Most Catholics are only familiar with the Latin, or Roman, rite of the Church, either as practiced in the Extraordinary Form or the Ordinary Form; however, liturgical uniformity is not a hallmark of the Church. The Church has always had unity within diversity, in many ways: "there are many gifts, but the same Spirit"; "though we are many members, we are yet one Body." The basics of the Eucharistic liturgy have always been the same: prayers to the Lord, Scriptural readings, the consecration of the Eucharist, and the distribution. These essentials combine aspects of the liturgy of the synagogues with the Last Supper, where Christ instituted the Eucharist. We see many early examples of these essentials, such as accounts by St. Justin Martyr, St. Hippolytus of Rome, and St. Cyril of Jerusalem. Yet the way these essentials became expanded in larger Eucharistic liturgies in different areas and traditions widely varied.
Both the East and the West saw many forms of the Eucharistic liturgy and other aspects of the liturgy (that is, the official prayer of the Church, such as in the rites of the other Sacraments and in the Liturgy of the Hours) throughout history, which became formed into rites, that is "the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each Church" (Code of Canons of Eastern Churches, c. 28 §1), with examples that are no longer practiced being the rites in Jerusalem and in Gaul (Gallican Rite). In the East, the rites boiled down to five: "the Alexandrian, Antiochene, Armenian, Chaldean, and Constantinopolitan [Byzantine] traditions" (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, c. 28 §2). In the West, the Roman rite is almost universal, though the Mozarabic and Ambrosian are still practiced in particular circumstances, as is the Dominican rite.
