The Catholic Archbishop of Moscow has given a remarkably upbeat assessment of relations with the Orthodox Church, saying unity between Catholics and Orthodox could be achieved “within a few months.”
In an interview today in Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper, Archbishop Paolo Pezzi said the miracle of reunification “is possible, indeed it has never been so close.” The archbishop added that Catholic-Orthodox reunification, the end of the historic schism that has divided them for a millennium, and spiritual communion between the two churches “could happen soon, also within a few months.”
“Basically we were united for a thousand years,” Archbishop Pezzi said. “Then for another thousand we were divided. Now the path to rapprochement is at its peak, and the third millennium of the Church could begin as a sign of unity.” He said there were “no formal obstacles” but that “everything depends on a real desire for communion.”
On the part of the Catholic Church, he added, “the desire is very much alive.”
Archbishop Pezzi, 49, whose proper title is Metropolitan Archbishop of the Mother of God Archdiocese in Moscow, said that now there are “no real obstacles” on the path towards full communion and reunification. On issues of modernity, Catholics and Orthodox Christians feel the same way, he said: “Nothing separates us on bioethics, the family, and the protection of life.”
Also on matters of doctrine, the two churches are essentially in agreement. “There remains the question of papal primacy,” Archbishop Pezzi acknowledged, “and this will be a concern at the next meeting of the Catholic-Orthodox Commission. But to me, it doesn’t seem impossible to reach an agreement.”
Prospects for union with the Orthodox have increased markedly in recent years with the election of Pope Benedict XVI, whose work as a theologian in greatly admired in Orthodox circles. Benedict is also without the burden of the difficult political history between Poland and Russia, which hindered Polish Pope John Paul II from making as much progress as he would have liked regarding Catholic-Orthodox unity.
Relations have also been greatly helped by the election of Patriarch Kirill I earlier this year as leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is by far the largest of the national churches in the Orthodox Church. As the former head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external relations, Kirill met Benedict on several occasions before and after he became Pope, and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch is well acquainted with the Roman Curia and with Catholicism.
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Great news!I am orthodox but I see the unity with Rome as a historical and moral step.We have so much in common.At the beginning the Church was one.
This is incredible news! I am a Roman Catholic and I cannot wait for this to happen! I still don’t understand the hold up…
The two sister churches are both Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. However, we are not yet ONE Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. It saddens to see that so few people in my country know what the Orthodox Church is and exactly how special it is to Rome and the rest of the world. It also pains me to see that to this day people are persecuting the Roman Church for things that are untrue (ex: People say the Pope is the King of the Catholic Church when in reality he is known as the “first among equals” meaning the Pope was once counted as a Patriarch.)I really hope people will realize how much we need eachother.
PLEASE SEE: HTTP://SLAVXRIST.ORG/catechism.htm
I’m Roman Catholic, however, was recently reading an Orthodox winter newsletter that alluded to a possible reunification between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox. I’m so excited! I’ve prayed a lot for this.
With thousands of Anglican (bishops and priests) coming into communion with the RCC next month, and then hopefully a reunion with the Orthodox Church not far ahead in the distant future, perhaps other protestant denominations can follow the lead… so that we can be “One” as Christ intended!
I was reared Roman Catholic, lost my faith during the turbulent sixties-early seventies, returned to Christ in the mid-nineteen seventies as an evangelical/Protestant/restorationist Christian, and now am an Eastern Orthodox Christian with an ex-Protestant wife and four living grandchildren. I want very much to re-unite with the Catholic Church, the richness of which I never properly appreciated in my youth. HELP!!!
@William Bean
Why not try an eastern Catholic Church? I hear that some of those eastern rites Churches look and feel more like an Orthodox Church than a Roman Catholic Church, and you’d be in communion with the Catholic Church… best of both worlds! :-)
I am an Orthodox Coptic Christian and I can’t wait till we unite again. In order for Evil to get to us it is easier for him to break us down. I believe that Evil has separated us and it is the love that Jesus has taught us over and over again that will bring us together. All we can do is pray and God always answers.
“Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” We must repent and learn to trust God completely. We ought to be humble and acknowledge that we are dust in order to truly glorify our Father, through our Savior Jesus His Son, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. “I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” (1 Cor 1:10 RSV) If the Church, the Body of Christ is divided it is because love and humility is lacking. Jesus left us with one Church. Today, His Body is shredded and torn to pieces. “Every Easter season I must drink of the cup of your division since this cup is forced on Me… …the more time passes for them to unite the dates of Easter, the more severe their sentence this generation will receive.” (May 31, 1994 TLIG) We must pray for the unification of the dates of Easter. We are recrucifying Jesus when one part of His Body is celebrating His Resurrection while the other part is entering His Passion. Unity begins not with a treaty, but in the heart. The first step is to unify the dates of Easter, out of pure love for Jesus, so that every Christian heart is united in the Passion and the Resurrection of our Lord, with one mind, on one date, and then trust the Holy Spirit totally to do the rest in us.
I am a Maronite catholic which is an Eastern Catholic church that is in Full Communion with Rome. We Have an eastern liturgy yes Our belief system is in full unity with the Western church. I pray that unity happens soon.
i gonna pray for this i hope one day we gona be one like before…i am Eastern Orthodox…but i would be verry happy if we gona have communion with Rome.I pray that unity happens soon..We are same we both belive in Jesus Christ…Long live Christanity!!!Love you Jesus Christ
I am a Roman Catholic and believe in One Lord Jesus Christ…one Church…one Catholic religion. Let us forget all our indifferences towards the goal of unification. This is what the Lord our God wants and we should be in obedience to Him. We should only have One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. God bless us all!
How wonderful it would be if the Orthodox & Catholics could share the Body and Blood around one tabernacle. Unity is sharing the Eucharist together. Unity is in the heart not of the letter. Unity is having a common date for Easter. Why can’t we at least make one date for Easter. Take a small step towards unity .....onedate.org
I hope and pray that Unity will happen in my lifetime, if not, then I
hope that I will be viewing it from heaven. For God’s will, will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
this is a news i have been waiting for. there is a lot of misunderstanding between the people of 2 churches and unnecessary rules regarding inter marriage ceremonies etc. we divide Christ in our rules and what stems is hatred,anger,fights and what not!
lets pray for the unity and for open minds to occur
beware my orthodox brothers!!! because i also feel we should be one but on what terms?? the pope as the head of the unified church or both orthodox and catholics sharing their equal rights. orthodox people are clear in their thoughts but catholics have only one thought of bringing all christians under the pope. by hook or crook!! so beware my brothers!!
I am a Catholic living in America, and I have many Ethiopian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox and Russian Orthodox friends and I feel that our churches have so much in common everything is almost the same except their mass is in their language. Their priests welcome me to their church’s with open arms just as my Catholic church would welcome them. There is a brotherhood among the Catholics and Orthodox church’s, I feel that it would be wonderful to be united together, but I do understand it will be a challenge. If nothing else I just pray relations between the two will continue to blossom. We are both one under God, Catholic-Orthodox.
Dear Thomas Chacko, You don’t have to worry about on what terms, because the Holy Spirit will guide us to Unity. Jesus will keep His Promise that we will be one, in His way not ours, so it will happen, but it will be in the Heart and not the letter of the law, however both sides must act with love and humility towards each other and not throw daggers at each other. Love has been missing and is still missing. Some have understood God’s desire for unity and had a taste of unity on TLIG Pilgrimages; tligpilgrimages.org and if you would like to help take a step towards unity sign a worldwide petition for ONE DATE FOR EASTE; onedate.org
Sister in Christ. Mary
Dear Austin, It is great to hear that in your area there is a spirit of unity. The people want unity and the Church is the people. We the people have a voice and so we need to push for unity, we need to be active in promoting God’s greatest desire. . One way you can be active is promote ONE DATE FOR EASTER. It is a scandal that the churches celebrate the most important date of the Christian calender at different times. They are giving a divided witness to the rest of the world. The World Council of Churches has been working on it for ages. The next time the dates coincide will be in 17yrs.It is not all that relevant as to the date but that someone takes the first step to bend with humility and put Christ’s desire above their own. See onedate.org and witness Ecumenical pilgrimages tligpilgrimages.org In Christ, mary
i was raised orthodox, and still have a true belief in the way i was raised. i want unity for my children, my grandchildren and generations to come. this is what god wants and intended since the beginning of time. to divide us all from what the people want is going against gods wishes. i want to be able to go to church and receive communion with my children, not separately from them. i do beleive we are one and do receive in both churches since it is clear we are one holy catholic and apostolic church. this we cannot deny. please let’s make this happen as soon as possible and the world will be a better place for all generations.
what is really dividing us? if the people want this to happen, what is the wait for???
Georgia,
What is dividing the Churches is their egos. Someone has to bend first, they need to put Christ’s interest first. Christ wants us to be able to share the Eucharist together around one table. He does not like that we celebrate Easter on different dates. We can at least do that and petition the heirachies of the churches to act and show some sincerity. We the people have a voice because we are the Church and it cannot be seperated from Christ. Vote for ONE DATE FOR EASTER on the universal web site; one date .org also see how you can live in unity on ecumenical pilgrimages; tligecumenicalpilgrimages.org
mary
Well, wishful thinking. When I read in this article that there is no difference in doctrine, that is not true. The two churches are NOT in agreement on many dogmatic points. Even when the two faiths say, “Jesus Christ suffered for our sins,” we say the same, but we do not mean the same.
The two major issues that separate Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism is
(a) the issue of “filioque” - the addition to the Creed (“who proceeds from the Father and the Son”. For the Orthodox Church to accept unification, this must be restored to “single procession” i.e., “who proceeds from the Father”.
(b) Papal primacy. For the Orthodox Church to be unified with the Roman Catholic Church, the whole institute of papacy must be disassembled. The Orthodox will never accept anything less than that.
Do you really think this is going to happen any time soon?
And this would only be a start; we are not even getting into finer points of theology and dogmatics.
Paul, I’m still trying to learn the truth behind filioque, but if it truly came about without a council, then the Catholic church could probably concede & discuss that point. However, if the Eastern Orthodox Church respected papal succession before the split, why must the institute of papacy be disassembled now?
Hi Carolyn,
Good comment!
Here is the thing… In the eyes of Eastern Orthodoxy, papal succession is a distortion of the Pentarchy of the classical Church. As you might know, five patriarchates were established as equals, with the patriarchate in Rome given a special place of respect. Over time, this “respect” turned into “primacy” and then “supremacy.” As long as the Pope in Rome claimed an absolute power in the West only, the Eastern Church did not object. The Pope, however, believed that his immediate power of jurisdiction to extend to the east as well as to the west. As soon as he tried to enforce this claim within the eastern Patriarchates, trouble was bound to arise. The ancient Church assigned to the Pope a place of honor, but not the universal supremacy which he regarded as his due. The Pope viewed infallibility as his own prerogative; the Eastern Church, however, held that in matters of the faith the final decision rested not with the Pope but with a Council representing ALL the bishops of the Church.
I’m a little confused about the whole unification idea. Just thinking logically outside the box, wouldn’t that mean that for the past 1000 years at least one (or both…) of the sides had a flawed “Holy Tradition”? There are many traditional concepts about both sides that are not consistent and without any scriptural reference. I would think that both traditions would run from any thought of unifying that could jeopardize the accuracy of their traditions since the days of the original Church. Am I missing something?
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