| abstract | - The term Eastern Rites may refer to the liturgical rites used by many ancient Christian Churches of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and India that, while being part of the Catholic Church, are distinct from the Latin Rite or Western Church. Or it may apply to these autonomous particular Churches themselves, known collectively as the Eastern Catholic Churches. Canon 27 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches defines the second sense, which is the main topic of this article, as follows: "A group of Christian faithful linked in accordance with the law by a hierarchy and expressly or tacitly recognized by the supreme authority of the Church as autonomous is in this Code called an autonomous Church" (in the original Latin, "Coetus christifidelium hierarchia ad normam iuris iunctus, quem ut sui iuris expresse vel tacite agnoscit suprema Ecclesiae auctoritas, vocatur in hoc Codice Ecclesia sui iuris.")
|
