Christy,
Thanks for the article. I really do like the idea of unity between the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, but I honestly doubt it is a possibility for the near future. I am generally optimistic when it comes to such matters, but it seems that the Orthodox Church is having enough troubles as it is before factoring in a unification with the Ukrainian Catholics, which will most likely cause even more headaches.
Please forgive me if you know this already, but I am running through for anyone else who might be reading this thread as well. (If you wanna skip the history and politics lesson, go to the *)
The Orthodox Christian Church is not set up in the same political manor as the Catholic Church. Where there is the Pope of Rome, who has authority over Catholic churches, and is viewed as the head of the church, the Orthodox are much more complicated. To help explain this, I am going to temporarily ignore other jurisdictions in America and simply focus on the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). The OCA bishop of a region such as New England or the Mid-West is part of a group of bishops which govern all of America. The head of which is the Metropolitan of All America and Canada, currently Metropolitan HERMAN. The Metropolitan, while he has the largest territory, does not have direct authority over any of the bishops in his territory. He is simply called, “the FIRST AMONG EQUALS.” As a matter of fact, the Metropolitan currently controls the regions of New York, New Jersey, and Washington DC. The Metropolitan is not under orders to the Patriarch of Constantinople, as many non-Orthodox seem to believe, and an analogy between the Patriarch and the Pope would be incorrect.
There is an even greater issue that arises when other jurisdictions such as the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, or Antiochian Archdiocese, set up churches in areas of America. In that case, the various Orthodox Churches in a region are still in communion, but their governing bishops are separate people. The doctrine of the various Orthodox Churches (which are in communion with each other) are completely identical. The only differences you would see would be external such as musical, priest vestments, old calender vs new calender, etc. After these minor differences have been overlooked (those which do not effect the doctrine of the church) the various Orthodox Churches do exactly the same thing throughout the world.
As mentioned in the article, the situation in the Ukraine is a complete mess. Before the Soviet era, most of eastern Europe and Russia were exclusively Orthodox. During Soviet times, Orthodoxy was banned, and all practicing Orthodox were either executed or sent to various prison camps. When this happened, the Orthodox Church moved, almost literally, underground. This caused a break in communication from the previous centers of the empire to areas like the Ukraine. At the fall of the Soviet Union, when public worship became allowed, many Catholic and Protestant groups went into the area to evangelize. It has been pretty well understood among the Christian Churches that you do not go into an area to evangelize when there is already a local Christian Church who believes in the Holy Trinity and proclaims Christ Crucified and Risen. As an example, the Orthodox still recognize the Pope as the Bishop of Rome, and therefore have no right to institute their own bishop into the same area. The only difference is that the Bishop of Rome, from Orthodox eyes, fell out of communion after the decline of the Roman Empire.
- If this co-communion between Orthodox and Catholic was to start, it would most likely start with the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Because there are doctrinal differences between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, I do not know who would be considered the governing bishop of the church, whether it was considered the Pope or a bishop from any of the groups trying to become the autocepholous Ukrainian Orthodox church. (Note: the same thing happened in America before 1970 when the Orthodox Church in America was declared it’s autocephaly from the Russian Orthodox Church. There are still Orthodox Churches, whom the OCA is still in communion with, who do not recognize it’s autocephaly.)
Various things like the infallibility of the pope and even something little like the role of sex in a marriage would have to be compromised upon before there was any co-communion between the Orthodox and the Catholics in the Ukraine, let alone abroad.
I hope this wasn’t too much for one post. Thanks again for the link to the article.
John
