www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West An odd idea

Personally, I'd have to say I'm on-the-fence about the whole "two lungs" idea. But that's just me. (Not that anyone asked. )

Thanks for taking the time to articulate your thoughts and I get what you're saying. For me, I started out a few years ago with not much more than a fascination with the East. As time has passed I've found myself being drawn more and more Eastward to the point where all of my daily prayers and Communion prayers are from Byzantine prayerbooks and nearly all my spiritual reading is from Orthodox publications and authors. It feels like a call Eastward to me, but God has not yet put it in my heart to leave Roman Catholicism. I'm not ignorant of the differences in approach between East and West and I hope no one was under the impression that I believed there is no difference. It's just that for some reason the differences still seem to me more complimentary than contradictory. I admit I'm somewhat of idealist at times.

Well, for whatever it may mean to others, I find that much of what I am discovering in Eastern Christianity is helping me to discover another side of the coin, as it were, in terms of liturgy and spirituality. I'm discovering new perspectives that are enabling me to make better sense of things, too, such as sin and confession and mercy and...the very way God looks at us, to be honest. I find a refreshingly non-legalistic approach that doesn't seem to feel the need to precisely define the unknowable.

When I don't understand how the RC Church arrives at certain conclusions about certain things, I'm comforted to discover that there is a whole other half of the Church that doesn't seem to get it, either...and that half isn't Protestant or heretical in any way. Quite the contrary, that other half is deemed by my RC Church to be completely orthodox.

It's comforting to see that I am not, as it turns out, doomed to a choice between obediently understanding things I just can't understand, or having an aneurism. There is, as it happens, another alternative, another point of view...another wholly orthodox way of looking at God and the world that actually does seem to me to make more sense. So far, at any rate. I'm certainly no expert on Eastern Christianity at this early stage of the game. But do you know how it is when you just get that sense that things are, for the first time, beginning to click? That's what's starting to happen in my case.

At the same time, it seems to me that I...haven't got to stop going to Mass during the week if I want to, or that I can only confess, now, to an Eastern Rite priest, or only say Eastern prayers. I can go to Catholic Mass, yet take with me the broader understanding of the Eucharist that Eastern Christianity has given me. I can confess and receive forgivness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and not be tied up in knots afterwards because I might not have numbered my mortal vs. my venial sins with the adeptness of an accountant. I can recite Catholic morning prayers and Orthodox evening prayers...or what have you...all with a blessedly better understanding, now, and a freer ability to worship. I can even say a Rosary these days and not sweat it because I have a whole new way of looking at prayer...thanks to what I'm learning about prayer in Eastern Christianity. The fact is that the Latin Church is more accessible than the Eastern Church...and it would be hard to entirely give up that accessibility...or to understand why that would be necessary.

I feel like I'm walking out of a prison and into the sunshine, lately, to be honest. That can't be wrong. Can it?

I wonder what it was like to be a Christian before there was any sort of a split of the West from the East. Must have been something else.

Very well said

I applaud your enthusiasm, however, please be aware that all things Western are not strictly Catholic, and all Eastern not strictly Orthodox.

The Eastern Catholic Churches are equally, fully Catholic (e.g. Orthodox evening prayer, what's the difference between it and it's Catholic counterpart [Greek, Russian, Malankara, etc]?? Perhaps one should not be so general)

Western Orthodoxy is equally, fully Orthodox (e.g. Catholic morning prayer, what differentiates it from the evening prayer used in some parishes of the Antiochian Western Vicariate or ROCOR's Western Rite or the Syriac Orthodox Western Rite?)

Would depend on where you lived, I suppose. East & West gradually evolved differently over centuries, the process began before any formal schism took place.

It's that very fact that convicts us - we were different before there was schism, so we needn't justify schism based on being different. It wasn't always so.

To the original question: I personally believe that trying to live a combined spirituality and theology of East and West isn't necessarily a "bad" thing, but it can be a very difficult thing to accomplish and experience the fullness of both/either.

How one views confession and the Eucharist itself is very likely colored by how he or she views the role of sin in the life of humanity - a popular distinction to point out between Traditions. Is it a stain to be cleansed or a sickness to be healed? The answer one gives to that question likely impacts their liturgical and spiritual life in tangible ways, if not their complete worldview.

I think it makes sense for a "combination" of Traditions to exist in one that is in "transition" or at least dabbling their foot in the other's water. But as a permanent way of life? I would say at the minimum it would require a spiritual father that is very comfortable and fluent in both Traditions to help as a guide, and may still be difficult depending on how much thought one put into it.

On the other hand - is light a wave or a particle?

This is one of the things I'm wrestling with right now. I've only been to two divine liturgies, so far. I also continually go to daily Roman mass (cradle Roman). But, I just feel as if my heart has found what it has been longing (Eastern spirituality). I also agree with the needing to make a decision, as I've gleaned insight from perusing these fora. Of particular note, is the difference between East/West, theologically. If it was merely a matter of practices/habits, then I could see a strong likelihood of being able to fuse the two in harmony. But, as I experienced two different ways of celebrating the feast of Saints Paul/Peter (Western morning/Eastern evening), there's a slight sticking point as to what it means from an allegorical perspective, because they used different readings, outside of the gospel.