''Ea Semper'' was an
apostolic letter written by
Pope Pius X
Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...
in September 1907 that dealt with the governance of the
Eastern Catholics in the United States. It dealt with the appointment of Soter Ortynski as the first bishop of the
Ruthenian Catholics in the United States, together with papal instructions concerning his powers and duties. The general constitution of the Greek Rite in America was also published.
Contents
The letter created considerable dissatisfaction among the American
Greek Rite clergy and laity since it did not provide for any diocesan authority for their new bishop. Rather, it made him an
auxiliary to the
Latin Rite bishops, some of whom (such as Bishop
John Ireland, for instance) were hostile to the Greek Rite. Furthermore, it also modified several aspects of Greek Catholicism that differed from the Latin Rite.
Confirmation
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
was no longer to be conferred at baptism (as in the
Orthodox church from which the Greek Catholics were descended) and could now be given only by a bishop (not a priest, as in the Eastern churches). No new
married priests were to be ordained in America or to be sent to America. The pope's missive also mandated changes to the regulations governing
marriages between persons in the Latin and Greek rites.
Reaction
Dissatisfaction with the letter resulted in many conversions to
Russian Orthodoxy
Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most C ...
, particularly in America; it continued a movement that began in 1892 under
Alexis Toth, who was later canonized by the
Orthodox Church in America. Although critics would insist that
Pan-Slavic nationalism was more to blame than genuine religious feeling, about 80,000 parishioners left Rome for Orthodoxy after publication of the letter.
The Orthodox Church in America claims that by 1916, the Roman Catholic Church had lost 163 Uniate parishes, with over 100,000 faithful, to the Russian missionary diocese.
[Mark Stokoe and Leonid Kishkovsky]
Orthodox Christians In North America: 1794-1994
Chapter 2: "Immigration and Conversion". From the ww.oca.org websiteof the Orthodox Church in America.
References
20th-century Eastern Catholicism
Documents of Pope Pius X
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