MOVED FROM "CHURCH NEWS" PER ADMIN REQUEST:

The place of uniates within the Latin Church often seems like a second-class or "adopted" child in a family of natural born children. The "adopted" child so wants to be accepted. And this child has been separated from his/her natural parent, thus being deprived of proper advice. The analogy is maybe lacking but our eastern-rite bishops, eparchs, and patriarchs, one would think, should respectfully decline accepting inauthentic items even if offered in genuine charity. This may be done with good intentions by Rome. Scholarship can offer the insight to the "adoptee" that this gift is inappropriate to accept.

When being trained as a counselor in a rehab center, my mentor instructed me to learn how to "accept the gift without taking the gift." Some clients wanted to give counselors gifts - which was prohibited. Trainee counselors had to convey genuine thanks to the offeror but decline accepting the gift.

A Byzantine Catholic friend, an active cantor, told me that Latin rite bishops had asked our bishops to wear mitres at liturgies being jointly celebrated. This was declined. The "crown" is the authentic element for our bishops. Should the pallium also be declined when offered, just as the mitre has been declined?

-Pustinik
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"Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved." –St. Serafim of Sarov

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In a response to this post (thread closed- "Church News" as "off-topic"), Fr. Serge offered:

There are two possibilities:

a) the Melkites have stated formally that the entire hierarchy is willing to resign in favor of the Orthodox hierarchy if the Orthodox hierarchy accepts communion with Rome.

b) following a precedent from the early Church, it could be agreed that in each eparchy the two hierarchs might reign as collateral bishops, with the agreement that whichever survived the other would be the sole bishop of X. New hierarchs would be elected when appropriate by the full synod.

Fr. Serge

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Any other thoughts on this? Would the synod be convened of Byzantine Catholic Bishops in western hemisphere together with those in Europe, along with the Orthodox and Byzantine Metropolitans in Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania? How might the patriarchs of Moscow and Constantinople interact in this matter. Is the question too far out?

Thank you.

-Pustinik

THIS CAME IN PRIVATELY ON THE POST from another member.
-Pustinik
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Just to muddy the waters the Serbs might like all the former Austro-Hungarian lands in their church and all the churches that have sprung forth from these lands.

"In the second half of the 18th century, the Metropolitanate of Karlovci included a large territory that stretched from Adriatic Sea to Bukovina and from Danube and Sava to Upper Hungary. The Metropolitanate had a jurisdiction over Orthodox Serbs, Romanians, Greeks and Cincars that lived in the Habsburg Monarchy."

The Patriarchal Synod could create new Sees for excess Bishops, or assign duties such as "Assistant to the Patriarch for ____" or "Patriarchal Delegate to Rome (or Constantinople) (or Moscow, for that matter)".

For an example, Bishop Hlib Lonchyna served as representative of the UGCC to Rome.

Another example is the duty of Cardinal Ruini as "Vicar of Rome", administering things for rhe Holy Father.

Wouldn't it be great if the Patriarch of Kyiv and all Rus sent an Apostolic Exarch to Moscow?

Easy. Let's back off the veiled references to the Russian Orthodox Church being an arm of the former state security apparatus.

Let's remember that despite one's past, eveyone has the opportunity to repent until one takes one's last breath. Our Christian attitude should be that that is past and this is now.

While I'm on a roll, may I challenge the poster to think more down to earth? Reconciliation of all of us means much more than who has the best vestments and who has the best mitre and who has the most historic see. What does this all mean to us down here on the bottom of the hierarchy where the rubber meets the road. So many people I deal with have absolutely no affiliation with any organized religious body--and this used to be thought of as a Bible belt. How do we get it together and evangelize our own country again. We think of the task that the ROC has, but we've got just as big a task right here around us.

In Christ, Who continuously calls us all to repent,

BOB

C/IABA ICYCY XPI/ICTY !
Two Lungs, Theophan and Deacon Robert Behrens,

It is not the Church but the Russian State which is stoking the coals in order to secure their sphere of influence. Although it would be charitable if the Patriarch of Moscow chanted a "Parastas" (Requiem) for the 10 million Ukrainian genocide victims of Stalin's orchestrated 1933 Famine-terror who he claims was in his territory. If we wish to revive church reforms let us start by rehabilitating our martyr Jan Hus.

Well, I would love to see Jerusalem and a Desposyni Patriarch, but I'm late by about 2044 years to see that.

Bob/Theophan asked very nicely that folks discontinue a line of conversation that was both non-productive and uncharitable. Regretably, someone choose to subsequently post endorsing the tone/tenor/content of one of the 2 earlier posts. I have now deleted all 3 of the posts at issue. I do not expect to have to address the issue again.

Many years,

Neil