Eastern Rites

The Eastern Rites are the churches of Eastern Europe and the Middle East that are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. They are also called "Eastern Catholic" or "Uniate[?]" churches. Western (or "Latin-Rite") Catholic bishops are subject directly to the pope, but each Eastern-rite Catholic bishop is subject indirectly to the pope via one of six Catholic "patriarchs of the east", who sit in Alexandria, Antioch, Antelias[?], Baghdad, Beirut, and Damascus. (There is a seventh patriarch of the east in Jerusalem, but his church follows the Latin Rite.)

These churches accept Catholic dogma, but retain their own hierarchies and liturgies, and follow some laws and customs that differ from those of Western "Latin-Rite" Catholic churches. For example, their priests need not be celibate, and their parish priests rather than diocesan bishops normally confirm parishoners, using the chrismation rite rather than the rite used in the West.

The Eastern-Rite Churches:

Greek liturgy

• The Albanian Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Belarussian Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Byzantine Catholic Church in America[?]
• The Croatian Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Czech Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Georgian Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Melkite Catholic Church[?]
• The Romanian Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Russian Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Slovak Greek Catholic Church[?]
• The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church[?]

West Syriac liturgy

• The Maronite Catholic Church
• The Syrian Catholic Church
• The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church[?]

East Syriac liturgy

• The Chaldean Catholic Church[?]
• The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

Armenian liturgy

• The Armenian Catholic Church[?]

Coptic liturgy

• The Coptic Catholic Church[?]
• The Ethiopian Catholic Church[?]