Orthodox Constructions of the West

[dvdjs]

Food for thought. Good points made by in the presentation of Fr. Taft, SJ, at the conference on Orthodox Constructions of the West.

fordham.edu/Campus_Resources/eNewsroom/topstories_1895.asp
eirenikon.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/orthodox-constructions-of-the-west-report-1/

… Catholic-Orthodox dialogue remained on track (which he found encouraging), but offered two grounds for disillusion: the field remained the preserve of theologians and hierarchs and needed to be pursued more at the grassroots level, and the process continued to be plagued by failure to accept and confront respective responsibility for “a dolorous past.”

Orthodoxy needed to undertake its own examination of conscience and adopt a less polemic view of history. Fr. Taft noted, for example, that the Catholic apology for past sins against the unity of the Church was met largely with indifference, with Russian and Greek bishops even averring that Orthodoxy, for its part, had nothing to apologize for never having resorted to uniatism or used the secular arm to impose its will or oppress the conscience of others (this elicited some nervous chuckling from a largely scholarly audience).

Behaviour, not doctrine remained the main obstacle to reunion in his view. Ecumenical scholarship was in need of the application of Christian principles to unite faithful rather than stress and highlight often superficial differences; to be realistic and truthful while applying the same standards with consistency to both sides. Fairness required recognition that differences that were already in play in the first millennium should be accepted as valid, as the magisterium would otherwise be contradicting itself in having once accepted what to some was now unacceptable. Both the Western and Eastern fathers had to be incorporated in any review of our respective theologies. Misrepresentation had to be avoided…

 

[KyivAndrew]

Thanks for posting this. From the second article: "It was, Fr. Taft brutally argued, time for Orthodox polemicists to “grow up.”

Sadly, I do not think I will ever see this in my lifetime, especially from Moscow, which apparently is objecting to the Pope planning a visit to the millions of Ukrainian Catholics in Ukraine. By what right? This is Christian? The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and the Greek Catholics in Transcarpathia (Ruthenian) were brutally liquidated in 1946 and absorbed into Russian Orthodoxy. The Soviet Union fell, and the Catholic Church rose from the ashes. Now, our church’s very existence, is apparently a stumbling block to the Moscow Patriarch meeting the Pope. As Father Taft said: “Grow up”. The Catholics, including the Ukrainian Catholics, have long ago extended a Christian hand towards reconciliation. No answer, as Father Taft observes.

 

[Biedrik]

Orthodox bishops claimed that they had nothing to apologize for? If that is so, then they are being absurd. I find it unlikely that any church has no crimes to apologize for.