www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West The Union with Rome reconsidered

I was chatting with a vistor from Kyiv, here at work, this past Wednesday. He mentioned that his mother was from Galicia - but a region now in Poland. I said that I get the idea, that my grandparents were from the Presov region. Oh, he said, there are many Ukrainians there. I further mentioned that we are Greek Catholics. His eyes lit up: He said, then you are definitely Ukrainian! I laughed and scolded him for his chauvinism. He became very serious, looked at me directly, and said: No, not chauvinism, NATIONALISM!!! I learned from him.

Alice and all,

I didn't mean to make light of the situation. Of course, Christian unity is important. I just don't believe that arguing back and forth is the way to bring it about. If our goal on this message board to try and covert all Catholics to Orthodoxy or all Orthodox to Catholicism, we are headed for trouble.

I figure if I live my Orthodox faith in a way that others see and want it too, then let them come. That is true evangelism.

My heart especially aches for the splintered Protestant world, the world of my upbringing. I long for my family to see the beauty of Orthodoxy, but I'm not going to shove it down their throats. I trust them to Christ. If they want to come someday, the Church will still be there.

Forgive me, friends, and pray for me, as I will for you.

Dear Dolly:

I admit that this is the way I understood jw10631's post initially.

Re-reading it will show that he meant that he (a Roman Catholic) wouldn't go to an Orthodox website (e.g., to OC.net), not to this website, and started proclaiming the (Roman) Catholic Church as the only true Church, like what Greg, an Orthodox, seems to doing on this website, maintained by (Byzantine) Catholics.

Although the Admin would remind us in due time that the Forum of this website is devoted primarily to Byzantine Christianity.

AmdG

Actually, RISU reported this about a week ago, I would have posted it, but presumed others had seen it as well. The RISU article puts a slightly different spin on it. It suggests that the idea of a pilgrimage to Rome by parliamentarians was conjured by a member of Yushchenko's party and proposed to the Major Archbishop, rather than the other way around. It also indicates that a letter-writing campaign, not a petition, was proposed. Excerpts follow; the complete text is at:

Deputies to Ask Pope for Greek Catholic Patriarchate [risu.org.ua]

Many years,

Neil

Dear Neil,

I guess I should have said, "This just in - to me . . ."

I did see it a week ago, but worked it in that style in my post.

Also, I understand from my contacts in Ukraine that His Beatitude the PATRIARCH Lubomyr had personally spoken with Yuschenko about this matter and he did ask the leader of the "Uniate-Raskolnik" block of Parliament to consider travelling to Rome. Yuschenko is entirely eager about the project.

In Ukraine as well, petitions do not have to be in the form of signed pages. Very often, a "petition" can also mean a letter-writing campaign. Both are being promoted now.

But just so you know, I'm doing neither. My form of petition is via telephone calls and e-mails.

I do consider that to be "petitioning" too. You may disagree. I can't help that.

I hope the delegation enjoys the warm weather in Rome and that they don't get the cold shoulder.

We're going after Rome, you know, over this. Cardinal Kasper will be singing in a very low tone for a while.

And the next time you want to play "Mr Perfectionist" here, we're going to come after you!

Have a great day!

Alex

Dear Amado,

And skewering Rome on this matter is also part of our Byzantine business right now . . .

At least for Ukrainians . . .

Have a great day!

Alex

Dear Greg,

If all Orthodox and Catholics were like you, we wouldn't have any problems, would we?

(Except maybe when it came to "communicatio in sacris" issues )

God bless, Orthodox Servant of Christ!

Alex

Dear djs,

Congratulations on finally coming to your Ukrainian senses!

I knew you'd come around eventually!

Welcome to our Community, Brother!

You too have a great day.

Alex

Alex,

Not being Ukrainian :p , I'm following his lead; when he decides to declare himself Patriarch, then ...

Actually, I do disagree, but who cares :rolleyes: ? However, I do believe that, in an instance such as this, letter-writing is a more effective vehicle. Petitions are over-rated as an effective measure of protest, particularly outside the confines of North America (where politicians can analyze the names of signatories against voter registration lists and assess the potential impact on their future) and most especially on issues that transcend international boundaries.

Many years,

Neil

Adam,

I've been updating bookmarks over the last 2 weeks and the site at U.Toronto to which Saint Elias was linked for Archimandrite Taft's paper is either down or has been removed. However, there is a pdf file containing it at:
Anamnesis, Not Amnesia [jbburnett.com]

Many years,

Neil

Alex,

Look out he may wack you with one of their unused pews. They like to do that them Carpatho-Rusyns.



Hritzko

Okay, Alex, well, "mea culpa" then!

Dear Neil,

Why are you Irish so moody?

I'm simply telling you what Eastern Europeans understand by "petitioning" and when a "petition" is announced it can take many forms, above and beyond the Western page by page petition with preamble etc.

Letter-writing by individuals to Rome may or may not be the best approach.

There are secretaries who respond using form letter responses- only the number at the top is changed, so one may receive a response that says one is "# 15,937" by way of letters received on the same subject - I have on at least three occasions.

A bishop or parliamentarian coming to see one of those Cardinals with a stack of petitions may make a bigger impression - or so I've heard from a bishop-relative.

As for your point about Husar - you are right and I apologise. See what a nice fellow I am? Just ask the Administrator for a reference

(Have you heard from him, by the way? Is he sulking over something - or someone?)

The fact that I may disagree with you on this or that point doesn't mean I hate you or any other Irishman!

As a matter of fact, I'm already wearing the green in anticipation of March 17th.

O.K., you don't care about that either . . .

God bless and forgive me . . .

Alex

Dear Hritzko,

djs is a fair and open-minded fellow.

Besides, on St Patrick's Day I tell everyone in our local pub about my Irish aunt!

Ukrin go bragh!

Alex

Dear Dolly,

But what did you do?

Alex