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DECREE ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES
OF THE EASTERN RITE
ORIENTALIUM ECCLESIARUM
SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI
ON NOVEMBER 21, 1964
PREAMBLE
1. The Catholic Church holds in high esteem the institutions, liturgical rites, ecclesiastical traditions and the
established standards of the Christian life of the Eastern Churches, for in them, distinguished as they are for
their venerable antiquity, there remains conspicuous the tradition that has been handed down from the
Apostles through the Fathers (1) and that forms part of the divinely revealed and undivided heritage of the
universal Church. This Sacred Ecumenical Council, therefore, in its care for the Eastern Churches which
bear living witness to this tradition, in order that they may flourish and with new apostolic vigor execute the
task entrusted to them, has determined to lay down a number of principles, in addition to those which refer to
the universal Church; all else is remitted to the care of the Eastern synods and of the Holy See.
THE INDIVIDUAL CHURCHES OR RITES
2. The Holy Catholic Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, is made up of the faithful who are
organically united in the Holy Spirit by the same faith, the same sacraments and the same government and
who, combining together into various groups which are held together by a hierarchy, form separate Churches
or Rites. Between these there exists an admirable bond of union, such that the variety within the Church in
no way harms its unity; rather it manifests it, for it is the mind of the Catholic Church that each individual
Church or Rite should retain its traditions whole and entire and likewise that it should adapt its way of life to
the different needs of time and place.(2)
3. These individual Churches, whether of the East or the West, although they differ somewhat among
themselves in rite (to use the current phrase), that is, in liturgy, ecclesiastical discipline, and spiritual
heritage, are, nevertheless, each as much as the others, entrusted to the pastoral government of the Roman
Pontiff, the divinely appointed successor of St. Peter in primacy over the universal Church. They are
consequently of equal dignity, so that none of them is superior to the others as regards rite and they enjoy the
same rights and are under the same obligations, also in respect of preaching the Gospel to the whole world
(cf. Mark 16, 15) under the guidance of the Roman Pontiff.
4. Means should be taken therefore in every part of the world for the protection and advancement of all the
individual Churches and, to this end, there should be established parishes and a special hierarchy where the
spiritual good of the faithful demands it. The hierarchs of the different individual Churches with jurisdiction
in one and the same territory should, by taking common counsel in regular meetings, strive to promote unity
of action and with common endeavor to sustain common tasks, so as better to further the good of religion
and to safeguard more effectively the ordered way of life of the clergy.(3)
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