....For Luther, “Christianity was vastly wider than Romanism. Against Eck he cited the Greek Church as proof that the ‘rock’ passage in Matthew is not applicable to the Pope, whose connection with ‘My Church’ is with a section of it only. This argument Eck tried to dismiss with contempt: the Greeks, in separating from Rome, he said, became exiles from the faith of Christ. Luther insistently returned to the point, expressing the hope that Eck, ‘with Eccian modesty,’ will spare so many thousands of saints, since the Greek Church, though separated from Rome, has endured and will endure. Eck in turn, while he avoids condemning the Greek fathers, has little hope for the salvation of any in the modern East except a few who hold the Roman obedience (qui Romanam obedientiam tenent). . . . Eck’s expressions were calculated to confirm the differentiation that had arisen in Luther’s mind between ‘catholic church’ and ‘Roman obedience’”.
Yeah, good old Martin Luther. He violated all his solemn oaths, turned around and married a nun, and then said it was all the fault of the Catholic Church.
By the way, the Orthodox Church is in schism with Rome, but it has never been dismissed by the Catholic Church as unorthodox or as heretical. Luther, however, was another matter.
Roman church leaders act as if when they go into executive session, their decisions are binding on God in Heaven as well as the RCC on earth.
The problem is that millions of RCs are caught in a spiritual scheme where eternal souls are at stake and the landscape keeps being changed almost yearly.
Of course, the RCC is not the only (religious) organization of men to act similarly.
Take a very good look at Luther’s legacy. The meaning and ramifications of heresy becomes evident.
That’s Eck’s opinion, nothing more.