“As an aside, this is why I think the unity of the East and West will be restored sooner than it appears. The two worlds has interpenetrated again, for the first time since 5c. It is for the first time that Orthodoxy comes in direct contact with the dark forces of Reformation; it is bound to change the long-held assumptions about the Latin Church, that had to put up with them for centurues now.”
That’s an interesting idea. I haven’t seen much of the vitriol directed at Orthodoxy here on FR out in the world, though there are a few “fundy-type” preachers around here who are pretty vicious and of course the limp wrists, sob sisters and fellow travelers of TEC and the UCC are quite vocal in their attacks on our refusal to accept the “diversity of belief; the Holy Spirit is doing a new thing” mantra. On the other hand, it was a very Protestant government under Clinton which followed the Nazi’s example and bombed Belgrade on Good Friday; it is the very Protestant Bush Administration which is so enamored of Mohammedanism that it is hell bent on creating an Islamic killer state in the middle of the Orthodox Balkans.
Lets put it this way, today communications between Orthodox and Latin Christians on a theological level are simple. That communication, especially I think at the level of the involved and interested laity, is an ongoing exercise in what Pat. Bartholmeos and +JPII asked all of us to do a few years back. If it is working half as well out in the world as it is on the internet, and I am told by our theologians that it is, then we are headed for something, maybe a reunion, within our lifetimes, something I never thought I would see. Protestantism, or in deference to certain sensibilities here on FR, non-Latin Western Christians, with the notable exception of some Lutherans and Anglicans, simply aren’t players in this, both because they really don’t want in and, as they bring little or nothing useful to the table in terms of the Theology or Ecclesiology of the One Church, because I doubt we want them in given their “diversity” of belief.
Specifically as to your point about Orthodoxy finally coming into close contact with Protestant hatred, well, you may be right. Its certainly nothing we have run into before except with Mohammedans and Communists. Since Orthodoxy never did anything to Protestants, their attacks, here on FR and out in the world, surprise me. I have previously thought that the attacks were merely because they finally figured out that although we went through a terrible schism, aside from disagreements over the proper exercise of the Petrine Office, our theological differences, profound as they are, are frankly rather arcane compared to the differences between our beliefs and theirs. At one point I thought that they confused us with you guys. But that doesn’t wash, at least not at this stage of Orthodox presence on FR. No, I think what it is is a deep and abiding loathing for The Church which God established at Pentecost and which +Ignatius of Antioch defined in his letter to the Smyrneans (whether defined as Rome would have it or as the East would). Isn’t it fascinating that the beliefs of The Church would be attacked by the philosophical descendants of the very people about whom +Ignatius warned the Smyrneans, the deniers of The Eucharist? So maybe you are right. For Orthodoxy to experience “up close and personal” what you guys have had to put up with for 500 years can’t help but bring us closer together. For everyone’s sake, I trust you Latins won’t have to experience what we Orthodox did with the Mohammedans.
We cannot be sure of that either, sadly.
On your other points, by associating Catholics and Orthodox more closely, the anti-Catholic bias is spilling on us as well. This addition of some 300 million Orthodox to the ranks of the Apostolic, Eucharistic catholic Church is hardly a welcome sign in their minds, realizing that our divisions are not unbridgeable.
Our willingness to put aside our theological division, deep as they are, and wait for an Œcumnenbical Council to resolve them, while presenting a united front on 99% of beliefs we share in common does not bode well for those who would rather see us divided.