Dear brother NovusAugustus,
I just started reading from the beginning of the thread and noticed this statement from you. If it has already been commented on, forgive the repetition.
Actually, Eastern and Western and Oriental Catholics don’t have identical theologies. More accurately, we all share the same DOGMAS, but we don’t all share the same theology - i.e., the way we express the dogmas.
Spend some time in the Eastern Catholicism Forum and you will be more apprised of the differences. Here are just a few examples:
(1) Eastern and Oriental Catholics speak of the Essence and Energy of God to express the dogma on the otherness of God from His creation. Though Latin (i.e. Western) Catholics maintain the dogma, you guys don’t have a theology regarding the Essence and Energy of God.
(2) Latin Catholics express the IC in terms of the Theotokos being preserved from the stain of original sin. But “original sin” has a different meaning for Easterns than for Latins, so while Eastern Catholics adhere to the dogma of the IC, they would not express that dogma in the same theological terms.
(3) Latins like to express the uniqueness of the papacy in terms of “supremacy.” Oriental Catholics generally don’t mind it. But Eastern Catholics normally don’t like the term “supremacy,” for that term has authoritarian connotations for them. They would prefer to use the term “primacy.”
(4) You will find that while the Oriental Tradition with the Latin Tradition have a theology on the Justice of God, the Eastern Tradition generally approaches soteriology in a different way.
The examples could be multiplied. I think brother (name removed by moderator) was very accurate when he stated that all Catholics share the same FAITH.
Blessings,
Marduk
On matters of theology, all “Catholics” are the same–be they Eastern or Western.
Orthodox–be they Russian, Greek, or whatever, are different in that they do not recognize the supremacy of the Pope. They also differ slightly in some matters of doctrine, a product of many long years of separation. But none of the differences are so large as to be unreconcilable.
All other “Christians” have wide theological gulfs separating them with the church and also do not acknoledge the pope as supreme representative of Christians on earth. They forsook the Apostolic succession when they broke with the church. This includes the many “almost Catholic” churches like Old Catholics, High Church Anglicans, etc.
) of my beliefs. I shouldn’t let my zeal get the better of me. There are plenty of charitable Catholics on this board.
