Ecumenism: Fear and Faith
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Fear and Faith- by Fr. David Petras
In the Divine Liturgy, the deacon or priest invites the faithful to union with God by the words, “Approach with the fear of God and with faith.” These two virtues are also essential for union with one another. Both Catholics and Orthodox stress how important it is to have a union in faith, but a final agreement seems elusive. Rigid groups at both ends of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches insist the the model for communion must be submission and not fraternal embrace. Fear of God, however, should impel us toward union. Christ made the will of God clear in his prayer at last supper, “May they all be one, Father, as you, Father, are in me and I in you. (John 17:21)” Unity comes from our creation by God. He has made all of us in his “image and likeness (Genesis 1:27),” so that, in order to become God-like, we must be one with each other. As the Good Shepherd, he will even leave the ninety-nine sheep to search for the one who is lost (Luke 15:4-7). The only other alternative is the utter failure to be human introduced into the world by Adam and Eve. Christians must work to establish the kingdom of God, and this requires unity, for our Lord taught, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. (Mark 3:24)” However, composed of human beings, those who profess Christ as Lord have nonetheless experienced divisions almost from the beginning. Yet in all ages there have been those who feared God, and have struggled to work for the unity of churches, so that at all times there has been a witness to at least the potential unity of all. It is our constant prayer, “for the unity of all the churches of God, let us pray to the Lord.”
One the the things that keep us divided is a false fear, opposed to fear of God. It is a fear of one another. Many Eastern Catholics fear that in any union, we will be made to submit to the Orthodox structures. Many Orthodox fear, that as a smaller church, they will be swallowed up within the Roman communion. Many Roman Catholics fear that a union with the Orthodox will compromise their Catholic identity. For some Roman Catholics, the existence of other theological traditions, like the Byzantines, in union with the Catholic Church, comes as a surprise. This is why Pope John Paul II, in his letter Orientale Lumen, wrote that “the first need for Catholics is to be familiar with [the Eastern] tradition, (emphasis his), so as to be nourished by it and to encourage the process of unity in the best way possible for each. (§ 1)” If the church is to be truly “catholic,” which means “universal,” then the plurality of traditions within it must be recognized. The Pope continues that Roman Catholics must “feel ... a passionate longing that the full manifestation of the Church’s catholicity be restored to the Church, and to the world, expressed not by a single tradition, and still less by one community in opposition to the other. (§ 1).”
There is also a fear of Eastern Catholics among the Orthodox. In the Balamand Statement of the International Dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, the Eastern Catholic’s right to exist and to minister to their people, as well as to take part in the dialogue of love was recognized. However, even after this, fear still exists. The Orthodox leadership sees the Eastern Catholic Church as “stealing sheep,” proselytizing among their faithful. They view the Eastern Catholics as “traitors,” whose true home should be within Orthodoxy. They were disappointed that, after the Balamand Statement where their right to exist was recognized, that they did not use this right to return to the Orthodox communion. A part of all this is the fear that the Catholic Church wants to swallow the Orthodox Church up. The difficulty with these positions is that the only so-called “error,” of the Eastern Catholics is their union with Rome, which all churches who espouse ecumenism regard as the ideal to be attained.
As Eastern Catholics, we also must deal with our own fears. As the smallest partner in the ecumenical dialogue, our church has often been made a political pawn. We fear that Rome will withdraw their support for the sake of ecumenism, and we are discouraged that we receive no respect from the Orthodox. Throughout the centuries, fears of the Orthodox have developed in some Eastern Catholic quarters. Certainly, in Eastern Europe, whenever Russia has gained political control, it has disestablished the Eastern Catholic Churches, sometimes by brutal force. In America, bitterness arose over the two schisms concerning priestly celibacy that returned over a third of the Catholic people to Orthodoxy. Others see imitation of the Romans as the way to adapt to American culture, and fear the movement toward Orthodoxy as going backward. My hope is that we can deal with these fears in a healthy way.
First, there should be no shame over the word “Orthodox.” It means to have the right belief and the right worship. The only alternative is to be “heterodox,” or in error. “Orthodox” is a word that describes the whole Church, just like Catholic, which means “universal,” and pertains to the one Church founded by Christ At a meeting of bishops in Eastern Europe, a Romanian Catholic bishop was challenged by an Orthodox bishop, “You should become either Roman Catholic or Orthodox.” The Eastern Catholic bishop responded, “We have already decided, we are Orthodox, but in communion with Rome.” Second, we should have no fear of rediscovering our heritage. It is true, in the past, many have thought that progress and development, living in a Western country, America, would lie in becoming more Western. However, imitating the Roman Church simply meant exchanging one European tradition for another. For us, the Spirit has indicated through the Church, true progress lies in the organic development of our own tradition. Pope John Paul II sees this also, “In contemplating [the Christian heritage of the East], before my eyes appear elements of great significance for a fuller and more thorough understanding of the Christian experience. These elements are capable of giving a more complete Christian response to the expectations of the men and women of today. (§ 5).”