r/EasternCatholic

I am new to eastern Catholicism so I am wondering what are the differences in theology between west and eastern Catholics. Like can eastern Catholics reject the Filioque or do you believe in essence energy distinction and how can I learn about eastern Catholic theology. I know eastern Catholics have a different view of sin as in it’s seen as a sickness and yall have a different view of hell.

really just recommend me some books or sources about eastern theology please.

Edit: I now know that eastern Catholics do accept the Filioque and that some rites accept essence energy distinction.

Our parish just launched our new website:

https://www.patronagechurch.com/

How did we do? Any feedback or recommended edits?

Thank you! I'd love to hear your impressions so we can improve it further.

Hello! I have a bit of a story for context, but if you’d rather skip it, TL;DR: what Bible would you recommend for someone who wants to learn more about Eastern Catholicism? I’d also appreciate any recommendations for books, videos, podcasts, or other resources.

Ok, now onto the long version.

For some background, my father and I both grew up Roman Catholic. He married my mom and converted her. I was baptized, attended Mass regularly, went to Catholic school from kindergarten through eighth grade, had my first communion, and read from the ESV of the bible. Additionally, I grew up around many Arab Christians (who were apart of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church) and Muslims, so I was exposed to a variety of religious traditions from a young age. And if it matters, I’m half Sicilian (my dad) and half Middle Eastern (my mom), but I’m not very connected to the Middle Eastern side, haha. My dad’s family is very religious, while my mom’s family isn’t.

In seventh grade, I experienced a very traumatic event that completely shook my faith. For the first time, I began questioning everything I had been taught. I struggled to understand why God would allow something like that to happen, and over time my doubts grew stronger.

Partway through eighth grade, I left Catholic school due to the stress of the traumatic event I had gone through and finished the year at a public school. Many of my friends there were Muslim, and while I didn’t really have any specific questions at first, they would often ask if I wanted to learn more about Islam, and I was open to exploring. The more I learned, the more fascinated I became. Their explanations seemed logical and compelling to me at the time, and eventually I converted to Islam in March of 2022.

Beginning in early 2026 and now continuing on into the last several months, I’ve found myself wrestling with new questions. More and more, I feel drawn back toward Christianity. It’s difficult to explain, but I genuinely feel as though the Lord is calling me back.

As I’ve been reflecting on my childhood, I’ve realized that many of the Christian families who influenced me growing up were Eastern Catholics. Something about Eastern Christianity (specifically the spirituality, theology, and traditions) has been especially appealing to me as I explore my faith again.

The problem is that I don’t really know where to begin. What version of the Bible would you recommend? Are there any books that would help someone who is exploring Eastern Catholicism from the beginning? Are there any YouTube channels, podcasts, websites, or other resources that you think would be helpful? I’m open to anything.

Thank you for reading this and thank you for your time. :)

Hello!

Im Ukrainian, and I’m shipping off to US Army Basic Training/AIT next week at Ft. Sill (OK), and was wondering what icon I should reasonably bring?

I’m not expecting the ability to have some massive full icon corner (or even my own space at all), but I just need some understanding as to what I’ll be able to have/possibly display.

My choices are:

1. A small laminated prayer card of the Theotokos with infant Christ. (Maybe I could hang it in my wall locker? Fine if not, can always just hold at lights out and say a prayer). Thinking about keeping it in my PC (hat).

2. A small icon, about 2x3 inches, wooden, fits in pocket even with other things in them. Pretty ideal choice assuming no other insight.

3. a slightly larger icon, ~4x5 inches. Much less realistic choice, but if there’s something I haven’t considered this may be possible. I can pretty much fit it in my pocket, just not comfortably. Maybe leave in wall locker if I bring it (propped up?).

Just the small card is obviously just as fulfilling, ideally I could have the fullest freedom to bring and display all of them, but of course that’s a pretty brain dead expectation.

Of course I’m not expecting to hang anything (that would be stupid and kinda overzealous), but I definitely want to maintain my faith, as basic training is not exactly eastern-Catholic (I’ll have no liturgy- that’s fine, I love the Mass too!)

Again I’d can’t stress enough how little I’m expecting from the military, they trash your locker if unlocked, and give you like 2 minutes to clean it- just to mess with you. I’m not looking to have a 8x10 inch icon of the Theotokos hanging above my bunk, just something modest to look forward to at the end of the day, and maybe prop up against the wall before bed.

On the plus side there’s almost a 0% chance of the icon being damaged or mistreated, they basically have to leave religious items/books untouched while messing with your. Most people say they destroyed everything they brought, soaked it all in trash water, then left it all around the room- leaving their Bible and rosary nicely on their bed.

This is of course my first time doing this, so any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

I have the impression (maybe completely misguided) that the eastern traditions are much more reverent towards clergymen, mainly priest but especially bishops, than western catholics.

Am I wrong? Do you have the same respect towards clergy of other rights, like latín priests and bishops?

Hello!

Firstly, I've been getting back into my byzantine roots only for a few weeks (former Orthodox, never practiced, went to roman catholic churches for a year)

In the Latin church, if for any arbitrary reason you can't keep a day of abstinence/fast, your parish priest can give you another penitence instead.

This weekend I'm visiting my parents and they wanted to make a BBQ (I see them only once a few months).

Is there such a thing in the byzantine rite (hence the fast of sts peter and paul just started)? I'm a Romanian greek catholic and when I asked my priest for another penitence he said okay but that I should confess this next time I go to confession? I don't understand.

I asked him to clarify and told him what I knew from the Latin church and he said "oh yeah... it will not be such big of a sin" and he told me to say two rosary decades on each day.

The name “Yahweh” comes from the pagan storm god Yahweh. Does The Bible say that God’s name is “Yahweh”? No. God says to Moses “I am who I am” to Moses in Exodus 3:14. The word “I am” in the original Hebrew text was written as Ehyeh, which sounds close to Yahweh.

The original name was shifted to Yahweh after Canaanite pantheon worshippers died out.

If you can debunk this or prove me wrong, show your evidence. I’m open to anything. God bless.

Hello! I know that communion is given to infants as soon as they are baptized. But if a baby is baptized before 6 months old (before the introduction of solid food), how is communion handled? Do parents typically wait for the child to start eating solids? Does the priest only gives a drop of the Blood, and if so, how?

Thank you for your answers! Now that I have a baby, that's the kind of questions that I keep thinking about, haha!

Should I pray, Lord Jesus Christ, son of God have mercy on me a sinner or should I pray Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.

I am still technically Latin Rite, but I very much so have immersed myself into the Eastern Rite, I pray Eastern prayers more than Latin, I sign myself outside of Roman Churches the Eastern way, and I pretty much consider myself to be in practice (outside of canonical stuff) [due to difficulty I still don’t fast on Wednesdays outside of fasting time yet though!] The content I consume though, whether it be books, or videos, or music, or devotions, I feel are more Orthodox than Catholic. I’ve started gaining devotions to some Orthodox Saints, and I think that I consume more Orthodox content than Catholic. It is just very difficult to find good Eastern Catholic content online, and I find a lot of Orthodox stuff very inspiring, whether it be the Saints or the music or the literature, or even services, as I attend Orthodox Vespers 2-3 times a month. Is this normal for you guys, would you say I’m still living an okay life in terms of not having indifference, in terms of an Eastern {~} Catholic?

I honestly don't know why I am putting this in here but please pray for me and my family. My mother and I had a big fight yesterday were I told her how I felt hurt by some of the things her and my fat h er did and said in my childhood and it devolved into a pretty big fight were I said I hate my life and that I would stop going to church.

I know I post alot about having issues with the church but I have alot of wounds about much time my parents spent doing church activities compared to spending time with us kids, how little I was catechised as a kid, and how angry many adults were when I was growing up.

Much of this has just come to a head recently and with the issues I have at my parish I honestly just want nothing to do with the church anymore. I told my mom I'm done with the church, for the aforementioned reasons.

Again I honestly don't know why I'm posting this here, maybe I just needed to process things.

Do you find your day goes better when you start it in prayer?

I'm in the habit of starting it with social media and i think this hurts me.