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Papal Doctrines |
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Question: I am looking into the Orthodox claims of Papal Doctrine. I would like to better understand the Orthodox Church view from Catholicism view. I am a Byzantine Catholic and was chrismated last Holy Saturday. I am pretty intrested in Greek Orthodox and Ukranian Orthodoxy but i would like to understand the papal doctorines from your guy's view. Id like to know about Papal Infalibility and Romes Universal Jurisdiction. Can you recommend any book(s) by an Orthodox Author about this topic, that is not to expensive. |
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Answer:
Very Rev. Ihor Kutash kutash@unicorne.org
The
Orthodox Church teaches that universal jurisdiction is held by our Lord,
Jesus Christ, alone. He said He would be with His Church always to the
end of the age and we believe that is how it is. That is why there is
no hierarch in Orthodoxy who can justly claim universal jurisdiction or
that his proclamations - ex cathedra or otherwise should be considered
to be infallible.
There is a "primacy of honour" held by the Patriarch of Constantinople but that is primarily expressed by the place he holds at the Holy Table when con-celebrating the Divine Liturgy - he would be in the centre or presiding post. Jesus is infallible and, by His Holy Spirit, so is the Church. But there is no way to make certain that any particular decision or pronouncement by high-ranking Church officials - or even Councils - would be infallible. The infallibility is manifested over the course of history (His-story!) in the lives of the believers and their communities. We do understand the importance of the post of the presiding Hierarch of the venerable Church of Rome. Also that the proclamation of the doctrine of papal infallibility was intended to fix the boundaries of the the claims to papal infallibilty rather than to proclaim it. Also that this infallibility is attributed to him not as a particular human person but as a symbol of the Church which he pastors. We still demur and pray for a better elucidation of this conviction held by the Church of Rome about the infallibility of the Church - it IS after all the Body of Christ - one which will make it possible to resume eucharistic sharing between these sisters, the Churches of Rome and of the Orthodox East. This material is quite adequately covered by Bishop Kallistos Ware in his book The Orthodox Church with which you are undoubtedly familiar. (It is published by Penguin Books under his lay name of Timothy Ware). Please see summary of articles on the Catholic-Orthodox question on this web site.
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Ukrainian Orthodoxy |
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