Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches


The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches is the title of the 1990 codification of the common portions of the Canon Law for the 23 Eastern Catholic churches in the Catholic Church. It is divided into 30 titles and has a total of 1546 canons. The western Latin Church is governed by its own particular code of canons, the 1983 Codex Iuris Canonici.

History of codification

The 23 sui iuris Churches which collectively make up the Eastern Catholic Churches have been invited by the Catholic Church to codify their own particular laws and submit them to the pope so that there may be a full, complete Code of all religious law within Catholicism. Pope John Paul II promulgated Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches on October 18, 1990, by the document Sacri Canones. The Code came into force of law on October 1, 1991.

Language

The official language of the canon law common to all the Eastern Catholic Churches (called "common law". is Latin. Although Latin is the language of the Latin Church and not of the Eastern Churches, Latin was chosen as the language of the common law because there is no common language in use among all the Eastern Catholic Churches. The members of these churches use a diversity of languages, including Greek, Arabic, Romanian, Malayalam, English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, but no single one of these languages could be used as the language of the common law. Latin was chosen because it has a long history of legal and juridical tradition and was suitable for serving as the common text from which translations could be made.

Emendations

''Ad Tuendam Fidem''

In 1998, Pope John Paul II issued the motu proprio Ad Tuendam Fidem, which amended two canons of the 1983 Code of Canon Law and two canons of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, so as to add "new norms which expressly impose the obligation of upholding truths proposed in a definitive way by the Magisterium of the Church, and which also establish related canonical sanctions."

''Mitis et Misericors Iesus''

On 15 August 2015, Pope Francis issued the motu proprio Mitis et Misericors Iesus which amended canons 1357-1377 of the CCEO. It reformed the procedures for matrimonial nullity trials and instituted a briefer process.

Titles

The text of the CCEO is divided into 31 sections, 30 titles and a section of preliminary canons.

Preliminary Canons

The 6 preliminary canons deal with scope and continuity, what is affected by the CCEO and how prior legislation and customs shall be handled.
Can. 1 The CCEO regards solely the Eastern Catholic Churches unless otherwise mentioned.
Can. 2 The CCEO is to be assessed according to the Ancient Laws of the Eastern Churches.
Can. 3 The CCEO does not "for the most part legislate on liturgical matters" and therefore the Liturgical Books are to be observed unless contrary to the Canons of the CCEO.
Can. 4. The CCEO neither degrades or abrogates treaties/pacts entered into by the Holy See with nations/political societies. Therefore, they still have their force, notwithstanding any prescriptions of the CCEO to the contrary.

The Rights and Obligations of All the Christian Faithful

This section defines the Christian faithful and catechumens.
It expresses that the People of God have the obligation to: maintain the faith and openly profess the Faith, maintain communion, promote the growth of the Church, listen to pastors, let pastors know their opinions on matters of the good of the Church, call private associations 'Catholic' only when approved by the bishop, preserve the good reputation and privacy of all people, help with the needs of the Church and promote social justice including providing aid to the poor from their own resources.
It also expresses various rights of the faithful.
The canons in this section are numbered 7-26.

Churches Sui Iuris and Rites

A church sui iuris is "a community of the Christian faithful, which is joined together by a hierarchy according to the norm of law and which is expressly or tacitly recognized as sui iuris by the supreme authority of the Church" . The term sui iuris is an innovation of CCEO and denotes the relative autonomy of the Oriental Catholic Churches. This canonical term, pregnant with many juridical nuances, indicates the God-given mission of the Oriental Catholic Churches to preserve their patrimonial autonomous nature. The autonomy of these churches is relative in the sense that they are under the authority of the Bishop of Rome.
According to the CCEO the Oriental Catholic Churches sui iuris are of 4 categories:
1. Patriarchal Churches:
The patriarchal church is the full-grown form of an Oriental Catholic Church. It is a community of the Christian faithful joined together by a patriarchal hierarchy. The patriarch together with the synod of bishops has the legislative, judicial and administrative powers within the ecclesiastical territory, without prejudice to those powers reserved, in the common law to the pope. Among the Catholic Oriental churches the following hold patriarchal status: Maronite, Chaldean, Coptic, Syriac, Melkite, Armenian.
2. Major Archiepiscopal Churches:
Major archiepiscopal churches are those oriental churches which are governed by major archbishops, assisted by a respective synod of bishops. These churches have almost the same rights and obligations of patriarchal churches. A major archbishop is the metropolitan of a see; he is chosen by the pope or recognized by him, and presides over an entire Eastern Church sui iuris. What is stated in common law concerning patriarchal churches or patriarchs is understood to be applicable to major archiepiscopal churches or major archbishops, unless the common law expressly provides otherwise or the matter is obvious.. The 4 major archiepiscopal churches are the Syro-Malabar, the Ukrainian Byzantine, the Syro-Malankara Catholic and Romanian Byzantine.
3. Metropolitan Churches:
This is a church which is governed by a metropolitan "sui iuris." Such a church is presided over by the metropolitan of a determined see who has been canonically elected and confirmed by the pope. He is assisted by a council of hierarchs according to the norms of law. The Catholic metropolitan churches are the Ethiopian Catholic, Eritrean Catholic, Hungarian Byzantine, Slovak Byzantine and the Ruthenian Catholic Church.
4. Other Churches:
Apart from the above-mentioned forms of church there are other ecclesiastical communities which are entrusted to a hierarch who presides in accordance with the norms of canon law.. The following Oriental Catholic churches are of this status: Belorussian Greek, Bulgarian Greek, Macedonian Greek, Greek Byzantine, Italo-Albanian, Byzantine Church of the Eparchy of Križvci, Albanian Byzantine, Russian Byzantine. Altogether there are 22 oriental sui iuris churches in within the Catholic communion.

The Patriarchal Churches

PATRIARCHAL AND MAJOR ARCHIEPISCOPAL CURIA:
The bishops of the curia ;
Permanent Synod:Patriarch + 4 bishops and 4 substitutes ;
Chancellor, vice-chancellor, notaries, chancery;
Patriarchal Finance Officer ;
Other Aspects like archives, inventory, financial sources of curia;
The commissions:
For the Liturgy, Ecumenism, Catechism, Evangelization, Preparation of the Synod of Bishops, Preparation of the patriarchal Assembly, censor of Books and the other commissions under the Patriarchal Authority;
The Ordinary Tribunal
The president, the judges, the administrative officials ;
The organs connected to patriarchal curia:
All organs of patriarchal church who collaborate in the administration of the Patriarchal church, including superior tribunal, moderator general of the administration of justice, a group of bishops for recourse, patriarchal procurator in Rome, Roman curial organs, curia of other patriarchal churches, etc.