Can anyone in world Orthodoxy offer an answer to the two questions at the end of this letter?
Letter To An Orthodox Friend From A Seeker
Dear _____________,
I pray this letter finds you and your family in good health.
As you have encouraged me to do, I am continuing to explore the teachings of the Orthodox Faith and compare them with the teachings of my own Roman Catholic Faith. Since our last conversation I have read a lot and learned quite a bit of Orthodox history, which has raised some questions in my mind, that I hope you will answer for me. If I have misunderstood or misrepresented something, please let me know.
In reading the history of the Church I see that there were some major disagreements between the East and Rome that lead up to what has been termed the Great Schism. From my reading it appears that Rome had begun to teach some things that the East considered totally unacceptable and incompatible with the Orthodox teachings such as the authority of the pope over all of Christendom as the Vicar of Christ and all that this dogma implies for salvation; the Immaculate Conception; the addition of the Filioque in the Creed; salvation by the special merits of the saints; created vs. uncreated Grace; purgatory and other issues.
From my reading I see that many whom the Orthodox now honor as fathers and confessors opposed these things as taught by Rome. Eventually, East and West went their separate ways with each one condemning and excommunicating the other. I have been trying with all sincerity to search out the truth to determine who really preserved the Apostolic Faith unchanged.
The more I read, the more it becomes clear to me that the fathers, confessors and councils of the East preserved the Faith unchanged, while a number of things in the West were undergoing change and resulting in different and new dogmas, even the dogma of salvation, itself. I find myself agreeing more and more with the Orthodox fathers and councils who condemned the new dogmas of Rome as heretical, pronounced anathemas against these teachings and excommunicated anyone who held these teachings.
I have been amazed as I read the lives of such Eastern saints and fathers as Gregory Palamas, Photius, Germanos, Mark of Ephesus and others to see how they refused union with Rome and taught that the faithful should flee from any communion with the Latins and even the Orthodox who are Latin minded.
Seeing how things did change in the West and how the fathers of the East fought and gave their lives to oppose what they saw as the “heresies of the Latins,” I have been moving more towards the feeling that I should leave the Roman Catholic Church and start attending the Orthodox Church.
But just this week, I ran across some things that raised a whole new set of questions for me and have me perplexed. This is where I hope you can help me.
I was reading about Orthodox participation in dialogue with the pope and his representatives. I have learned a number of things that I wonder about, such as:
-The Orthodox have lifted the anathemas against Rome that were once imposed by those who are still honored by the Orthodox as saints, fathers and Ecumenical councils;
-The Orthodox have announced that the pope of Rome is recognized as the bishop of Christendom while the Patriarch of Constantinople is perceived more as the bishop of the East.
-Orthodox now accept Rome as your “sister Church” and have announced that the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church are just as valid as those of the Orthodox. Now Roman Catholics do not need to be baptized to be received into the Orthodox Church. In fact both sides have agreed to cease from trying to win people from one side to the other since both sides are recognized as the “two lungs” of the Church.
-Orthodox bishops have announced that Orthodox can receive the Eucharist in Roman Catholic Churches and vice versa under certain circumstances.
-I read about your Orthodox Patriarch, who, as the leader and spokesperson for all of Orthodoxy, participated in the Mass with our pope and how they exchanged the Kiss of Peace, which indicates full Eucharistic union. I have heard that joint prayers and Mass between Orthodox and Roman Catholics take place quite often.
-I have read about recent meetings between East and West dealing with the Filioque. My understanding is that they have essentially concluded that the uproar over the Filioque in the past was due to misunderstandings and they agreed that we all mean essentially the same thing whether we insert the Filioque or not. (I was glad to see that they have come to the same conclusions about the differences between the Orthodox and the Monophysites as well.)
What I am getting at is this. All of these new developments are very encouraging but they also raise some questions for which I need answers.
They are encouraging because I think it would be wonderful if we could just all be one and stop the bickering and divisions. I really don’t want to leave my Roman Catholic parish. I love our priest and all my family attends there. Our priest is really wonderful and he sounds very Orthodox in what he says and believes.
In view of all these recent developments and agreements, why should I leave the Roman Catholic Church to become Orthodox? It seems that we are practically one already and if our bishops can worship together and share the Kiss of Peace, and if our sacraments are all the same what really is the difference?
I recently talked with a Roman Catholic priest who was going through the same questions I was going through and was considering becoming Orthodox. He visited an Orthodox monastery in the Northeast and was amazed to find that they venerate Roman Catholic saints there and the monks told him there was no reason for him to leave the Roman Catholic Church to become Orthodox. I assume all of this is known and approved by their bishop.
On the other hand, when I think about it, I am perplexed about what the Orthodox fathers, confessors and councils said about all of this. I know that our Roman Catholic Church still holds to the idea of the supremacy and infallibility of the pope as the Vicar of Christ on earth. I know we still use the Filioque, baptize by sprinkling or pouring, believe in the Immaculate Conception, purgatory, and other things that have been points of disagreement in the past. I really have not seen anything to indicate that we have changed any of the dogmas that once separated us from the Orthodox. It seems that the agreements and unions are now being accomplished on the basis that the disagreements of the past were due to misunderstandings. I am reading things that suggest that the fathers of the past were blinded by the culture of their day, a culture that was more barbaric and less loving. Our leaders today seem to have better insights into some of these issues than the saints of the past did.
My only concern here is this. If the saints, fathers, confessors and councils of the past acted out of ignorance, blindness, lovelessness or lack of understanding, where was the Holy Spirit guiding the Church in all of this? And if the fathers were wrong concerning the Monophysites and Latins, how can we trust anything they taught? Maybe they were also wrong or in darkness about the Arians, the Iconoclasts, the dogmas of the Trinity, the Sacraments, the Church and even salvation itself. And if they were wrong and caused all these years of division and conflict needlessly, how can we still honor them as bearers of the Grace of God?
I hope you can help me out of my dilemma by answering two questions for me. Why should I leave the Roman Catholic Church to become Orthodox and how can we trust anything the Fathers taught if we now know they misunderstood many of these issues?
I hope we can get together soon for some more discussions.
Yours truly,
