How Do Orthodox Christians View the Pope?

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I asked you first.

Most nd’s subscribe to believer’s baptism and “symbolic only” Lord’s supper…in addition to most other baptist reformed beliefs.
Most being the operative word here. I grew up in a Baptist home, met many people from different religions, got turned off by the catholics I met back then(never could get used to the idea of calling a MAN holy father), and decided most religions were too legalistic. Better off being a follower of Christ, enjoying a personal relationship with Him. You know, loving everyone, feeding the hungry, helping the poor, evangelizing…👍
 
I asked you first.

Most nd’s subscribe to believer’s baptism and “symbolic only” Lord’s supper…in addition to most other baptist reformed beliefs.
And I answered you! I mean, I figure if you asked the question, you must know the answer. But then again, you don’t know me, so you would be assuming that I subscribe to the same things as Baptists!:eek: Let me ask you, truthfully, when Jesus said,“This is my Body,” was He being symbolic? And the wine as His “blood?”😉 Oh, and just to keep in line with the thread question, the pope is the head of the catholic church to me, nothing more nothing less.🙂
 
Thread radically prunned.
I HIGHLY suggest charity in the discussion.
 
"The Roman Catholic view of the Church (ecclesiology) differs from the Orthodox teaching on this subject in several ways.

The Latins teach that the visible head of the Church is the Pope, the successor to St. Peter, who was appointed to that sacred position by the Lord Himself with the words, ‘Thou art Peter and upon this rock I shall build my Church’ (Matt. 16:18).

The Pope is, then, ‘the Bishop of the Catholic Church’, her teacher, the vicar (agent, deputy) of Christ on earth. He is the interpreter of the Christian Tradition. When he speaks for the whole Church (ex cathedra), the Holy Spirit does not permit him to err. He is, therefore, infallible on matters of morals and doctrine. Other bishops are his lieutenants. He is the symbol of the episcopate’s unity.

The Orthodox Church teaches that all bishops are equal. To be sure, there are different ranks of bishops (patriarch, archbishop, metropolitan, bishop); nevertheless, a bishop is a bishop. Such differences apply to the administration of a church or group of churches, not to the nature of the bishop. The president of a synod of bishops is called archbishop (Greek custom) or metropolitan (Russian custom).

According to Latin ecclesiology, each local parish is part of the universal or whole Church. The totality of Catholic parishes form the Body of Christ on earth. This visible Body has a visible head, the Pope. This idea of the Church implies that the local parish has two heads: the Pope and the local bishop. But a body with two visible heads is a monster. Also, the local bishop seems stripped of his apostolic authority if the Pope may contradict his orders. Indeed, he cannot become a bishop unless the Pope allows it.

Orthodoxy teaches that every bishop, ‘the living icon of Christ’, and his flock constitute the Church in a certain place; or, as St. Ignatius the God-bearer says, the Church of Christ is in the bishop, his priests and deacons, with the people, surrounding the Eucharist in the true faith. All bishops and their flocks so constituted, together composing the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

In other words, there can be no Church without a bishop, no bishop without the Eucharist, and no bishop or Eucharist without the true faith, the Apostolic Faith, ‘the faith once delivered to the saints.’ (Jude 3) ‘The Church is in the bishop and the bishop in the Church’, wrote St. Cyprian of Carthage.

Put another way, there is no Church where there is no bishop, and there is no bishop where there is no succession of bishops from the Apostles (apostolic succession); and there can be no succession from the bishops without the faith of the Apostles.

Also, there can be no Church without the Eucharist, the Sacrament of unity, because the Church is formed through it. The Body and Blood of Christ unites the Faithful to God: This fellowship or koinonia is the whole purpose of Christianity. At the same time, there can be no Eucharist — and no other Mysteries — without a bishop who teaches the true faith to the baptized." - Dr. Fr. Michael Azkoul

home.comcast.net/~t.r.valentine/orthodoxy/texts/azkoul_differences.html
👍

And may I add. Orthodoxy accepts the primacy of the Patriarch of Rome, but not his supremacy.
 
Many claim that the Pope can change or suppress Eastern Liturgies if he wants to. Or that he can remove bishops from any Eparchy at a whim. Or put his nose on internal affairs. Micromanaging is another word for it.
Why will the pope be interested in suppressing the eastern liturgies? Are those litugies not a cultural and spiritual heritage of those who practice them? And removing bishops, i think there are laws guiding that, so why will he want to remove bishops(i may not understand this point, i never heard or see it)?
Lastly, i will ask where should we draw the line? My bishop only complys with teaching and discipline and lastly matters reserved to the holy see. Will yon call this micro managing.
Ubenedictus
 
Why will the pope be interested in suppressing the eastern liturgies?
That is a question no one asks. Its funny in a sad way really how people make claims about Papal Supremacy in a way that makes the Pope seem like a ruthless dictator rather than the Vicar of Christ.
Are those litugies not a cultural and spiritual heritage of those who practice them?
Yes, its not only the culture but also the prevailing school of thought of where the understanding of the faith developed. Greek philosophy is different from Latin, that is why there is a difference between East and West. And of course the Orientals have a different way of understanding as well.
And removing bishops, i think there are laws guiding that, so why will he want to remove bishops(i may not understand this point, i never heard or see it)?
I’ve also never seen the Pope do it for non-RC bishops. Which also why I wonder why some would assert the Pope can do this, but it has never happened.
Lastly, i will ask where should we draw the line? My bishop only complys with teaching and discipline and lastly matters reserved to the holy see. Will yon call this micro managing.
Ubenedictus
Well, Eastern Catholic Churches aren’t called sui juris for nothing. I think the name says it all.
 
Why will the pope be interested in suppressing the eastern liturgies?
For the greater good of the church, of course! 😛

Ok, I was being somewhat facetious, but that is the actual reason.

For a long time (and perhaps once again at a future time) conformity was valued more highly than diversity. Thus historically the Celtic, Ambrosian, Gallic and Mozarabic churches and their liturgies were suppressed. * These were valid liturgical rites and the cultural patrimony of their people.

Today, the Mozarabic rite and the Ambrosian rite are permitted in just two or three locations each (the others are dead), and these two have been greatly modified to resemble the Rome rite.

Also, at various points in Europe the Byzantine rite was also suppressed in favor of the Latin rite. This happened in Czech-Moravia, Hungary, southern Poland, Croatia, Slovakia, southern Italy and Sicily. Also some Byzantine rite congregations in Palestine-Israel were suppressed in favor of the Latin rite as that church was being built up in the Holy Land under the new Latin patriarchs.

So basically, it has already happened in many places.

In those places where the Eastern liturgies had not yet been absorbed there were usually intermediate steps in the process. For the Byzantine-Slavonic tradition the Synod of Zamosc was an important step in that direction. Usually we describe these intermediate steps in the process of absorption with the term ‘Latinization’ [thankfully a practice that has presently fallen into disrepute].

Early in the history of the American Catholic church (1852) the Plenary Council of Baltimore declared this:
#3 The Roman Ritual, adopted by the First Council of Baltimore, is to be observed in all dioceses, and all are forbidden to introduce customs or rites foreign to the Roman usage…

#4 The Baltimore “Ceremonial” is to be used all through the country.

(Later the Baltimore catechism was introduced and required of the Eastern Catholics to use it.)

These conditions were approved by the Pope when the decrees were presented to him. Thus, when Eastern Catholics began to arrive in greater numbers on the shores of the United States they were forbidden to practice Eastern Catholicism in the tradition and patrimony of their churches.

This in spite of* specific guarantees* made by the Supreme Pontiff to the Orthodox people who agreed to become under the Pope at Rome.

So this kind of thing can and does happen.

I will agree that it is a hypothetical question, and I never make it myself, but in fact the whole justification for many Papal prerogatives is based upon hypothetical ‘what ifs’, in that the value as well as the threat of a Papacy with universal jurisdiction is in what it can do in the future under hypothetical circumstances.

So it is a simple question that should have a simple and direct answer.*
 
Scripture tells us they are linked to binding and loosing.
I have looked many times.
Okay.

“He has given, therefore, the keys to His Church, that whatsoever it should bind on earth might be bound in heaven, and whatsoever it should loose on earth might be loosed in heaven; that is to say, that whosoever in the Church should not believe that his sins are remitted, they should not be remitted to him; but that whosoever should believe and should repent, and turn from his sins, should be saved by the same faith and repentance on the ground of which he is received into the bosom of the Church.”
St Augustine
I repeat the key is link to and goes over and beyond the power of binding and loosing. I think u misinterprete Augustine in the above quote, he was respond to a heresy that taught that peter received, used and died with the power to forgive sins, he explained that the power was delegated (given) to peter for the church, so that power remains with the church hence the dicussion above. He doesnt deny the primacy of peter.
Ubenedictus
 
For the greater good of the church, of course!

For a long time (and perhaps once again at a future time) conformity was valued more highly than diversity. Thus historically the Celtic, Ambrosian, Gallic and Mozarabic churches and their liturgies were suppressed. * These were valid liturgical rites and the cultural patrimony of their people.*
Please can u give me a link for this with an explanation of the pope’s role.
Today, the Mozarabic rite and the Ambrosian rite are permitted in just two or three locations each (the others are dead), and these two have been greatly modified to resemble the Rome rite.
 
👍

And may I add. Orthodoxy accepts the primacy of the Patriarch of Rome, but not his supremacy.
This is very funny ‘a body with two head is a monster’. This is what happen when we use a literal ‘scale’, cyprian of cathage has a better idea he say christ establish ‘one chair’ and made it ‘a source, a intrisic of unity’ and goes on to ask ‘can one say he is in the church when he doesnt hold to the chair of peter?’.
Lastly the vatican council say that a ‘supreme’ pastor doesnt in anyway derogates the lawful power posessed by the bishops but instead ‘maintains, confirms and defends it’, a sybol of unity, reminds me of cyprian. That council talks of great power but no body wakes up and usurps anothers lawful position. Rome has ‘alway’ interferd in uncertain matters even outside the Roman diocese (peter has spoken thru the pope was the usually responds).
Ubenedictus
 
It is linked to i dont understand your use of the word ‘inextricable’. Well look what another church father say
upon u he says, i will build my church; and i will give you the keys not the church
Tertulian
he shows that peter not everyone received the key, cyprian says christ established one chair and made it a source of unity. Pope leo 1 understood that and while acknowledging that all bishop are equal he also notes difference in honor, rank and administrative power and he says christ made peter a source of unity to the church like cyprian explained before him.
Maybe u should look thru my previous explaination and tell me where i got it wrong.
Ubenedictus
 
he shows that peter not everyone received the key,
I have shown from the Fathers…and can show more…where the keys are inextricably linked to binding and loosing. Can you show from the Fathers…where it says that **only **St Peter received the keys?
 
I have shown from the Fathers…and can show more…where the keys are inextricably linked to binding and loosing.
I think the Catholics here have not expressed themselves very well. I believe they should be agreeing with you that having the keys refers to binding and loosing. What they should be proposing is that the act of binding and loosing refers not only to the forgiveness of sins, but also to the government of the Church (to propose or relax the rules of the Church).
Can you show from the Fathers…where it says that **only **St Peter received the keys?
There are many. There are several that say that the other Apostles possess or hold the keys, but only St. Peter received them. Pope St. Leo explained that the other Apostles (and by virtue of Apostolic Succession, all the bishops) also POSSESS the keys because Peter SHARED the keys with them, as the bishop of Rome who is the successor of Peter also SHARES them with his brother bishops.

Blessings,
Marduk
 
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