What are the differences of being an EC and not an OC? Is it a Papal authority thing?

Primarily...

or not even that according to some EC who think that the authority of the Pope can be ignored as just a Roman invention so that it is not binding on them.

Probably the difference is explained through history, political domination, and/or the Church of our parents.

One could also ask, "what is the difference between a Coptic and Russian Orthodox....or Antiochian, or Greek, or Serb, or ......."

Between Coptic and Russian Orthodox? That one is visible to the naked eye.

My point is that the answers will vary depending on each person's background and prejudices, along with some real differences. The problem is sorting out which is which.Just as one can point out differences among the various Eastern Orthodox Churches, one can also find differences among the Eastern Catholic Churches.

The question is essentially divisive; perhaps it's better to ask, "How is being an Eastern Catholic similar to being an Eastern Orthodox?"

However, our new poster is looking for an answer, so if someone has a good answer, please give it a try. Welcome to the forum, I guess I'm just in a picky mood.

Christ is amongst us!
Fr Deacon Paul

The CCEO and the Liturgical Instruction tell us that the only difference between the Eastern Catholic Churches and their non-Catholic counterparts should be their communion with the Bishop of Rome. An artful statement, which allows each of us to make of it what he will.

Sounds like it's just good diplomacy, to me.

There seems to be a lot of this lately in the Catholic Church. Smooth the words over so their is some ambiguity which allows both sides to have their own particular interpretation.

The result is that differing sides can agree on wording, even though the way they understand the wording is different.

Doesn't that have the danger of bringing a hollow unity, ultimately, though?

I was thinking about this the other day while perusing another board I frequent. Over there the anti-Roman sentiments abound. (I noticed that someone there posted a 'poll' asking the background of posters. I was not surprised by the results nor by the statements posted by some of the regulars. It explains a lot to me about their mindsets!)

Yet coming from a Greek Catholic background - while being 'thoroughly' Orthodox for several generations - I realize that among the various expressions of Christianity in the world, the Orthodox and the Church of Rome share the greatest amount of theology, history and - yes - ecclesiology. It is that last two or three percent of our overall shared patrimony which divides us and the role of the papacy is probably the greatest area of actual disagreement.

The rest we can each 'explain away.' After all for centuries the views of St. Augustine on 'original sin' differed from those of the the Eastern Fathers yet communion was never broken over those differences. Likewise with statues and icons. Even the raging, passionate arguments about 'development of doctrine' versus 'consensus' can be overcome - the Papacy remains the stumbling block in the end - along with centuries of broken promises and mistrust from both sides.

If it's orthodoxchristianity, I agree with you. This forum is great because it works hard to keep respect on both sides. There are some Catholic traditionalists in other parts of the web, though, that are uncharitable too.

Both East and West have this penchant for demanding that a truth be seen only within their particular theological framework. I see it over at that web site, and I see it all too often within other sites like catholic.com

However, I think that the Bishops, both Catholic and Orthodox, can overcome that, and work together towards unity. They may need to bring some of the laity along kicking and screaming, though, because both sides are going to have to do some movement that will be unpopular in their camp.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Very good commentary by all...."an artful statement" --wish I'd said that Stuart.

To Fox at Shaw AFB, take what is said in the above comments to reflect upon.

May God bless you and the Holy Spirit inspire you,
Fr Deacon Paul

I will, thank you.

Fox,

Welcome to the Forum. Feel free to pose whatever questions you may have - you'll soon find that answers (and opinions) are freely offered and not infrequently differ, but that's usually one of the best features here ;D

I modified the thread title to avoid confusion among those who might come across it in passing. The tendency is to use EC and EO (Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) so as to differentiate those Churches and faithful whose heritage is from the Byzantine or Constantinoplian or Greek Tradition from those of the Oriental Catholic and Oriental Orthodox Churches (commonly referred to, in abbreviated form, as OC and OO).

Many years,

Neil