Praestantia ritus latini

PRAESTANTIA RITUS LATINI (Lat. ‘superiority of the Latin rite’) The sense of superiority characterizing the Latin Church in its relations to Eastern Christians in general, but including Catholics belonging to an Eastern rite (*Rite and Rites), and fostering a policy of toleration towards these ‘second-rate’ Catholics. historically, this attitude came late; many popes of the first millennium belonged to one Eastern rite or another, as did the six Syrian popes (Anicetus, d. ca. 168; John V, d. 686; Sergius I, d. 701; Sisinnius, d. 708; Constantine, d. 715; and Gregory III, d. 741) and an even greater number of Greek popes (e.g., Evaristus, d. 108; Telesphorus, d. ca. 138; St hyginus, d. ca. 149; Eleutherus, d. 193; Sixtus II, d. 258; St Eusebius, d. 309; Zosimus, d. 418; John VI, d. 705, John VII, d. 707) The ecclesiastical policy of exalting the Latin rite at the expense of the other rites must be understood as a reaction to the Verfremdung (W. de Vries, Y. Congar), or estrangement, consequent upon the reciprocal cooling of charity which marked in ever-growing measure the separation of the Roman Empire into two blocks, which following the death of *Theodosius I (395) became definitive.

In the pre-Nicene Church (i.e., prior to the the First Ecumenical Council of *Nicaea I, 325), the unity between the two halves of the empire may be said to have been preserved by a spontaneous harmony, celebrated in the liturgy and re-affirmed by monks, who helped transcend barriers. Among the problematic decisions, attitudes and gestures which rendered communion more difficult afterwards may be mentioned: 1) the abandoning in Rome of the liturgy in Greek during the reign of Pope Damasus I (r. 366–384) and the abandoning in Constantinople of Latin as the official language of the imperial chancery in the reign of Emperor *heraclius (610–641); 2) the transferral of some dioceses in PRAESTANTIA RITUS LATINI Magna Graecia and *Illyria (*Illyricum, Eastern) itself from the jurisdiction of Rome to that of *Constantinople in 733, by Emperor Leo III (r.

717–741), during the crisis of *iconoclasm, which set him at odds with Rome; 3) the Council in *Trullo (692), which on the part of the Byzantines had shown a lack of understanding for Latin customs, with the consequent impairment of a legitimate pluralism within the same unity of faith; 4) the schism at the time of Patriarch *Photius (863–867, the first period in which he was patriarch), which, although it was eventually resolved, constituted a polemical repertoire subject, from the *Filioque to the question of Eastern Illyricum; 5) the schism at the time of Patriarch *Michael Caerularius (1054), conventional date for a definitive break in a relationship that continued to exist even afterwards, yet which showed the lack of sympathy of one part of the Christian world for the other; 6) the attempts, which failed or only partially succeeded, to re-establish communion with the Councils of *Lyons II (1274) and Ferrara-*Florence-Rome (1438–1445) A certain effort to restrict this praestantia is evident with the apostolic constitution Etsi pastoralis (1742) of Benedict XIV, an expert on the Christian East. Benedict argued for the superiority of the Latin rite, based on the fact that it is the rite of the holy Roman Church, the Mother Church, in order to protect the weaker rites. This superiority was particularly felt in the Italian regions; the passage to the Greek rite was forbidden, just as the passage of the Greeks, who have once passed over to the Latin rite but now wish to return to the Greek, is equally forbidden.

With *Leo XIII’s encyclical Orientalium dignitas (1894) such a superiority is definitively rejected, and with the decree of *Vatican II, *Orientalium ecclesiarum (21 November 1964), solemnly abrogated. texts: Benedictus XIV, Etsi pastoralis (1742); Benedict XIV, ‘Allatae sunt: On the Observance of Oriental Rites (1755, July 26)’, The Vatican and the Eastern Churches: Papal Encyclicals and Documents concerning Eastern Churches, Fairfax VA 1996, 1:1–46. studies: A. Fontescue, The Uniate Eastern Churches, G. D. Smith (ed.), London 1923, 33–37; D. Attwater, The Catholic Eastern Churches, Milwaukee, WI 1935, 17; V. Peri, Lo scambio fraterno fra le Chiese, Vatican City 1993; V. Peri, Orientalis Varietas, Rome 1995; E. C. Suttner, Christenheit aus Ost und West, Rome 1999; M. Sanz, J. C. Arnanz, ‘El “afecto orientale” de los Papas, de Léon XIII a Juan Pablo II: Roma y las Iglesias del Oriente cristiano’, Las Iglesias Orientales, A. González Montes (ed.), Madrid 2000, 5–108. E. G. Farrugia.

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Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Christian East

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