The Orthodox should stop the search for unity of the apostolic church because the laity are opposed? This hostility, or ambivalence if you will, on the part of the Orthodox laity is not praiseworthy. Nothing should be imposed but it is the role of the bishops, after the theological disputes have been resolved, to act as pastors and lead their flocks. Even now the bishops should be preparing the ground work of eventual union should the theological disputes be settled. Jesus Christ founded one Church and we should all be seeking to do his will to be united in faith.
“The Orthodox should stop the search for unity of the apostolic church because the laity are opposed?”
Not at all. But its not going to work now or in the foreseeable future. It is the laity’s role to ultimately approve or disapprove what the hierarchs do. In this sense we are very, very different from the Latins. Bishops indeed do lead. That is their proper role. It is also their skulls which pave the floor of hell. In any event, P, this is the way it has always been in Eastern Christianity. In the end, the laity has the say. We believe that it is our obligation to defend Orthodoxy from some of the more “out there” antics of the hierarchs. Many believe that the dialogs have pushed matters into the “out there” stage and its time to rein the hierarchs back in. We think that is very praiseworthy. The quiet adverse reaction to the Vatican’s actions in this Assyrian case indicates to me that perhaps things haven’t gone too far, that our hierarchs still recognize and it would seem reject, what we see as an over extension of Papal power and authority.