A
AKDee
Guest
Having recently been reading on the Orthodox Church of America’s website, the vehemently object to the right lung/left lung theory or even Western / Eastern Church.
They do not see themselves as being “almost Catholic” or a “sister church”. They see themselves as the true Church of Christ, with Catholics having apostatized and then ultimately messing things up so badly with Martin Luther that we caused the protestant schism. And there is a tremendous amount of pride there- if you read the Q&A on that site, pride is everywhere.
That is why I believe the biggest obstacle to reunification is pride. Interesting, since pride is a sin, but some of the comments I read here and the stuff at the OCA website is just full of it. In nearly any discussion that involves Catholicism, a level of defensiveness is present. I recently purchased an Orthodox Study Bible and in the preface they even go into the cause of the schism (their view) which I thought was odd. I don’t recall my Catholic study Bibles going into the cause of the reformation. It seemed to be an unnecessary addition to a Bible but I got the distinct impression that the Orthodox feel very defensive in that regard.
Here is a quote from the OCA site:
…controversy has risen over the “sister church” or “two lung” theory. While there are some Orthodox who would perhaps ascribe to these notions, it is my understanding that Orthodoxy is the Church, not half or part of it. One might argue on a purely historical basis that Roman Catholicism, being the dominant faith of the Western Roman Empire, is the counterpart of the Orthodox Church as the dominant faith of the Eastern Roman Empire. In this sense, one could argue that there are indeed two halves to the whole. However, it is only my opinion that this kind of reasoning is based on the existence of a political reality which has not existed for centuries.
…I might conclude by stating that some suspicion—or at the very least a certain amount of confusion—of Roman Catholicism still exists in many Orthodox circles. Taking this observation out of the Roman Catholic/Orthodox setting, the recent situation involving Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism might serve as an example. Not long ago, the Roman Catholic/Lutheran dialogue produced a statement of agreement on faith and, if I am correct, certain other essential points. Shortly thereafter, the Vatican announced a variety of new indulgences, restating in the process the role of indulgences, the place of purgatory, the “merits of the saints,” etc. The reaction among many, especially in Lutheran circles, was interesting: having reached agreement on certain essentials, the Vatican then unilaterally, and independently of the dialogue, restated and reemphasized the role of indulgences—one of the very issues that led Luther to seek reform in the Roman Catholicism of his day! Many came away from these two actions confused or suspect. Objectively speaking, this struck me as odd, not to mention something which may have generated more confusion than had existed in those circles in the past.