Functions and Features of Catholic Church in Ukrainian-Bizantine Rite - Ecclesiological Analysis

Jarosław Staroniak

Abstract

The reality of the Greek-Catholic Church of Byzantine-Ukrainian rite indicates that it is rooted within the Universal Church. At the same time it has its particular characteristics of the Eastern Catholic Churches and form its ecclesiastical identity. We can enlist the following features: an emphasis on the particularity, koinonia (the fellowship of the Holy Spirit) and Eucharistic ecclesiology; and also the cooperation between civil (cathedral) and monastic traditions with predominance of the monastic spirituality and abundance of the liturgical life. The essential characteristics of the Greek-Catholic Church were and remain as following: deep understanding of the cult of martyrdom and its practice and also the missionary message to certain nations and communities.