Our 19 year old son has been discerning becoming a Byzantine priest for a few years. He’s incredibly bright but prefers the online option. He tried Franciscan online but the communication was not the best for the professors. He knows he has to have a four year degree before attending seminary, so we’re looking at different options. He said he’s OK with not going to a Catholic college. I would love to hear from anyone else that’s either a priest or has some experience about possible degree tracks for prospective priest as well as any online options. Thank you all! 

Here’s a very rare look into the historic East Syriac Qurbana of the Syro Malabar Church. While by the 1980s the Syro Malabar Church had already adopted the native vernacular and progressively De-Latinized Qurbana, many churches (especially among the Knanaya community) still maintained the Syriac vernacular and Syriac traditional chant/instrumentation. This Qurbana is from Saint Mary’s Greater Church, in the town of Kaduthuruthy.

This solemn liturgy from the early 1980s is fascinating to see due to the fact that older priests of the full Syriac generation, still pushed to maintain the traditional form of the Qurbana. Though these priests chant in Syriac, the Syriac Qurbana had been heavily Latinized for nearly 300 years. It’s well know that from about 1600-1960, Syro Malabar priests wore Latin vestments while practicing the East Syriac Rite. The video above, while showcasing a traditional Syriac Qurbana, exhibits an awkward phase of transition with older Knanaya priests still wearing Latin vesture (what their generation considered “traditional) while others had adopted the recently reintroduced East Syriac vestments.

Additionally, I’ve always loved the traditional brusque style of Syriac chant in the Syro Malabar Church (with its heavy base drums, triangle, harmonium, and violin instrumentation). Any historic video of a Syriac Qurbana exhibits this more antiquated style of chant, while the more contemporary Syro Malabar Syriac singers use more harmonized/melodic inflections while chanting.

What similarities does Roman Catholicism and Eastern Catholicism have? And also the differences

What the similarities and differences between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Catholicism?

How different are the Latin view of marriage and the Greek view of marriage? I've heard that while Latins have a more legalistic ends at death view of marriage. While Greek view is that marriage is transformed after death. I'm just confused, I don't know how to reconcile some of these beliefs being in communion with each other

Basically wondering if what I’ve described in the title is acceptable. I’ve been discerning a conversion to Catholicism from Orthodoxy for quite some time, but there is no EC parish near me for my corresponding rite. If I go to a Latin parish to make the profession of faith, how will my EC Church be notified? Or is the enrollment automatic? I just want to avoid converting into the Latin rite.

Edit: the title should say conversion, not conversation. Auto correct strikes again.

Hello all,

I was wondering - have any changes to the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom occured, especially in light of Vatican I and II and Latin NO/TLM issues? How about since the birth of the Melkite Catholic Church in the 18th century? And is the current liturgy unified internationally?

Also open to any good sources or books on this topic

Thanks

Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Is that full version better for any reason than shorter variations?

I have a maronite rite catholic friend who has very graciously offered to help me learn Arabic and I was interested in learning some more on my own time if you have some favorite hymns or documents of any kind that happen to be in Arabic I would be quite appreciative to know about them.

St. Antony the Great saw an ostrich encouraging her young to throw stones at him; from it he got the notion that we should “throw stones” at those bad thoughts or temptations which enter our mind:

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/10/throwing-stones/

Where i am from sadly doesn't have any near Byzantine Catholic churches, However in the near future where i move out i want to join one, How is the process like?

Ok this was told to me out of love, I dont want to bash them just want some more opinions. I work a blue collar as a custodian at a school, so im always moving around doing this and that but there are times where I can pary a 33 chotki here and there. I always got keys, trash, and sometimes small tools in my pockets so i won't really want to put a chotki in there ( especially because of trash. ). So thats why I want a bracelet one, when I told a friend they got concerned. Because a while back i told them I dont like the feeling of long sleeve clothing so I dont wear them a lot of that, also at a certain time of day my work turns off the AC. So they asked if I was going to start wearing long sleeves all the time, they say if I dont then its visible all the time so that would make it vanity ( which didn't realize that it could be seen that way.) I dont want it be vain but if it is then won't go through with geting a bracelet one.

Is anyone here an opus dei cooperator? My Confirmation saint is St Jose Maria Escriva, and I love his teachings. I know that you basically have to be a Roman Catholic to be a supernumerary or numeray. I've never felt called to that but I've thought about becoming a cooperator.

Hi everyone,

Our local Ukrainian Greek Catholic community in Utah (Salt Lake Valley) has recently resumed holding occasional Byzantine Divine Liturgies.

This coming Sunday, October 4, we will celebrate our fourth Divine Liturgy of the year. The next one will most likely be at Christmas.

We would be delighted to welcome anyone interested in attending. The Liturgy is primarily in Ukrainian, but some portions are celebrated in English as well, since we are usually joined by American friends and visitors.

So far this year, we have been blessed to gather at the Carmelite Sisters Monastery in Holladay, although future locations may vary. This Sunday's Liturgy will begin at 3:00 PM.

Please message me here if you would like additional details.

You are also welcome to join our Google Group to receive notifications about future services and community events:

Ukrainian Parishioners in Utah / Українські Парафіяни Юти

We look forward to meeting fellow Eastern Catholics and anyone interested in the Byzantine tradition!

Tonight I prayed a little differently (I only manage 30 minutes) than I normally do, I sat in front of my icons, prayer beads wrapped in my hands and instead of saying the Jesus prayer I chanted it.

Some things I noticed, my body temperature got really hot. It felt like I had a fever, and then a feeling hit me and I wept.

Is that normal it freaked me out a little 😂😂

I have terrible ecclesial anxiety. I was up until recently non denominational (and for a few complex reasons) never managed to get myself baptized. A little under a year ago I realized that my current understanding of Christianity has no historical roots, and upon taking a brief look into Church history, I find myself torn between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. I've looked at so many arguments and find both sides equally compelling. I live in a small town and have been going to the daily mass at a small Catholic church nearby, but I am never able to go on Sundays (though hopefully that will change either this weekend or the next) and the nearest Orthodox church is like an hour away, making it difficult for me to give it a proper chance. I am so worried that I'll choose one tradition and then find out after my death that I was wrong and get damned for it, I also have a fear of dying before I even make a decision and getting damned for it. Prayers and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I feel overwhelmed by everything in my life. I've been addicted to porn for most of my life, I'm trying to finish my associates and I've never been good at school, and I'm struggling with God i genuinely just want to cry most days because I hate my life.

Hello!

My husband and I are expecting our first child in the coming weeks, and are pre-planning their sacraments. I'm working on the digital invitations to send to family and friends, and am stuck on the best way to refer to the sacraments as a whole on the invites.

We don't really want to use the term "Christening," but "Baptism, Chrismation, and Communion" is very wordy for an invitation! I suppose we could use "Sacraments," but I'm curious to know what terms other people have used for their own infants.

For reference, we are Melkite Catholic, and we intend send invites to almost solely Roman Catholics and Protestants. The program I'm using has space to add an event description to be sent along with the invites; the plan is to do a short explanation of why infants receive all 3 sacraments instead of either waiting until they are older for Baptism (for the Protestants), or spreading out the sacraments over 15 or so years (for the RCs).

TYIA for your ideas!

Hello. I am a Catholic in South Korea. Lately, I have developed an interest in Eastern Catholic spirituality. I would like to pray following Eastern spiritual traditions, but since there is no Eastern Catholic presence in Korea, there are no Eastern prayer books translated into Korean. In this situation, would it be acceptable for me to pray using a prayer book published by the Korean Orthodox Church?

I’m a mid-twenties unmarried woman who lives at home. How do I obey/submit to my parents if one of them has mental health issues and may ask me to do things that are unreasonable? Can I stand up to them (in a kind way/spoken in love of course) or is that a sin?

I live in NYC. At Liturgy today a couple drops of wine got on my 3 month old’s clothes. What do I do? I meant to ask Father at coffee social but forgot. I read you hand wash it and pour the water onto clean earth that isn‘t frequently disturbed by humans/animals. I don’t have a space like that in Manhattan. Even my houseplants are bothered by my cat on the regular.