Ask An Orthodox Priest #5 - Byzantine Catholicism, Venerating Mary, St.Ignatius of Antioch
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 січ 2024
- Fr. James answers YOUR questions on this new segment of "Ask An Orthodox Priest" - submit your questions on our AAOP posts on Instagram! @rootsoforthodoxy
Fr. James Coles is the pastor of St. Ignatius of Antioch Orthodox Church located in Mesa, Arizona.
If you'd like to support Roots of Orthodoxy AND receive early access to all new UA-cam content, please subscribe to Roots of Orthodoxy Patreon:
patreon.com/RootsofOrthodoxy?...
Your support makes this channel possible!
Follow on social media:
Instagram: @RootsofOrthodoxy
Tik-Tok: @RootsofOrthodoxy
Greetings from Amazonia , happy to be Orthodox Christian ☦️❤️🔥
Vc é brasileiro?
Que bacana, sou do ES
I said to some Protestants, who said they were glad they didn't have to pray to Mary, that I would not throw out the mother of God with the Baptism water. That upset their faith and I didn't mean to do that. So I refused to argue with them. I like the idea that I am surrounded by a cloud of saints, that I can turn to for real life examples, and holy help. Protestants have to reject that to remain protestant I guess.
Whomp whomp
We read about Christians who are inspiring, but we only pray to God. I think you can ask people to pray for you but not pray to them. I believe dead Christians are really alive in heaven. I just don’t know if they can hear us on earth. I’d rather pray with someone here on earth, because I know they can hear me.
@@tammywilliams-ankcorn9533 that’s fair enough, which is where I found myself for 30 years of my life. But to be honest, that’s also at least in part what sets Catholic, Orthodox, and even Anglican Christianity apart from and beyond Evangelical or Protestant Christianity: trust in Sacred Tradition and the mystical communion of saints in heaven and earth (for we are all the one Body of Christ, whether in the flesh or in the spirit). Protestantism hyper-focuses on personal belief rather than common belief, elevates individual faith over corporate faith, and oftentimes sets private revelation against the ancient ways of the historic Church, thereby causing ignorance or outright rejection of the intercession of the saints in heaven and the faithful’s prayers for the dead. Traditional Christianity on the other hand has emphasized the vital importance of communal faith and the “faith of our fathers” to which we modern believers are eternally indebted and privileged to obediently honor. Catholics and Orthodox, and truly all sincere Christian believers, are encouraged to not simply have their own private faith but also join their faith with that of the saints, fathers, and apostles in heaven. Christian Tradition invites believers everywhere to share in the ancient beliefs and practices of the Church instead of merely relying on their own individual, contemporary, biased understanding and opinions. The very existence of Christian Tradition, as found in the creeds, councils, cannons, and writings, tells us that we individually and separately are inadequate at determining sound doctrine for ourselves, because we are created and saved for Christian community and we are but a few among the myriads of believers who have gone before us (hint: they collectively probably know better than we do individually, which is why we have their collective wisdom in holy tradition preserved by the Church and the Holy Spirit). All that to say, wouldn’t it be wiser to learn from and submit to the ancient teaching of the Church, such as honoring and praying to the holy saints in the eternal presence of God, instead of rejecting the ancient way out of prideful attachment to our personal theological opinions that contradict our sacred tradition? Like the whole of holy tradition passed down from generation to generation, the communion of saints and their heavenly intercession is not to be thought of as the dead faith of the living but rather as the living faith of the dead (in Christ).
Amazing reply. Thank you and praise God for your insight.@@danieldefonce
@@tammywilliams-ankcorn9533I’ve been in Protestant churches and I’m curious what is your distinction between asking the blessed mother or other saints to pray for you and a pastor asking a congregation to pray for you?
I’m an Evangelical Christian, and I don’t have any major opposition against the ancient churches, it’s just I don’t see myself there. I serve the Lord in my church and God put me in my church for a specific reason. I would urge the believers to not degrade each other without studying and knowing their history and teachings. May Holy Trinity bless us all 🙏✝️❤️
It is important to worship God the way He has put forth, which is the way the Orthodox still do. Holy Orthodoxy is the Body of Christ and calls all to come home.
There's no degrading here at least when we say this, it is our Faith we are sharing; we go by Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, what was left to us by our forefathers who were taught by the Apostles.
@@LadyMariaI have deep respect for the Orthodox tradition. And this priest is very wise, mature and full of Holy Spirit.
As an Orthodox Christian, I think I agree with you. I believe we should try our best to hear the Lord's voice in our heart and follow wherever HE leads. I KNOW He calls us to love Him and to love our neighbor as our self. Without real love, we're empty gongs.
@@user-ee9go4dp1r He will always lead to His Church. 🙏
Happy Christmas Fr James! I'm Catholic and I'm glad I found this channel!
This is one of my favorite Orthodox UA-cam accounts
Thank you Fr. God bless
Byzantine is an Eastern rite, so it would be very similar to Orthodox.
When I was working in Western Pennsylvania, I couldn’t help but notice the onion dome, orthodox churches, and started exploring. I spoke with an orthodox priest and he suggested I check out a local Byzantine church. It was my first experience, and I really enjoyed it. Experiencing the liturgy felt very holy and ancient. Something I feel has been lost in the Catholic Church. Hearing the Byzantine chant is beautiful and simply captures you in the moment. I wish there was a Byzantine church near where I live now.
There's also Russian (Onion domes), Antiochian, OCA, Romanian, Serbian, etc. in the USA for Holy Orthodoxy. We don't all use Byzantine chant. In my Parish we use Obikhod, Valaam, Kievan, Novgorod, Greek, Romanian, Serbian, etc. chant. Rarely Byzantine. So there may be more Parishes you didn't know about near you. 🤗
@@LadyMaria Don't forget ACROD: American Carpatho-Russian Orth. Diocese. Their hierarch is in Johnstown PA, not too far from Pittsburgh. They sing a style called Prostopinje, also used by the Byzantine Catholic Church in America.
@@rustybeltway2373 They're under Pat. Bartholomew so I tend to forget them easily.
@@LadyMaria Fr Maxym Lysack, up in Ottawa, has some solid stuff on his parish channel www.youtube.com/@ChristTheSaviourOC
thank you for your enlightening words father!
I am learning so much through this channel. Please keep them videos coming. ❤❤
Very interesting video!
Amen! Father Bless!
Regarding asking Saints to pray for us, I remembered this Bible verse:
"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16, KJV)"
And I think it's more of loving one another in Christ, where He is One God, and we are one big loving family in Him :)
Jesus Christ commanded “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” So, in my point of view, if you're rejecting Saints, it's like rejecting your neighbor. Faith becomes more self-centered again, like "it's only My relationship with My Christ". But how I feel it, you love God and you respect other people who became Christ-like in their lifetime and for sure are now with Him. That's respecting and loving Jesus and those who loved Him too.
Both churches have the same beginnings and share many of their liturgical teachings. Bizantine Catholic churches are those ones with the shared liturgy as of the Orthodox ones, but recognizing the Bishop of Rome as the "1st among equals" I'll say. Finally and probably most important (I am guessing frankly), is that they recite the creed with the "filioque" included which is probably one of the most important points to get back both churches in communion.
Yes they are most dangerous FAKES who very closely resemble Eastern Orthodox but are in fact Latin heretics...
In regards to veneration of Saints; God is a God of the living, not of the dead (Mark 12:27) Prayers of the righteous avail much (James 5:16) And like he said, we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1)
Thank you for this. i am trying to understand cause I am new to orthodoxy and I have an evangelical background.
Hello
Greek Catholic here
Peace and joy be with you
We have full liturgy
Priest's can be married, but must get so prior to becoming a deacon
We reject the schism and pray for union of the church
We have our patriarch alongside the pope
We mostly stand skeptical of and do not implement Rome' s innovations as things like blessings have a distinct meaning in eastern rite
Every tribe, tongue and nation will praise His name. Both eastern and western rite together in each others unique and beautiful journey and tradition.
I understand that in the Catholic City of God are other such quarters, such as the Ordinariate for the Anglicans.
All glory to the Creator
"We reject the schism and pray for union of the church"
Can you expand on what you mean when you say Greek Catholics "reject the schism"?
@@joshua_wherley
Byzantine Catholics believe that they are “Orthodox in communion with Rome.”
I know some Byzantine Catholics and they often are arguing with their Roman Catholic brethren on theological issues. In my experience with Byzantine Catholics I know, there are three kinds. First, cradle Byzantine Catholics who grew up in a highly latinized Church and see these latinizations as part of their tradition. Second, Roman Catholic who attend Byzantine Catholic Churches who are like refugees, seeking a more beautiful liturgy but in their thinking and theology they are still Roman Catholic. Third, Byzantine Catholics who live and think Orthodox but remain in communion with Rome.
@@joshua_wherley
Many Byzantine Catholic Churches venerate St Palamas on the second Sunday of Great and Holy Lent just like we Orthodox. This is a great scandal for many Roman Catholics. I know many Byzantine Catholics who venerate Sts Porphyrios, Nektarios and other 20th century saints.
@@MrCoachdunhamThat's one reason why I couldn't stay with the RCC. Too much contradiction between just the Latin and Byzantine Rites.
He sounds like quite a valley girl dude for a priest 😂. Very down to earth though.
Byzantine worship is definitely popular in Mexico right now among the Catholics.
How so?
👏👏
Byzantine Catholic (of any jurisdiction) priests CAN be married (of course, before their ordination as it is the norm)
Yes they are most dangerous FAKES who very closely resemble Eastern Orthodox but are in fact Latin heretics...
I think Byzantine Catholicism is just the Roman Catholic church doing the liturgy of St John Chrysostom but the main differences are that they still submit to the pope. What is interesting is that they don't accept the fillioque and they venerate Orthodox Saints such as St Gregory Palamas which is very interesting. I have a question actually, while the roman catholic church has a byzantine rite liturgy, I heard Orthodoxy has western rite liturgies aswell. I wonder what does Fr James think of Western Orthodoxy? I loved this video by the way, God bless and Merry Christmas! ☦
They accept the filloque
@@Compulsive-Elk7103 I think they do in a sense that they are in communion with the Pope but they don't recite it in their creed 🤷♂
We are autonomous from the Roman Catholics. There are 23 other sui iuris Churches within the Catholic Church apart from the Latin Church. And yes, we don't say the filioque in our Creed (it was once added, but has been removed).
@@0xRedCyber Yep
When we think of Holy Mother, we think humility and humbleness
Do you worship her?
@@synthesaurus I worship God only. Asking Holy Mother for intercession is not worship.
@@chrisdominik4058 what happens when you read prayers like this during a service: “We sing of thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, O Mother of God”? I experienced this today and was confused.
@@synthesaurus You know Our God has no mother but same God choose Mary to be earthly mother for His Son. Arch Angel Gabriel, most powerful of all Angel who can wipe this planet in second acted like little mouse in front of Her calling Her Blessed. She is what entire Bible is teaching us to become in flesh. Most humble servant of God, never questioned or disobeyed Lord according to the Scripture. Satan is doing anything in his power to confuse you by putting suspicion in your heart. Do not question love of Our Lord to his earthly mother, don’t forget that He changed His Devine plan and performed His first miracle of the wedding to please his mother. 10 commandments teaching us to respect parents and people are calling Holy Mother dead. Do you think Jesus is happy about it? Do you really think thief from cross is in Paradise with Lord and Holy Mother of Jesus is dead? Humble yourself and ask Lord Jesus for wisdom instead of trying to gain it on your own.
I understand all that, but when I am told that "we just venerate her" and then encounter "we worship thee" in a church service I get a dissonance inside.@@chrisdominik4058
The Byzantine rite is a family of fully autonomous Churches within the Catholic Church. There are 24 Churches within the Catholic Church (Latin Church is just one of those 24. 23 others are Eastern/Oriental). So, you will find Greek Catholics whose jurisdictions can be Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Melkite, Romanian, Russian, etc. They were once Orthodox who just re-established communion with Rome (nothing more, nothing less). However, there were movements to Latinize these churches; as we as humans are not perfect. Now, we have the mission to clear that Latinization to be fully authentic in our Traditions. As an Eastern Catholic, we have a special place in hopefully becoming a bridge between the Roman and Orthodox Churches. Christ is among us!
There's a terrible history with the Uniates against the Orthodox. The only Orthodox are those who are in the Orthodox Church.
I wish this was explored more
If I may nitpick, it was formerly the custom to speak of the Catholic Church and the different Rites within, or of Churches belonging to a certain Rite. Since Vatican 2, in both the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the Code of Canon Law for Eastern Churches, for example, the ecclesiology emphasizes Particular Churches (Byzantine Catholic Church in America, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, etc) who, in turn, follow a Rite (Byzantine Rite, for example.)
@@rustybeltway2373 Yes it was formerly said as so but as you pointed out there was a misunderstanding of the use of the word “rite.”
There are six (6) rites or ritual families - Latin, Byzantine, Alexandrian, West Syriac, East Syriac, and Armenian. To say the “Ruthenian Rite” or “Melkite Rite” is improper as they are not rites but Churches with their own Traditions with a usage of Byzantine rite. Another example is with the West Syriac rite is the Maronite Church. East Syriac - Chaldean and Syro-Malabar Churches. So forth.
Anyway, the reason for the change from the former is because it was necessary to distinguish the Eastern Catholic Churches are not just “different rites of Roman Catholic Church” but respected fully autonomous Churches with each of its own identity, culture, tradition, expression of faith.
Christ is among us!
Byzantine Catholics turn a blind eye to Saints condemning the Catholic Church as heresy.
Eastern Orthodox turn a blind eye to saints who accepted the filloque , immaculate conception, assumption of Mary, and papal supremacy...
@@Compulsive-Elk7103 1.) The 2nd and 8th ecumenical councils follow the Cappadocian model of the Trinity, which has no filioque. Catholics turn a blind eye to ecumenical councils. BTW, the Melkites (in a false union with Rome also reject the filioque).
2.) Mary is immaculate by cooperation with the grace of Holy Spirit. The Catholic ex cathedra statement is a heresy in that it separates Mary from the human race. Hence, she would not be able to transmit humanity to the Son. An immaculate conception also takes away her free will, and without free will, there is no true love for God.
3.) This criticism is false. The Orthodox Church believes in the resurrection and assumption of Mary.
4.) Papal supremacy is based on 23+ forgeries, not Matthew 16. And Catholics turn a blind eye to St. Peter founding 3 churches, not one. And Catholics turn a blind eye to Matthew 18., where the keys are given to all the apostles.
St. Ignatius of Antioch
"Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."
Yes, our Church is the Orthodox Catholic Church.
@@LadyMaria St. Ignatius of Antioch, in his Letter to the Romans, expressed profound respect for the Church in Rome and its bishop.
"Ignatius... to the church that presides in the place of the region of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of blessing, worthy of praise, worthy of success, worthy of sanctification, and, because you hold the first seat of love, named after Christ and named after the Father."
@@DUZCO10 That doesn't mean that he would now or even 1,000 years ago. So that's a fallacy. Yes, first among equals. And Saints can even be wrong. Roman Catholics quote mine often like the Protestants do, often without context.
@@DUZCO10 "first seat of love"
Exactly, the primacy of honor that every honest Orthodox Christian gives to the bishop of Rome.
@joshua_wherley unfortunately many do not, like @ladymaria and that's who we pray for
Literally from a service I attended today: We sing of thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, O Mother of God
Correction: It's Venerate. Sometimes the word is mixed up in translations to English. It has nothing to do with worshiping as with God. Think more of reverence. Please don't use Protestant theology to understand the Orthodox Faith.
Ode VII of the Great Canon:
"Theotokion: We praise thee, we bless thee, we venerate thee, O Mother of God: for thou hast given birth to One of the undivided Trinity, thy Son and God, and thou hast opened the heavenly places to us on earth."
@@LadyMaria Words matter.
@@synthesaurus Well now you know.
Iam Catholic and love ❤️ my Roman Catholic one Holy Apostolic Church of Christ my Lord
BUT do you call Marry queen of heavens?
But the priest didn’t answer the 3rd question. Historically when did that happen? Me too I want to learn.
St. Polycarp and St. Ignatius of Antioch. The Martyrdom of Polycarp (circa 155 AD) records that the early Christians kept his relics and asked for his intercession.
Also, research prayer of st James, which was one the first liturgies historically recorded. includes prayers for the intercession of saints
Just a few i can think of.
Catholic and orthodox need to get together and unite as one church.
There is only one way that can happen. And it won’t happen for a very long time barring a miracle. It starts with the repentance of the pope and his return to Orthodoxy.
All that needs to happen is Roman Catholics leaving and becoming Orthodox
I do want that, truly. I want everyone to experience what I have in the Holy Orthodox Church.
This false push for unity would honestly only be compromise for both parties though.
There could not be a more ironic time for people to assume unity would be in good faith.
@@bradleyperry1735 --- Pray for that miracle!
AMEN! That is all. Pray big. Pray for the union of Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Either our bishops fix what they broke a thousand years ago, or we faithful unite in spite of them!
well if the Early Christians from the Universal Church does that, surely we follow at present day, otherwise it would look like God doesnt guide His church and making the whole Christian world contradicted each other.
Orthodox venerates the Bible.
As a Melkite Greek Catholic, we're pretty much Eastern Orthodox but in union with Rome. My priest is married with 10 children. We have our own canon law. The theology, hymnography, and iconography is the same as Eastern Orthodox because we were once Antiochian Greek Orthodox just 300 years ago this year. 1724 is when the Melkite Greek Catholic church split from the Orthodox. Everything is pretty much the same. Baptism, fasting, Eucharist etc.
Why not be orthodox then
What would you say the "union" with Rome is based on? As in what unites you with Rome?
@@rojcewiczjwhen Melkites gave in politically to Rome's demands it's an incoherent false union.
These are all external similarities. You are missing the key and most important difference which is that the Roman Catholic Church is not in the Body of Christ. This is the testimony of the last 1000 years of Orthodox Saints. Even as early as 1070 we have an example such as St Theodosius of the Kiev Caves who speaks about the Roman Catholics having forsaken the faith of the apostles and separated themselves from the true Church.
Theosis?
Why are you in union with people who reject Theosis?
As a Protestant interested in Orthodoxy I have to disagree with your generalization of our views on Mary and the saints. It was never pounded into my head not to pray to them. It was more like, ‘Life’s short, most don’t have lots of free time for prayer so why not go directly to the top?’. We were always taught that Mary was blessed. As an adult though with some study of the saints, I’m somewhat leary. Some of the tales of their lives are too fantastical (facts added to or admitted through the centuries) that it’s hard to believe what is written about them. I think all believers in Christ are saints as the scripture teaches.
@@charleysoniat6348Its good to se a ordained Orthodox, as a protestant I have some doubts, I hope you may answer
Who can we pray for?
In James 5 13-16 it talks about how we should handle prayers on the congregation, by praying for each other and etcetera, that being so, can I ask any dead Christian for intersession? Or there's a difference between a canonized saint and someone who I knew and was a example for me?
How can a human pray for so many?
There are millions asking Mary for intersession every day, for a human, that would be impossible to answer, for Michael the archangel it would be difficult as we know it took he 21 days to answer Daniel in Daniel 10, how does the Orthodox church explains that?
Is it obligatory?
If my conscience tells me that it would be more fitting to pray, and ask my living brothers for prayers, and not venerating icons, could I be a good Orthodox? If not, how much difference would it make in my salvation?
I know you're probably very busy, I would thank a lot for answering those, I'm a Brasilian Pentecostal from the Assemblies of God, there's basically no Orthodox church near me so your doctrines are very alien to me, my only contact with Orthodoxy is from some friends I have in the internet.
We make time to pray.
Those in the hereafter in communion with God are alive, not dead. How can the soul be dead? It can't be even if the body is sleeping until the final judgment and Resurrection. The soul is eternal and one day the body will be too. So they are not dead who we petition to pray for us. They are with God, one with Him in His Energies so since they are closest to Him, Christ's Mother especially, prayers of petition to them are effacaious. We ask those here to pray for us, so too do we ask our spiritual family in the hereafter to pray for us.
@@LadyMaria why not just go to the top? God is the omnipotent one, the Creator. Those in Heaven aren’t given special powers once in Heaven to then hear people on Earth’s prayers. Glory goes to God as should all prayers.
@@charleysoniat6348 I prefer taking my prayers to my Creator who knows me inside out. The saints in Heaven don’t have communication with those still on the Earth. They are in Paradise, removed from all aspects of the sinful world. Who wants to make it to Heaven only to be reminded of sinful life on Earth by constant supplications of those still in a sinful state? Praise be to God and Christ who hear my prayers!
@@SteveTTTT We do "go to the top", however Christians also ask others to pray for them too including those closest to God in the hereafter. They aren't in heaven yet. That's after the Resurrection and final judgment as is hell (Gehenna, lake of fire). As I said, they share in the Energies of God so absolutely they can hear petitions.
Prayers aren't inherently worship.
Your last comment to Charley does not really make sense in an Orthodox framework.
As a protestant we have no grid for this. We don't understand veneration. We have 2 modes: praise and not praise. We honor no one in the church. Not really. I think Paul is cool. I appreciate the disciples and OT characters, but that is far as it goes. So it feels wrong. The church in the West isn't really a family either. Do we dont understand spiritual mothers, brothers and sisters. Any kind of veneration looks like worship to our eyes. I have looked at the Fathers and I am trying to understand the veneration of Mary. But the reason I am opened to this is because everything else that I see in Orthodoxy makes since and fits seamlessly into church history and the bible and the church Father's are saying that Mary is special.
She has undone everything that Eve managed to mess up. Eve brought the death to the mankind, Theotokos Mary brought Life to the mankind. Eve was disobedient to God, Theotokos Mary was obedient to God, etc. That is why she is also called Second or New Eve.
"Byzantine Catholicism" describes those Eastern churches of the Byzantine Rite that united with Rome. It's essentially Orthodoxy in union with Rome. There is some "Latinization" especially in the US, biggest being Immaculate Conception. But other than that, and recognizing the authority of the Pope, Eastern "Byzantine" Catholicism is almost indistinguishable from Orthodoxy
“Almost indistinguishable.”
This is, at best, coming from someone uniformed of what the Orthodox Church teaches, or at worst purposely deceiving for the sake of being “charitable”.
It’s ok if Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicsm are different. It really is.
Even IF the difference was “only the immaculate conception and what the primacy of the pope entails” that chasm could be (and is) much broader than you are leading on.
Wrong, and those churches are under Rome because they were basically forced into union by the sword and due to politics. Look up the crimes of josephat kyuntsevich.
It's not Orthodox. If episcopalians start doing the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom it wouldn't make them Orthodox.
Uniatism is basically multigenerational Stockholm syndrome.
They venerate post schism saints that were condemned by Rome. It's an incoherent mess. St. Gregory Palamas isn't compatible with Aquinas and scholasticism.
The Roman See rejects Theosis
Then there's the donation of Constantine, the Filioque, papal inerrancy, The fact that the pope in 1054 was dead before his bull even got to Constantinople, the immaculate conception of Mary etc. etc. etc.
Why would you want to unite with heretics and try to convince us Orthodox we're all wrong? That's pretty ridiculous.
@@LadderOfDescent --- What would say the vast differences are? And on a scale of 1 to 10 , 1 being Orthodox and 10 being Mormon, where would you rank those differences? Apart from the anti-Catholic / political rhetoric I sometimes hear from Orthodox priests, I have yet to hear a core doctrine of the Orthodox faith that differs enough from the Catholic to count them as entirely separate entities rather than differences of lexicon or emphasis.
Besides the pope (and acknowledging that the Church has always had popes) and the filioque (which is a syntactical / grammatical nonstarter).
I ask this because, from the Catholic perspective, when I, an ordinary Catholic, look across the divide of 1054 I don't see "enemies" in the faith. I don't see ordinary faithful who hold a different faith. I see ordinary faithful people whose ancestors would have been recognised as brothers in Christ and of the same Church if they had met 1300 years ago.
It's quite different when I look across the divide of 1517. Looking across that divide I see people, some of whom are extremely inimicable towards Catholics, many have faith, most of them in Jesus even, but really share so very little in common! People who reject the Eucharist! People who reject Baptism! Many reject the divinity of Christ! People who reject the death and resurrection of Jesus! They reject the communion of saints. Obviously they reject even the concept of a united and visible Church.
@@padraicbrown6718 well said, sir. The Orthodox have such a misunderstanding of our faith. Even the priest in this video didn't know much about Eastern Catholicism. We have so much in common with them. All of our priests and bishops are successors of the Apostles. All of them. I pray we can find ways to realize that Catholics and Orthodox have no better allies than one another.
Eastern Catholicism is absolutely not Roman Catholicism. I'm so surprised he wasn't aware of that, as so many of the Eastern Rite churches are nearly analogs of Eastern Orthodox counterparts. While the Eastern Catholic metropolitans/patriarchs are in communion with the Pope, they are mostly autonomous. Not saying this to stir up debate. Just saying what the Eastern Rite churches are compared to the Roman Church. Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, for example, is the analog of the Ukrainian Orthodox church(very few differences).
The fact that the Eastern Rite churches have so much in common (saints, patrimony, liturgy, icons, etc.) with Eastern Orthodox gives me hope that, one day, all the Apostolic Faiths will be reunited in a way that is pleasing to God.
This is spot on. One faith. Diverse expressions of spirituality and mysticism. Very different ecclesial structure from the West in that they are synodal in structure.
Yours is one of the better explanations. But, we should not minimize the differences between the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholics. It is far more the the filioque issue or the primacy of the pope of Rome.
Putting that aside - big topic - what I can foresee is that when the Russian attack on Ukraine is defeated - and it will be defeated - some (Ukrainian) Greek Catholics will reconsider being under the Pope. After all, it was the takeover by Moscow of the Kyiv Metropolitanate that triggered the Greek Catholics to split from Orthodoxy. With Kyiv Ukrainian and autocephalous, then there is no need for the Pope.
@@ownpetard8379 --- Yet almost all the Orthodox commentary I've read focuses on the Pope and Filioque. I've asked Orthodox what the big differences are. The make or break issues. Those two pop up time and time again.
As I understand it, the filioque is a non-issue. The Greek East never used it at all; the Latin West didn't either. Somehow it got used somewhere and ended up being promoted by some Holy Roman Emperor. Linguistically, it doesn't work in Greek, but in order to convey the sense of the Greek, it makes sense in Latin. So it kind of stuck.
Even so, Catholics don't need to say it; and many Catholics (Eastern) get along very well without ever having said it at all.
As for the Pope, historically it looks like the Orthodox had a Pope for a good thousand years, so I'm confused as to why don't want one now. I mean let's face it: the Church was born in the East. All the great Patriarchates are in the East. Except Rome. Rome ended up with Peter, and it's not the West's fault that they ended up with the successors of Peter!
I shrug. The East got the Emperor, and there hasn't been one of those in 600 years. The West got the Pope, and they've had those for 2000 years.
The Emperor. Therein, I think, might lie the main reason why the Orthodox eschew Catholicism and the Pope and the idea of reunification.
CHRIST placed no distinction between Mary and any other true believer as follows:
Mark 3:31 KJV "There came then His brethren and His mother, and, standing without, sent unto Him, calling Him. 32 And the multitude sat about Him, and they said unto Him, Behold, your mother and your brethren without seek for you. 33 And He answered them, saying, Who is My mother, or My brethren? 34 And He looked round about on them which sat about Him, and said, Behold My mother and My brethren! 35 For whosoever shall do the will of GOD, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother."
The Holy Scriptures inspired by GOD never says that Mary was full of grace or better than other servants of GOD. In fact, the Holy Scriptures says that Christ was full of grace and truth in John 1:14 KJV "And the WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the FATHER) full of grace and truth."
Mary and your saints were sinners like everyone else and Mary even made a sin offering for her sins in Luke 2:21 KJV which was according to the law in Leviticus chapter 12 KJV specifically in 12:8 KJV. Religious veneration is worship where you have made Mary another GOD/CHRIST with the attributes of GOD with no sin and giving grace to mankind and hearing and answering prayer and so on. There is no basis for this in Holy Scriptures.
Ephesians 2:8 KJV "For by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of GOD:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast."