Although the 1995 encyclical “Ut Unum Sint” by Pope John Paul II helped with Catholic-Orthodox relations, more progress could be made with a nudge from the man currently occupying the chair of Peter, according to an Orthodox bishop who has been part of Catholic-Orthodox dialogues for more than a decade.
“Ut Unum Sint” “was certainly helpful,” said Metropolitan Kallistos. “As an Orthodox, I was surprised and moved at Pope John Paul II when he openly asked for the help of others to understand his role and his primacy as bishop of Rome to the universal church.”
The retired British-born Greek Orthodox metropolitan, raised an Anglican, spent much of his ministry teaching at Oxford University.
It is good that we are talking. And it is even better that we can agree on some points of common interest where cooperation is possible. But restoration of communion is a very long ways off. As much as I like Met. Kallistos I think he has always been inclined towards the more kumbaya wing of Orthodoxy.
The unhappy fact is that really serious theological differences divide Rome from Orthodoxy and despite years and even decades of dialogue little progress has been made on the principal sticking points. Rome has been adding to the Deposit of the Faith for a thousand years without any substantive involvement from the Christian East. Many of those additions are viewed very skeptically within Orthodoxy and at least a few are rejected outright as heresy.
There is a thousand years of estrangement and theological divergence which lies between us. Fixing that is not going to be an easy task, if it is in fact possible at all.
Under the mercy,
John
Some knotted situations can only be resolved by intense prayer. If we can convince enough Latin Catholics and Eastern Orthodox to pray for a complete reunion, then somehow a way, through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, will be found.
There was a time in the 20th C when I (with many others, not least with the help of the likes of Kallistos Ware) saw the Anglican Communion could play something of a bridging role between the Roman Catholic Church and elements of Eastern Orthodoxy. Alas that now seems something of a pipe-dream in the second decade of the 21st … Which only goes to show how devastating our own wrangles have been upon the wider Body of Christ. Kyrie eleison!
PS. I do note the Introduction of the AC Covenant is dependent upon material from dialogues with the Orthodox. For all that, we have yet to see whether this ‘project’ will actually cut adequate ice …
One error in the article should be noted. The author writes: “They recognize the validity of each other’s sacraments, but Catholics and Orthodox cannot regularly share each other’s Eucharist. ” This is incorrect. Orthodoxy’s understanding of sacramental validity is different from Catholicism’s. As a result, one will not find many Orthodox who will say that the sacraments of the Catholic Church are valid or efficacious. Some Orthodox bishops and priests, e.g., insist that all Catholic converts be baptized. And even when bishops and priests receive Catholics by chrismation, it is said to be an act of gracious economy and should not be be interpreted as a recognition of the Catholic Church as a Church.