Thursday, June 19, 2008

Is it Truth or Is It Propaganda?

Hat tip to Rorate Caeli for noticing the following article from the Religious Information Service of Ukraine.

Read it, and let it sink in before continuing...

Patriarch of Constantinople Proposes Eastern Catholicism’s Return to Orthodoxy
19.06.2008, [12:10] // Inter-Christian relations //


Munich—In a recent interview with the German ecumenical journal Cyril and Methodius, the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church in Constantinople Bartholomew I invited Eastern Catholic Churches to return to Orthodoxy without breaking unity with Rome. He noted that “the Constantinople Mother-Church keeps the door open for all its sons and daughters.” According to the Orthodox hierarch, the form of coexistence of the Byzantine Church and the Roman Church in the 1st century of Christianity should be used as a model of unity. This story was posted by KATH.net on 16 June 2008.

At the same time, the patriarch made positive remarks about the idea of “dual unity” proposed by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Lubomyr (Husar). Patriarch Bartholomew I noted in particular that this model would help to overcome the schism between the Churches.
Now before anyone gets too excited (or concerned), I checked the original KATH.net story, and it doesn't seem quite so irenic. My German is quite a bit rusty, so I hope someone will produce a translation.

Note that "1st century" should read "1st millennium".

If the Patriarch really were speaking along the lines this article suggests, he would be revealed as a Zogbyite! (Not that that's such a bad thing....) But until I see an accurate reportage of the original interview I will pray and leave it to our Lord. However, I can't help but think Moscow will not be favorable to this option unless it is seen as merely asking all us "Uniates" to come to our senses and return to the Orthodox fold.

Time will tell.

6 comments:

Byzantine, TX said...

Zoghby! Zoghby! Zoghby!

http://www.beatitudo.org/

Anonymous said...

Peace be with you, Father.

You may like to go to this link on the same subject:
http://www.catholica.com.au/andrewstake1/079_ak_210608.php

And to four downloadable articles by Dr Kania here:
http://catholicukes.org.au/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=Dr+Andrew+Kania%27s+Articles

He's well worth reading.

dianonymous said...

Father, bless! This is completely off-topic, but...I have just found out about this blog and you. We live just north of Winston-Salem. Do you ever make it out this way? Is there any chance of a Byzantine mission here in Winston?

God bless,

Diane

www.dianonymous.blogspot.com

Joe said...

The Catholic News report misrepresented what the patriarch said. I am pleased that his holiness Bartholomew did not propose something that would endanger the unity of the Orthodox faith and Church. There can be no restored communion without full unity of faith.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OrthodoxNews/message/9549

dianonymous said...

Yeah, can't have any of that "ut unum sint" stuff, can we?..... Oh wait, that was Jesus's idea, wasn't it?

Joe said...

What do you mean precisely by "ut unum sint stuff?"

I am not opposed to reunion between the Churches as long as there is complete unity of faith. But first, we still have to come to an agreement on the nature of papal primacy.

 
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