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"Melkites are the present day Catholics who follow
the Byzantine worship, theology, and spirituality whose tradition is in
the Middle East. The Melkites are not members of the Orthodox Church.
Melkites are members of the Catholic Church." -
http://melkite.org/Melkite.htm
In the beginning, after the
resurrection of Christ, there was one church. St. Peter was the first
Bishop of Antioch. As it spread, The Church took on the ways of the
nations, which accepted it. In this country, most Christian churches
are “Western” because their roots are in Western Europe, and their ways
reflect the culture of the German, Irish or Italian immigrants who
founded them.
Some American Churches, including ours,
were started by people from Eastern Europe or the Middle East. They
still keep the ways of the Holy Land (Jerusalem, where Christ founded
His Church; Antioch, where the name Christian was first used; Damascus,
where Saint Paul was converted) and their daughter Churches in Eastern
Europe. Because our ways reflect this Eastern culture, we are called
“Eastern” Churches.
At the time of the early Church, there
were several rich cultures in the Middle East and each of them has
given rise to a different church tradition. The traditions of this
church reflect the Greek or Byzantine culture, and so we are called
Greek Catholics or Byzantine Catholics (from Byzantium, the ancient name
for Constantinople.) Greek Catholics in the Middle East were also
nicknamed “Melkite”.
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Please join us for Divine Liturgy on Sundays at 10am
A coffee
social follows in the church hall.
Father Paul Frechette
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DISTINCTIVE TRADITIONS
As Eastern
Christians, we have a particular style of Christian living all our own.
We especially stress:
- A belief in our call to become
“partakers of Divine Nature" (2 Peter 1:4)
- Union with God through
the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments)
- A public life of worship,
fellowship, and service; in connection with
- An inner life of
prayer, fasting and sharing
- The need for ongoing spiritual effort
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