Oriental and Eastern Orthodox: questions

[Paul Harrison]

We're all used to churches all diagreeing with each other about who's right, who is the real Church of Christ etc, but it seems to me that Eastern Orthodox Christians take this to a higher level. The recent visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the Ecumenical Patriarch, a bold gesture for both men, was in no way universally welcomed by Orthodox Christians. Pope Benedict has a genuine belief that something should be done to heal the affront to Christ which these divisions cause, and which most Christians are rightly ashamed of. I've debated on Christian message boards for the last seven years, and it seems to me that Orthodox contributors, priests and lay people, believe that unity is possible, only when the rest of the Christian world gives up its errors and returns to the Orthodox position.

I see their point. One only has to take a look at the history and geography of Christianity to realise that, when it was largely confined to Europe, the further West Christianity spread, the further it fell into error. Not immeditely, but over a period of 1500 years. Yet while Pope Benedict is willing to make these gestures out of a genuine commitment, he isn't about to admit that the last thousand years of Catholic history have been a mistake. It seems that the Orthodox people who strongly hold these views would require that of him, before they could enter into any meaningful dialogue.

The Catholic Church recognises the orders and, therefore, the sacraments of the Orthodox Churches, and would have no problem with allowing their members to share communion with the Orthodox. The Orthodox Churches don't reciprocate in kind, and will effectively have nothing to do with Rome. I'm not sure where Oriental Orthodoxy stands on these issues, but it seems that your Greek and Russian cousins don't treat you any better than they treat Rome and would require you to "give up your errors" in order to establish full communion. The antiquity of the Oriental Orthodox churches is at least a match for that of the Eastern Orthodox. Many of the more "complex" doctrines of Christianity are nowhere to be found in Scripture, and were worked out with much debate in the first 500 years of Christianity, by which time the division between Eastern and Oriental had already occurred. It is this arrogance on the part of Eastern Orthodox Christianity towards the rest of the Christian world which is, to me, one of its most offputting facets.

I don't support the kind of wooly-minded ecumenism where the lowest common denominator is sought. Nor do I believe in unity at any price. But Christians need to stay mindful that the divisions in world Christianity are in disobedience to Christ's teachings and are an affront to His universal love of mankind. Any gestures made in honesty and good faith to improve the situation should be welcomed.