Mortal and Venial Sins

I remember searching for the answer to the same question, perhaps a year ago. I was unable to find evidence of an Orthodox equivalent to our concept of mortal and venial sins.

Knightwolflord said:

Yes, but the Eastern Catholics are supposed to be Catholic.

Why then can they claim to not believe something that has been defined as such by the Western Church?

This is starting to put cracks in my view that the Church is really Catholic.

Maybe the Church is ROMAN?!?!??!

GRRRRR, for someone in RCIA with only a month or so before Confirmation THIS is HIGHLY frustrating!!!

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The Eastern Churches are not required to ascend to all Western beliefs. They have somewhat of a divergent tradition and culture as a result of centuries of an autocephaly.

I would recommend not worrying about it right now at least until after Easter. Focus on your goal my friend. The subject on the ECC's is quite large and cannot be understood in a few weeks. It may take months and months to learn about it and I am sure there is allot more to learn about the Latin Church too.

Peace.

Knightwolflord said:

I read this on Wikipedia:



1. How do the Eastern Catholic Churches understand the difference between mortal and venial sins? I have been looking but I can't find a satifying answer.

2. This article seems to suggest that for Eastern Catholics, dying in mortal sin is not considered automatic damnation, something that I have been taught in my Roman Church.

How can the ECCs claim to hold the same Catholic Faith of the Roman Church if they differ on this.


Grrrrrr, very confused. Please help me to understand this.

Thanks in advance!

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The Eastern Churches are more mystical than the West, who tend to be more scholastic. Think Justin Martyr vs Thomas Aquinas.

Knightwolflord said:

Okay, but which view is more in line with Catholic dogma?

The scholastic view or the mystical?

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Both are perfectly acceptable.

Knightwolflord said:

So basically, as usual, I have made a mountain out of a mole-hill, huh?

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A lack of understanding is nothing to be ashamed of. It happens to me all the time.

Knightwolflord said:

I know I should focus on my Confirmation, but that's just it.

I want to KNOW that when I receive Confirmation I believe that the Catholic Church is all She claims to be.

I guess I am looking for a pure faith, so I can be ready for Confirmation.

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The Church teaches that Faith and Reason are not diametrically opposed to each other. Though subjectively they can appear that way very often but this is the work of the deceiver to confuse us.

What I strive to do is find the middle ground. Then accept the hard facts and look for God in them. It never fails.

I must also say though that the resources of learning from the Church are immense, I have been a Catholic 43 years and still learn something new about the Church nearly ever day.

St. John said the world is not big enough to contain all the books it would take to record everything Jesus has done and he was writing this in the first century. Our Lord has been very busy in respect to our view of time since then but its important to note that His view of time is all of our views combined.

All of us doubt from time to time, The best I can do is assure you that you HAVE found the original Church founded by Jesus and that it spread out from there into many Lands which caused diversity and necessitated whats called autocephaly meaning many of the apostles were sent out from Rome to found different "sees" throughout the East and were under their own rule. Modern communications is a recent achievement. As with the case of the ECC's imagine how we may have grown apart over all those centuries of being out of touch. This is why they developed unique cultures because the were in different lands. This is not to say they have to adopt Latin culture to be Catholic or are any less Catholic because they have not. Its sort of a complex issue and I do not wish to deflect you from the discernments you have before you. Try and stay focused on Jesus my friend until you receive the awesome graces that will be conveyed on you by the sacraments this Easter and then you have the rest of your life to learn just as we all do.

Peace.

Knightwolflord said:

So basically, as usual, I have made a mountain out of a mole-hill, huh?

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Join the club! You will fit in nicely.

Have you read any of the Saints my friend?

Peace.

Knightwolflord said:

Okay, but which view is more in line with Catholic dogma?

The scholastic view or the mystical?

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They are equally acceptable. The mystical is like one side of a penny, and the scholastic is like the other. They are both penny. One is not more "penny" than the other.

In the Orthodox church, you will find that the Eastern way is "the only way", and they are even wary of their own western rite Orthodox. Any scent of Western thinking means objection.

Though the largest Catholic rite is the Roman (Western) rite, we do not shy away from the Eastern way of thinking. We embrace it, because East & West are two halves of a whole - two different expressions of the same faith.

I'm a Roman-rite Catholic, but I find that more and more, the Eastern way of thinking helps me embrace faith in a more dynamic way.

dbl post.

ScottBot said:

The Eastern Churches are more mystical than the West, who tend to be more scholastic. Think Justin Martyr vs Thomas Aquinas.

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Or you could think St. John of the Cross or Theresa of Avila vs. St. Constantine or St. Nicholas.

It goes both ways.

Being that you sense this, ask yourself why Rome seems more scholastic.

Is it because of its a central place of conciliarity and primacy in leading the rest of the Church?

There have been other great centers of academia through-out history as well. One example would be the See of Alexandria. however, only the Magisterium in Rome has remained consistantly the foundation and pillar of faith and morals to which all other Sees looked to for guidance.


Peace.

Veritas_et_Puritas said:

They are equally acceptable. The mystical is like one side of a penny, and the scholastic is like the other. They are both penny. One is not more "penny" than the other.

In the Orthodox church, you will find that the Eastern way is "the only way", and they are even wary of their own western rite Orthodox. Any scent of Western thinking means objection.

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I think its important to clarify that there are 21 other Easter Catholic Churches and the Eastern Orthodox are not in union with Rome as a result of schism. There is a distinct difference there lost in this last statement.

The Eastern Catholic Churches that celebrate valid sacraments do NOT do so in the Latin/Roman rite.

For your edification do a search of "rite" in the Catholic Encyclopedia/CE at newadvent.com

Of the 21 other Eastern Catholic Churches that are in union no adoption of Latin culture is required, only ascent to dogma.

Peace.