Rites (Latin: ritus), liturgical rites, and ritual families within Christian liturgy refer to the families of liturgies, rituals, prayers, and other practices historically connected to a place, denomination, or group.
There are two broad categories which ritual families fall into: Latin or Western rites associated with Western Christianity and Eastern rites associated with Eastern Christianity.
Rite has also come to refer to the full pattern of worship associated with a particular Christian denomination or tradition,[4] typically comprising the liturgies for the Eucharistic celebration, canonical hours, and sacramental rites.
[5] Rites typically result from local variations and traditions, sometimes becoming further distinguished as uses of ritual families.
[8] Within Eastern Orthodoxy, the Byzantine Rite–including the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom and Byzantine adaption of the Liturgy of Saint Mark–is predominant, with some limited usage of the Western Rite.