{{short description|1743 apostolic constitution on Melkite liturgy}} {{italic title}} thumb|150px|An 1828 print of the ''Demandatam'' '''''Demandatam '''coelitus humilitati nostrae'' is an apostolic constitution promulgated by Pope Benedict XIV on December 24, 1743, about the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. It is addressed to the Patriarch of Antioch Cyril VI Tanas and to all Melkite bishops under his jurisdiction, and is generally not considered ''ex cathedra''. The subject of this apostolic constitution is the full preservation of the Byzantine Rite in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dick|first=Ignace |title= Les Melkites Greecs-Orthodoxes et Grecs-Catholiques des Patriarcats d'Antioche, d'Alexandrie et de Jérusalem |isbn=2-503-50308-X |year=1996 |page=35| publisher=Brepols}}</ref>
==Historical context== In the first part of the 18th century, many liturgical latinisations were introduced in some Melkite Catholic communities, mainly by Euthymios Saifi and Cyril VI Tanas, and supported by many Latin Church missionaries (mainly Franciscans) against the wishes of the papacy. These changes led to a division in the Melkite Catholic Church between those who went on following the unmodified Byzantine Rite (as the Basilian Chouerite monks) and those who, named "Latinisers" in the apostolic constitution, mixed the Byzantine Rite with Latin practices. Rome had already taken measures against the uses of the "Latinisers" (e.g., the letters to Saifi in 1723 or the decree of July 8, 1729). However these measures did not resolve the issue, and in 1743, before granting the pallium to Cyril VI Tanas, Pope Benedict XIV issued the ''Demandatam'' apostolic constitution to put an end to the mixture of liturgical rites.<ref name="DHGE">{{cite encyclopedia |author=Korolevsky, Cyril|title=Antioche|encyclopedia=Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques| volume=3| pages=649| publisher =Letouzey et Ané|location=Paris|year=1924}}</ref>
==Content== The main points of the apostolic constitution<ref>full text in {{cite book |pages=148–161|title=Benedicti papae XIV. Bullarium |volume=2 |location=Mechelen |year=1828 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xDERAAAAYAAJ&dq=editions%3AOCLC5049310&pg=RA7-PA2-IA1 |accessdate=2009-06-20}}</ref> are: * it is forbidden to any one, including the patriarch, to change, to add or to remove anything from the Byzantine Rite and uses (para. 3);<ref name="Foskolos">{{cite book|last=Foskolos |first=Markos |editor=Metzler J. |title=Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide Memoria Rerum|volume=II|year=1973|publisher=Herder |isbn=3-451-16352-7 |chapter=L'unione parziale del Patriarcato di Antiochia (1724)|pages=330}}</ref> * it is forbidden to have any faithful to pass from the Byzantine Rite churches to the Latin Church (para. 15);<ref name="Foskolos"/>
Concerning the "Latinisers" (who mixed the rites), the apostolic constitution orders that all the faithful baptized in the Byzantine Rite shall return to the Byzantine Rite. An exception is made for the area of Damascus where the "Latinisers" were numerous: they had to choose between the Byzantine and the Latin Rites, and follow it without later changes or mixtures (para. 16). This letter deals also with the disciplinary issues of the Melkite religious orders.
==See also== * Eastern Catholic liturgy * List of encyclicals of Pope Benedict XIV
==Notes== {{reflist |2}}
==External links== *[https://books.google.com/books?id=xDERAAAAYAAJ&dq=editions%3AOCLC5049310&pg=RA7-PA2-IA1 Full text available online] {{in lang|la}}
{{authoritycontrol}} Category:Documents of Pope Benedict XIV Category:Melkite Greek Catholic Church Category:1743 in Christianity Category:1743 works