The Eastern Churches Orthodox & Catholic
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The Eastern Churches Orthodox & Catholic Author: Bishop Issam John Darwish, BSO, DD Eparchy: Melkite Greek-Catholic Eparchy of St Michael, Australia & New Zealand Date: 1 November 2009 Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand Contents 1 Introduction 4 2 How we came to have an East and a West 4 2.1 Roman Empire splits into East & West 4 2.2 Constantine’s Eastern Influences 4 3 Early Church East & West 5 3.1 Church reflects the People, Culture, and Polity of its time 5 3.2 Three groups of Churches in the East 5 3.2.1 Churches of the East 5 3.2.2 Oriental Orthodox 5 3.2.3 Eastern Orthodox 6 4 Who are the Eastern Orthodox? 6 4.1 The Patriarchates 6 4.2 Eastern Orthodox in Australia 7 5 Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox 7 5.1 Origins of those Eastern Catholic Churches represented in Australia 8 6 Spirituality of the Byzantine Churches 10 6.1 Ekklesiastika 10 6.2 The Mystery of the Divine Trinity, Theosis 10 6.3 Trinitarian God and Sacraments 10 6.4 The Filioque 11 6.5 Cosmic Dimension of the Eucharistic Liturgy 12 7 Efforts of the Melkite Church towards Unity with the Antiochian Orthodox Church 14 7.1 Introduction 14 7.2 The Ecumenical Role of the Melkite Greek-Catholic Church 14 7.3 The Word Melkite 14 7.4 The Word Catholic 14 7.5 Arab Church 14 7.6 The Melkite Church as a Bridge 15 7.7 Melkite Greek-Catholic Calls for unity 15 7.8 Unity is possible 15 7.9 Reunification of Antiochian Patriarchate 16 8 Efforts towards Unity & Pastoral Agreements between other Churches 16 8.1 Zoghby Initiative 16 8.2 Two Churches serving at One Altar 17 8.3 Syrian Orthodox Church (Oriental Orthodox) 17 The Eastern Churches Orthodox & Catholic … 2/19 Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand 9 Role of the Catholic Church in Australia in promoting Dialogue with Eastern Orthodox 17 10 Hope for the Future 18 Figure 1: Percentage of Churches of Apostolic Origin in Australia 9 Table 1: Description of Origin of Eastern Catholic Churches in Australia 8 The Eastern Churches Orthodox & Catholic … 3/19 Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand 1 Introduction In the late Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Orientale Lumen (“The Light of the East”), the Pope states: “the venerable and ancient tradition of the Eastern Churches is an integral part of the heritage of the Catholic Church.” The Pope called upon all Catholics to become “fully acquainted with this treasure.” In this short talk, I hope to help you become better acquainted with Light of the East. My Church, the Melkite Greek-Catholic Church, forms part of this treasure and is itself a Light of the East, founded by the holy apostles Peter and Paul. 2 How we came to have an East and a West 2.1 Roman Empire splits into East & West The Roman Empire was first split into East and West by Diocletian in AD 285. He created administrative centres, which were situated closer to the empire’s frontier than was Rome. A key difference between East and West was that the East consisted of a largely urbanised and Hellenised culture; the West was less sophisticated and consisted of largely rural regions. Such differences eventually came to be reflected in how the peoples led their lives and expressed themselves in art and literature - cultural differences that are extant today. 2.2 Constantine’s Eastern Influences Although born in the West, in what is known as Serbia today, Constantine became a true son of the East. When his father was appointed Caesar under Diocletian, Constantine - as heir presumptive to his father’s position - moved to the court of Diocletian, which was in Nicomedia, in present-day Turkey. Constantine the Great (his Roman name was: Caesar Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus) became Caesar in AD 306. By 324 the old system of the tetrarchy had collapsed, and Constantine had conquered his rivals to become the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. In the year AD 312, Constantine had a vision of the Cross and heard the words “In this sign conquer”. He ordered his army to march under the standard of the Cross (actually the Chi Rho symbol). He thus defeated Maxentius and entered triumphantly into Rome, where he was acclaimed the greatest Augustus. By 320, Licinius had reneged on the earlier Edict of Milan (AD 313), and began another persecution of Christians. It became a challenge for Constantine and culminated in the civil war of 324. In Constantine’s battles against Licinius, it was clear that Licinius represented the old, pagan ways of Rome; Constantine representing the sophisticated Eastern court and the Christian faith. Constantine’s defeat of Licinius signified the passing of old Rome. Constantine moved his capital eastwards, initially to Nicomedia. He rebuilt a nearby town called Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople (‘city of Constantine’) in AD 330. The seat of the Roman Empire never returned to Rome. The Eastern Churches Orthodox & Catholic … 4/19 Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand 3 Early Church East & West 3.1 Church reflects the People, Culture, and Polity of its time In the East, we find several different peoples and (sub-) cultures within the greater Roman Empire. Two of these peoples with a strong sense of their own community and their historical greatness were the Persians and the Egyptians. Their sense of themselves as being different from the others - and perhaps unhappily subservient to the Roman Emperor in distant Constantinople - will later add fuel to the fire of theological differences. 3.2 Three groups of Churches in the East There are three groups of Eastern Churches: The Churches of the East or Assyrian (or Nestorian) The Oriental Orthodox (or Monophysite) The Eastern Orthodox. The Latin or Roman Catholic Church is the Western sister Church of the latter (Eastern Orthodox). There are, however, several groups of Churches from each of these three branches that are in communion with Rome. The Maronite Church, of Syrian origin, claims to have remained in communion with Rome since its inception - although it was out of contact with both Constantinople and Rome for several centuries. 3.2.1 Churches of the East The first Church to separate from the main body of Christianity was the Persian Church, which separated in 424, before the Council of Ephesus (431). This separation was purely political; there was no underlying theological argument or excuse. The bishops of Persia met in council and decided that their Church would no longer come answer to another power - especially that of a council of the Roman Empire. It was at Ephesus that the title "Theotokos" ('God-bearer') was given to the Mother of Jesus. Thus these churches still only call her "Christotokos"; rejecting "Theotokos". They were not part of greater Christianity when the Council of Ephesus convened, and so do not feel bound by its decisions. They had previously been referred to as Nestorian , although this description is not accepted by these Churches, which reject the teachings of Nestorius. There are 55,000 people who belong to these Churches in Australia. There are almost 33,000 in the Chaldean Catholic Church - the Church from this tradition that is in union with Rome. 3.2.2 Oriental Orthodox These Churches accept the first three councils (Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus), but reject the Council of Chalcedon (451). These Churches, thus, split for a theological reason; at least nominally. Underlying the negotiations and discussion were two important factors that will appear again and again in schisms: The Eastern Churches Orthodox & Catholic … 5/19 Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand The people - in this case the Egyptians - felt much aggrieved by the treatment they received from the Byzantines. (Greeks held most of the civil and religious positions of power in Egypt.) They felt that the Greeks discriminated against the native Egyptians and saw no advantage in being a conquered nation forming part of the Roman Empire. The local Egyptians spoke Coptic. Translating Greek theological terms into this language was difficult. Even to this day, Coptic theological terms are actually Greek words - a Coptic term was not often found that would clearly describe the sense of the Greek. Misunderstandings were apt to occur. These non-Chalcedonian Churches - they did not accept the Council of Chalcedon - are often called "Monophysite", although they themselves reject this label. There are 32,705 people reporting themselves as belonging to this church in Australia. In the 2006 census, there were no categories for people to identify themselves as Armenian Catholic, Copt Catholic, Ethiopian Catholic, Eritrean Catholic, or Syrian Catholic, so we do not have numbers for these adherents, although there are several churches in the major cities serving them. 3.2.3 Eastern Orthodox These are those Churches that we say separated from Rome around 1054 in what is called the "Great Schism". The best known of these Churches in Australia are the Antiochian, Greek, and Russian Orthodox Churches. There are 544,153 adherents in Australia. There are 50,000 people reporting themselves as coming from this background, but in communion with Rome (i.e., Melkite or Ukrainian Catholic). It is important to note that the census of 2006 was the first time such Catholics could report themselves as distinct from the main (Latin) Catholic body. We suspect many did not report themselves as distinct. Also, in Arabic, for example, Greek Catholics (i.e., Melkites) call themselves “ruum kaathuulik”. Some may therefore equate this term with the homophonic Roman Catholic rather than look for a more accurate translation.