“If you’re concerned about apostolic succession, Orthodoxy is the only communion that has a true claim to it. Sorry Catholics, that’s just the way it is.”
I thought the Orthodox Churches recognized the Catholics as apostolic but flawed, and vice versa.
Freegards
I am sorry, Doug Loss, but you have your history a little skewed. In 1054 a papal legate working under the lapsed authority of a pope who had already died excommunicated one man, the Patriarch of Constantinople, not the entire eastern church. Since then Rome has repeatedly sought to repair the breach, only to be rebuffed by the Orthodox. Make your claims based on alleged false doctrines held by Rome if you must, but let us keep the history straight. Rome never sought to separate herself from the eastern churches, this was the work of an increasingly hostile Constantinople which in time was followed by the other eastern patriarchates.
You wrote:
“As an Orthodox Christian, I have to say that I find this offensive. The Catholic Church removed itself from apostolic succession in 1054 when it decided to remove itself from communion with the rest of Christendom.”
Nonsense. First, Eastern Orthodoxy was no more the entirety of Christendom than Protestantism was. Second, Christendom is about Christian influenced politics, culture, etc. It is NOT about spiritual communion through the bishops and sacraments. You are conflating two related but different ideas.
“If you’re concerned about apostolic succession, Orthodoxy is the only communion that has a true claim to it. Sorry Catholics, that’s just the way it is.”
Again, nonsense and even most Eastern Orthodox bishops admit it. There may be some eastern bishops who say that there is no aostolic succssion among Catholics, but they are definitely a minority at best.
Sorry, most of your own bishops don’t support you. You may be out of communion with them. How ironic.
***As an Orthodox Christian, I have to say that I find this offensive. The Catholic Church removed itself from apostolic succession in 1054 when it decided to remove itself from communion with the rest of Christendom. If you’re concerned about apostolic succession, Orthodoxy is the only communion that has a true claim to it. Sorry Catholics, that’s just the way it is.***
That is not the way it is. The Latin branch did not remove itself from the rest of Christendom. We need to talk.