First, let me begin this thread by asking forgiveness if this question becomes overheated, or if it's already been asked many times before. It is not my intent to sow rancor or boredom!
I keep reading in the press about attempts at reunification between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church(s). However, I've never read about any councils between the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox churches. (Perhaps they have and I'm unaware).
From a convert's standpoint (from liberal protestantism to Greek Orthodox) this situation baffles me. It seems to me that if the Eastern Orthodox were to reunify, the Oriental Orthodox would be a far more intuitive choice than the Roman Catholic Church. The one time I visited a Coptic church, it reminded me a great deal of my own church - Godward-centered, traditional liturgical worship. In contrast, I can't count the number of U.S. Catholic churches that I've been in that had strumming guitars, people in Mass wearing shorts and bluejeans, felt banners hanging from ceilings, 1960s music of the same school as "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore", etc.
So, strictly from a liturgical point of view, it appears to me that there's a much larger rift between Roman Catholicism (as currently practiced by a majority in the U.S.) and Eastern Orthodoxy than there is between the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox. So why does there appear no push to mend the rift between Alexandria and Moscow/Constantinople; but there's a constant dialogue between Rome and Moscow/Constantinople?
