Byzantine Catholics [A Crash Course on One of the Many Eastern Catholic Churches]

(Borrowed without permission from The All Saints Byzantine Catholic Church in Ft. Myers, Florida....)

In the mountainous region of Carpatho-Rus, known also as Carpatho-Ruthenia, situated between present day Slovakia and Ukraine, there is a group of Eastern Christians. Evangelized in the ninth century by those equals-to-the-apostles, Saints Cyril and Methodius, this group received the Holy Gospel and Sacred Mysteries (Sacraments) from the Byzantine Church of Constantinople. Although Cyril and his brother, Methodius, were Greek (from Thessalonika), they promoted the use of the ancient Slavonic language in worship. This language, later known as Old Church Slavonic, would become the liturgical language of the Carpatho-Rusyns and all Slavonic Christians, both Orthodox and Catholic. In time, Cyril and Methodius brought their liturgical books to Rome to receive the blessings of Pope Hadrian, and he in turn blessed their mission of establishing the Greek (Byzantine) Catholic religion in the Carpathian mountains of Central Europe.

Over time, a rift grew between East and West; and, in 1054, estrangement was realized with the Great Schism of Constantinople and Rome. Being an Eastern Church, the Carpatho-Rusyns were eventually drawn into by this unfortunate break and became members of the Orthodox Church. This ecclesia sui iuris (self-governing church) of Mukachevo-Uzhorod in time sought reunion with the Church of Rome, re-establishing its Catholic faith while maintaining the spirituality, ceremonies, and discipline of the Eastern Church. On April 24, 1646, in Saint George Castle Garden in Uzhorod, a number of priests and faithful proclaimed vocally their reunion with the Catholic Church, re-establishing the unity that Christ so ardently prayed for. From this nucleus would grow a reborn church which the Empress Maria Theresa of Austro-Hungary would later call "The Greek Catholic Church" -- "Greek" in its ritual, theology and art; "Catholic" in union with the Bishop of Rome. In time, the reunion would spread to other areas of Europe, and new eparchies (dioceses) would be created in such places as Presov (Slovakia), Krizevci (Croatia), Hajdudorog and Miskolc (Hungary).

 

In the 1870’s, the first wave of Carpatho-Rusyn immigration brought significant numbers of Greek Catholics to the United States of America. The first parish they founded on these shores was Saint Michael's in Shanandoah, PA followed by an establishment in Freeland, PA. Others were established in places like Wilkes-barre and Kingston, PA, and in Jersey City and Passaic, NJ. 

The Greek Catholic Church in America continued to grow, and there was seen a growing need for hierarchial leadership. In 1905, Father Andrew Hodobay was sent by Rome as Apostolic Visitor to care for the immigrant church; but, being a Hungarian, he was not the proper leader for a predominantly Slavic church. Rome, then, in turn, sent two men to care for what would become two separate administrations for the American Greek Catholics: Father Peter Poniatishyn for the Ukrainians, and Father Gabriel Martyak for the Carpatho-Rusyns (Ruthenians). By this time parishes were springing up all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio and the Northeast. In 1924 Rome raised the status of the American Greek Catholic Ruthenian community to that of an Exarchate (Apostolic Vicariate) with Bishop Basil Takach as its first Exarch, establishing Saint John the Baptist Cathedral in Pittsburgh’s Homestead/Munhall neighborhood as its seat. Meanwhile, Greek Catholic immigration continued from Carpathia as well as Hungary and Croatia. Not only were parishes and priests being established and assigned, but the Sisters of Saint Basil the Great received a call from Bishop Takach to minister to the immigrant church, and they eventually settled in Uniontown, PA, after a number of temporary locations.

 

As the decades of the twentieth century progressed, missionary efforts led to the establishment of parishes in California, Florida and even in Alaska. The term "Greek Catholic" would change to "Byzantine Catholic," stressing that the church was not Hellenic (Greek) in nationality, and that the spirituality and liturgical services were of the Byzantine Rite; also, English, now the vernacular, became the dominant liturgical language. The church was then honored in its growth and permanence by the elevation of Pittsburgh as an Eparchy (diocese) in 1963, with Bishop Nicholas T. Elko as first Eparch, after serving as Exarch since 1955. In addition, the East Coast was given their own Eparchy, Passaic, NJ, with Bishop Stephen J. Kocisko as first Eparch, and with the church of Saint Michael the Archangel designated as the Cathedral. The Eparchy of Passaic would encompass the entire eastern sea coast of the United States, from Maine to Florida. In 1968, Bishop Stephen Kocisko was transferred to the Eparchy of Pittsburgh, and subsequently Bishop Michael Dudick was consecrated and enthroned as the second Eparch of Passaic. The crowning achievement of this near century of ecclesiastical growth would be the creation, in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, of a Metropolian Church ecclesia sui uris based in Pittsburgh. This Metropolia would have as its suffragan sees the Eparchy of Passaic (covering the East) and the newly-created Eparchy of Parma, OH, (in the Midwest) governed by Bishop Emil Mihalik as its first eparch. The church of Saint John the Baptist in Parma, OH, would serve as Cathedral for the new eparchy. Bishop Mihalik endeavored to establish more churches in the outer-most parts of his eparchy in places such as Las Vegas, NV, Albuquerque, NM, and Denver, CO. The growth of these Western missions and churches was acknowledged by Pope John Paul II through the erection of a fourth jurisdiction for Byzantine Catholics: the Eparchy of Van Nuys, CA; and, through the selection of Bishop Thomas V. Dolinay (then Auxiliary Eparch of Passaic) as its first Eparch. He shepherded the Eparchy from his seat at Holy Protection of the Mother of God Cathedral in Van Nuys until he was chosen, in 1991, to be Metropolitan of Pittsburgh, succeeding the ailing former shepherd, Archbishop Stephen J. Kocisko. Consequently, the auxiliary Eparch of Passaic, Bishop George Kuzma, was enthroned as the second Eparch of Van Nuys, and, in 1997, moved his seat of administration to Saint Stephen Protomartyr Pro-Cathedral in Phoenix, AZ. In 1996, Bishop Michael J. Dudick retired after a long and pastorally beneficial ministry in the Eparchy of Passaic. Upon his retirement, the Holy Father appointed Bishop Andrew Pataki (formerly Eparch of Parma), as the third Eparch of Passaic.

The spiritual life of the Byzantine Catholic Church was and continues to grow with assistance not only from the Basilians of Uniontown, but also from Monasteries for men and women, such as The Basilian Fathers of Mariapoch, Matawan, NJ, as well as from Holy Dormition Franciscan Monastery, Sybertsville, PA.

The Byzantine Catholic Church is an Eastern Church in union with Rome; Carpatho-Rusyn in background and flavor, but indeed an American Eastern Church celebrating the Gospel in words, symbols, and action. We are unique in our mystical theology, blending the colors of our many ikons with the congregational acapella chants; raising up our hands and our fragrant incense in prayer and inviting you to come and see who we are and what we are all about as part of the Eastern half of the Universal Church.

http://www.allsaintsbyzantinechurch.com/Site/Byzantine_Catholics.html

Stunned At This Turn of Events // (Edward Snowden Was Wrong About the Great Solar Flare As the Big "Killshot" That Posed a Danger to Earth)

Soooo many new books I don't even know where to begin... I'm at the library almost every day, now that I live 150 feet away from the damn place!!  I'm going to make a couple of posts about that later on.

The following is an excerpt from a book I recently read, "Thrashing in Ragwood."  About the life of a punk rock kid growing up in the middle of nowhere & how he copes with it all.  Good stuff, considering I don't read novels all that much.  I prefer non-fiction, as m//r readers know! 

"I am still having a hard time understanding how & why this happened. I am still having a hard time with how a person whom I once loved & who ostensibly loved me as well, could possibly sic the motherfucking cops on me?! WTF?!? Lemme' say it again, What. The. Fuck?! Wouldn't simply emailing me to say, "I don't want to talk to you anymore. Don't email me" work just as well? Why in the fuck would ANYONE call the fucking cops on another person--a FRIEND at that--just because they didn't wanna talk anymore?? Here's the bloody facts about Sharon (unless there's something I'm missing, this is the honest to goodness truth): I went to high school with this "woman" Sharon (A term used loosely.) We were both in the punk rock scene, and at the time there just weren't that many of us punkers here in Ragwood, Nebraska. This girl was basically what we called a "poseur." She was like a comic book version of a punker--a thick layer of white corpse paint over her acne ridden face, black eye shadow, black lipstick, a large dyed black fully charged mohawk (that actually looked kinda' cool), carefully ripped & torn jeans, and black combat boots. The thing about her that stood out most, believe it or not, wasn't her carefully put together appearance, but her insanely large nose!! I am not exaggerating when I say it was by & far the BIGGEST nose I have ever, EVER seen on any human being in my entire life!! To this day I have never seen one bigger!! Thick & wide, and very loooong. Too long. My guess is it made the simple act of eating difficult. I couldn't even imagine trying to kiss her! (Actually I can, since I did try to kiss her! More about that in a bit.) Her & I weren't friends, but we weren't enemies either. She had it rough back then, getting lunch & other object thrown at her by the jocks, and spit on, ridiculed, and bullied by the punk rockers, the tribe she was supposed to be most at home with! I used to feel sorry for her, especially watching her get beat up by one particularly tough Asian punker named Annie Shapiro. Annie had a reputation as a tough gal (the feminine equivalent of "tough guy" I suppose) and was a brown-belt in Ju Jitsu. But what could I do, I was bullied myself by Annie! Fast forward to 2007, and me & this now ex-punker girl started chatting via MySpace. We exchanged phone numbers & started talking on the phone and eventually made plans for a date. I was super excited, since after looking through Sharon's MySpace photo albums, it appeared that she had had a nose job, toned down the punker gal look, adopted a macrobiotic diet, laid off the booze & chain smoking, and was even into running & competing in marathons! She also made it clear that she was very, very horny and wanted to have sex with me, on the first date! This is something I normally don't do, since I'm always afraid of getting an STD or worse: and unwanted pregnancy. So she invited me over to her house--for sex--and to watch a DVD & talk. Well we didn't have sex, not that I couldn't have, but I told her I wanted to wait & see where this went. I knew I liked her a lot right away, and she told me she felt the same. Of course we eventually started sleeping together & we fell in love. The only problem was, I was out on bond from the county jail, fighting a bogus minor drug possession charge. I didn't tell this to Sharon right off the bat (who would?) but rather waited until closer to my trial date. With the prospect of jail in front of me, I was scared & not really looking to get into a new relationship. But then again, maybe having a girlfriend who would write to me, visit me, put money in my account, and order me books might be an asset! I would up coping a plea to 90 days in the county jail. True enough, Sharon stuck with me and did all the things I mentioned. This made the county jail much more bearable. I got out after doing seventy days and Sharon & I picked the relationship right back up. Things seemed to be going well, but I just didn't feel "right" with her. She argued with me a lot, picked fights, whined about nearly everything incessantly, and was just an all around negative Nancy & Debbie downer! She hated sex--especially foreplay--(what kind of woman doesn't like to have her guy go down on her or finger-fuck her? Weird!) and wasn't at all into romance or spontaneity whatsoever. And the kicker: Her nose was as big as it was back in h.s., maybe even bigger! Not to mention that she would never let me meet her parents, coworkers, or any of her friends. I began to suspect that she was cheating on me, and my suspicions turned out to be correct. We broke up, but remained friends. We still talked frequently, mainly via email & text messaging. We had a few arguments, but never anything serious. We tried getting back together, but it wasn't time yet. The wounds of her cheating on me were still too fresh. Plus, she was starting school full time, so we decided to wait til she was finished with school, ostensibly two years. (Apparently community college & dating were a bit too much for her at one time. Hey, I never said she was a smart woman! Wait: A butt ugly chick who hates to fuck and isn't all that smart? What the fuck was I thinking?! LOL!) Well, after all Sharon & went through together, the end result was that she tried to sic the law on me! Let me repeat that: she tried to sic the law on me, for emailing her. First of all, I emailed her to apologize for my part in things, owning up to where I went wrong, and to say I was sorry & that I wanted to make a formal amends to her. Then I emailed her to ask if we could talk about things, her, me, us, etc. That was about it. A normal person would have returned the email(s) with either an, "I forgive you" or a "fuck off" or something in between. Yeah, a "normal" person. But apparently not this chick. Nope. Playing with my heart, and then siccing the police on me..... Well, the world has my word: Never again. I'm 86'd. Lesson learned: Stay away from the mud puddles, they're full of piranhas.

" The Zionist Story " You must watch this!!! ♥

This is a fantastic video!  Educate yourself on the evils of modern day Zionism, as well as
it's terrible roots!  Then remember that modern Zionist's and their agenda(s) are promulgated
by pounding into everyone's head that  this Jewish Holocaust™ was the WORST thing that has
ever happened in the history of the earth!  Which is so laughable and so far from the truth that it
just makes one sick to keep hearing about it!  A farce!  A lie!  The Holocaust™ did NOT even 
happen the way the Zionist's keep telling us it did!

ARCTIC FLOWERS "Neon Tombs" & "s/t" & "Rats In Walls"

Here we have, for your listening pleasure, three songs by a new band (new to me) called ARCTIC FLOWERS!!! Great stuff, get into it!
 ♥♥♥