Difference between revisions of "Timeline of Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic relations"

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*ca. 1078-80 Council of Burgos reorganizes national Church of Spain as Roman Archbishopric, replaces use of Mozarabic rite with Roman. Sentences Bishops who refuse to recognize decrees to imprisonment.
 
*ca. 1078-80 Council of Burgos reorganizes national Church of Spain as Roman Archbishopric, replaces use of Mozarabic rite with Roman. Sentences Bishops who refuse to recognize decrees to imprisonment.
 
*1095-1272 [[Crusades]] promise salvation to warriors from the West.
 
*1095-1272 [[Crusades]] promise salvation to warriors from the West.
 +
*1098 Abp. [[w:Anselm of Canterbury|Anselm of Canterbury]] completes ''[[w:Cur Deus Homo|Cur Deus Homo]]'', marking a radical divergence of Western theology of the atonement from that of the East.
 
*1180 Last formal reception of Latins to communion at an Orthodox altar, in Antioch.
 
*1180 Last formal reception of Latins to communion at an Orthodox altar, in Antioch.
 
*1182 [[Maronite Catholic Church|Maronites]] (formerly [[Monothelitism|Monothelite]] heretics) submit to Rome.
 
*1182 [[Maronite Catholic Church|Maronites]] (formerly [[Monothelitism|Monothelite]] heretics) submit to Rome.

Revision as of 05:05, October 12, 2010

This timeline of Orthodox Christian and Roman Catholic relations chronicles major dates which concern the relationship between the two communions.

Apostolic and Ante-Nicene Era

  • ca. 37-53 Episcopacy of Apostle Peter in Antioch.
  • 50 Apostolic Council of Jerusalem overrules St. Peter's Judaizing.
  • 64 Martyrdom of Peter in Rome.
  • 67 Election of Linus, first bishop of Rome.
  • 135 First recorded use of title Pope by a Roman bishop (Hyginus).
  • 210 Hippolytus of Rome, bishop and martyr and last of the Greek-speaking fathers in Rome, writes Refutation of All Heresies (Philosophumena), and Apostolic Tradition.
  • 255 Cyprian of Carthage rejects Pope Stephen I's ruling on the Donatist controversy.

Conciliar Era

Estrangement and Schism

  • 792 Charlemagne accuses "Greeks" of deleting Filioque from original Creed.
  • 800 Usurpation of Western Roman Empire by Charlemagne.
  • 809 Pope Leo III forbids addition of Filioque to Creed and has original Creed in both Greek and Latin inscribed on silver tablets displayed in Rome.
  • 869-870 Council in Constantinople deposes St. Photius the Great.
  • 879-880 Council in Constantinople (endorsed by papacy) reinstates St. Photius and anathematizes any changes to Nicene Creed, including the Filioque.
  • 962 Founding of Holy Roman Empire.
  • 1014 First use of Filioque by Pope of Rome, at coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Henry II.
  • 1054 Excommunication of Ecumenical Patriarch Michael Cerularius by Cardinal Humbertus, papal legate, the conventional date point of the Great Schism. Michael returns the favor by excommunicating the Pope (who had died, rendering his legate's authority null).
  • 1059 Beginning of the use of the term transubstantiation in West.
  • 1066 Invasion of England by Duke William of Normandy, carrying papal banner and with papal blessing as a crusade against the "erring English church," engineered by Hildebrand, archdeacon of Rome.
  • 1073-1085 Hildebrand becomes Pope Gregory VII and institutes Gregorian Reforms, the largest increase of papal power in history, including the claim to be able to depose secular rulers.
  • 1075 Pope Gregory VII issues Dictatus papae, an extreme statement of papal power.
  • ca. 1078-80 Council of Burgos reorganizes national Church of Spain as Roman Archbishopric, replaces use of Mozarabic rite with Roman. Sentences Bishops who refuse to recognize decrees to imprisonment.
  • 1095-1272 Crusades promise salvation to warriors from the West.
  • 1098 Abp. Anselm of Canterbury completes Cur Deus Homo, marking a radical divergence of Western theology of the atonement from that of the East.
  • 1180 Last formal reception of Latins to communion at an Orthodox altar, in Antioch.
  • 1182 Maronites (formerly Monothelite heretics) submit to Rome.
  • 1204 Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople; Crusaders set up Latin Empire and Patriarchate of Constantinople (lasting until 1261).[note 2]
  • 1205 Latins annex Athens and convert the Parthenon into a Roman Catholic Church - Santa Maria di Athene, later Notre Dame d'Athene.
  • 1211 Venetian crusaders conquer Byzantine Crete.
  • 1224 The Byzantines recover Thessaloniki and surrounding area, liberated by the Greek ruler of Epirus Theodore Ducas Comnenus.
  • 1259 Byzantines defeat Latin Principality of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia, marking the beginning of the Byzantine recovery of Greece.
  • ca. 1259-80 Martyrdom by Latins of monks of Iveron Monastery.
  • 1261 End of Latin occupation of Constantinople and restoration of Orthodox patriarchs; Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos makes Mystras seat of the new Despotate of Morea, where a Byzantine renaissance occurred.
  • 1274 Council of Lyons fails to force Orthodox capitulation to papacy.
  • 1281 Pope Martin IV authorizes a Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, excommunicating Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the Greeks and renouncing the union of 1274; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year due to the Sicilian Vespers.
  • 1282 Death of 26 martyrs of Zographou monastery on Mount Athos, martyred by the Latins.
  • 1287 Last record of, Amalfion, Benedictine monastery on Mount Athos.
  • 1300-1400 The "Chronicle of Morea" (Το χρονικό του Μορέως) narrates events of the establishment of Western European feudalism in mainland Greece, mainly in the Morea/Peloponnese, by the Franks following the Fourth Crusade, covering a period from 1204 to 1292.
  • 1302 Papal bull Unam Sanctam declares submission to pope necessary for salvation.
  • 1379 Beginning of Western "Great Schism," during which there are eventually 3 rival popes.
  • 1341-1351 Councils in Constantinople vindicate Palamite theology of hesychasm against Barlaamist philosophy.
  • 1414-1418 Council of Constance ends Western "Great Schism;" this council emphasized the Conciliar Movement over the authority of the pope.
  • 1423-24 Council of Siena in the Roman Catholic Church was the high point of conciliarism, emphasizing the leadership of the bishops gathered in council, but the conciliarism expressed there was later branded as a heresy.
  • 1433 Nicolas of Cusa writes his major work on church government, The Catholic Concordance (De concordantia catholica), a manifesto of conciliarism, advancing the notion of a constitutional papacy subject to the authority of a council representative of the different parts of Christendom, balancing hierarchy with consent.
  • 1439 Council of Florence fails to force Orthodox capitulation to papacy and confesses Purgatory as dogma.
  • 1444 Catholic priest Lorenzo Valla proves Donation of Constantine a forgery.
  • 1452 Unification of Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in the cathedral of Hagia Sophia on December 12, five months before the city fell, on the West's terms, when Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, under pressure from Rome, allows the union to be proclaimed by the former Metropolitan of Kiev Isidore (who had participated in the Council of Florence and was now a cardinal in the Roman Catholic church) who read the solemn promulgation of union and celebrated the union liturgy, including the name of the pope, arousing the greatest agitation among the population of the city.[2][3][note 3]

Renaissance and Modern Era

  • 1453 Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks;[note 4] numerous Greek scholars flee to West, triggering European Renaissance.
  • 1463 Greek scholar and pro-unionist Basilios Bessarion, formerly an Orthodox Metropolitan, later becoming a Roman Catholic Cardinal, is given the purely ceremonial title of Latin Patriarch of Constantinople by Pope Pius II.
  • 1472 Decrees of the Council of Ferrara-Florence repudiated by Patriarchate of Contantinople.
  • 1484 Synod of Constantinople with all four Patriarchs in attendance, calling itself "ecumenical", officially repudiated the union of the Greek and Latin churches discussed at Florence in 1439, and determined that Latin converts to Orthodoxy should be received into the Church by Chrismation.
  • 1545-63 Council of Trent answers charges of Protestant Reformation.
  • 1568 Pope Pius V recognizes four Great Doctors of the Eastern Church, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Athanasius.
  • 1569 Union of Lublin unites Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, placing the Ruthenian Orthodox lands of Belarus, and modern Ukraine under direct Roman Catholic rule.
  • 1573 Pope Gregory XIII establishes Congregation for the Greeks, a committee of cardinals who addressed issues relating to the Greeks in southern Italy and Sicily in the hope of resolving tensions between Greeks and Latins.
  • 1576 Pope Gregory XIII establishes Pontifical Greek College of St. Athanasius (popularly known as the 'Greek College') in Rome, which he charged with educating Italo-Byzantine clerics.
  • 1582 Institution of Gregorian Calendar.
  • 1596 Union of Brest-Litovsk, creation of the Unia (Eastern/Byzantine/Greek Catholics).
  • 1611 Gallican French theologian Edmund Richer (1559-1631), author of De ecclesiastica et politica potestate, held the view that ecclesiastical councils, not the papacy, was the method by which doctrinal truth was established, but his work was censured at the Council of Aix-en-Provence in 1612; this ‘richérisme’ strongly influenced 18th century Jansenism.
  • 1620 Council of Moscow presided over by Patr. Philaret of Moscow insisted that only Orthodox Baptism by triple immersion was valid, and that all Latin converts had to be rebaptized.
  • 1623 Death of turbulent Uniate Bp. Josaphat Kuntsevych who openly persecuted the Orthodox to such a degree that he was even rebuked by the Lithuanian chancellor Leo Sapiega, the representative of the Polish king himself.[4][note 5]
  • 1646 Union of Uzhhorod joins 63 Ruthenian Orthodox priests from the Carpathian Mountains to Roman Catholic Church on terms similar to Union of Brest.
  • 1671 French Roman Catholic nun Margaret Mary Alacoque promoted devotion to the Cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form.
  • 1672 Synod of Jerusalem convened by Patr. Dositheos Notaras, refuting article by article the Calvinistic confession of Cyril Lucaris, defining Orthodoxy relative to Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, and defining the Orthodox Biblical canon; acts of this council are later signed by all five patriarchates (including Russia).
  • 1724 Melkite Schism, in which many Antiochian Orthodox become Greek Catholics.
  • 1755 Synod of Constantinople declares Roman Catholic baptism invalid and ordered baptism of converts from Roman Catholicism.
  • 1763 The Jansenist Provincial Council of Utrecht, seed of the future Old Catholic movements, affirmed every Roman Catholic dogma and pronounced the Orthodox Faith to be schismatic and false, signalling not so much a rapprochement with Orthodoxy, but rather a refusal to drift yet further from her, as much of the Roman fold was doing.
  • 1767-1815 Suppression of the Jesuits in Roman Catholic countries, subsequently finding refuge in Orthodox nations, particularly in Russia.
  • ca.1770 About 1,200 Kiev region Uniate churches return to Orthodoxy under political pressure from Russia.
  • 1793-95 Over 2,300 Uniate churches became Orthodox under Tsarina Catherine the Great.
  • 1798 Patriarch Anthimios of Jerusalem contended in the Paternal Teaching (Dhidhaskalia Patriki) that the Ottoman Empire was part of the Divine Dispensation granted by God to protect Orthodoxy from the taint of Roman Catholicism and of Western secularism and irreligion.[5][6][note 6]
  • ca.1830 Slavophile movement co-founded by Aleksey Khomyakov and Ivan Kireyevsky in Russia, drawing on the works of Greek patristics, Russian poets and literary critics to reinforce Orthodox Christian values and Slavic cultural traditions, denouncing "westernizations" by Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, and stressing Russian mysticism over Western rationalism.[note 7]
  • 1838 Council of Constantinople held, attended by Patriarchs Gregory VI of Constantinople and Athanasius V of Jerusalem, whose main theme was the Unia, and the extermination of Latin dogmas and usages, in particular Absolution Certificates.[7]
  • 1847 Restoration of Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem by Pope Pius IX; 1847 Agreement between the Holy See and Russia.
  • 1848 Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs sent by the primates and synods of the four ancient patriarchates of the Orthodox Church, condemning the Filioque as heresy, declaring the Roman Catholic Church to be heretical, schismatic, and in apostasy, repudiating Ultramontanism and referring to the Photian Council of 879-880 as the "Eighth Ecumenical Council."
  • 1853-56 Crimean War is fought between Russia on the one hand, and the Ottoman Empire, Britain, France, and (later) Sardinia on the other, ostensibly over which church would be recognized as the "sovereign authority" of the Christian faith in the Holy Land, and over Russia's claim of protection over the Greek Christians in the Turkish Empire; the French Catholic Abp. of Paris Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour pronounded that this was a holy war against the Orthodox.[note 8]
  • 1854 Declaration of Immaculate Conception of Mary as dogma.
  • 1857-66 J.P. Migne produces the Patrologia Graeca in 161 volumes, including both the Eastern Fathers and those Western authors who wrote before Latin became predominant in the Western Church in the 3rd century.
  • 1863 Abbé Vladimir Guettée, a French Roman Catholic priest who converted to the Orthodox Church, writes "The Papacy: Its Historic Origin and Primitve Relations with the Eastern Churches", a strong criticism of the Papacy.
  • 1870 Declaration of Papal Infallibility to be dogma at First Vatican Council.
  • 1894 Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae (on the Reunion of Christendom), an Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo XIII promulgated on June 20, called for the reunion of Eastern and Western churches into the "Unity of the Faith", while also condemning Freemasonry; criticized by Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimus VII in 1895; Pope Leo XIII issues Orientalium Dignitas, a papal encyclical concerning the Eastern Catholic Churches including a prohibition aganist Latinizing influences among Eastern Catholics.
  • 1924-26 Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky (Warsaw) is demolished by Polish authorities less than 15 years after its construction.
  • 1923 Pope Pius XI proclaimed the controversial Uniate Bp. Josaphat Kuntsevych a "hieromartyr" on the 300th anniversary of his death, in the encyclical Ecclesiam Dei (The Church of God).
  • 1926 The Benedictine monastery Chevetogne Abbey is founded in Belgium, dedicated to Christian unity, being a ‘double rite’ monastery having both Western (Latin rite) and Eastern (Byzantine rite) churches holding services every day; the Society of St. John Chrysostom is founded to promote awareness and friendship in the Christian West for Christians of the East, through prayer and liturgy, conferences and lectures, and praying for the unity of the Churches of East and West; Pope Pius XI decides to attempt the establishment of a provisional hierarchy for the Roman Catholic Church without the knowledge of the Soviet government;[note 9] French Jesuit scholar and Roman Catholic bishop Michel d'Herbigny receives episcopal ordination in secret and behind closed doors from Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) in the failed attempt to establish a clandestine hierarchy for the Catholic Church in the Soviet Union during the religious persecutions of the 1920s.
  • 1929 Russicum (Russian College or 'College of St. Therese') founded in Vatican City by Pope Pius XI and run by the Jesuits.
  • 1937 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Divini Redemptoris, condemning Communism and the Soviet regime; the Serbian Orthodox Church led by Patr. Varnava (Rosic) of Serbia and Bp. Nikolai Velimirovic fiercely resisted the attempt by the government of Yugoslavian Prime Minister Milan Stojadinović to implement a Concordat with the Vatican, which would have virtually established the Roman Catholic Church in Yugoslavia and granted it privileges denied to the Orthodox Church, resulting in the proposal never being ratified.[note 10]
  • 1938 In the Volhynia region of modern day Western Ukraine, by 1938 the Polish government had overseen the destruction of 190 Orthodox churches and converted a further 150 churches to Roman Rite Catholicism, despite its Ukrainian majority, and despite Pope Leo XIII's encycical Orientalium Dignitas of 1894; the few Orthodox churches that were permitted to stay open were forced to use the Polish language in their liturgies.[8]

WWII and Post-WWII Era

  • 1939 The last remaining Orthodox Church in Lutsk, the Volhynian capital was converted by Polish State decree to Roman Rite Catholicism.[8]
  • 1941-45 Croatian Ustasa[note 11] terrorists, part of whose ideology included Roman Catholic Clericalist Fundamentalism, kill 500,000 Orthodox Serbs, expel 250,000 and force 250,000 to convert to Catholicism;[note 12] the Orthodox in Croatia were forced to wear the Cyrillic letter "P" for Provoslavets, or Orthodox, like the Jews who were forced to wear the Star of David during World War II.[4]
  • 1943-44 Hundreds of Orthodox priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church eliminated, tortured and drowned by Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists - Ukrainian Rebel Army, aided by Uniate Metr. Josyf Slipyj who was a spiritual leader of Nazi military units[9][10][note 13] that were later condemned by the Nuremberg tribunal, and who was imprisoned by Soviet authorities for aiding the UPA; zenith of the Papist[note 14] persecution in Poland against Orthodox faithful in the region of Helm and Podlaskia - Holy Poles martyred by the Papists.
  • 1946 State-sponsored synod held Ukraine dissolves the Union of Brest-Litovsk and integrates the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church into the Russian Orthodox Church, with Soviet authorities arresting resisters or deporting them to Siberia.
  • 1947 Death of Alexei Kabalyiuk, Apostle of Carpatho-Russia, who played a major role in reviving Orthodoxy in Transcarpathia in the early 20th century.
  • 1949 Papal Decree against Communism by Pope Pius XII excommunicates all Catholics collaborating in communist organizations.
  • 1950 Declaration of Bodily Assumption of Mary as dogma.
  • 1962 The secretive Metz Accord is made between the Holy See and the U.S.S.R. (attended by Metr. Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad) at Metz, France, on 13 August 1962, renewing the previous pacts of 1942 and 1944 concerning the Vatican's Ostpolitik, by which Eastern Orthodox participation in the Second Vatican Council was authorized in exchange for a non-condemnation of atheistic communism during the conciliar assemblies.[11][12]
  • 1962-1965 Vatican II institutes major reforms, especially liturgical, into Roman Catholic Church; Patr. Maximos IV Sayegh of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church urged reconciliation between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, spoke forcefully against the Latinization of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and championed the Eastern tradition of Christianity, winning a great deal of respect from Eastern Orthodox observers at the council and the approbation of the Ec. Patr. Athenagoras I.

Era of Dialogue

  • 1964 Mutual lifting of excommunications by Patr. Athenagoras I and Pope Paul VI.
  • 1965 The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation is founded, meeting twice yearly; the office of Latin Patriarch of Constantinople is officially abolished.
  • 1966-67 Pope Paul VI continued John XXIII's policy of dialogue with Soviet leaders in order to reduce persecutions against local Christians (Ostpolitik policy), receiving Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and USSR President Nikolai Podgorny; however while the Soviet officials considered themselves calling on the pope as the head of the Vatican City State, the Vatican announced the visit as made to the Holy Father as supreme pastor of the Holy See.[13]
  • 1968 Visit to Patriarchate of Alexandria by Vatican representatives, who give Patr. Nicholas VI a part of the relics of St Mark from Venice, on behalf of Pope Paul VI; the Centro Pro Unione center is founded by the Society of the Atonement (Graymoor Friars and Sisters) as an ecumenical research and action center.
  • 1979 Joint Commission of Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches for Theological Dialogue established.
  • 1980 Extraordinary Joint Conference of the Sacred Community of Mount Athos, April 9-22, resolved publicly to state the opinion of the Athonite fathers on the subject of dialogue with the heterodox.; Greece and the Vatican City State formally established diplomatic relations.
  • 1982 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission publishes in Munich first official common document, "The Mystery of the Church and of the Eucharist in Light of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity."
  • 1987 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission in Bari issues common document "Faith, Sacraments and the Unity of the Church."
  • 1988 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission in Valamo publishes common document "The Sacrament of Order in the Sacramental Structure of the Church."
  • 1990 The Soviet Union and Holy See established official relations 15 March 1990.
  • 1993 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Theological Commission meets in Balamand, Lebanon, issuing common document "Uniatism: Method of Union of the Past, and Present. Search for Full Communion" (the "Balamand document"); the Balamand Document declared that what has been called "uniatism" "can no longer be accepted either as a method to be followed nor as a model of the unity our Churches are seeking".[14]
  • 1995 Pope John Paul II issues Orientale Lumen ("Light from the East"), encouraging East-West union.
  • 1997 Beginning of the annual series of Orientale Lumen Conferences, a grassroots movement among lay persons and clergy providing a common forum for Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholics and Roman Catholics to meet and learn about eachother's traditions; "Orientale Lumen I" is held in Washington D.C.
  • 2000 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Theological Commission meets in Baltimore, but is suspended after an acrimonious meeting, in particular due to the issues of papal primacy and the role of Eastern Catholic Churches, with the Commission not resuming again for six years; in view of the celebration of the Roman Catholic Great Jubilee year (Jubilaeum), on Sunday March 12 in his "Day of Pardon" homily Pope John Paul II formally asked forgiveness for the various sins committed by the Roman Catholic Church over the last two millennia.[15][note 15]
  • 2001 Pope John Paul II apologizes to Orthodox for Fourth Crusade, on the first trip to Greece by a Pope since AD 710;[note 16] a day earlier some 1,000 Orthodox conservatives took to the streets to denounce his visit; Pope John Paul II goes on a controversial visit to Ukraine during which he was fiercely opposed by that country's largest Orthodox Church, where he beatified 28 Greek Catholics, including 27 martyrs, most of whom were killed by the Soviet secret police.[16]
  • 2002 Patr. Bartholomew I (Archontonis) of Constantinople and Pope John Paul II co-sign Venice Declaration of Environmental Ethics; problem of Vatican proselytism is highlighted in its decision to upgrade its four Apostolic Administrations in Moscow, Saratov, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk to fully fledged Diocese status, and elevate the former Apostolic Administrator, Msgr. Tadeusz Kondrusiwicz, to Metr.-Abp. of Moscow, drawing a storm of protest from Patr. Alexei II and the Holy Synod of Russia who described the move as "unfriendly" claiming the Roman Catholic Church saw Russia as a field for missionary activity.[17][note 17][note 18]
  • 2003 Holy Synod of the Church of Poland canonizes the Holy Polish Saints and Martyrs of the eparchy of Helm and Podlaskia, martyred by the Papists during the zenith of the persecutions in 1944.[note 19]
  • 2004 Return of relics of Ss. John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian to Constantinople from Rome (after having been stolen by Crusaders); the Orientale Lumen EuroEast I conference is held in Istanbul, May 10-13, 2004.[note 20]
  • 2005 Major controversy in Ukraine involving the almost exclusively western Ukraine-based Uniate Greek Catholic Church moving its administrative centre on from Lviv to Kiev, constructing a large cathedral there, and its plans to establish a patriarchate, criticized by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and other Orthodox.
  • 2006 Pope Benedict XVI drops title Patriarch of the West;[18][note 21] Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens visits Vatican, the first head of the Church of Greece to visit the Vatican, reciprocating the Pope's visit to Greece in 2001, and signing a Joint Declaration on the importance of the Christian roots of Europe and protecting fundamental human rights; the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches confronted Secular Humanism at the conference "Giving a Soul to Europe" (Vienna, May 3-5, 2006),[note 22] discussing the challenges facing Christianity, specifically materialism, consumerism, agnosticism, secularism and relativism, all based on liberal humanist ideology, constituting a real threat to Christianity today;[note 23] Pope Benedict XVI met with Greek Orthodox Seminarians from the Apostoliki Diakonia theology college in Greece who were visiting Rome, urging them to confront the challenges that threaten the faith by working to unify all Christians.
  • 2007 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission meets in Ravenna, Italy, 10th plenary, led by co-presidents Cardinal Walter Kasper and Metr. John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon, agreeing upon a joint document consisting of 46 articles providing an ecclesiastical road map in discussing union ("Ravenna Document");[19][20] Russian delegation walks out of Ravenna talks in protest of presence of Estonian delegation (EP); the Vatican issued a 16-page document prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, restating its belief that the Catholic Church is the only true church of Jesus Christ, also stating that although Orthodox churches are true churches, they are defective because they do not recognize the primacy of the Pope;[21] Orientale Lumen EuroEast II conference, May, 2007 in Istanbul.
  • 2009 Led by three senior archbishops, a group of Orthodox clergy in Greece published a manifesto, A Confession of Faith Against Ecumenism, pledging to resist all ecumenical ties with Roman Catholics and Protestants, amongst its signatories including six metropolitans, as well as 49 archimandrites, 22 hieromonks, and 30 nuns and abbesses, as well as many other priests and church elders; Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission meets in Paphos, Cyprus, 11th plenary, studying the theme "The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium;" first-ever Russian Orthodox church is consecrated in Rome; Russia and the Holy See upgraded their diplomatic relations to full ambassadorial relations in 2009, following improvements in the working relationship between the Holy See and the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow;[22] the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation issues "A Common Response" to the Ravenna Document of 2007, identifying a number of criticisms.
  • 2010 Patr. Bartholomew firmly addressed the opponents of the Orthodox theological dialogues in the Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, signed by 12 Bishops in addition to the Ecumenical Patriarch;[note 24] first ever visit by a pope to Cyprus, as Pope Benedict went on a sensitive three-day day visit to the divided island; Cardinal Walter Kasper stated that there can be no full integration of eastern and western Europe without ecumenical dialogue and the contribution of the eastern European Orthodox churches; at the Orthodox Constructions of the West conference at Fordham University (June 28-30), keynote speaker Fr. Robert F. Taft, (S.J) delivered the address "Perceptions and Realities in Orthodox-Catholic Relations Today," calling on Catholic and Orthodox Churches to Restore Communion;[note 25] Pope Benedict XVI proclaims the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation; Orientale Lumen EuroEast III conference, July 5-8, 2010 in Istanbul; Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission meets in Vienna, Austria, 12th plenary, studying the theme "The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium."

See also

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Notes

  1. Although it was not until the fifteenth century that "Pontifex Maximus" became a regular title of honour for Popes.
  2. Speros Vryonis in Byzantium and Europe gives a vivid account of the sack of Constantinople by the Frankish and Venetian Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade:
    The Latin soldiery subjected the greatest city in Europe to an indescribable sack. For three days they murdered, raped, looted and destroyed on a scale which even the ancient Vandals and Goths would have found unbelievable. Constantinople had become a veritable museum of ancient and Byzantine art, an emporium of such incredible wealth that the Latins were astounded at the riches they found. Though the Venetians had an appreciation for the art which they discovered (they were themselves semi-Byzantines) and saved much of it, the French and others destroyed indiscriminately, halting to refresh themselves with wine, violation of nuns, and murder of Orthodox clerics. The Crusaders vented their hatred for the Greeks most spectacularly in the desecration of the greatest Church in Christendom. They smashed the silver iconostasis, the icons and the holy books of Hagia Sophia, and seated upon the patriarchal throne a whore who sang coarse songs as they drank wine from the Church's holy vessels. The estrangement of East and West, which had proceeded over the centuries, culminated in the horrible massacre that accompanied the conquest of Constantinople. The Greeks were convinced that even the Turks, had they taken the city, would not have been as cruel as the Latin Christians. The defeat of Byzantium, already in a state of decline, accelerated political degeneration so that the Byzantines eventually became an easy prey to the Turks. The Crusading movement thus resulted, ultimately, in the victory of Islam, a result which was of course the exact opposite of its original intention. (Vryonis, Speros. Byzantium and Europe. Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, 1967. pp.152); (Philip Hughes. "History of the Church Vol II", Innocent III & the Latin East. Sheed & Ward, 1948. pp.372.)
  3. Although some of the Greek party, especially Bessarion, Metropolitan of Nicaea, and Isidore, Metropolitan of Kiev and all all Rus', showed real concern for unity, they could not rally support for it in the East. The Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem and the churches of Russia, Romania, and Serbia all rejected it immediately. In Byzantium only a small minority accepted it. Emperors John VIII and and Constantine IX (1448-1453) proved unable to force their will on the Church. Most Byzantines felt betrayed. (E. Glenn Hinson. The Church Triumphant: A History of Christianity up to 1300. Mercer University Press, 1995. p.443.)
  4. Loukas Notaras the last Megas Doux of the Byzantine Empire, had remarked: "better the turban of the Turk than the tiara of the Pope!" This was typical of the sentiment among the monastic party, opposed to the Council of Ferrara-Florence, of whom the future Patriarch Gennadius Scholarius was the leader.
  5. The most convincing condemnation of Kuntsevich's character is found in a letter dated March 12, 1622, one and a half years before his death, from the Lithuanian chancellor Leo Sapiega, clearly a Roman Catholic, the representative of the Polish king himself:
    "By thoughtless violence you oppress the Russian people and urge them on to revolt. You are aware of the censure of the simple people, that it would be better to be in Turkish captivity than to endure such persecutions for faith and piety. You write that you freely drown the Orthodox, chop off their heads, and profane their churches. You seal their churches so the people, without piety and Christian rites, are buried like non-Christians. In place of joy, your cunning Uniatism has brought us only woe, unrest, and conflict. We would prefer to be without it. These are the fruits of your Uniatism."
    These words are not the fantasies or the slanders of a fanatically-tempered Orthodox, but the contents of a historical letter from the head of a Roman Catholic state, the Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, written on behalf of the Polish King to a turbulent Uniate bishop. (Deacon Herman Ivanov-Treenadzaty. The Vatican and Russia. Orthodox Life, Vol.XL, No.2 [March-April 1990], pp. 8-24.)
    See also:
    Fr. Lev Gillet. Review of: S. Josaphat Hieromartyr. Documenta romana beatifications et canonizationis, I, 1623-1628. By Athanasius G. Welykyj, OSBM. Analecta OSBM,Series II. Rome, 1952. xxv + 306 pages. The Slavonic and East European Review. Vol.31, No.77, Jun., 1953. p.596.
  6. The Dhidhaskalia Patriki or Paternal Teaching, attributed to the Patriarch Anthimos of Jerusalem, and published in Istanbul in 1798, described the attitude of the Orthodox hierarchy during the late eighteenth century to the influence of Western ideas in the Greek world. The Dhidhaskalia Patriki has in fact achieved a certain notoriety among historians as one of the more extreme examples of ecclesiastical anti-Westernism, and its significance was not lost on contemporaries.
  7. For a discussion of Khomyakov see:
    Joseph L. Wieczynski. Khomyakov's Critique of Western Christianity. Church History. Vol.38, No.3, Sep., 1969. pp.291-299.
  8. "It is a sacred deed, a God-pleasing deed, to ward off the Photian heresy [Orthodoxy], subjugate it and destroy it with a new crusade. This is the clear goal of today's crusade. Such was the goal of all the crusades, even if all their participants were not fully aware of it. The war which France is now preparing to wage against Russia is not a political war but a holy war. It is not a war between two governments or between two peoples, but is precisely a religious war, and other reasons presented are only pretexts." (Deacon Herman Ivanov-Treenadzaty. The Vatican and Russia. Orthodox Life, Vol.XL, No.2 [March-April 1990], pp. 8-24.); (In: Monseigneur Charles Journet. "Exigences chretiennes en politique". Ed. L.V.F. Paris, 1945. p.274.)
  9. The Pope's plans were set down in the rescript Plenitudine Potestatis and the decree Quo aptius, and involved the establishment of Apostolic Administrators in metropolitan centres, to replace the diocesan structures that had existed in Tsarist times. (Christopher Lawrence Zugger. The Forgotten: Catholics of the Soviet Empire from Lenin Through Stalin. Syracuse University Press. 2001. p.229.)
  10. This treaty would have given enormous priviledges to the Roman Catholic Church which was actually a minority church in Yugoslavia (according to the 1931 census 48.7% of population were Orthodox, while 38% were Roman Catholic). The Serbs felt this to be an attack on the Orthodox Church, and the Church together with virtually all the Serbian people mounted unprecedented resistance to the proposed agreement. In the midst of the crisis Patriarch Varnava (Rosic) died. His health had suffered under the strain of the controversy, and it was even rumored that he had been poisoned. The concordat was passed by the parliament on the very day the patriarch died, and was immediately followed by the excommunication of those Serbian deputies who voted in favor of it. There was also a demonstration organized by the Church and headed by bishops and clergy that set out from the cathedral in Belgrade and was violently broken up by the police. The prime minister had a serious crisis on his hands and withdrew the proposal.
  11. A Croatian fascist, anti-Yugoslav separatist movement, whose ideological movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, Croatian ultranationalism, and Roman Catholic Clericalist Fundamentalism. (Palmer Domenico, Roy. Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Politics. Greenwood Publishing Group. 2006. ISBN 0313323623).
  12. According to the Simon Wiesenthal Center (citing the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that "Ustaša units, often encouraged by Catholic clergy, carried out a program of compulsory conversion of Orthodox Serbs to Catholicism; resistance often resulted in murder. Some Serbs, particularly members of the elite, were not even offered the option of conversion to avoid being killed." (Holocaust Era in Croatia 1941-1945 JASENOVAC: History: II Targeted Populations. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). The late Bishop Nikolai (Velimirovich) inscribed into the Church calendar by his own hand the following notation for the date August 31 (O.S.): "The 700,000 who suffered for the Orthodox faith at the hands of the Roman crusaders and Ustasi during the time of the Second World War. These are the New Serbian Martyrs."
  13. SS-Galicia division (Galizien/Galichina) and the Wehrmacht Nachtigall battalion.
  14. Papist is a term, usually regarded as a disparaging or an anti-Catholic slur, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teaching, practices or adherents. It was coined during the English Reformation to denote a Christian whose loyalties were to the Pope, rather than to the Church of England. Over time, however, it came to mean one who supported Papal authority over all Christians. A similar term, "papalism", is sometimes used.
  15. "...we cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions." (HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER. "DAY OF PARDON". Sunday, 12 March 2000).
  16. "...Some memories are especially painful, and some events of the distant past have left deep wounds in the minds and hearts of people to this day. I am thinking of the disastrous sack of the imperial city of Constantinople, which was for so long the bastion of Christianity in the East. It is tragic that the assailants, who had set out to secure free access for Christians to the Holy Land, turned against their own brothers in the faith. The fact that they were Latin Christians fills Catholics with deep regret. How can we fail to see here the mysterium iniquitatis at work in the human heart? To God alone belongs judgement, and therefore we entrust the heavy burden of the past to his endless mercy, imploring him to heal the wounds which still cause suffering to the spirit of the Greek people. Together we must work for this healing if the Europe now emerging is to be true to its identity, which is inseparable from the Christian humanism shared by East and West." (ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II TO HIS BEATITUDE CHRISTODOULOS, ARCHBISHOP OF ATHENS AND PRIMATE OF GREECE. Friday, 4 May 2001.)
  17. In his first interview with Western journalists since 2002, Patriarch Alexei II reiterated Orthodox complaints against Catholics. "Unfortunately relations are not at their best today because the proselytising activity of the Roman Catholic Church is being carried out in both Russia and in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries. Many missionary orders work in Russia today, especially in the shelters and orphanages, where children who have been baptised in Orthodoxy are being converted to Catholicism." Deep wounds have been inflicted by Uniate Catholics in the western area of Ukraine, he added. (Greg Watts. Russia and Rome Rethink Relations. The Sunday Times. February 14, 2004.)
  18. "Orthodox leaders have always complained bitterly about the various Eastern Rite churches, which follow many Orthodox traditions but are loyal to the Vatican. They are widely perceived as Vatican infiltrators trying to lure away Orthodox followers and erode Orthodox churches." (Brian Murphy. Tale of two Europes: Political unity advances while ancient religious rifts persist. Times-Colonist. January 25, 2003. p.25.)
  19. "It is decided that the assembly of the Holy Martyrs and Confessors of the eparchy of Helm and Podlaska shall be on the first Sunday of the month of June. They are ranked in the chorus of the Saints:
  20. This was the 11th of a series of Orientale Lumen Conferences, since they began in 1997. Orientale Lumen EuroEast I was jointly announced by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Pontifical Oriental Institute, the Catholic and Orthodox Society of St. John Chrysostom, and Eastern Christian Publications. The thematic focus of the 80 participants of Orientale Lumen Euro-East I was "Liturgy as the Foundation of Dialogue." The meeting transpired over the anniversary of the founding of Constantinople on May 11,330 A.D.
  21. From 1863 until 2005, the Annuario Pontificio included also the title "Patriarch of the West". This title was first used by Pope Theodore I in 642, and was only used occasionally. Indeed, it did not begin to appear in the pontifical yearbook until 1863. On 22 March 2006, the Vatican released a statement explaining this omission on the grounds of expressing a "historical and theological reality" and of "being useful to ecumenical dialogue". The title Patriarch of the West symbolized the pope's special relationship with, and jurisdiction over, the Latin Church—and the omission of the title neither symbolizes in any way a change in this relationship, nor distorts the relationship between the Holy See and the Eastern Churches, as solemnly proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council.
  22. The conference was organized jointly by the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
  23. From the perspective of the Church Secular Humanism is defined as a religious philosophical worldview based on atheism, naturalism, evolution, and ethical relativism, attempting to function as a civilized society with the total exclusion of God and His moral principles. At the conference Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev called in most resolute terms for an institutionalized Orthodox-Catholic alliance, without which, he said, it would not be possible to defend traditional values in Europe: "What we are witnessing is the final attack of militant secularism on the remains of Christian civilization in Europe." Note that at its 50th anniversary World Humanist Congress in 2002, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) published its "Amsterdam Declaration", the defining statement of worldwide secular Humanism, embracing Humanist, atheist, rationalist, secular, skeptic, Ethical Culture, freethought and similar organisations worldwide.
  24. "...These dialogues, together with every effort for peaceful and fraternal relations of the Orthodox Church with other Christians, are unfortunately challenged today in an unacceptably fanatical way – at least by the standards of a genuinely Orthodox ethos – by certain circles that exclusively claim for themselves the title of zealot and defender of Orthodoxy. As if all the Patriarchs and Sacred Synods of the Orthodox Churches throughout the world, who unanimously decided on and continue to support these dialogues, were not Orthodox. Yet, these opponents of every effort for the restoration of unity among Christians raise themselves above Episcopal Synods of the Church to the dangerous point of creating schisms within the Church...moreover, union is not decided by theological commissions but by Church Synods...Beloved children in the Lord, Orthodoxy has no need of either fanaticism or bigotry to protect itself. Whoever believes that Orthodoxy has the truth does not fear dialogue, because truth has never been endangered by dialogue..." (Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, February 21, 2010.)
  25. Eastern-rite Jesuit scholar Rev. Robert Taft made a similar appeal for union when he delivered the annual Kelly Lecture at the University of Toronto's St. Michael's College in 2000. (Jesuit slams Catholic-Orthodox rift. Victoria Times Colonist. December 16, 2000. A12.)

References

  1. Alan Cameron. Gratian's Repudiation of the Pontifical Robe. The Journal of Roman Studies. Vol.58, Parts 1 and 2. 1968. pp.96-102.
  2. Georgije Ostrogorski. History of the Byzantine State. Rutgers University Press, 1969. p.568.
  3. E. Glenn Hinson. The Church Triumphant: A History of Christianity up to 1300. Mercer University Press, 1995. p.443.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Deacon Herman Ivanov-Treenadzaty. The Vatican and Russia. Orthodox Life, Vol.XL, No.2 [March-April 1990], pp. 8-24.
  5. "Greece, history of." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009.
  6. Richard Clogg. The 'Dhidhaskalia Patriki' (1798): An Orthodox Reaction to French Revolutionary Propaganda. Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.5, No.2 (May, 1969), pp. 87-115.
  7. Sergei Govorun. Indulgences in the history of the Greek Church. Transl. by Bishop Tikhon of San Francisco & the West. 25/11/2004.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Dr. Andrew Thomas Kania. Moral Hemophilia: Concept and Reality (cf. Luke 10: 29 – 37). Fri 28 of Aug., 2009 11:13 EST.
  9. -----. Kharkov pensioners break a memorial desk to the SS spiritual guide. Interfax-Religion. 25 June 2008, 16:30.
  10. -----. Yushchenko decorates Cardinal Husar with the highest Ukrainian award. Interfax-Religion. 27 February 2008, 15:03
  11. Chiron, Yves. Paul VI: Le pape écartelé. Perrin, Paris, 1993. ISBN 226200952X pp.186,246.
  12. Interview with Paul-Joseph Schmitt, Archbishop of Metz, in Le Lorrain, 9 March 1963.
  13. Francis X. Murphy. Vatican Politics: Structure and Function. World Politics. Vol.26, No.4 (July 1974). p.554.
  14. Orthodox Christian Information Center. Full Text of the Balamand Statement. Originally published in: Eastern Churches Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 17-27. Section 12.
  15. Pope apologises for church sins. BBC News. Sunday, 12 March, 2000, 19:48 GMT.
  16. -----. Pope home from disputed Ukraine tour. CNN.com. June 27, 2001 Posted: 10:00 PM EDT (0200 GMT).
  17. Greg Watts. Russia and Rome Rethink Relations. The Sunday Times. February 14, 2004.
  18. "Communiqué concernant la suppression du titre «Patriarche d’Occident» dans l'Annuaire pontifical 2006". Vatican.va. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
  19. Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent and Paul Bompard in Rome. Vatican joins historic talks to end 950-year rift with Orthodox church. The Sunday Times. November 16, 2007.
  20. Ian Fisher. Vatican City: Catholic-Orthodox Accord on Papal Primacy. NY Times. November 15, 2007. A10.
  21. Catholic Church only true church, Vatican says. CBC News. Tuesday, July 10, 2007.
  22. Russia and the Vatican establish full diplomatic ties. BBC News. 20:59 GMT, Thursday, 3 December 2009.

Further reading

Orthodox

(This lecture was given in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia at the 24th Russian Youth Congress in the Jubilee Year of the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus' ).

Heterodox