Shepetyak O. Formation and modern state of the Eastern Non-Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic Churches

The thesis reveals the peculiarities of the Eastern Non-Orthodox churches’ formation and proved that political circumstances played a much more important role than theological ones in their formation, that is, the incentive to separate into a separate branch of Eastern Christianity was the desire to preserve its identity and the attempt to save itself from the cultural expansion of Byzantium. The breakdown of relations with the Churches of the Byzantine tradition did not mean the separation from Rome, the dialogue that laid the foundation for the establishment of the Eastern Catholic Churches, liturgically and historically related to the Eastern Non-Orthodox churches. On the basis of statistical analysis it is proved in the work that modern Christianity in the Middle East is represented primarily by Eastern Non-Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches. It was in these Churches that the Alexandria, East Syrian, Armenian, and Antiochic liturgical rite, which were ousted from the use in the Churches of the Byzantine tradition, were preserved.