The Roman Catholic church brutally raped the Orthodox church in 1204 via the 4th Crusade.
They massacred a Christian city, killed clerics, raped nuns, desecrated the churches, and stole huge amounts of loot. Many of the stolen relics are still in Roman Catholic churches right now.
The Pope welcomed the rapist participants back into the church, kept the loot, and installed his own church hierarchs into the Orthodox churches.
This is the true history of Roman Catholic outreach to the Orthodox Christians.
The Teutonic Knights tried to do the same thing on Russia with the blessing of Pope Gregory IX.
This history is echoed in the setting up of the Uniate churches by the Jesuits to supplant the Orthodox.
So maybe they have good reason not to trust Roman Catholic motives?
And the Orthodox brutally persecuted the Uniates much more recently than that. So? Maybe it’s time to stop obsessing on things that happened a millennium ago (largely for political or non-religious reasons, btw - the 4th Crusade pillaging was because a ruler reneged on a payment for military services, and while that certainly doesn’t excuse it, it removes the religious aspect).
I think the Russian attitude is changing, and I hope the Greeks will reexamine their hatred, too.
“The Roman Catholic church brutally raped the Orthodox church in 1204 via the 4th Crusade.”
So that must mean - using your logic - that the “Roman Catholic Church” was merely taking revenge on the Orthodox Church for brutally raping the Latins in Constantinople in 1179, right? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Latins
“They massacred a Christian city, killed clerics, raped nuns, desecrated the churches, and stole huge amounts of loot. Many of the stolen relics are still in Roman Catholic churches right now.”
And the Orthodox did the same thing 25 years earlier to the Latins.
“The Pope welcomed the rapist participants back into the church, kept the loot, and installed his own church hierarchs into the Orthodox churches.”
And the Orthodox did nothing to punish those who raped and murdered or sold into slavery Latins in 1179. They also kept the Latins’ churches and relics. Gee, I guess what the Orthodox dished out in 1179 they got back in 1204. I wonder how that felt.
“This is the true history of Roman Catholic outreach to the Orthodox Christians.”
And, apparently, the Massacre of the Latins in 1179 is the “true history of Eastern Orthodox outreach to the Catholic Christians,” right?
“The Teutonic Knights tried to do the same thing on Russia with the blessing of Pope Gregory IX.”
And, of course, the Russians have a perfect record of never forcing their faith on anyone, right?
“This history is echoed in the setting up of the Uniate churches by the Jesuits to supplant the Orthodox.”
Supplant? Nope. Incorporate and surpass - and it happened.
“So maybe they have good reason not to trust Roman Catholic motives?”
No, not really. After all, after the Orthodox raped, sold into slavery or murdered Latins in 1179 and had already experienced the typical double-dealing, effete eastern ways of the “Orthodox” the Catholics would have good reason not to trust Orthodox motives, right?