Vatican publishes guide on Eastern Christian traditions

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The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches prepared a pastoral guide in view of the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches, which will be celebrated from May 12 to 14, to make known the richness of the Christian traditions of the Eastern world.

As explained by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, it is a tool conceived to “integrate a new dimension to the Roman experience of pilgrimage” that accommodates the identity of the Eastern Churches “according to the spirituality of each one.”

In an interview With Vatican News, the cardinal specified that this document speaks to the Eastern Churches, “indicating to them that there are specific riches in their traditions that the Jubilee can clearly highlight (…) above all, at this time of serious difficulties for all the Eastern Churches (Middle East, Ukraine, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea…).”

The guide—which can be found at website of the dicastery—also includes part of the history of Rome during the period of the Eastern Roman Empire, which culminated with the fall of Constantinople and the conquest of the rest of the Byzantine territories by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century.

From this part of the document it is clear that the Roman Church “has been strongly inhabited by oriental communities that have long preserved their own specificity.” Specifically, Cardinal Gurgerotti provided curious data such as the existence of “eleven Greek Popes and almost a dozen Syriacs,” which proves that “it was not a marginal presence.”

“Roma, capital of the worldwas also a city in which the orientals identified themselves as integrated into its structure, and not simply as small emigrant communities,” he explained.

The pastoral guide also includes concrete indications for the Churches to live this time of grace “with conscience and courage and thus be credible witnesses of hope,” said Cardinal Gurgerotti.

Furthermore, he highlighted that this document is also useful for Westerners to

“understand that there are very ancient forms of expression of Christianity, from the time of Christ himself (…) that constitute the unity in the diversity of Christian identity.”

In this way, he stressed that Christianity is not a “monolithic” reality.

“We also saw in the recent Synod (of bishops) a plural reality in which we may not even understand each other, not because of ill will but because of different roots. Being together, exchanging the peculiarities of each one, was one of the great discoveries of the Synod,” he said.

In his opinion, the artistic and cultural heritage of the Eastern Churches is not sufficiently known. “Decades ago, a document from the then Congregation for Catholic Education prescribed that teaching on the Eastern Churches be taught in all Latin seminaries. But it is probably one of the most ignored documents of the many that the Holy See has prepared,” he emphasized.

To make up for this lack of knowledge, the new pastoral guide proposes pilgrimage itineraries to better understand the traces of the Eastern presence in Rome.

Thus, he proposed a list with the most significant oriental sacred places such as, for example, the church of S. María in Cosmedin, which is managed by the Greek-Melkite Church and where the liturgy is Greek and some small parts in Arabic.

Gurgerotti showed that although little is known about them, there are “numerous schools inhabited by oriental seminarians (for Romanians, Ukrainians, Byzantines in general, Greeks, Armenians, Syro-Malabarians and Syro-Malankars, Maronites…)”.

On the other hand, he explained that a special school was created a few years ago for oriental nuns who study in Rome. “Later, several places of worship were entrusted or built for Eastern Catholics and also for Eastern Orthodox,” he concluded.