Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church Although most Christians believe there is only one major type of Catholics, there are actually many types of groups of Catholics. From before 330 AD many different Catholic groups stood out because of their differences. These differences later became the reason for a great split and the Eastern Rite Church was formed. Although the Eastern Rite Church and the Roman Catholic church are very a like they also have many differences. The two churches began to split apart in 313 when Constantine granted freedom to practice Christianity freely. In 330 the church reached a