Could the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches Enter into a 'Different' Sort of Communion?

[HomeschoolDad]

One of my teachers at school a couple of years ago was a Ukrainian who spoke Russian and Ukrainian as his first languages.

He had been in the Soviet army so I’d have to assume he wasn’t religious.

Why would you assume this? Didn’t all men in the ex-USSR have to serve in the military, or at least were under the obligation to serve if called? The militant atheist policy of the USSR tamped down religious belief among the various peoples of the Soviet Union, that is true, but they did not exterminate religion entirely. Millions of Soviet citizens were believers of various religions. Moving further west, in Poland, atheism was a non-starter — Party members were, in theory, not supposed to be religious, and some weren’t, but religious devotion wasn’t altogether absent among them. Both Yeltsin and Putin became publicly practicing Orthodox Christians after the fall of the USSR, and Yuri Gagarin was definitely a believer.

 

[catholic03]

Yes, I thought before posting that. You’re probably right, he could well be a believer.

He had coached Soviet underwater hockey (or something similar) at the Olympics and so he seemed quite ‘proud’ of Soviet Union sometimes.

 

[adamhovey1988]

I wonder if it would be possible - as a start - to have a similar communion between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Whereby, they acknowledge that they are not ‘in communion’ as the Eastern and Latin Catholics are in communion, but are in Eucharistic communion and each recognise that there are no major doctrinal differences. This is very similar to the concept of the Porvoo communion.

I remember being told at a Syriac Orthodox church, basically that with regards to Holy Communion. The problem, I think, is that there is not enough of a central authority in Eastern Orthodoxy to make that decision.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Yes, I thought before posting that. You’re probably right, he could well be a believer.

He had coached Soviet underwater hockey (or something similar) at the Olympics and so he seemed quite ‘proud’ of Soviet Union sometimes.

You can take pride in your country’s accomplishments, without totally endorsing all of the first principles upon which the country is founded. I take pride in American achievements and the good aspects of our society, without subscribing to the implicit Protestant/Masonic/Enlightenment principles of our founding fathers. There would have been absolutely nothing wrong with a Soviet citizen taking pride in, for instance, their space program, Olympics victories, and industrial and military might.