founded. Much more numerous were the Catholic Greeks of
Members 6,016
the Latin Church, who formed the majority of the population in
some Aegean islands. Ministers 11[1]
As a result of the conflict between Greece and Turkey after the First World War, the Greek Catholics of
Malgara and of the neighbouring village of Daudeli moved to Giannitsa in Macedonia, where today lives a
sizeable community, and many of those who lived in Istanbul emigrated or fled to Athens, one being the
bishop who had succeeded to the position of exarch, and the religious institute of the Sisters of the
Pammakaristos, founded in 1920.

In 1932, the territory of the Exarchate for Byzantine-Rite Greek Catholics was limited to that of the Greek
state, and a separate Exarchate of Constantinople was established for those resident in Turkey. Continued
emigration and anti-Greek nationalist incidents by Turks, such as the Istanbul Pogrom, extremely reduced
the number of the Greek Catholics in Turkey. The last resident Greek-Catholic priest in Constantinople died
in 1997 and has not since been replaced. The only regular services in the Greek-Catholic Church of the
Holy Trinity there are held by exiled Chaldean Catholics living in the city.

Vocations to the Greek Byzantine Catholic Church are largely drawn from the Greek islands of Syros and
Tinos, which both have sizable Catholic populations.

Bishop Manuel Nin (titular bishop of Carcabia) is current Apostolic Exarch of the Byzantine Rite Catholics
in Greece.

Byzantine Rite Catholic Greeks in Greece number were mildly rising to 6,016 (6,000 in Greece and 16 in
Turkey) as of 2017.[2] In Athens, the main Greek Catholic church is the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Athens.

Although not under the jurisdiction of the Greek Byzantine Catholic Church, a Greek-Catholic community
of the descendants of expatriated Greeks exists at Cargèse, in Corsica. A priest based in Athens,
Archimandrite Athanasios Armaos, visits Cargèse several times a year to conduct services in the Greek
church.[3]

Byzantine Greek Catholics

Notable Greek Byzantine, or Eastern, Catholics (also called Uniates for favouring the Union of the
Churches) include:

George Acropolites, historian

George Metochites, deacon
Bessarion, Cardinal
Constantine XI Palaiologos, last Emperor of Byzantium
Isidore of Kiev, Cardinal
Theodorus Gaza, scholar
Gregory III of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch
Leo Allatius, scholar
Nilus the Younger, abbot
Giuseppe Schirò, Arbëresh scholar

Exarchs
George Calavassy, from 1932 to 1957
Hyakinthos Gad, from 1957 to 1975
Anargyros Printezis, from 1975 to 2008
Dimitri (Dimitrios) Salachas, from 2008 to 2016
 Manuel Nin, from 2016

See also
Related institutions outside of Greece:

Sant'Atanasio
Pontifical Greek College of Saint Athanasius

Historical connections:

Italo-Albanian Catholic Church (the Byzantine Catholic church of the Arbëreshë/Albanian

minority in Italy)

Other:

Catholic Church in Greece, including the more numerous Latin-rite Church in the country
Church of Greece, an Orthodox Church

Notes

References
1. Roberson, Ronald G. "The Eastern Catholic Churches 2010" (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0120302155251/http://www.cnewa.us/source-images/Roberson-eastcath-statistics/eastcath
olic-stat10.pdf) (PDF). Eastern Catholic Churches Statistics. Catholic Near East Welfare
Association. Archived from the original (http://www.cnewa.us/source-images/Roberson-eastc
ath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat10.pdf) (PDF) on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
2. "The Eastern Catholic Churches 2017" (http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/Roberson-eas
tcath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat17.pdf) (PDF). CNEWA or Catholic Near East Welfare
Association. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
3. "L'exception grecque" (http://www.corsematin.com/article/culture-et-loisirs/lexception-grecqu
e), Corse-Matin (in French), 23 April 2011, retrieved 2011-04-23

External links
Website of the Greek Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Greece (http://www.elcathex.gr/)
Unofficial website of the Society of St John Chrysostom of the Holy Trinity Greek Catholic
Church in Istanbul (https://web.archive.org/web/20070927045016/http://rumkatkilise.org/)
A Greek Catholic church in Cargèse, Corsica (https://web.archive.org/web/2007092704122
6/http://www.corsica.net/corsica/fr/regajac/cargese/carg_egg.htm)
A Greek Catholic church in Rome (http://www.romaspqr.it/ROMA/Chiese_rinascimentali/s_at
anasio_dei_greci.htm)
Article on the Greek Catholic Exarchate by Ronald Roberson on the CNEWA website. (http://
www.cnewa.org/default.aspx?ID=72&pagetypeID=9&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1)

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