Why would the Orthodox Patriarch want union with a pack of heretics (which is what, AFAIA, the Orthodox think Catholics are) ? Hell will turn Arctic before they change what they believe about us. And why the hurry ? We’ve been spitting anathemas & similar venom at one another since 1472 at least, & that was “modern times” then: not that it made a blind bit of difference to either side then; so why the hurry now ? In 10,000 AD, Benedict the 585th will say exactly what his current predecessor is saying: because 10,000 AD will be very modern in 10,000; just every past time was modern in its own time. But mere chronology has no bearing on the worth of a theological position.
A rushed job is always a botched job - premature union, before all the substantive issues of all sorts are properly thrashed out, will only lead to papering over the cracks (canyons, rather) that separate the two bodies.
The Orthodox do not trust the Papacy as far as they can spit, & wheeling out Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev (as “Inside the Vatican” does all the time) as a trophy Orthodox bishop friendly to Rome, is no replacement for the hatred that plenty of the Orthodox feel for Rome. If all the Orthodox clergy turned pro-Papal overnight, that would mean nothing for the rest of the Church if they did not agree: has the Pope never heard of Mark of Ephesus & the rejection of the Union of Florence by the Orthodox faithful ? The “Union” of 1274 was no more durable. The truth is, Orthodoxy has no place or time for Rome, except as a penitent returning from Papal error. This is a recognisable Fundamentalist position, & it’s equally impenetrable.
It is no mistake that Orthodoxy in Russia resents the presence of RC bishops on “Holy Mother Russia”'s soil - the very fact that it does, proves ten time over that Orthodoxy cannot stand the Papacy. As for the Nazi invasion of Russia, don’t let’s imagine that has not been thought of as an RC assault on HMR.
RCs may have forgotten, or never known about, the attacks on Russia by Polish Catholics, with Papal support: it does not follow that because we have forgotten the “false Dimitri” (a Polish adventurer who passed himself off as the son of Ivan IV), the Russians are as conveniently forgetful. And they have a lot to say about Vatican I. As for Vatican II - that merely confirms their distrust of Rome (not that confirmation is needed !), because it proves, to their satisfaction, that Rome is quite prepared to vandalise its Liturgy in the interests of Papal tactics; & that is something they are most unlikely to tolerate - as the almighty & lethal row over the Liturgy in the 1660s proves.
Unless all these concerns, & others, are honestly addressed, & the suspicion that Rome is power-hungry & unscrupulous is faced by Rome & not shirked, there is not a hope in hell of corporate reunion. If Popes & ecumenists can’t face facts, they are living in a fantasy world. We aren’t united ourselves - so how can we possibly expect others to unite with us ?
As for prayer - forget it: no prayer can have any any effect in a situation like this. The situation is absolutely hopeless. This is not something the Pope can complain of, since his own predecessors helped to poison relations by their claims. He can hardly be unaware that the beatification of Pius IX sends its own message: that Rome, for all its pretty words, has not budged one inch from that Pope’s doctrine on what Rome now calls “other Christians”, including the Orthodox. The Balamand business merely proves to the Orthodox that Rome will unsay anything, no matter how much it claims to believe it, provided that it can lure the Orthodox into its embrace by doing so.
However sincere the Pope may be, the Orthodox do not trust us, & have every reason not to. It would be far more productive to make a nice big bonfire of those ecumenical papers & agreements & so on: at least the blaze would serve the purpose of keeping us warm. They have no use otherwise.
Apologies for length
Sorry to “rain on the parade” - but we have to face facts, including the ones that make re-union an impossibility; no matter what their source.
