The Orthodox look at it differently. According to their view the Roman Catholic Church should return to the Eastern Orthodox Church and not the other way around. This is explained in a letter to Pope Francis by the Orthodox Metropolitan Seraphim.
No. I don’t hold out hope for the Eastern Orthodox, at least within our lifetime. It’s not doctrine; heck, it’s not even the primacy of the Pope. I believe those are obstacles that can be overcome with openness and charity.
As I said. Bad attitudes. They simply don’t like us, and that is a major wrench. Everything else, including this letter, is a smokescreen.imo:
The Orthodox look at it differently. According to their view the Roman Catholic Church should return to the Eastern Orthodox Church and not the other way around. This is explained in a letter to Pope Francis by the Orthodox Metropolitan Seraphim.
http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/epistle-to-pope-francis.pdf
If he succeeds in reunifying with the Eastern Orthodox (i.e. Constantinople), I will forget everything from Amoris Laetitia to the Pachamama fiasco and clamor for his canonization. If he succeeds in reunifying us with the Russians, I will further clamor to have him declared a Doctor of the Church and Equal-to-the-Apostles.
I guarantee that the Orthodox won’t forget about AL, the idolatry, blasphemy etc during the Amazon Synod etc. Humanly speaking, if there was any chance of reunion, the Amazon Synod killed it imo.
We’re more than just the “Roman Catholic” Church, and while the Orthodox are free to desire what they want, the Catholic Church can do nothing but hold to the truth. We cannot “return to the Orthodox” because it is not we who separated ourselves from them, anyways.imo:
The Orthodox look at it differently. According to their view the Roman Catholic Church should return to the Eastern Orthodox Church and not the other way around. This is explained in a letter to Pope Francis by the Orthodox Metropolitan Seraphim.
http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/epistle-to-pope-francis.pdf
That is the attitude of the Roman Catholics which is not particularly helpful for any chance of reunion. Who was it that excommunicated whom in 1054? And what were some of the reasons for the excommunication? One reason was that the Greek Church had allowed married priests. Do you really think that this was an appropriate issue for Rome to have excommunicated Michael Cerularius and all of his followers in 1054? After all, wasn’t St. Peter married? According to the Orthodox POV, this is where Rome separated itself from the Orthodox Church, not the other way around.
I think that it is possible. In our lifetime, not likely, but there has been a lot of progress between the two Churches. Read the Ravenna, Balamand and the Chieti documents. Most Orthodox theologians that work with dialogue between the two churches primary concern is immediate and universal jurisdiction over the whole Church. Again, the Chieti document is a great start to further dialogue on this issue.
It takes two to tango. Look at St Pope John Paul’s Ut Unum Sint. If both the Orthodox and Catholic Churches are true Churches (yes, the Catholic Church recognizes the Orthodox as true particular Churches with the sacraments, read Unitatis Redintegratio) one doesn’t need to return to anything. I’ll borrow one of @dochawk analogies, the issue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches is a family spat. If two siblings have not spoke with one another for years or even a generation, they do not cease to be part of the same family.
And, the Catholic Church left behind “regional authority,” what Metropolitan Ware calls a 2nd level/tier of authority within the church. So both East and West have local authority (eg, bishop), but the Orthodox have regional authorities (eg, patriarch) that Catholics do not have. And then, only Catholics have a universal authority (pope).
