QUESTION:
7/15/2010: Besides not accepting the authority of the Pope, what are the differences between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church? Can an Orthodox join a Roman Catholic Church, or attend a Roman Catholic Church, and still remain Orthodox? |
ANSWER:
No, the fact is that an Orthodox Christian should not receive communion in a Roman Catholic Church, except in truly extremely rare and specific circumstances which would typically be known in advance and require discussion with one's bishop. Of course, "joining" or receiving communion is different than attending, for specific reasons. The reason is that until further notice, the anathemas of Vatican I against the Orthodox stand - nothing has substantially changes in Roman Catholic ecclesiology in spite years of dialogue. Here is the standing degree of Vatican I:
"9. Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, to the glory of God our savior, for the exaltation of the Catholic religion and for the salvation of the Christian people, with the approval of the Sacred Council, we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman Pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA, that is, when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the Church, irreformable.
So then, should anyone, which God forbid, have the temerity to reject this definition of ours: let him be anathema."
Since Orthodox Christians reject this definition and are placed under anathema (unless this dogma is renounced), they should act accordingly.
For differences between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy, I can (with a bit of a bias) recommend my own book His Broken Body: Understanding and Healing the Schism Between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches available here http://www.amazon.com/His-Broken-Body-Understanding-Catholic/dp/0615183611/ref=tmm_pap_title_0 |
