“So at what point *do* some of the theological niceties get put aside temporarily for the sake of mutual preservation?”
That’s a real good question, RKBAD! Of course the problem is that 1% of theology which aren’t simply “niceties”. Well, there is another problem. +BXVI is extrordinary. We in Orthodoxy haven’t seen the likes of him for over 1000 years and most of us, I’ll venture, really like what we see and hear. But who will be next? What are the chances that this pope, whom I think will be thought of as a Father of The Church (putting to rest that awful Western notion that the patristic age ended many, many centuries ago), will be followed by another such as him? I know that it can be argued that reunion cannot be dependent on a single man, but you know, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time one man sitting in Rome especially, or one hierarch somewhere else, actually did make all the difference.
Of course it does. Actually, the world bears the burden of death because of one man's decision, and the world was saved by the Second Adam. Everything that was done in the world was done by individuals, so each and every one of us bears the same responsibility for giving in or resisting evil.
Would the Church be what it is without Moses or the BEV Mary or without SS Peter and Paul? Or without other Apostles? Without St. Ignatius, or St. Justin the Martyr, and countless others?
The important thing is that we all do what is right. God gives us blessings and it is up to us to use them correctly to bless others. Here is this Pope who is patristic. If we don't do what is right, he cannot do it on his own.
It is in all our benefit that the Lord protect Pope Benedict XVI with the Holy Spirit and allow him to accomplish that for which he was chosen. God willing, he will have many more fruitful years and accomplish incredible things.
Ad multos annos!
F
I agree with you all: when one looks at the world scene today, it does not take much imagination to come to the thought that maybe the hierarchs in Rome, Moscow, Jordanville, Constantinople, Athens and Belgrade have some inspired insight that we do not have. I share K’s concern, also, that after Benedict, who? I guess we are just going to have to wait and see as to all of this.