Pope pledges to end rift with Orthodox

[InnerPhyre]

Here's an idea....we get all our bishops in one big room together, sit down, and hope for Pentecost version 2.0?

 

[MariaRegina]

One big room wouldn't hold all the Roman Catholic and Orthodox bishops from the world.

They would probably have to rent a huge colliseum, like one used for football or baseball.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

Catholics believe that once a dogma exists it cannot be contradicted. It would be a theological impossibility in our view. So we cannot really change any of them...

Pax

 

[CaDan]

Catholics believe that once a dogma exists it cannot be contradicted. It would be a theological impossibility in our view. So we cannot really change any of them...

Pax

*cough* Council of Constance *cough*

 

[CaDan]

One big room wouldn't hold all the Roman Catholic and Orthodox bishops from the world.

They would probably have to rent a huge colliseum, like one used for football or baseball.

Nah. I think they should be really crowded. It'll help them get their work done!

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

*cough* Council of Constance *cough*

Sorry...I don't understand. Bear in mind that any seeming contradiction can be explained away-we're getting good at that.

No..in all seriousness I do firmly believe that all official Church declarations can be reconciled even when there appear to be contradictions as there sometimes appear to be contradictions in Scripture but correct interpretation can reconcile these.

I'm obviously not going to argue this point, and I apologise if this is considered argument. I intend it only as a statement of my belief because we are discussing something that pertains to my Faith.

Pax

 

[MariaRegina]

Nah. I think they should be really crowded. It'll help them get their work done!

cough ... cough.... yeah .... so much body odor .. have to make quick decisions in order to breathe.

runs and hides .... as the crowd leaves the building to get a fresh breath of air.

 

[Wiffey]

I think the title is a bit inaccurate. He didn't pledge to personally end the schism. What he said was "I want to repeat my willingness to assume as a fundamental commitment working to reconstitute the full and visible unity of all the followers of Christ, with all my energy,"

God bless him, and I pray that we find a way to let the love of God lead us back to one another...

 

[Wiffey]

1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.



4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.



...and THAT is what will humble us enough to repent of the past and embrace one another...God doesn't want to hear about grudges between brothers.

 

[Dust and Ashes]

I love the way John Wesley put it:

"We may die without the knowledge of many truths and yet be carried into Abraham's bosom but if we die without love, what will knowledge avail?"

 

[Alexis OCA]

Only God could mend this rift, not a pope.

Forgive me if I have offended any Catholics, but this is my opinion.

You are right. This is more of the same post vatican II nebulous nonsense! What hubris this man shows. WE are the ORTHODOX...it's more than just a name!

 

[Xpycoctomos]

You are right. This is more of the same post vatican II nebulous nonsense! What hubris this man shows. WE are the ORTHODOX...it's more than just a name!

No offense, but that begs the question (even though I agree with you). Obviously the Pope doesn't see it that way... or he'd be Orthodox. Just thought I woulod point that out.

 

[Alexis OCA]

Here's an idea....we get all our bishops in one big room together, sit down, and hope for Pentecost version 2.0?

And then they all go off and celebrate a good two/three hour Divine Liturgy.

 

[Alexis OCA]

No offense, but that begs the question (even though I agree with you). Obviously the Pope doesn't see it that way... or he'd be Orthodox. Just thought I woulod point that out.

No offense taken. It appears to a habit of mine lately.

 

[Alexis OCA]

I think the title is a bit inaccurate. He didn't pledge to personally end the schism. What he said was "I want to repeat my willingness to assume as a fundamental commitment working to reconstitute the full and visible unity of all the followers of Christ, with all my energy,"

I swear that read like a Vatican II document.

Hi IP!!!

 

[Maximus]

You are right. This is more of the same post vatican II nebulous nonsense! What hubris this man shows. WE are the ORTHODOX...it's more than just a name!

You got that right.

Throughout the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has continued to drift further and further from doctrinal Orthodoxy.

To "reunite" with the Holy Catholic Church, it would have to cease to be what it has become; essentially the modern Roman Catholic Church would have to cease to exist.

Individual Latins will continue to respond to the Holy Spirit in repentance and will seek the true Church, but I think it unlikely that a huge institution as far gone in error as the RCC will ever do the same.

I think it more likely that the modern RCC will only grow worse, perhaps becoming the vehicle for the pan-religion that will follow the Great Apostasy and pave the way for the coming of the Antichrist.

Unless the entire RCC genuinely repents and returns to true Orthodoxy, that scenario seems probable.

 

[MORTANIUS]

Just a consideration about the differences between Roman C. and Orthodox.

Iraeneus of Lyons and Saint Polycarp debated the issue of Easter. Both tried to convince each other to celebrate Easter according to what either believed was the correct time for it.

In the end they both decided that to accept the canons etc is more vital and the celebration of Easter would continue as each (West and East) had always done so in their own way.

So is Easter still really an issue for reunification?

 

[sin_vladimirov]

Just a consideration about the differences between Roman C. and Orthodox.

Iraeneus of Lyons and Saint Polycarp debated the issue of Easter. Both tried to convince each other to celebrate Easter according to what either believed was the correct time for it.

In the end they both decided that to accept the canons etc is more vital and the celebration of Easter would continue as each (West and East) had always done so in their own way.

So is Easter still really an issue for reunification?

Mort as long as Rome teaches Mt. XVI. 18. the way they do, unity will be something Latins are talking and Orthodox shaking their heads about.

It is simple. There can be no untity until the reasons for disunity are still there.

in ICXC
stefan+

 

[Maximus]

Just a consideration about the differences between Roman C. and Orthodox.

Iraeneus of Lyons and Saint Polycarp debated the issue of Easter. Both tried to convince each other to celebrate Easter according to what either believed was the correct time for it.

In the end they both decided that to accept the canons etc is more vital and the celebration of Easter would continue as each (West and East) had always done so in their own way.

So is Easter still really an issue for reunification?

St. Irenaeus never debated the date of Pascha with St. Polycarp. Irenaeus was a native of Asia Minor and as a boy heard St. Polycarp preach, but the two men never debated one another as far as we know.

What I believe you have in mind is the visit of St. Polycarp to Rome in about 154 to discuss with Pope Anicetus the date of the celebration of Pascha by the churches of Asia Minor. On that occasion Anicetus and Polycarp agreed to disagree.

You may also have in mind St. Irenaeus' rebuke of Pope St. Victor I for excommunicating the churches of Asia Minor because they kept Pascha on a different date from the churches of the West.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

I swear that read like a Vatican II document.

I'm glad you like it.

*wonders how his love of Vatican II will go down in TAW as it does't even go down that well in Catholic circles *

Mort as long as Rome teaches Mt. XVI. 18. the way they do, unity will be something Latins are talking and Orthodox shaking their heads about.

It is simple. There can be no untity [while] the reasons for disunity are still there.

Exactly. It would seem for starters that we have fundamentally different ecclesiologies.

I think it more likely that the modern RCC will only grow worse, perhaps becoming the vehicle for the pan-religion that will follow the Great Apostasy and pave the way for the coming of the Antichrist.

Are you saying that Catholicism has already apostasized (which means to reject all of Christianity as far as I'm aware) or that it may do in the future? Can I ask how evil you consider the Catholic Church to be, given some of the fundamental Truths that She has a shared belief in along with Eastern Orthodoxy?

Peace be with you.
Rob