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If so, why?
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Most of the Eastern Orthodox Churches actually agreed to reunify with the Catholic Church at the Council of Florence in the 1400s, but the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottomans before it could be implemented, leading to the Ottomans replacing the Bishops who agreed to reunification with yes-men who then declared the council of Florence invalid and refused to enact it.
Despite that, there is still a large array of Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches that were originally Orthodox Churches that reunited with the Catholic Church. My grandmother grew up Ukrainian Catholic, for example. Their services are effectively indistinguishable from Ukrainian Orthodox services, with the only difference being that they pray for the Pope.
Pretty much Islam being a road block to reunification
To be perfectly fair, it was the threat of Islam that pushed the Eastern Orthodox to even consider reunification in the first place. The great irony is that even though the Catholic Church was eager for reunification, the Catholic monarchs were not and few made any attempt to aid the Byzantines against the Ottomans, even after the Pope declared a crusade on their behalf after the Council.
That's a shame.
Those times were a rough few centuries. Gives me great hope that we'll get through our current troubled times.
Wow, didn't know that. I'll have to read up more on that that's pretty interesting.
A good article on it
Thank you!
This is an anachronistic oversimplification. By the time the union was officialy proclaimed in 1452 it had already failed, because the backlash from the lower clergy and the monastic circles forced many bishops to backtrack their approval. The backlash was so forcefull that Gregory III had to permanently leave for Rome in 1451, despite attempted purges of the episcopate from the opponents of the union. Susbsequent Ottoman conquest simply solidified the reality by removal of some of the Uniate bishops and making any progress of the union impossible.
Muslim factor is ofcourse completely irrelevant to the Rus lands. In the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania Isidor got nearly lynched by the faithful for celebrating a Roman mass and met with widespread opposition from the bishops. similarly in Moscov (Vasily II wouldn't have allowed it anyway). While Polish kings and popes were able to impose some uniate patriarchs, it didn't change the reality and there's a reason why the Union of Brest was needed, more than 150 years after Florence.
Most of the Eastern Catholic Churches. A few of them never broke communion with the Pope
Only one Church in the East never broke with Rome, which is the Maronite Catholic Church. That Church was in land that was part of the early conquest of Islam and lost communication with the rest of Christendom. They were rediscovered during the Crusades so they missed all the drama that caused the Great Schism.
There are 24 Catholic churches, and only the Latin Church and the Maronite Church were "always Catholic". The other 22 rejoined the Catholic Church at various times after schisms in Orthodox churches or the Church of the East. The Chaldean Catholic Church joined after a major schism in 1552; the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church was re-established in the aftermath of the Coonan Cross rebellion in 1662; the Melkite Catholic Church was established after a schism between Antioch and Constantinople in 1724 in which the Pope backed the Patriarch of Antioch, and so on.
Coonan Cross Rebellion would make a really badass band name
The rest of the Eastern Orthodox Churches almost reunified with the Catholic Church before the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. It’s pretty much Islam being a road block to reunification.
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that the Syro-Malabar Church was always Catholic, although not in connection with the West until the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century. Syro-Malabar Church traces its origins to early Christian communities established by St. Thomas the Apostle. These communities were part of the Church of the East, which historically was distinct from what we now consider the Orthodox Churches (primarily Greek and Russian Orthodoxy, among others) and had varying degrees of communion with Rome over the centuries. It wasn't strictly "always Catholic" in the way the Latin Church was, but it was indeed a part of the universal Christian communion and not formally schismatic or heretical prior to the arrival of the Portuguese. While they were isolated from Western Christianity, they were not entirely out of communion with the Roman Church, being part of the broader Church of the East until the schisms influenced by the Portuguese intervention. When the Portuguese arrived, they attempted to Latinize the Syrian liturgy followed by the Syro-Malabar Church and bring them under the direct control of the Pope instead of the Patriarch of the East. I believe they were formally in communion with Rome after the Portuguese arrived, even before the Coonan Cross Rebellion. However, some people rebelled and broke off during the rebellion, and those who remained faithful to Catholicism were later reorganized and formally recognized and is now called the Syro-Malabar Church. Like I said, I am writing this from memory based on what I read a while ago, so I could be wrong.
The Eastern Orthodox Church accepted the Council of Florence before changing their minds
Eastern Orthodox Christians led by some Bishops and Priests in Eastern Europe re-united with the Catholic Church in the Unions of Brest and Uzhhorod leading to the Greek Catholic Churches of Ukraine, Ruthenia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia
The Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch came into communion with the Catholic Church in the early 18th Century. The Patriarch of Constantinople declared his election null, appointed a replacement and used Ottoman forces to repress and persecute those who came into union with Rome. The Melkite Greek Catholic Church still survived today
I think something similar happened to the Syriac Bishop of Antioch too
Look up the Union of Brest, for example
The eastern Catholic churches are literally eastern Orthodox jurisdictions that converted.
yes, that's why there are currently 23 Eastern Catholic Churches.
the 14 Byzantine rite Catholic Churches are factions of the Eastern Orthodox that became Catholic.
then in terms of the Oriental Orthodox there are Armenian Catholic, Coptic Catholic, Ethiopian Catholic, Eritrean Catholic, Syriac Catholic, and Malankara Catholic churches - who are factions of the Armenian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, and Malankara Orthodox that became Catholic.
Then there are 2 factions from the historical Church of the East (modern Assyrian Church of the East) that became Catholic. The Chaldean Catholic Church & the SyroMalabar Catholic Church.
There's a strong case to be made that the entire Orthodox Church of Ukraine became Eastern Catholic. To the effect that Constantinople and Moscow had to repopulate the area with priests and bishops
they should just become eastern catholic at this point so they don't have to participate in the geopolitical game that is "orthodoxy" anymore
Yes, this is how we got most of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Of course, never did the entirety of an Orthodox Church reunite with Rome, but parts of them sure did.
Yes, it has happened with a subset of Eastern or Oriental Orthodox believers in a church at least 23 times. Each body is now one of the Eastern Catholic churches.
For your interest...
https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-other-catholics-a-short-guide-to-the-eastern-catholic-churches.html
The Ukrainian Church did.
Today's "Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church" is the original Ukrainian Church. They rejoined Catholicism with the Union of Brest.
Today's "Ukrainian Orthodox" Churches are established after the Union of Brest to serve the majority Orthodox population