Here are a few snippets:
VIENNA, Austria, JULY 11, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The breach of Eucharistic communion between East and West is a common tragedy, and the quest for unity should be of equal importance to both, said Bishop Hilarion.
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The document, Bishop Alfeev said, "brings nothing new in comparison with previous documents of similar kind, such as 'Dominus Iesus.'"
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"The Orthodox also believe that apostolic succession and the sacraments are essential marks of the Church.
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Bishop Alfeev explained: "According to the document, 'communion with the Catholic Church, the visible head of which is the Bishop of Rome and the Successor of Peter, is not some external complement to a particular Church but rather one of its internal constitutive principles.'
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"We, the Orthodox, believe that, being not in communion with them, the Roman Catholic Church 'lacks something in its condition.'"
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"The restoration of communion with the Orthodox Church must be as important for the Catholic Church as the restoration of communion with the Church of Rome for the Orthodox Church," he said.
"The breach of Eucharistic communion between East and West is a common tragedy, affecting both the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches," Bishop Alfeev concluded. "The quest for unity should be of equal importance to both Churches."
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Orthodox Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, who heads the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, said to journalists in Moscow that the document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith can help to achieve unity, precisely because "for an honest theological dialogue to happen, one should have a clear view of the position of the other side."
He added, "It helps understand how different we are."
The full article may be found here.
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