Actually, you are incorrect here.
Nothing whatever that Eastern Orthodoxy teaches has been condemned by the Papacy, nothing. Every single dogma that Eastern Orthodoxy teaches can be (and is) taught in Eastern Catholicism. (One may search the pages
here and
here for books if the links work.)
The difference is in what Eastern Orthodoxy
does not teach, but has been added in the west since the schism. You might have noticed that the Zoghby statement does not actually address those.
None of these men, not a single one, was excommunicated by Pope John Paul II when they jointly released this statement (1995AD, I believe). Is it your opinion that these ‘Catholics’ are not as Catholic as yourself?
You are the one making an issue of it.
Are you confused?
I don’t think that it’s the Latin Catholics who are confused here. I believe that we’re being presented with a skewed vision of the Eastern Churches & it’s being done in a subtle way. (might I say “sneaky”?)
Any post ending with the words “I subscribe to the Zogby Iniative”, should definitely be taken with a shaker of salt:
"Zoghby asserted in his 1996 book Tous Schismatiques? (literally, “Are We All Schismatics?”, usually translated
“We Are All Schismatics”) that the Church of Rome and the Orthodox Church share essentially the same faith.
He declared that the Councils held by the West alone cannot be considered “ecumenical”, criticized the Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Catholic Church, and said that the union which took place between some Eastern Churches and Rome was a mistake.** Zoghby also asserted that the primacy of the Roman Pontiff is one of honor and charity only. Later, he said that papal “infallibility depends on ecumenicity.”**
That last statement is ridiculous. It suggests that Truth must be agreed upon by all religions (ecumenicism??) before it’s Truth Eastern & Western Catholicism are not one, big, happy Church…with some unimportant differences… & haven’t been for many centuries.
The Great Schism divided medieval Christianity into Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Relations between East and West had long been embittered by political and ecclesiastical differences and theological disputes. Pope Leo IX and Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius heightened the conflict by suppressing Greek and Latin in their respective domains. **The leader of the Latin contingent, Cardinal Humbert, excommunicated Cerularius, while Cerularius in return excommunicated Cardinal Humbert and other legates. (Infantile behavior)
The Church split along doctrinal, theological, linguistic, political, and geographical lines, and the fundamental breach has never been healed. The Crusades, the Massacre of the Latins, the capture and sack of Constantinople, and myriad other disputes, **mostly over power & authority of the Pope,**have further prevented reconciliation. As far as I’m concerned many of the dividing issues are just minor points turned into major ones because of childish “foot stomping” behavior.
On paper, the two churches were actually reunited in the two councils one of Lyon…the other or Florence,
but in each case the councils were repudiated by the Orthodox as a whole. Several years after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, a Synod of Constantinople repudiated the Union of Florence,
making the breach between the Patriarchate of the West and the Patriarchate of Constantinople final. In 1965, the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople nullified the anathemas of the past. Contacts between the two sides continue: every year a delegation from each joins in the other’s celebration of its patronal feast, Saints Peter and Paul (29 June) for Rome and Saint Andrew (30 November) for Constantinople, and there have been a number of visits by the head of each to the other.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism
I’m sad to say that I doubt these two Churches will ever reconcile, but I try to adher to the advice of John Paul II. I think, with him, that a Church “breathing with two Lungs” would be much healthier for both the Eastern & Western Churches, but, I have little hope that it will happen. I feel that it will be much easier to welcome the SSPX back into the fold, than it will be to heal the rift between us…that has lasted almost 10 CENTURIES. I don’t place all of the blame on the Orthodox, (I’m thinking of the sack of Constantinople), but for the last 5 centuries the Orthodox have spoiled every attempt at reunification…so I’m not hopeful. Also, reading the disruptive & downright rude messages written by some Eastern Catholics regarding Traditional Catholicism in what is supposed to be the TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC forum makes it hard to imagine any attempt at reunion. I have read the Eastern Catholic forum trying to learn about your Church, but I would NEVER try to hijack any of your threads.
BTW. The fact that Pope John Paul II did not excommunicate someone doesn’t mean a whole lot. He didn’t excommunicate “Father” Marcial Maciel Degollado, Cardinal Suenens nor Paul Shanley, either.**
