[NYer]

I have said that what we share with the Orthodox is such that the only thing lacking for full communion is full communion,

With emphasis on the word is.

[RKBA Democrat]

I'm interested in your esteemed opinions on this subject, so let me ask the question: what at this point is preventing full communion between the Catholic church and the Orthodox churches?

[Kolokotronis]

"I have said that what we share with the Orthodox is such that the only thing lacking for full communion is full communion"

Full communion means we believe the same things completely. From various ongoing discussions on other threads, I am convinced that at least some Latin Catholics here on FR sincerely believe we believe the same things and that others here insist we believe the same things by asserting that we Orthodox don't understand the Eastern Fathers and our own hierarchs of the past and if we did, we'd rush into Rome's embrace, while still others are convinced that we're just the first Protestants and aren't even part of The Church. I fully reject the latter two.

For myself, I don't think we do believe the same things on some very fundamental matters, or at least at the level of educated and catechised lay people we don't. What the theologians may say could be different. Even with those differences, though, I do believe that we are far closer on matters which at least I thought separated us since these discussions. I have noticed that when Latin theology is presented in a more patristic fashion (and by that I do not at all mean selective quoting of the Fathers; in fact in all honesty that's simply wasting time. We can do that too, and better than the Latins when it comes to the Eastern Fathers. We also don't ascribe any dogmatic absolutism to the writings of any individual Father anyway, though many give us good examples of the consensus patrum). When Latins speak to us in "our language", instead of from the "Magisterium" of Rome, or the non-ecumenical councils or from a scholastic stand point, Latin theology becomes much clearer and understandable to us.

Even there, though, it seems as if when the Latins speak our language, there's still a strong Latin accent. It gets in the way even if it isn't surprising.

Here's the hope I, as an Orthodox Christian, have; that this marvelous new pope, this patristics scholar who sits on the seat of +Peter, knows exactly how to speak with us and that he will teach you how to do the same. Because he is your central authority and within the tradition of the Latin Church, he can do that. We don't have such a person, nor do we have a resource in Orthodoxy like the Latin Church has in its Eastern Rite Churches which are in communion with it. The burden falls on Rome, but that has happened in our shared past, often with happy results.