Orthodox and Catholic Embrace in Rimini: May the Two Become One

Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, of Moscow, and the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, Benedict XVI, will soon meet

Full communion between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches is being prompted by the Holy Spirit. It is the most important development of the Third Christian Millennium and has implications for the whole world at this critical time in history. This coming communion between the Orthodox and Catholic Church will mark the beginning of the re- Christianizing of the West and a new missionary age.

P>ROME, Italy (Catholic Online) - First, I must lay all my cards on the table. I long for - and pray daily for - the full communion of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.  I do so because I believe it is the will of God that "All May be One" (John 17: 21). I do so because I believe it is the only hope for the recovery of western civilization.  We are struggling under a new barbarism which purports to be "progressive" while it leads our culture into the barrenness of the old paganism pretending to be new.

The healing of the division between the two churches will unleash a profound renewal of the entire Church at the dawn of a new missionary age. It is the only sure path toward cultural recovery. The gifts found in the healed, restored Church will enrich both East and West. Our recovered fraternity will assist us in the mission which we must face together in our One Lord.

I pray for this full communion because I believe that as the West implodes under the fierce ravages of what Pope Benedict XVI properly called a "Dictatorship of Relativism", Christianity is the only true humanism and the path to authentic freedom. It is only the fullness of truth revealed in Jesus Christ which can save the West from rushing over a cliff to its own demise. The West needs the Church, breathing with both lungs, to once again become its soul in an age which has lost its moral compass and is rotting from within. 

I long for this full communion as well because, as a "revert", one who returned to my Catholic faith as a young man, I walked the way home by way of the early Church Fathers. Had I not had been baptized a Catholic of the Latin Rite; I might have become an Eastern Christian, orthodox or catholic. To this day, after studies leading to the PhD level in Moral Theology, I find myself more and more "Eastern" in my understanding of the mystery and deeper meaning of the Christian life. 

As the decades of my life have unfolded, including my theological studies and ordination to the Order of Deacon, my vision and theological viewpoint are profoundly Eastern. So too is my worship. I have long prayed with icons and love the Divine Liturgy. However, I cherish the unity that comes with the Chair of Peter and I believe it is meant to be a gift to the whole Church.

For a number of years I had the privilege of regularly serving the Divine Liturgy and I miss it. I love the Liturgy, East and West. However I find the depth of the Mystery which lies at the heart of the Liturgy is beautifully captured in the Liturgy of the East, inviting an age which has lost the sense of transcendence back on the way into Beauty.

There is a Latin maxim that addresses the centrality of worship in the life, identity and mission of the whole Church; "Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi". It means that the law of prayer or worship is the law of belief and the law of life. Or, even more popularly rendered, as we worship, so will we believe and live! 

Worship is not an "add on" for the Catholic or the Orthodox Christian. It is the foundation of Catholic and Orthodox identity; expressing our highest purpose. It is the very lens through which we understand the meaning of life itself. Worship reveals how we view ourselves in relationship to God, one another and the world into which we are sent to carry forward the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ.

How the Church worships is a prophetic witness to the truth of what she professes. Good worship becomes a dynamic means of drawing the entire human community into the fullness of life in Jesus Christ, lived out in the communion of the Church. It attracts - through beauty to Beauty. Worship informs and transforms both the person and the community which participates in it. There is a reciprocity between worship and life.

Finally, I long for the coming full communion of East and West because my oldest son is an Orthodox Christian. He, his wife and their children are all practicing Orthodox Christians. I must admit that the more I visit them these days the more I appreciate the beauty of the interweaving of faith and life - and good, redeemed but real  human culture - which comes with Eastern Christianity and all of its practices.

I must admit as well, the more my life goes on, the more painful our separation at the Altar, the Eucharistic Table, also becomes. I believe this pain gives me a glimpse into the very heart of the Lord who longs for our unity. I know it breaks the heart of the Lord that we are not receiving Him, together, body, blood, soul and divinity, at one altar. Our division is not according to His plan for His Church.

So, yes, I watch for every sign that the two lungs of the One Church are beginning to fill with the one breath of Divine Life, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit alone can animate the One New Man, Jesus Christ, and heal the division which has gone on for too long in His Body. I watch with the eyes of living faith. It was never the Lord's intention that His One Church be divided. He will bring the healing needed for the coming full communion of His Body. I believe it will happen in my lifetime.

Some say I see these developments with "Rose Colored glasses". If I do see through the color of rose, it is because the color symbolizes the hope which comes from faith in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus. It is also because of my bedrock conviction concerning His one plan for His One Church.

I insist that the move toward full communion between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches is being prompted by the Holy Spirit and cannot be stopped. It is the most important development of the Third Christian Millennium. It has extraordinary implications for the whole world at this critical time in history. It will result in the healing of the wounds which for too long have separated the Church and the dawning of a new missionary age.

So, when I read of what happened at the Rimini meeting, the annual gathering of the wonderful ecclesial movement, Communion in Liberation, I rejoiced. Zenit news, a great news service out of Rome which is an apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ,  published an article today about the gathering entitled "Catholic, Russian Orthodox Churches Embrace"

Their report focused on an "embrace between Cardinal Peter Erdo and Metropolitan Filaret (which) was printed with the title "Europe's Brothers." They reported that "the embrace between the two high-level representatives was a highlight of the 31st Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, an annual event sponsored by the Catholic Communion and Liberation Movement in Rimini, Italy."

They speculated, as have many reliable news sources all day, that the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, of Moscow, and the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, Benedict XVI, will soon meet. "The Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches are already united in their common stance on many issues affecting Europe: challenges to life and family and religious freedom among them."

"Recently, an apostolic nunciature was opened in Moscow, and there is ever greater insistence on a meeting between Benedict XVI and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. To this end, Metropolitan Filaret said that "the time is ripe for a meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch. It might even be possible in 2011; in principle I see no obstacles,"

"We have been in dialogue with the Catholic Church for some time, at times with moments of exhilaration, at others with a fall in tensions," he added. "Now we are in a moment of stability, but between us, we, the parties, are open to dialogue. I hope this atmosphere will continue."

"Cardinal Erdo pointed to Catholic-Orthodox union in dogmatic issues."Hence, for me," he said, "the circumstance that we are not in full and complete communion is a physical pain."

After reading this report - and the myriad of similar reports which filled the World Wide Web - I reassert my conviction that we stand at the beginning of the coming full communion of the One Christian Church. It will be a communion which recognizes and respects the legitimate diversity of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church within the parameters of both orthodoxy (right teaching) and orthopraxy (right practice).  Both lungs will breathe together again.

Here is what few news sources are reporting. This coming communion between the Orthodox and Catholic Church will mark the beginning of the re- Christianizing of the West. It is more significant than any political, social, or economic development. Only the Christian Church can save the West from self destruction. After all, it is the Church which offers the barren West a soul.

The move toward full communion between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches is prompted by the Holy Spirit. It is the most important development of the Third Christian Millennium. It will happen. It has extraordinary implications for the West, indeed for the whole world, at a critical time in history. Let us pray that it happens - for the sake of a world still waiting to be set free.  

It is time; the future of western civilization hangs in the balance - indeed the very future of the whole world. What is needed is boldness and apostolic courage from both the Orthodox and Catholic leaders. Let us pray for the grace needed for them to do what must be done. 

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