(Catholic.Net) - A Bulgarian Orthodox prelate told Benedict XVI of his desire for unity, and his commitment to accelerate communion with the Catholic Church.
At the end of Wednesday's general audience, Bishop Tichon, head of the diocese for Central and Western Europe of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, stated to the Pope, "We must find unity as soon as possible and finally celebrate together," L'Osservatore Romano reported.
"People don't understand our divisions and our discussions," the bishop stated. He affirmed that he will "not spare any efforts" to work for the quick restoration of "communion between Catholics and Orthodox....
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THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: So my question is this. Which of the Orthodox churches is more ecumenical? Who will beat whom to restore full communion with Rome? Are the Bulgarians about to outdo the Russians or the Greeks? Will the Russians and Greeks stand for this? Are they really going to be upstaged by the Bulgarians?
8 comments:
If an Orthodox church joins the Roman Catholic church, it will merely be considered an Eastern Catholic church and will cease to be in communion with Rome. If one bishop joins the Roman Catholic church, it doesn't mean that he will take his see with him.
the Benedictine express keeps rolling along.... better get on board or be left behind Pete Frey
Sir Knight
There was a rumor 20 or so years ago that a whole national Orthodox church wanted to immediately be communion with the Pope of Rome. Unfortunately the professional ecumenists at the Vatican derailed it for fear of upsetting the ecumenical effort.
Let's pray the Ecclesiatical Iron Curtain gets ripped.
He said that a catholic will not become orthodox and vice versa...
????????
What kind of communion he wants?
anonymous, most likely he meant the two traditions will maintain their autonomy, rites and perhaps even their theology. What he is getting at is the ability for both to fully celebrate the Eucharist/divine liturgy together, with full intercommunion. Pete Frey
So where and what is the Truth then?
http://www.catholicreview.org/subpages/selectedstory.aspx?action=7065
HA HA Mr Knight, i think you will get a "Charge" out of this. Good ol Don Trautperson up to his usual
objections. Pete Frey
The Bulgarians already tried to come into communion in the 19th century. It ended when the monk orchestrating the union was kidnapped and taken to Russia, where he languished in a dungeon for several years until he recanted. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church was subsequently condemned for "phyletism" (excessive nationalism) by the other Orthodox Churches for daring to actually act sui juris and rebel against the ecclesiastical imperialism of Moscow and Constantinople.
I hope and pray that it will happen. But I don't think that any Orthodox Church will come into union isolated from any of the others. They do not want to break communion with their own, nor should they have to. And the Serbs and northern Slavs are still bitterly and irrationally anti-Catholic, as are many Greeks. The Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch and the Melkite Patriarch have sworn to each other that they will achieve sacramental communion within their lifetimes, and they will probably be the ones leading it - but they are trying to bring in all Orthodox in the Middle East (Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian) united, respecting liturgical and ritual differences, under a single Patriarch of Antioch (there are currently 9 Patriarchs of Antioch, not including the 10th Latin Patriarchate which was abolished by Pope Paul VI).
Let us pray that it happens. But all the Orthodox need to come - the last thing we need is another schism within Orthodoxy with some people forming yet another "Uniate" Church and the rest remaining Orthodox, and then distinguishing the two by having those in union with Rome latinize themselves to death. I don't mean anything derogative by the term "Uniate"; I'm an Eastern Catholic, and one painfully aware of the schism we are living from our Orthodox brothers.
@Anonymous: "He said that a catholic will not become an orthodox and vice versa... ???????? What kind of communion he wants?"
What kind of communion do YOU want? We CANNOT proselytize a Christian of the Eastern rite into Roman Catholicism. Doing so carries with it the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae if you are a priest, affirmed most recently by Popes Leo XIII and Pius XII. Orthodox do not become Roman Catholics. They become Orthodox Churches in communion with Rome. The Orthodox Churches NEED to retain their autonomy, their authenticity, their ecclesial structures, everything - and given that Rome has failed miserably to respect the sui juris status of the Eastern Churches respecting our tradition of ordaining married men to the priesthood, we have no guarantee that the Bulgarians can protect themselves if they come into communion. So long as a Roman Catholic national conference can forbid married Romanian Catholic priests from have faculties in their own churches in that country, separation from Rome is the only way the Orthodox are going to survive.
@Graham Reeves: What you said is probably unfortunately true. However, a few years ago, a Nestorian prelate in California, Mar Bawai Soho, came into communion with Rome and took his entire diocese (of about 1,000 souls) with him.
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