I doubt that 950 years of separation will be healed this easy but it will be interesting to watch it unfold. It looks like if the current plans prevail, the Orthodox will come under the Pope but the Pope's power will be diluted. Or in other words . . .
the POPE gets more SCOPE but less ROPE.
Would he cope? And do the Orthodox hope to elope?
The Ravenna Document, that formed the basis of last month's unification talks between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, is available online here or a comment-open version here. Its full title is "Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church. Ecclesial Communion, Conciliarity and Authority", adopted by the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church in Ravenna on 14 October 2007. Here it is on the official Vatican site.
More info at Int, Herald and Times Online which claims that the original rift happened . . . " largely because of three words: The Nicene Creed of the Roman Church says that the Holy Ghost “proceeds from the Father and the Son”; the Orthodox Church claims the Holy Ghost originates with the Father alone."
What do you think? Should the Orthodox and the RCC unite?
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