
MERGER OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC AND
EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCHES

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Historical overview:
By the fourth century CE, church authority in the
Christian movement had become concentrated in five bishops or patriarchs.
They were located in the main Christian centers: Alexandria, Antioch,
Constantinople, Jerusalem and Rome. The Bishop of Rome was considered the
first among equals. With the rise of Islam, the influence of church
leaders in Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem was severely reduced. Over
time, the two power centers of Christianity, centered in
Constantinople in the East and Rome in the West, drifted apart. They
developed divergent paths in the areas of creeds, beliefs, practices, liturgy,
the use of icons, organizational structure, etc. A formal
split finally came in 1054 CE. The Reformation in the
16th century later divided western Christianity between Roman Catholicism and a variety of Protestant
churches. The Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church has been organized largely on
national grounds; it is today a fellowship of 15 separate,
autocephalous churches, each led by its bishop.
Unsuccessful attempts have been made to heal the split between Roman
Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. In recent centuries, the relation
between the two churches has degenerated, in part because of a move by the
Roman Catholic church to establish parishes in Eastern Orthodox territory
-- notably Greece and Russia. Mass crimes against humanity by Roman Catholic and
Serbian Orthodox individuals and groups in Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, and
Kosovo have further aggravated differences.

Current status of inter-church talks:
The eighth plenary of the Joint International Commission for Theological
Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, ended in
Baltimore MD on 2000-JUL-19. This was the first meeting in seven years. An
expected joint declaration on progress between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic
churches was not issued.
Professor Waclaw Hryniewicz, a Catholic theologian and director of the Ecumenical Institute at the Catholic University of Lublin, in
Poland felt that improvement in relations between the two Christian communions
are at a temporary dead-end. He attributes this failure of the high-level talks to "methodological
deficiencies" and a "polemical atmosphere" at the
meetings. He said
that the leaders of the two churches appear "unwilling or hesitant"
to recognize their churches as "sister churches." He predicts
that future ecumenical dialogue would depend on better relations at the local
level, particularly in Eastern Europe. A major sticking point is the status of
the pope.
Professor Waclaw Hryniewicz commented: "I'm disappointed -- I was
expecting a healthy compromise worthy of the name. This meeting was not in vain.
But when there's a conflict between two [partners acting in good faith], you
have to reach a compromise. The fact that we couldn't explains why there was no
joint declaration."
Past documents produced by the Joint International Commission had
referred to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodoxy as "sister
churches" However, most of the Orthodox churches now reject the term
as "insufficiently thought over." Roman Catholics now say
that the term "posed certain difficulties."
This 10-day session was devoted to discussing the "ecclesiological
and canonical
implications of Uniatism." This is the controversial process by
which Orthodox communities would accept the jurisdiction of Rome, while
retaining their Eastern liturgy. A communiqué distributed at the close of
the Commission stated that participants had expressed "reserve
and even outright opposition" to
documents prepared for the meeting. They agreed that further studies were
needed of "theological, pastoral, historical and canonical issues"
involved in the "exceptionally thorny question of Uniatism."
Professor Hryniewicz told Ecumenical News International (ENI) that the
atmosphere at the talks had been "generally tense" because of
the complexity of the issues and some personal animosities. He added that
Orthodox delegates had had to "argue hard among themselves, sometimes
exceeding the rules of courtesy." The Roman Catholic co-chairman of
the talks, Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council
for Promoting Christian Unity, had at one point staged a walkout.
"Besides difficult moments like this, caused by the very polemical
atmosphere, the talks also lacked sound methodological organization. Such
discussions should be led in an intelligent, orderly way. If the method had been better, we could have expected better
results."
Archbishop Jeremiasz of Wroclaw-Szczecin, A Polish Orthodox delegate,
said he recognized that the "ecclesiological status" of
Greek Catholic churches affected "key elements" of Roman
Catholic teaching. He criticized the talks for a lack of "organizational
care." He continued: "I don't think the talks were a
failure -- only that they marked a very difficult phase, in which official
views appear to have triumphed...Some participants have begun to harden
their positions self-defensively, while external non-church factors have
also exerted too much influence. But, given sufficient will and
theological freedom, as well as improved procedures, the dialogue should
continue."

Reference:
-
Jonathan Luxmoore, "Orthodox-Catholic relations at an impasse after
Baltimore talks: 'Bitter differences' lead to dead-end, Polish ecumenist
says," Ecumenical News International. Distributed as Note #6146 by
PCUSA NEWS on 2000-AUG-9
Copyright © 2000 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-AUG-9
Latest update: 2000-AUG-9
Author: B.A. Robinson

