Posted on 06/24/2008 1:31:10 PM PDT by NYer
“Alas, the event might not have held as great a significance for you as it did for me.”
You are without a doubt correct. To me these meetings are pretty much all show and the real meat of the matter is found in the comments of +BXVI, +Batholomew, +John of Pergamum and +Kasper on the theological dialogs.
But it is nice to see the EP and the Pope together.
At least the seeds of unity have been planted and the seeds will grow.
May we soon be one. We need you, probably more than you need us.
I am not sure I agree, at least knowing the Russian mentality. The union will be achieved when the faithful know the sisterhood of our Churches in their bones. This means watching one another pray for the coming of the Kingdom together. The theoretical aspects of faith are important, of course, but in themselves and not for the purpose of unity. A couple of generations from today -- this is, I think, the realistic timeframe -- a Russian faithful will wander into a Catholic Mass and say, ah, OK, I know what this connects to, I know how it works. I could switch rites if I wanted to; not that I want to but it doesn't scare me. We are not there now, of course, and for a good reason, but we can get there. On the other hand, whether a catechetical formula is found that bridges the questions of Original Sin, or paschalia calculations, or procession of the Holy Spirit -- nothing happens to Ivan Viacheslavov's liturgical instinct at all; Catholicism remains for the Italians and the Poles.
“...a Russian faithful will wander into a Catholic Mass and say, ah, OK, I know what this connects to, I know how it works. I could switch rites if I wanted to; not that I want to but it doesn’t scare me.”
Ah, well I guess I sort of feel the way the Russian may someday. I recognize everything in a Latin Mass and I know, in fact I have absolutely no doubt, its all “valid” and “licit”, but I couldn’t change rites because aspects of the Latin theology do indeed scare me. That, Alex, is why the theological aspects of all of this are so important, at least to some of us. They were important enough to put an end to the False Union of Florence once upon a time so rushing ahead symbolically can be a prescription for trouble.
Right, -- the union will not happen when they are brought to harmony intellectually, it will happen when Ivan Vyacheslavov doesn't feel threatened. It could be that the secular West, the enemy of all authentic Christianity, will scare him more than the shaved chins; it could be that familiarity of ecumentical contact dispels the fear.
This is not to minimize the theological fractures that do exist, as you and I know. The issue is nevertheless, I maintain, chiefly visceral. Is the dark mass a bush, a brother, or a bear? It is, every time, only one of the three, however, the behavioral outcome depends on the presumption you make before you examine the dark mass, not after.
See above.
The Russian...the Serb...the Greek...the Romanian...the Bulgar...the Antiochian...the Orthodox faithful in Jerusalem...etc.
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