Eastern Catholics and Orthodoxy: A Homecoming

It was in 1439 that the Roman Catholics convened one its councils in Florence.  To it were invited representatives of the Orthodox Church to discuss possible ways and means of re-establishing Church unity.

St Mark Eugenikos, Archbishop of Ephesus attended that meeting.  He believed that unity could be achieved, under certain conditions.

His position was that the West had fallen into heresy, especially with respect to the "Filioque" addition to the Nicene Creed.  However, Mark believed that God would heal the heresy if the West would but agree to suppress it. 

The West refused and St Mark was more and more called upon to defend Orthodoxy, which he did until he died.  When the Pope of the day heard that St Mark of Ephesus refused to sign the union document of Ferrara-Florence, he is said to have remarked, "We have achieved nothing!"  Those Greek bishops who did sign it, including Metropolitan Isidore of Kyiv, later recanted or, as in the case of Isidore, continued as Uniates or Eastern Catholics in Italy.

A "Uniate" or "Eastern Catholic" is someone who is a member of one of the 18 Eastern Rites that are in union with Rome. These formed when certain members of Orthodox, Oriental and Assyrian Churches came under the jurisdiction of the Pope. 

They accept Roman Catholic doctrine (i.e. the Filioque, Immaculate Conception etc.) but maintain much of their Mother Churches' Rite and traditions. There are about 12 million of them world-wide, half of which are Ukrainian Catholics.  

The great debate today with respect to the Eastern Catholics is centred around the issue of whether Rome's jurisdiction extended over Eastern Christians is legitimate, according to commonly accepted principles of canon law and ecumenical understanding. 

Roman Catholic theologians, especially members of Orthodox-Catholic ecumenical commissions today categorically state that the Union model of the past is no longer an appropriate model for Church unity.

But ever since the Union of Brest-Litvosk, for example, there have been historical instances when "Uniates" have returned to their Mother Orthodox Church from whence they came.  In the nineteenth century,  a total of 3 million Greek Catholics became Orthodox, together with their Metropolitan Joseph Siemashko. 

In the period before World War II, Ukrainians in western Ukraine found their way to Orthodoxy, assisted in their endeavour by St John of Latvia and Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky and others. 

The "Byzantine Renaissance" inaugurated under the Greek Catholic Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky also inclined not a few Ukrainian Catholics, among them the Metropolitan's own secretary, Lev Gillet (the famous "monk of the Eastern Church"), to become Orthodox. 

If Eastern Catholic professors and teachers, like the famous Fr. Kostelnyk, shot in 1946, became Orthodox, it was because they had already made that choice spiritually, as Greek Catholics who practiced a very pure "Byzantine" rite.  All that was left for them to do was to cross the "Rubicon," so to speak, and become Orthodox formally.

In North America, many Greek Catholics have become, and continue to become, Orthodox.  St Alexius Toth, himself a former Greek Catholic priest, dedicated himself to the pastoral care of former Greek Catholics.

It was the Catholic Vatican II Council that set the proper wheels in motion for Eastern Catholics to return to their Byzantine and Orthodox heritage and legacy as much as possible.

This has gone beyond merely outward forms and symbols of worship.  Icons, Byzantine traditions of all sorts and Eastern spirituality have all but eclipsed what it used to mean to be an "Eastern Catholic." 

Statues, rosaries, ways of the Cross and other similar Latin devotions fell by the wayside, at least outwardly.

In a number of Eastern Catholic parishes, one could not tell whether one was in a Catholic or an Orthodox Church and had to wait to see who was commemorated at the diptychs!

I remember an Eastern Catholic priest who was "more Orthodox than the Orthodox."  He seemed to annoy both his colleagues with his long services, long pectoral Cross, long beard and long sleeves, as well as his rather modernized Orthodox counterparts.

But being Orthodox is much more than outward observances and symbols!  Eastern Catholic priests and parishioners I have come across seem to accept everything Orthodoxy believes in, on a theoretical level, but adhere to the Roman theology of the Pope. 

That is interesting, but it is incoherent.  It really isn't taking Orthodoxy seriously and it shows, deep down, a misunderstanding of Orthodox theology and what it really represents.

There are those Greek Catholics who have not only become "Orthodox" spiritually and in terms of their own religious identity, but who also would like to become Orthodox formally by actually "returning" to Orthodoxy. 

Roman Catholic theologians that I have consulted and who are students of Orthodoxy have said that every Eastern Catholic has the right and the privilege of returning to his or her "Mother Church."

The various Unia were, after all, temporary (and bad) responses to the issue of church unity.  They are condemned as models of unity today by both East and West, in any event.

Roman theologians have never denied that the Orthodox Church is not the True Church of Christ, from their religious perspective.

It is probably fair to say that the best thing that could happen for everyone concerned is if the Eastern Catholics returned to their Mother Churches in Orthodoxy.  Such an event would declare that Rome takes its own ecumenical stance toward the East seriously and honestly.  It would also relieve a lot of pastoral and other tensions that currently exist between Eastern Catholics and Orthodox Christians.

For an Eastern Catholic who wishes to return to Orthodoxy, what is there standing in his or her way?

For one thing, there is the rather unavoidable feeling that one is somehow leaving the Church of one's youth etc.  Some may feel that they are betraying something of the Apostolic faith in so doing as well.

In terms of faith, Eastern Catholics who aspire to join Orthodoxy should be treated kindly and with understanding.  There are plenty of excellent Orthodox pastors around who are experienced in this sort of thing and they should be sought out in the first instance.

One could become Orthodox and still have esteem and pray for the Pope as first among equals.  This is the original doctrine of Orthodoxy, after all (see The Orthodox Church by Timothy Ware).

Orthodoxy believes in the total sinlessness of Our Lady and her bodily Assumption into Heaven, so there is no change there.  Almost all other points of Orthodox doctrine and practice are already part and parcel of the spiritual identity of many Eastern Catholics, and so there should not be a problem there either.

One should seek out, if one hasn't already found one, an Orthodox parish where one feels at home and make contact with the Pastor.

Different Churches have different ways of receiving Eastern Catholics to Orthodoxy.  The Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada, for example, receives a Uniate during Confession.  One simply tells a Priest in confession that he or she wishes to become Orthodox and then recites the Creed (without the "filioque" of course!) and promises to be a faithful Orthodox Christian.

I remember a wonderful Anglican friend of mine who joined Orthodoxy with his Roman Catholic wife.  They attended catechetical classes and were then received into Orthodoxy by chrismation. 

It is good to ask the Pastor of the parish one is planning to join about the requirements of that jurisdiction with respect to Eastern Catholics.  He is also the best source for all other pastoral guidance and care - a true Father of our souls!

For many Eastern Catholics, the change to Orthodoxy won't involve any significant "cultural" or "spiritual" shocks at all.

Lev Gillet, the secretary to Andrew Sheptytsky and notable spiritual writer, changed to the Byzantine Rite from the Roman Rite.  While in Paris, he decided to become Orthodox.  He wired his Metropolitan and his mother saying, "I am not going to a different Light, but to a clearer Light."

May God bless all our Eastern Catholic friends who are considering becoming Orthodox.  

May it be to you like a happy and spiritually fulfilling homecoming!

Dr. Alexander Roman  alex@unicorne.org