Belief in the blessed sacrament

[bmadamsberry]

I’m thinking of the Church in the main context of the major Ecumenical Councils.

You specifically singled out the Russian Patriarch and the Pope, and so I responded to that specific dialogue.

Even considering the entire Orthodox/Catholic dialogue, things don’t look rosey. The Catholic Church will never abandon papal primacy and papal infallibility, and the Orthodox will probably never accept them. Besides, there is still some deep seeded hate, misinformation, and downright misleading on the part of the Orthodox (Kallistos Ware is the first that comes to mind). These things all keep reunification from happening.

 

[oknazevad]

It is a part of the Orthodox Church in America, which itself is not recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

There’s two errors here I want to address. Firstly, the OCA has nothing to do with Western Rite Orthodoxy. Most such churches are part of the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate (AWRV), part of the (Greek) Orthodox Church of Antioch’s American archdiocese (the AOA). A few are under the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), which has reunited with the Patriarch of Moscow. None are under the OCA.

Secondly, the Patriarch of Constantinople recognizes the OCA as a legitimate, canonical Orthodox Curch. However, it doesn’t recognize the OCA as fully independent (autocephalous, lit. “self-heading”, in the jargon). It still considers it an autonomous part of the Russian Church. But that is juristictional, and is not an impediment to full communion.

It is a Western Liturgy in the Antiochian Archdiocese. And ROCOR; almost Catholic too.

Almost?

I think what Wesley was referring to here is that the liturgy used by the AWRV is the TLM in the vernacular. They call it the “Liturgy of St Gregory”. (There’s also adaptation of the communion service from the 1928 US edition of the Book of Common Prayer.)

 

[At_Trent]

**The Holy Eucharist is the Whole Christ

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

The most fundamental question to ask about the Blessed Sacrament is, “Who is the Holy Eucharist?” And the correct answer is: The Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ.

There is more behind this answer than many Catholics realize. When the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century defined the meaning of the Eucharist, it declared that “the Body and Blood, together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ, is truly, really and substantially contained in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.”

Shortly after Trent, Pope St. Pius V authorized the publication of the Roman Catechism which built on the Council of Trent and explained its teachings for the pastors of the Church.

Regarding the Real Presence, the pastors were told to explain that “in this sacrament is contained not only the true Body of Christ-and that means everything that goes to make up a true body, such as bones, nerves, and so on-but also Christ whole and entire.” Consequently the Eucharist contains Jesus Christ in the fullness of his divinity and the completeness of his humanity.

Jesus is therefore in the Blessed Sacrament “whole and entire: the Soul, the Body and Blood of Christ, with all their component parts. In heaven a complete human nature is united to the divine nature in one. . . person. It is a denial of the faith to suppose that in this sacrament there is anything less.”**

[edited]
therealpresence.org/archives/Eucharist/Eucharist_005.htm