Would all the orthodox churches have to join together before they could come back to the catholic church?
- Thread starter Nelka
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Whitworth
Guest
One by one I’m sure, although all at once would obviously be optimal.
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Peter_J
Guest
Hi Nelka. A bit of nuance is called for, to properly answer this question. There’s no question that the door is open (so to speak) for an individual Orthodox, or a group of Orthodox, to become Catholic if they want to do so of their own volition – but I want to emphasize that we don’t *encourage *them to do so. As the Balamand Statement put it, “Pastoral activity in the Catholic Church, Latin as well as Eastern, no longer aims at having the faithful of one Church pass over to the other.” Hence we also avoid the old language of “come back to the Catholic Church.”
P.S. Conversely, it is our hope that the Orthodox will not encourage Catholics to convert to Orthodoxy, but certainly the door is open if a Catholic (or group of Catholics) wants to do so of their own volition.
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Aramis
Guest
Currently, the approach from Rome seems to be, “One whole synod at a time”… and only by unanimous vote.
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McCartney
Guest
Bulgarian Orthodox want urgent unity with Rome
youtube.com/watch?v=IdlYrSeHneI&list=PL6907681216C74A5D
youtube.com/watch?v=IdlYrSeHneI&list=PL6907681216C74A5D
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Aramis
Guest
Rome wants them to be united in it, and to have the backing of the whole synod and the vast majority of the clergy. Or, more correctly, that’s what HH Benedict said Rome wanted.
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SerbCath
Guest
I would think combining with the corresponding sui iuris church would be another way to accomplish this.
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Aramis
Guest
For some, the would work. For others, that could be problematic. The OCA have roots in both Russian Orthodox and Ruthenian Catholic churches; which do they join? Or do they come into communion as a fully autonomous church?
Not all Orthodox Churches have preserved their liturgy unmodified, and most Catholic Churches haven’t, either; but both have moved in different directions in many cases.
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Peter_J
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Forgive my frankness, Aramis, but I’m at a loss as to why you say “some”. I would say that every Orthodox Church would have a problem with that – good heavens, they even have a problem with intercommunion with Catholics (“Catholics” = in the Roman Communion) and some of them object to joint prayer.
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Nine_Two
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“Joining together” into one top down organization is not a concept of unity we accept, and it is not on the table.
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Nine_Two
Guest
The irony here is that the OCA is the only Church claiming autocephaly that fully expects, and accepts, to be folded into another Church hierarchy (God willing that will happen in 2016).
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a_priori
Guest
Generally, it would seem that the Orthodox would ask about the Catholic Church coming back to Orthodoxy. The POV of the observer is everything.
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josephback
Guest
Do you think the different development of government in Orthodox churches has anything to do with history and how the Greek East retained a strong civil government after the Western Roman Empire fell to the barbarians? Given on the ground realities, the East would jealously fight to maintain their autonomy from the emperor, while the Papacy out of necessity began to acquire temporal power in addition to ecclesiastical power? Just a thought.
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Pecador_Amado
Guest
I’d say only God knows that, but so long as they all come back as soon as possible, that would be awesome.
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Peter_J
Guest
No, what would be awesome is if Roman Catholics came back to the Church.
P.S. Not really, I just noticed that no Orthodox poster has given that response yet, so I figured I would beat them to it.
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