Bulgarian Orthodox want speedy reunion with Rome!

Da Mihi ^ | October 23, 2009 | Fr. Steve Leake

[NYer]

Pope Benedict has sure gotten the ball rolling and it seems others want to get into the ecumenical action! Thanks to A Catholic Knight on this one:

A Bulgarian Orthodox prelate told Benedict XVI of his desire for unity, and his commitment to accelerate communion with the Catholic Church.

At the end of Wednesday's general audience, Bishop Tichon, head of the diocese for Central and Western Europe of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, stated to the Pope, "We must find unity as soon as possible and finally celebrate together," L'Osservatore Romano reported.

"People don't understand our divisions and our discussions," the bishop stated. He affirmed that he will "not spare any efforts" to work for the quick restoration of "communion between Catholics and Orthodox."

Bishop Tichon said that "the theological dialogue that is going forward in these days in Cyprus is certainly important, but we should not be afraid to say that we must find as soon as possible the way to celebrate together."

"A Catholic will not become an Orthodox and vice versa, but we must approach the altar together," he added.

The prelate told the Pontiff that "this aspiration is a feeling that arose from the works of the assembly" of his diocese, held in Rome, in which all the priests and two delegates from every Bulgarian Orthodox parish took part.

"We have come to the Pope to express our desire for unity and also because he is the Bishop of Rome, the city that hosted our assembly," he stated.

Initiatives

After the bishop, Luka Bebic, speaker of the Croatian Parliament, addressed the Holy Father, inviting the Pontiff to visit his homeland and thanking him "for the support the Holy See has given our people since independence, during the war back then and now in the process that will lead Croatia to enter the European Union."

Benedict XVI next greeted members of the Association Rondine Cittadella della Pace [Citadel of Peace], which promotes dialogue and peace by bringing together students from conflict areas to live and study in community.

They shared with the Pope a concrete proposal titled "14 Points for Peace in the Caucasus" that was developed at an international congress the association organized in May.

The proposal was also distributed to the ambassadors of the Caucasus countries and to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Young people of all the ethnic and religious groups of the Caucasus were also present at the audience.

Members of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Cardinal Sancha, whose founder, Cardinal Ciriaco María Sancha y Hervas, was beatified Sunday in Toledo, Spain, also greeted the Pontiff. Headed by their superior, Sister Maria del Carmen Dominguez, the religious expressed to the Holy Father their commitment to be faithful to their original charism "of service to the poor, orphans and the elderly."

Via Catholic.net

[kosta50]

So far, the only change I've heard articulated is the response to the Priest's blessing. We now say "And also with you."

So, you think it would take them years and God only a one-sentence change? You are goooood, really gooooood (remember "Analyze this?"). This is what I mean by pray-pay-and-obey crowd.

Funny thing, when I was a new convert we used to say "Et cum spiritu tuo". I don't know Latin, but I think that that means "And with your spirit."

So, you used to repeat something without knowing what you were saying? Congratulations! Did you bother to ask anyone

As a matter of fact it does mean "and with your spirit," because that's how the oldest liturgical records indicate the early Christians did. As to how could anyone come up with a translation such as "and also with you" says volumes about the post Vatican-II Church in America.

Of course, none of my children remember the old form. They were just babies. *sigh*

That was the point I was making. If every generation present in the church remembers a different "tradition," how are they to know if someone is simply innovating things and making his own "tradition?"

Another thing that I have noticed, having lived through Vatican II -- the people who are the most incensed with changes in the Catholic Church often are people who never were Catholics

How do you know they were never Catholics? And what exactly is a "Catholic" in your book? Perhaps they are incensed about changes because they know something you don't? Did you ever consider that as a possibility?

They get all in a snit about habits for nuns, or dropping Latin, or the priest facing the people, etc., etc., etc. It's as if they resent the church changing liturgical forms so that they no longer match their Hollywood interpretaion.

Everything in the Church has a theological reason. Introducing personal preferences and taste, changing according to the lastets trends, etc. does not. It concentrates on ego, materialism, and things the Church never taught. The Church is not a worldly or social movement.

[Petrosius]

How does this get resolved, especially in light of the “Dictatus Papae” mentality so prevalent among large segments of the Latin laity and hierarchy, even here as we have all noted over the years?

Here is an example of the exaggerated fears that we must rid of. The popes have not really worked in the isolated monarchical style that the Orthodox fear. Even when they have made pronouncements in their own name you will find that there has been a wide consultation with the bishops beforehand. This was true, for instance, in both the modern papal declarations concerning the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary. So while the form of these decrees may have been papal, the substance was synodal. The primacy must operate in communion with the synod, but given the modern means of communication, must this always be through a formal agency?

[Kolokotronis]

“The primacy must operate in communion with the synod,”

Indeed.

” but given the modern means of communication, must this always be through a formal agency?”

Yes, but precisely because of modern means of communication, that formal agency might meet in a virtual chamber. A synod meeting is a synod meeting, wheter in a real or virtual room...but a synod, no matter where it meets, has no authority at all to proclaim dogma. That’s what ecumenical councils are for (maybe meeting in cyberspace).