I had a very unsatisfactory conversation with a Roman Catholic on Saturday. I didn’t know him but we were both looking on the “Western Religion” shelves in used-book store. When I saw one of my own old books on the shelf I said to him in a casual kind of way, “Its an odd feeling to see a book one has owned sitting on this shelf.” I thought he might reply with something like “Oh, do you sell many books here?” But that isn’t what he said. Instead, he asked me, “What kind of Christian are you?”
“I’m Eastern Orthodox. You?”
“I’m a Catholic. So when are the Orthodox going to unify and come into communion with Peter?”
I ignored the invitation to convert to RCism but still wanted to be friendly so I asked, “Why do you think we aren’t unified?”
He replied, “You can’t be unified if you are not in communion with the Pope”.
I said, “Oh. You realize that Orthodox hold that all bishops share in …”
“But you guys used to think the Bishop of Rome was the Pope, then Byzantium, and now Moscow. You can’t keep changing who you think the head of the Church is.”
“We don’t th…”
“How do you explain Poland?”
“I don’t know what you mean?”
“Even during communism Poland was held together by the Catholic Church in communion with Peter. But Alexy II is a KGB officer. What do you think of that?”
“Oh, yes. He was a KGB officer. But that doesn’t mean his consecration as a bishop is faulty. Back in the 4th Century the Donatists…”
“But you have to look at Poland! Just look at how their devotion to Peter preserved them!”
I didn’t know what to say to him. But he was okay with that. He was really into monologue. He went on to explain how the Roman Pope has always been of the purist faith and morals. I mentioned the Borgia Popes and the enthrallment with the French King and was about to bring up Pope Honorious and the abandonment of the Advent fasting rules for the sake of stolen but he seemed to not know what I was talking about and cut me off again. At this point the was raising his voice and Anselm was saying he had to go to the bathroom. It seemed like the right to extricate myself from an uncomfortable situation. As I was saying “Its been nice chatting, have a nice day” he was saying, “How do you explain Poland?”
That will teach me to open my mouth!
1 day ago
4 comments:
Huh, that is strange. While I think that Poland is very interesting, very Catholic in the West and leans Orthodox in the Eastern part of the country, and is fascinating on how the traditions of the two faiths have intersected, I also don't think that a single event in the 20th century is the whole sum of Church History.
On an odd side note, the other day when flipping through channels on one of the Protestant channels I saw a "end of times" preacher explaining how the Orthodox and Catholic Churches were just about to come together (he went on to explain how this fit in his view of Revelations, but that isn't the point). Anyway, I was flummoxed.
So when are the Orthodox going to unify and come into communion with Peter?
As soon as Peter returns to the confession of the orthodox and Catholic faith.
End of conversation.
Catholics like that only make my job harder. Sigh.
Mimi, I thought it was interesting that he was talking about polan on the very day the Polish Archbishop was exposed as a communist informant.
Christopher, I wasn't sure at that point that I wanted to end the conversation.
Mike, I enjoyed reading your blog.
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