What (Who) are the Eastern Catholic Churches?
As early as the beginning of the 2nd century A.D. the famous Syrian bishop, Ignatius of Antioch, called the Christian Church Catholic, meaning, Universal. This was because (as the Greek root of that word implies) Christians were in unity all over the then known world. This unity lasted until the heresies of the 4th and 5th centuries began ripping apart the fabric of the Church. During her early missionary expansion around the Mediterranean and into Persia and even into China and India, the Church adapted to the languages, customs, thought patterns and spiritualities of the areas in which she took root. Thus, while the early Catholic Churches agreed on the set of beliefs stated in the Creeds and celebrated in her diverse liturgies, these Churches appeared different in their outward expressions. Christians in Antioch celebrated the faith differently from those in Rome, and these in turn differed from Christians in Alexandria and the Kerala Coast of India and other places. Yet all were Ch
