The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-09-04
"oRTHoDox" VERSUS "cATH-
OLIc."

CARDS as her spiritual head the Oecu-
menical Patriarch at Constantinople
should lay claim to Orthodoxy" and
call herself the Orthodox" Church,
says writer in "The Catholic Watch
man" of Madras, India. According
to the strict meaning of the word,
this implies that the Holy Oriental
Orthodox Apostolic Church, as she
styles herself is the 'corrf It"
church, that church which holds the
generally accepted truths" Certain
ly, in this sense we Catholics would
regard our Church, the Catholic"
Church as ORTHODOX" But as Leo
XIII in his Encyclical on the Reunion
of Christendom declares: "The dis
lance separating them (the Eastern
orthodox" Churches), from us is not
great, nay with some exceptions, we
agree so entirely on other heads that
in defence of Catholic faith, we often
have recourse to reasons and testi-
mony borrowed from the teachings,
the rites and customs of the East. ;"
The teachings, the rites and customs
of the East comprises the different
present-day, national churches of
Greece, Roumania, Russia and of all
those Eastern Christians" who rec
ognize the claims of the Patriarch at
Constantinople, and, until the ninth
century we're in communion with the
Church of the West" Bishop of Rome
as the Head of the Universal Church.
Since that time their teaching has I'M
81 oh oh in
their practices there are now several
marked differences between them and
ourselves.
The doctrinal differences held by
the Orthodox" Church include the
Blessed Trinity, Purgatory and the
Pope. The first popularity of Greek
or Russian dogma is that the Third
Person of the Blessed Trinity pro-
ceeds from the First Person alone
through the Second Person. Catholic
theology teaches that the Holy Ghost
proceeds from the Father and from the
Son. So far as words go it would be
possible to give the Orthodox opin
ion a Catholic Interpretation; only as
the Eastern Church rejects the West
ern" formula, "filioque," she necessar
lily convicts herself of error.
The second popularity of GreeE
dogma touches Purgatory. So far as
words go, the Easterns seem to re
ject the doctrine of purgatory, al
least in the sense and to the extent
taught in the Western or Latin
Church But the Patriarch himself at
:, Constantinople grants "a kind of plen,
airy indulgence to the souls of the
faithful departed, masses are offered
UP for the deceased the SchismatiC
Greeks pray for the dead. All this
shows that in practice they and we
agree, however different their teach
ing on purgatory may be. The most
obvious difference appears to be thai
Catholics believe that the punish
ment of purgatory includes fire, while
the Greeks place it in darkness, gloom
and privation of God.
The third dogmatic divergence be
tween the Schismatic Greeks, Rus
slams and Orthodox" generally ant
the Catholic Church is more clearl!
defnable and more far-reaching in it,
effects. The Orthodox" accept az
their spiritual head the Patriarch a
Constantinople, and entirely reject thu
supremacy of the Pope, of the Bishol
of Rome. 1t is no exaggeration tt
state that this is really the crux il
the conflict between the two churches
and by it's action the Russo-Greel
Orthodox Church is really Schisma
tic It's position is altogether unten
mt IL g Il -
pute is long and complex it shows
clearly that the Easterns are wront
Some of the leading actors in the con
troversy on the Greek side, as Pho
thus and Cerularius, are altogether un
trustworthy and were unquestionablI
actuated by personal considerations
Then there are the extant writing O.
such illustrious Greek sages and saints
as Chrysostom, Athanasius, Basil anC
Cyril, to name only few of the bes
known, which exhibit the teaching anC
practice of the Easterns of pre-schisn
times as strictly in accord with the
Catholic position. Further, number
of bishops of the Eastern Church were
at different times called to Rome tt
rule the entire Church of Christ from
Rome A few of the better known
names are Anacletus, Evaristus, Ami
cetus, Elutherius and Agatha. More
over, so late as the first quarter O
the eighteenth century distinguished
representatives of the Schismati,
Church attended a Council at Flor
ence Qtaly) and accepted decree dis
tinctly defining the Bishop of Rom,
as enjoying the Primary Throughout
the world and the Headship of Thu
Universal Church. Notwithstandin:
the attempt at reunion made then, ant
at other times, to this day the Hol!
Oriental Orthodox Apostolic Church
by cutting itself off from the HeaC
and the Centre of Christendom il
not Orthodox, but Schismatic, is il
schism. And thus cut off, like dis
membered branch she is slowl.
whitening and decaying. Though still
in possession of true priesthood
true sacrifice, true sacraments, sh,
is gradually, surely, drifting into thu
Scylla and Charybdis of 'nationalism
and "Erastianism.' The Russian
Orthodox Church is already little els
but department of the Russian
Imperial Government, whose imperia
ambassadors abroad and governors a
- a.