Our local Orthodox parishes here are extremely parochial and don't welcome 'outsiders'. It never even crossed my mind to consider it, even though I have Orthodox (Greek) friends they have never invited me to church. The Melkites (nominally under the Roman rite) are far more welcoming, but their parish is up the other side of Alpharetta.
Your Roman 'version of history' is just a wee bit exaggerated, don't think that's fair. We'll never get the two lungs of the Church back together with that attitude!
“Our local Orthodox parishes here are extremely parochial and don’t welcome ‘outsiders’. It never even crossed my mind to consider it, even though I have Orthodox (Greek) friends they have never invited me to church.”
I am surprised to hear this. The GOA Metropolis of Atlanta is one of the fastest growing Orthodox metropolises through conversion in the country. I will say that it is uncommon for Orthodox to invite Roman Catholics to a Liturgy or a devotion except perhaps during Great Lent. Aside from the liturgical history aspects and perhaps some cultural ones, there’s nothing sacramentally different going on in an Orthodox Church from what is going on in a Latin Rite Church. In other words, it likely wouldn’t occur to an Orthodox Christian to invite a Latin because there’s no real religious reason for it. You are all fine where you are. The same cannot be said for others, however.
Now, the Melkites; they are wonderful, friendly people, as most Christian Arabs are. We have several who attend our Divine Liturgy regularly as there is no Melkite parish in this state and they don’t feel comfortable in the one Uniate and many Latin Rite parishes here. By the way, you’ll see nothing different at a Melkite Divine Liturgy than you would see at my parish. You might hear the pope commemorated.
“Your Roman ‘version of history’ is just a wee bit exaggerated, don’t think that’s fair. We’ll never get the two lungs of the Church back together with that attitude!”
I sincerely doubt we will live to see that, though it won’t be for lack of trying on the part of the present pope and most of the patriarchs. The laity simply won’t accept it, on either side. It will take several generations of honest talk among monastics and clergy and laity for anything like reunion to have a chance. For example, if the majority of Latins believe that the pope is the infallible vicar of Christ on earth with immediate ordinary jurisdiction even over you and me, and no Orthodox person alive on earth today believes or ever will believe that, how do we reunite? On the other hand, if your sacraments and ours are equally licit and efficacious, what difference does unity make to you and me? I feel no compulsion to receive communion at a Roman Catholic mass and I suspect I am safe in concluding that you feel no compulsion to receive in an Orthodox Church. Do either of us seriously doubt that “salvation” can be found within either particular church? If not, what difference does the fact of the schism make to you and me as we look at each other? I say none.