(continued)
There is nothing inherently special about EO ecclesiology that could preserve its Traditions, as evidenced by the Anglican dilemma.
And, I would argue, there is nothing inherently special about the RC ecclesiology that could preserve
its traditions, either, as the various RC divisions (schismatic groups; trad./NO acrimony, etc.) show, and the various problems of the ECCs and OCCs show (I know you know what I’m talking about, as this is a constant conversation on the EC sub-forum!).
In Russia, for example, it depends more on government suppression of non-Orthodox religions than the innate power of its ecclesiological principles, to preserve its Traditions.
I have no idea how to gauge this, as I do not live in Russia. I would only remind you that people who live in glass dachas should not throw kamni.
I’m not sure what you mean. What is it about the Catholic “model of Christianity” is not conducive to maintaining the Apostolic Faith?
Basically everything about it. I don’t have time to go through it all, and don’t really want to anyway, but some of the things I personally find alienating that are not present in other churches include: the ecclesiology, the over-reliance on scholastic modes of thinking and philosophical sophistry to defend its positions (and the various developments of doctrine that have come out of this), the lack of aestheticism, etc.
I’m not interested in unity with the Eastern Orthodox as they are today so much as how they were when the Church was still united in the First millenium. There are many things the EO need to recover from the early Church that I feel they have lost before unity can come about. I feel the same way with the Latins, of course.
Okay.
I feel the OO also need to recover a some things.
This is interesting. Having once been OO yourself, can you elaborate on what some of those things might be?
Sorry for the misunderstanding. When I said that the High Petrine view does not dictate acceptance of the papacy, I simply meant that the principle is not always about the papacy. As stated, it is just a principle about the relationship between a head bishop and his brother bishops. It can be used to describe the Metropolical and Patriarchal levels of headship, not just the universal level. That’s all I meant.
Oh, okay. Thank you for explaining.
There is only one way to be in communion with Rome. It’s reflected in the High Petrine view. I reject the Absolutist Petrine view.
And it doesn’t bother you that Rome itself holds (if I’m understanding these distinctions correctly) the Absolutist view? (Or you don’t see that from Rome, or what?)
I’ve never heard that phrase, “bowing to someone” used in a friendly way. It normally denotes base subservience with no freedom. I’m inclined to think you used it that way, so I don’t believe you when you say it just means mere “assent.” I’m pretty sure you know that it normally has an insulting connotation. Sorry. No, I do not bow to the Pope.
It is not meant in a friendly
or unfriendly way. By “assenting” to the Pope, you bow to Rome’s decisions should they be over or against your own sui juris church’s own recommendations or what have you. This does happen, as was recently the case in denying married priests among the some Byzantine Catholics in Italy (? I believe it was…there was a thread about this on the EC sub-forum, but I cannot locate it). In light of the very real control that Rome exercises, benevolently or not, I am afraid I do have to say that I see the relationship in the negative terms through which you have re-framed my original statement: You are subservient, and you do not have true freedom. This, in and of itself, is not negative but that you’ve thought of it that way. Should it be God’s will that I join the Coptic Orthodox Church, I would be subservient to the leadership of that church, even in the cases (should they arise) that I disagree with any given decision. The difference, of course, is that no one is infallible in that particular scenario…
That you think it means something insulting demonstrates just mere ignorance.

Invincible ignorance is just Catholic jargon for saying you are sincere in your beliefs without pretense or malice.
Indeed. And yet, to be called any kind of “ignorant”, especially in light of my past in which I would not have been called such, is a trifle insulting, don’t you think? It really does seem more like Rome is providing itself with a sort of philosophical salve by brushing off any and all criticism of it with such patronizing terminology. I, for one, do not appreciate it at all.