Religion

News

Catholic, Orthodox Churches to try to overcome millennium-long disagreement

Moscow, September 22, Interfax - A joint international commission on dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, which began in Vienna on Tuesday, will discuss the Pope's primacy in the first millennium.

"This is the most complicated subject in the dialogue between the Orthodox and the Catholics, because the attitude toward the bishop of Rome's ministering is key for the modern Catholic Church," Hegumen Philipp (Ryabykh) representing the Russian Orthodox Church at the session told Interfax.

The presumption that the Pope has ecumenical jurisdiction goes against Orthodox ecclesiology, which teaches that, while the Orthodox Church preserves unity of faith and church governance, it still consists of several local churches, Father Philipp said, who is a deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations.

The Vienna session continues the discussion that was started in Cyprus in 2009.

"A draft document was drawn up for the commission's session last year, and the commission started to consider it but did not finish this process, as the Orthodox had a lot of objections to this text. We expect that the discussion in Vienna on the text of this document will also be quite intensive," he said.

"Our delegation's goal is to make sure that this document reflects the Orthodox position and rules out any ambiguities, compromises and wrong interpretations of the patristic views on the bishop of Rome's ministering," the priest said.

While it is difficult to reach a consensus on this issue, "this theme should be discussed," because "this is what separates the Catholics and the Orthodox above all," he said.

"It needs to be said that the Catholics did not agree to discuss this issue with the Orthodox [Church] for a long time, knowing how radical differences in its interpretation are. The fact that the late Pope John Paul II and then Pope Benedict XVI agreed that this issue be discussed by the commission is quite a benevolent step on the part of the Catholics toward the Orthodox [Church]," he said.

Print this page

Home

News

.	Customize latest news

• Discussions of interfaith problems must be intensified in UN, intl organizations - Lavrov 21 May 2013, 17:04
• Russian patriarch concerned about violence against Christians in Africa 21 May 2013, 17:01
• Tajik president calls on Islamic Development Bank to invest in regional infrastructure 21 May 2013, 15:53
• Patriarch Kirill tells CoE's secretary general same-sex marriage sinful 21 May 2013, 13:38
• Most Russians support non-intervention of church in state affairs - poll 21 May 2013, 10:12
• Suspected militants killed near Moscow may have belonged to Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan - source 21 May 2013, 10:00
• Hizb ut-Tahrir activist from Kyrgyzstan detained in Alma-Ata 20 May 2013, 11:43
• Anti-homophobia demo held in Kiev 20 May 2013, 10:05
• Georgian patriarch calls on supporters, opponents of gay movement to pray for each other 20 May 2013, 10:04
• 28 injured in Tbilisi in attack on rally in defense of gays 20 May 2013, 10:03
• Head of Consumer Right Protection Society fined 100,000 rubles for slandering Cathedral of Christ the Savior Fund 17 May 2013, 16:58
• LGBT rally in St. Petersburg draws 60 supporters, 200 opponents 17 May 2013, 16:55
• Georgian ombudsman fails to protect gay parade in Tbilisi 17 May 2013, 16:16
• Seventeen people injured amid gay parade in Tbilisi 17 May 2013, 16:08
• Orthodox Church, NGO of Moldova ask Chisinau mayor to cancel gay parade 17 May 2013, 15:06
• Police, special task forces save gay parade participants from outraged citizens in Tbilisi 17 May 2013, 14:23
• Three-fourths of Russians insist govt. should ban public display of homosexuality 17 May 2013, 13:14
• Suspected leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir Sakhalin unit detained 17 May 2013, 11:54
• Hezbollah's interests are in Lebanon, it just protects Shiite shrines in Syria - Lavrov 17 May 2013, 10:11
• Leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir unit detained in Bishkek 16 May 2013, 15:48
• Priests should return to Chinese Orthodox churches - Moscow Patriarchate 16 May 2013, 14:08
• Sexual minority event removed from Moscow park's plan 16 May 2013, 10:06
• Patriarch Kirill says optimistic about future of Orthodoxy in China 16 May 2013, 10:00
• Moscow Mayor's Office says no gay pride parade 15 May 2013, 18:34
• Patriarch Kirill holds first in 50 years divine liturgy in Shanghai 15 May 2013, 11:58
• Russian analysts: immigrants, guest workers fertile ground for radical Islamism 15 May 2013, 10:16
• Still no hajj warning from Saudi Arabia over SARS-like virus 14 May 2013, 15:07
• Monument to Sts Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra unveiled in St. Petersburg 14 May 2013, 15:05
• Ivanishvili says will protect gays, refuses to discuss possibility of same-sex "marriages" 14 May 2013, 14:07
• Mayor's Office says no gay parade in Moscow 14 May 2013, 11:53

Other news