Short break

I will be taking a short break from blogging, and will not be approving comments until I return.

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Local Church and Church Universal

Here’s an intriguing dissertation by Joseph G. Aryankalayil (University of Fribourg, Switzerland), subtitled Towards a Convergence between East and West: A Study on the Theology of the Local Church according to N. Afanasiev and J. M.-R. Tillard with Special Reference to Some of the Contemporary Catholic and Orthodox Theologians. At over 500 pages, it’s not [...]

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Thanks to all!

The comments on the Soloviev post have been really very informative and thought-provoking. However, I am finding it extremely difficult to keep up with all of the comments. I hope to post a summary of highlights from the comments and some further questions / discussion starters as soon as I can.

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Soloviev on the Papacy

The Pontificator points us to a lengthy excerpt from Vladimir Soloviev’s Russia and the Universal Church by Vladimir Soloviev (originally published in 1889).
As a member of the true and venerable Eastern or Greco-Russian Orthodox Church which does not speak through anti-canonical synod nor through the employees of the secular power, but through the utterance of [...]

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Church Unity Octave

I am reminded that today (the old Roman Rite Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Rome) marks the beginning of the “Week of Christian Unity”, a custom which began as the “Chair of Unity Octave” in pre-Vatican II times by the Franciscans of the Atonement (an Anglican religious community, founded in 1898 and [...]

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Aidan Nichols on the Orthodox (2)

The last part of the article “A Catholic View of Orthodoxy” is devoted to Father Nichols’ take on “one negative aspect of Orthodoxy” from his Roman Catholic perspective. This “one negative aspect” often comes to the fore when Orthodox are confronted with the topic of “Uniatism”*, or the existence of the Eastern Churches in communion [...]

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Some clarifications

Before I continue exploring the objective Orthodox-Catholic issues that are of interest to me, let me make a few clarifications about my intentions as a blogger.
First, this blog was not meant to be all about me. I have no desire for fame, and I have no lust for “blogpress” or “public affirmation”. Nor am I [...]

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Yikes!

No one told me I wasn’t allowed to start a blog! Consider me duly admonished.

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The Melkite Church at the Council

Here’s an interesting online book, subtitled Discourses and Memoranda of Patriarch Maximos IV and of the Hierarchs of His Church at the Second Vatican Council. Of particular interest to me (as an Orthodox trying to understand the Papacy) are the sections on ecclesiology at the Council:
4. The Mystery of the Church

The Unilateral Aspect of Roman [...]

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What is “ultramontanism”?

How would one go about defining “ultramontanism”? What do ultramontanists believe? Are there any ultramontanists running around these days? If so, is it merely a school of thought within Roman Catholicism, or is it in fact the official stance of the Roman Catholic Church?
The Catholic Encyclopedia discusses the origins of the term, and how it [...]

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