why catholic and not orthodox
When a logical principal as fundamental as the principle of non-contradiction - which holds that no statement of the form "p and not-p" (for example, "James is married and James is not married") can be true - is flouted by the doctrines that God is one and three, and that Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human, some especially strong reason or evidence is required in order to accept such doctrines. Read some history to see why Catholics are not popular. And he said to them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. In terms of ecumenism, my question was whether the Orthodox feel any burden to seek the unity of all Christians? Opinion | Why Im Not a Liberal Catholic - The New York Times So lets look at a few of the things that the Orthodox affirm, and what the means for the question of being Catholic. These and many similar questions have been debated from the very beginning of the Christian movement. But my attention was initially caught by the fiery and much maligned leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia, Archbishop Stylianos (Harkianakis), with whom I shared a love of poetry and of our fellow Cretan, Nikos Kazantzakis. WebWe would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. But there is an intimate connection between the manner in which one travels and how or where one starts and ends in one's travels - the one inevitably affecting the other. For many years I was quite perplexed by this statement, and found it almost absurd, if not insulting towards the many distinguished contemporary philosophers (such as Alvin Plantinga and Richard Swinburne) who are Christian and have sought to construct a philosophy from a distinctly Christian perspective. The epistemic tools needed are different. Ive heard many Orthodox commend a book by Philip Sherrard called Church, Papacy and Schism: A Theological Enquiry, saying that the arguments contained in this book are what must be addressed by Catholics if they truly want to address the actual objections posed by the Orthodox, and not merely straw man Catholic apologetics. I thought the Eastern Orthodox was not Catholic. serbs killed many muslims and catholics in bosnia and albania (ofc they say its only propaganda), and bulgarians did the same to remaining muslims in their country. and to say that orthodox never killed anyone is a lie. Maxwell cites, in the broader context of Lk. They were fed anti-catholicism?? You read the article with your eyes closed. In fact, Jesus essentially says as much, using the language of commission. Kalaitzides notes that there are valuable lessons that the Orthodox Church stands to gain from a creative dialogue with the modern (and also postmodern) world, such as: recognising the harm in a nationalistic understanding of Christianity; active participation of the laity in worship; espousing the values of democracy and human rights; rethinking the role of women in the church; rehabilitating the value of the body, physicality and sexuality; and engaging more closely with the theories and discoveries of science. Why Orthodoxy Instead of Catholicism? Engage Orthodoxy But here goes: Constantinople claims Apostolic Succession through the Apostle Andrew. In Orthodoxy there is an emphasis on praxis, ortho-praxy, as much as orthodoxy. The options to follow the local or the See of Rome are not options right now because we can only look to the 1st millennium for answers because the West and the East have both been apostate for centuries now and Francis, Bartholomew, and Krill are Masons and so have been their immediate PreDecessors and anyone in communion with them is also a schismatic, a heretic, and an apostate. In considering the question of whether Jesus was (or was believed to be) God, it is not unusual for contemporary readers, and even historians, to transplant modern-day preconceptions about the relationship between God and the world to ancient societies like the Palestinian Jewish community of Jesus's day. The originality and creativity of their contribution, and its transformative impact on Orthodox theology and beyond, is well documented. But the limitations and blind spots of their work are also becoming increasingly apparent. Truth is vitally important, but one must recognise an impasse. What is lacking is not merely an informed awareness of non-Christian religions, but also a genuine engagement and dialogue with them, where this presupposes attentive listening, an attitude of respect and humility, and above all a readiness to undergo a possibly painful and disruptive transformation in one's worldview. Opinion Columnist. And all three of these point towards the Catholic Church. my mind travels to the great glories of our race. In The Clash of Civilizations, Samuel Huntington infamously stated that Europe ends where Western Christianity ends and Islam and Orthodoxy begin. And its claim to fame for being one of the Patriarchates at all is because of its connection to Rome. He then established the Church at Rome, along with St. Paul. That means that we (the laity) have the authority to not only forgive anyones sins, but also to retain anyones sins. Catholic Orthodox But the apophaticism of the Orthodox Church is circumscribed by its cataphaticism, its authoritative positive pronouncements - stumbling-blocks to a generation, like Leivaditis's, betrayed by ideologies (of left and right) which could not accommodate the complexities, vagaries and frailties of life. Indeed, if the journey is undertaken in a "sceptical" frame - in the etymological sense of "thought-ful" - fostering an open and questioning, creative and imaginative style of thinking, with no predetermined goal or end-point, and driven by the passion for truth and meaning rather than an inviolable ideology that can never be overturned (or even challenged) by rational considerations, then the matter of whether one starts from or ends up at a "religious" position virtually reduces to a trivial detail. But look at the part Fr. As a result, open and honest communications has been shut off from the Eastern Orthodox until about 50 years ago. Their issue, however, is that Rome changed how it saw itself in and around the 11th and 12th century by claiming a universal jurisdiction over the entire Christian world; in effect, seeing all of Christendom as a kingdom with the Pope as Monarch over it all. Catholicism is the world's oldest continuous Christian institution, with more than 1.329 billion baptized adherents. and the only thing you orthodox talk about all the time is bad popes and the filioque clause which was explained by catholic theologians like 1000 times by now. What is the difference between Christianity and Roman Catholicism WebThough perhaps the least academically rigorous reason, the most important reason why I am Orthodox instead of Catholic is that Orthodoxy leads me closer to Christ in a way that The truth is that they detest each other but call it speaking the truth in love. If we do not believe that, then entering into dialogue would be a waste of time.". Roman Catholics consider the Bishop of Rome (Pope) as having Papal Primacy all the cardinals, The Orthodox Church isnt ONE. broke off communion. Receiving Communion - Questions & Answers - Orthodox Church in Just as importantly, the Orthodox Church refuses to democratise itself by, for example, allowing the whole church to elect its bishops, and adopting a more inclusive approach towards the laity, especially women, who continue to be barred from ordination and even, in most cases, from the sanctuary. It is a fact that the schism happened because the pope back then changed the Creed to include the Filioque WITHOUT the consent of the Eucumenical Synode. One of his arguments against this was that even if the Apostles had some special kind of authority (something which he repeatedly denies, despite all the verses which point to it. Leivaditis's postwar world is one of alienation and oblivion, "a world torn asunder / with a derelict God going around from door to door / begging for his existence." In a world where everything is full of gods, as Thales is reported to have remarked, it is not necessary to be "consubstantial with the Father" in order to be considered divine, to be described in exalted terms as "Son of Man" and "Son of God," or to be regarded as worthy of worship. Learn how your comment data is processed. This symbolic act already symbolizes an acknowledgement that Saints Peter and Paul founded the See of Rome (as countless early Christian sources attest). The language problem persists, with services usually conducted in an archaic language understood by virtually no one. Even the last clause, it would seem, could give no offence to the most sensitive on the papal claims, for it implies a wonderful power in the rank of Old Rome, if a see is to rank next to it because it happens to be New Rome. Of course these remarks only refer to the wording of the canon which is carefully guarded; the intention doubtless was to exalt the see of Constantinople, the chief see of the East, to a position of as near equality as possible with the chief see of the West. So for 500 years theyve been fed a steady dose of anti-Catholicism, attacking anything that looks strange to them, and this bias has become so ingrained that the average person will look with utter disdain upon Catholicism. And there is no continuum in God.". This is simply not a live option for so many of today's philosophers, who are therefore restricted to entering into dialogue with other religions (if they ever do so) in a predominantly one-way fashion. He was not entirely mistaken. Did Jesus's earliest followers believe him to be God incarnate? I was Catholic for 4 years before converting to Holy Orthodoxy. You Similarly, there is no wish to rule out the possibility of beginning one's journey from a religious standpoint, particularly if one thinks that there are no metaphysically neutral starting-points in philosophy. 7 MAIN differences between Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity And I believe that God wants us to have both and would have wanted us to have both when He established His Church. Admittedly, there are many Orthodox leaders who champion freedom, justice, equality and pluralism in principle, but in practice they often remain wary of the open competitiveness and embrace of difference that democracy promotes - consider the reluctance of the hierarchs and clergy of Greece in supporting church-state separation. These are points that Ive seen broadly conceded. These other, presumably logical questions, are simply not how the Orthodox think or pray. In line with the hierarchical structure of the church, but in contrast to the official designation of the liturgy as "the work of the people" (laos), the liturgy has become the preserve of the clergy, with minimal or no active participation from the laity. There are at least two other modes of selection for ordination that I know of, described in the New Testament: (1) Acts 6:1-6 describes the selection of the first deacons. Compare this to the words of the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh: "We have to appreciate that truth can be received from outside of - not only within - our own group. with whom will I now continue my wanderings in the infinite? Canon 3 only reaffirms this. if oriental christians had any power whatsoever they wouldve done the same, but they were neither numerous nor did they stand any chance against islam to pose a threat. How convincing they are is another matter, and the Derridean strategy of repudiating belief, or placing it in abeyance, is unlikely to appeal to those of us who don't wish to keep the worlds of reason and faith apart, and think it of great importance to try to arrive at well-argued or rationally justified positions about theological doctrines.
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why catholic and not orthodox
