Protestant Error, once again

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CharitableFaith

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Protestants like to identify the Catholic Church as the Roman Catholic Church, but are they not familiar with the Eastern rites of the Church? To eastern Catholics does this offend you that you are being so called left out because they call the whole church " Roman "? Is there anyway we can introduce the eastern rites to the western culture of Christianity, because as a Latin rite I’m sick of people not knowing the other lung of the Church.

God bless
 
CharitableFaith said:
Protestants like to identify the Catholic Church as the Roman Catholic Church, but are they not familiar with the Eastern rites of the Church? To eastern Catholics does this offend you that you are being so called left out because they call the whole church " Roman "? Is there anyway we can introduce the eastern rites to the western culture of Christianity, because as a Latin rite I’m sick of people not knowing the other lung of the Church.

God bless
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It’s sad to say, but most Roman Catholics don’t know about the Eastern Rites. I was one of them until five or ten years ago.
 
CharitableFaith said:
Protestants like to identify the Catholic Church as the Roman Catholic Church, but are they not familiar with the Eastern rites of the Church? To eastern Catholics does this offend you that you are being so called left out because they call the whole church " Roman "? Is there anyway we can introduce the eastern rites to the western culture of Christianity, because as a Latin rite I’m sick of people not knowing the other lung of the Church.

God bless
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Any ECCer who gets worked up about this probably has other problems. I wouldn’t worry about it.
 
It is all about education. Many Protestants aren’t aware of the difference between the different rites but I can also say that most Catholics are also in the same boat regarding the Protestant Church. One can’t group the Protestant church into one subheading either. The Protestant church has many branches that are very different and distinct from each other. If you want others to be aware of what is happening inside the Catholic Church, educate people about it. I am talking about positive education such as you might have to talk about what the church teaches and you may also have to address the negative talk that the media loves to talk about. If you have a heart that is willing to answer questions and have serious discussion, people will learn. Education is what will bring the Christian church together.
 
Remember of course that the protestants were ‘protesting’ against Rome. The East/West schism is not really part of ‘their’ history. Along with most of Christian history. Which is why they are so wrong on almost everything - by forgetting the accumulated wisdom of the Church, they are forever destined to make the same mistakes over and over and over again.
 
dnicoll said:
Remember of course that the protestants were ‘protesting’ against Rome. The East/West schism is not really part of ‘their’ history. Along with most of Christian history. Which is why they are so wrong on almost everything - by forgetting the accumulated wisdom of the Church, they are forever destined to make the same mistakes over and over and over again.
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That really simplifies the issue. And, I can assure you, the original protesters of Rome were not ignorant- one need only look at Luther and Calvin to know that they were versed in the Fathers, as well as other early Protestants.

The fact is that most Christians of any stripe do not know their history, because it is never taught. This is something that applies to Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, etc. alike.

We could all do with a bit of history. 😃
 
CharitableFaith said:
Protestants like to identify the Catholic Church as the Roman Catholic Church, but are they not familiar with the Eastern rites of the Church? To eastern Catholics does this offend you that you are being so called left out because they call the whole church " Roman "? Is there anyway we can introduce the eastern rites to the western culture of Christianity, because as a Latin rite I’m sick of people not knowing the other lung of the Church.

God bless
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It would be nice, of course, if Protestants accepted our claim to be the Catholic Church. However, given that they don’t, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for them to *call *us “the Catholic Church” without actually *believing *that we are. (Orthodox call the Orthodox Church “the Catholic Church”, but obviously I’m not going to call it that since I don’t believe that it is.)
 
Peter_J said:
It would be nice, of course, if Protestants accepted our claim to be the Catholic Church. However, given that they don’t, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for them to *call *us “the Catholic Church” without actually *believing *that we are. (Orthodox call the Orthodox Church “the Catholic Church”, but obviously I’m not going to call it that since I don’t believe that it is.)
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Actually, it makes perfect sense for Protestants (and anyone, really) to refer to the Catholic Church as the Catholic Church. Why? Because that is what the Catholic Church calls itself, and that is the name the world knows it by. Similarly, the Orthodox Church is called such, because that is what it refers to itself as and that is what name it is known by. And so on and so forth.

A person may not believe that my name is Tim (even though that is my name, and that is what I call myself), but they have no choice but to refer to me as Tim commonly. Why? Because if I was called something else that no one knew me by, than nobody would understand who is being talked about.

I don’t think Protestants reject the Catholic Church’s claim to be the Catholic Church- rather, it is that the idea of the Catholic being THE Church that most Protestants reject. Of course, now I’m getting rather technical… :p;)
 
ThatOneGuy92 said:
Actually, it makes perfect sense for Protestants (and anyone, really) to refer to the Catholic Church as the Catholic Church. Why? Because that is what the Catholic Church calls itself, and that is the name the world knows it by. Similarly, the Orthodox Church is called such, because that is what it refers to itself as and that is what name it is known by. And so on and so forth.
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But the consequence is that when you say “the Catholic Church” I won’t know whether you mean us or the Orthodox Church.
 
Peter_J said:
But the consequence is that when you say “the Catholic Church” I won’t know whether you mean us or the Orthodox Church.
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Okay, now I’m really confused. :confused:
How would you not know what I mean? When a person says “the Catholic Church”, 99% chance is that they’re referring to the Catholic Church. And the same with “the Orthodox Church” referring to the Orthodox Church, and so on and so forth.

Of course if a person were to use “Roman Catholic” or “Eastern Orthodox”, everyone would automatically understand. However, given that most persons know what bodies the terms “Catholic” and “Orthodox” refer to, this isn’t a problem. On top of that, the Catholic Church does not wish to be identified as the “Roman Catholic Church”, nor does the Eastern Orthodox specifically with to be the “Eastern Orthodox Church”, so its being polite as well.
 
ThatOneGuy92 said:
Okay, now I’m really confused. :confused:
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:confused: I was just going by what you said earlier – or maybe I should say what you seemed to be saying. Didn’t you say that you would accommodate either side’s wish to be called “the Catholic Church”? (If that wasn’t what you were saying, then I guess there’s no problem.)

Edit: I mean this paragraph
Actually, it makes perfect sense for Protestants (and anyone, really) to refer to the Catholic Church as the Catholic Church. Why? Because that is what the Catholic Church calls itself, and that is the name the world knows it by. Similarly, the Orthodox Church is called such, because that is what it refers to itself as and that is what name it is known by. And so on and so forth.
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Peter_J said:
:confused: I was just going by what you said earlier – or maybe I should say what you seemed to be saying. Didn’t you say that you would accommodate either side’s wish to be called “the Catholic Church”? (If that wasn’t what you were saying, then I guess there’s no problem.)

Edit: I mean this paragraph
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Sorry for the confusion! We’re all so happy because of Easter, that we just don’t know what to do with ourselves, do we? 😉

Let me try to rephrase it, going back to beginning:

More-or-less everyone knows what Church is being referred to when talking about the Catholic Church. And people know what Church is being referred to when talking about the Orthodox Church.

That is all I meant. You had said it is strange that Protestants call the Catholic Church “the Catholic Church”, when they do not in fact believe it to be the Catholic Church. What I am saying is that Protestants call the Catholic Church “the Catholic Church” because that is its name, regardless of personal feelings towards Catholicism’s doctrine.

Is that clearer?
 
Peter_J said:
Yes. As long as your not saying that you would accommodate the Orthodox in their wish to be called “the Catholic Church” I don’t see any reason for confusion.
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Huh? I was saying that given the choices of “Eastern Orthodox” and “Orthodox” in public discussions, the Orthodox prefer to be called “the Orthodox Church”. That is all.

Alas, with the prospect of school resuming tomorrow, I fear my communication skills have decreased! 😛
 
Until last year, I knew nothing about the Orthodox Church. Oh I had passed by some Churches that said “Orthodox”. I didn’t know the Orthodox and Roman Catholics had a common beginning. I thought “Orthodox” referred to some different religion in Greece or something.

Furthermore, I never really noticed that there were Eastern Catholic Churches. The rare times I saw one, I just thought it meant it was a Catholic church with mass in an Eastern language.

Most Evangelicals don’t spend time thinking about these things. They just know that there is a Catholic Church and there is a Pope.
 
ThatOneGuy92 said:
Huh? I was saying that given the choices of “Eastern Orthodox” and “Orthodox” in public discussions, the Orthodox prefer to be called “the Orthodox Church”. That is all.
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We don’t seem to have any disagreement here ^^. I suspect that you didn’t see the word “not” in my last post:
Peter_J said:
Yes. As long as your not saying that you would accommodate the Orthodox in their wish to be called “the Catholic Church” I don’t see any reason for confusion.
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ThatOneGuy92 said:
That really simplifies the issue. And, I can assure you, the original protesters of Rome were not ignorant- one need only look at Luther and Calvin to know that they were versed in the Fathers, as well as other early Protestants.

The fact is that most Christians of any stripe do not know their history, because it is never taught. This is something that applies to Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, etc. alike.

We could all do with a bit of history. 😃
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Martin Luther once debated an RC theologian. When Luther heard him cast an aspersion on the Orthodox Church, he spoke in defence of the Eastern Church to remind his RC opponent that the Eastern Church was one-half of the universal Church and that he considered the Eastern Church, by far, the “better half.”

Protestants aren’t all bad . . . :)🙂

Whenever I mention the fact that my Easter is coming up this week etc., and people will ask me why - I just tell them I’m “Orthodox” and they immediately understand.

“Eastern Catholic” etc. is something that is just not intelligible to anyone and especially many Roman Catholics. I know a wonderfully pious Roman Catholic elderly lady who tells me that I cannot possibly be saved since I’m not a Roman Catholic . . .

Ultimately, I do believe it is the destiny of the Eastern Catholic Churches to return to their Mother Orthodox Churches, in one way or another.

The idea that undergirds the historical unions where the integrity of Orthodox jurisdictions were violated as their bishops went under Rome (often for reasons unspiritual) and under pressure from RC nations - that is something Rome has been repenting of for some time and has formally rejected the “unionist model” of church reunification.

Sorry . . .

Alex
 
Peter_J said:
Yes. As long as your not saying that you would accommodate the Orthodox in their wish to be called “the Catholic Church” I don’t see any reason for confusion.
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Actually, the full title of the Orthodox Church does include the name “Catholic.” “Catholic” when used in the East refers to the Eucharistic model of the Church where the Church is wholly present in the smallest part where there is a bishop, Apostolic Faith and valid Sacraments. That is the original Patristic meaning of “Catholic.”

There are Eastern Catholics who will argue that we should call ourselves “Orthodox Catholics” for a number of reasons I won’t go into (and with which I agree completely).

In any event, Roman Catholics should also call themselves “Orthodox Catholics” since “Orthodox” refers to the Faith and “Catholic” refers to the Church.

And does not one of the Latin Eucharistic Canons pray for all those “who teach the Orthodox Faith?”

Alex
 
Alexander_Roman said:
Whenever I mention the fact that my Easter is coming up this week etc., and people will ask me why - I just tell them I’m “Orthodox” and they immediately understand.
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Interesting. I thought you were one of us North Americans who celebrated Easter 3 days ago.
 
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