Bp John a Melkite Catholic explains it as follows
melkite.org/eparchy/bishop-j…ited-with-rome Note: canon 43 Code of canon law
No
Example:
The Russian Orthodox dwarfs all the other Orthodox churches combined. They teach a very elaborate system of toll houses, that a soul goes through after death. The other churches don’t.
And given the autocephelous character of the Orthodox, no ONE is in charge. As Cardinal Kasper remarks
“We are increasingly conscious of the fact that an Orthodox Church does not really exist,” he contends. “At the present stage, it does not seem that Constantinople is yet capable of integrating the different autocephalous Orthodox Churches; there are doubts about its primacy of honor, especially in Moscow.”
“primacy of honor” is another way of saying “1st among equals”.
http://www.zenit.org/article-3885?l=english
you’d have to ask them
There’s no open communion either way
They see the pope as 1st among equals. A nonsense term that is self contradicting. If all are equal no one can be 1st, if one is 1st all aren’t equal. As you see from the link above & Kasper’s comments, the Orthodox don’t even honor “1st among equals” among themselves with regards to the Bp of Constantinople.
then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote the following Re: 1st among equals, & Patriarchal system
- In Christian literature, the expression begins to be used in the East when, from the fifth century, the idea of the Pentarchy gained ground, according to which there are five Patriarchs at the head of the Church, with the Church of Rome having the first place among these patriarchal sister Churches. In this connection, however, it needs to be noted that no Roman Pontiff ever recognized this equalization of the sees or accepted that only a primacy of honour be accorded to the See of Rome.It should be noted too thatthis patriarchal structure typical of the East never developed in the West.
- The expression appears again in two letters of the Metropolitan Nicetas of Nicodemia (in the year 1136) and the Patriarch John X Camaterus (in office from 1198 to 1206), in which they protested that Rome, by presenting herself as *mother and teacher, *would annul their authority.In their view, Rome is only the first among sisters of equal dignity.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/c...on_cfaith_doc_20000630_chiese-sorelle_en.html
As Bp John said in the 1st link top of the post, “Christ did not create a church with five heads of equal importance. He established One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church whose invisible head is the Lord, but whose visible head is the Pope of Rome.”
Re: encyclicals, & Orthodox following them
They don’t.
Here’s Bp John again on this subject
melkite.org/eparchy/bishop-j…n-the-melkites Note: Code of Eastern canons #'s 597 &599
yes