MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE ALARMED AS GREEK CATHOLIC ACTIVISM MOUNTS

[Orthodoc]

Wonder if they will misrepresent themselves as 'Orthodox In Communion With Rome'?

Orthodoc

=========

Subject: [OrthodoxNews] MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE ALARMED AS GREEK CATHOLIC ACTIVISM MOUNTS


2005-03-23 21:20     * RUSSIA * CHURCH * UKRAINE *
MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE ALARMED AS GREEK CATHOLIC ACTIVISM MOUNTS IN UKRAINE'S
SOUTH


MOSCOW, March 23 (RIA Novosti's Olga Lipich) - The Ukrainian Catholic Church
of the Eastern Rite, also known as Greek Catholic, is building up missionary
activities in major South Ukrainian cities-Zaporozhye and Odessa, in which
the Russian Orthodox Church is long and firmly established.

The Russian Orthodox Church regards those activities as "proselytism
detrimental to Orthodox-Catholic relations", Cyril the Metropolitan of
Smolensk and Kaliningrad, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department of
External Church Relations, warns in a written message he forwarded today to
Cardinal Walter Casper, head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.

"Profound regret was what I felt as I read a statement by the Lvov
provincial council of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, which
concerns further missionary activities of the Greek Catholic Order of the
Redemptorists in Ukraine. The Redemptorists are determined to build up their
presence in Berdyansk, Zaporozhye Region, and in Odessa. Their statement has
badly alarmed us," says Metropolitan Cyril.

The Congregation highlights disabled persons and the youth as top priorities
to missionaries. "The matter thus concerns not pastoral duties toward the
Greek Catholic flock in the above areas but an intention to convert into the
Greek Catholic denomination people who have always been outside it.

"That stance may come as yet another cause of tensions between the Russian
Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic, and nip in the bud whatever positive
developmental trends there are in those relations," warns Metropolitan
Cyril.

He has forwarded a copy of his message to Monsignor Ignatius Moussa Daud,
Prefect Cardinal of the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches.

==========

[JoeS]

Roman Catholic prostyletising in previoursly considered Orthodox territories is a fact of life today.  I think it is up to the ROC to counter this by doing a better job at evangelizing not only the un-churched but the OINO (Orthodox In Name Only).   If the UOC-MP and the MP dont do what is necessary to educate what Orthodox that are already in Ukraine then they will have to deal with the losses that may happen as the result of the RCC in its quest to convert the Ukraine.

JoeS

[drewmeister2]

This is sad what the Catholics are doing, they should stay out of heavily Orthodox areas especially. 

[Orthodoc]

[This is sad what the Catholics are doing, they should stay out of heavily Orthodox areas especially.]

And the amazing thing is that the standard answer from Rome will go something like this -

"The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is a sui juris church within the Catholic Church.  As such, it is administratively independent of Rome and we have no control over its administrative issues."  And of course all the UGC's will shake their heads in agreement.  These are the same people who refer to him as Patriarch Lubomyr only when there is no Roman legate around.  The so called 'Patriarch' is in the U.S. for surgery here in Philly.  Which means he left Ukraine as Cardinal Ludomyr and arrived in the U.S. as Patriarch Lubomyr!  And when he goes back he will once again become  Cardinal Luboymr!  Why, if this church is so independent from Rome and Rome has no independent control over them? 

I notice on of the areas they intend to Proselytize is the Zaporozhye Region!  May the Orthodox in that area remember their history and the Zaporoshye Cossacks once again be the defenders of the Holy Orthodox Catholic faith against the proseltyzers as they were in the past!

http://www.rusnet.nl/encyclo/z/zaporozhye_cossacks.shtml

Orthodoc

[drewmeister2]

What exactly is sui juris?  Doesnt the Pope still have some authority in the UGC?  Thanks!

[Orthodoc]

[What exactly is sui juris?  Doesnt the Pope still have some authority in the UGC?  Thanks! ]

Depends on who you talk to within the papal Catholic structure.

Unless things have changed and I am unaware of it, being 'In Communion With Rome' also means accepting Papal authority.  Although if you read some of the posts from those who accept the Unia, you will get various opinions on just what it means.

According to the American heritage Dictionary sui juris means -


sui juris
 
SYLLABICATION: sui ju-+ris
PRONUNCIATION:   jrs
ADJECTIVE: Law Capable of managing one's own affairs. 
ETYMOLOGY: Latin su iris : su, of one's own + iris, genitive of is, right, law. 


From the Roman Catholic New Advent Encylopedia -

Sui iuris is a Latin phrase that literally means “of one’s own right”. It is usually spelled "sui juris" in civil law, which uses the phrase to indicate legal competence, the capacity to manage one’s own affairs (Black's Law Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary). The English word “autonomous” is derived from the Greek words that correspond to Latin "sui iuris".

Roman Catholic ecclesiastical use
Church documents such as the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches apply the Latin term "sui iuris" to the particular Churches or rites that together compose the Roman Catholic Church. By far the largest of these "sui iuris" or autonomous Churches is that known as the Latin Church or the Latin Rite. Over this particular Church the Pope exercises, as well as his papal authority, the authority that in other particular Churches belongs to a Patriarch. He is therefore referred to also as Patriarch of the West[1] (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05230a.htm). The other particular Churches are called Eastern Catholic Churches or Eastern Rites, each of which, if large enough, has its own patriarch or other chief hierarch, with authority over all the bishops of that particular Church or rite.

The same term is applied also to missions that, though lacking enough clergy to be set up as apostolic prefectures, are for various reasons given autonomy, and thus are not part of any diocese, apostolic vicariate or apostolic prefecture. In 2004, there were eleven such missions. Three in the Atlantic: Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, and Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Two in the Pacific: Funafuti (Tuvalu), and Tokelau. Six in central Asia: Afghanistan, Baku (Azerbaijan), Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

================

What's interesting is the fact that the UOC-MP is considered an automonous Church within the Moscow Patriarchate while the UGCC is considered a sui uris Church within the Roman Patriarchate.  As such, each has about the same independence from their recognized mother churches.  Yet to our 'Eastern Catholics not In Communion With Orthodoxy' the UOC_MP is subservient to Moscow while they are free and independent from Rome!  And they state this as they cry about the Popes failure to grant them a Ukrainian Patriarch!

Go figure!

Orthodoc

[drewmeister2]

"The other particular Churches are called Eastern Catholic Churches or Eastern Rites, each of which, if large enough, has its own patriarch or other chief hierarch, with authority over all the bishops of that particular Church or rite."

Do these "patriarchs" in eastern Catholicism ultimately answer to the Pope? 

[Hesychios]

I am not certain about this, (as the article did not contain enough detail) but it is possible that these Redemptorists are the Transalpine Redemptorists. If so they are a militant schismatic branch of the SSPX.

Although still small, they are known to have been working hard in Ukraine and do not feel answerable to Cardinal Lubomyr Husar.

[Orthodoc]

"The other particular Churches are called Eastern Catholic Churches or Eastern Rites, each of which, if large enough, has its own patriarch or other chief hierarch, with authority over all the bishops of that particular Church or rite."

Do these "patriarchs" in eastern Catholicism ultimately answer to the Pope?

Anyone 'in communion with ROME'  answers to the pope. 

In addressing their recognized Cardinal as PATRIARCH they are being both disrespectful and disobedient to the very person they recognize as the earthly and infallible head of not only their Church but all Churches.

So, in essence, they have a lack of respect not only for their birth mother but their adopted mother by their very words and actions.

Throughout the centuries the methods may change but the goal remains the same.  The annihilation of the very church that gave them birth and nourished them for the first 600 years of their existence - the Holy Orthodox Catholic faith!

Orthodoc

Orthodoc

[Antiochian]

1500 years on, and the Catholics are still obsessed with destroying the Orthodox Church.

My church also suffered, with the Catholics causing a schism, leading to the creation of the Melchite Catholic Church.

Why don't they use their resources to combat atheism in their own countries, or send missionaries to Islamic and other non-Christian lands?

Better yet, why don't we respond?

I think it's time all Orthodox Churches come together to form a united council aimed at promoting and protecting Orthodox throughout the world. We will have enough funds to match that of the Catholics, and we will be much better organised. It will also help bring Orthodox countries and communities in closer co-operation.

[SouthSerb99]

I think it's time all Orthodox Churches come together to form a united council aimed at promoting and protecting Orthodox throughout the world. We will have enough funds to match that of the Catholics, and we will be much better organised. It will also help bring Orthodox countries and communities in closer co-operation.

My sentiments exactly.  This also makes me further questions the ecumenist movement.  On the one hand the RCC is saying, lets try to find common ground, while the other side of their mouth is saying, here is an area where we can make strides agains Orthodoxy.

I mean, you can see this in my native Serbia, which is now a "democracy".  Well, the biggest thing "freedom of religion" has meant to the masses, is that you now have RCs, Protestants and JW's running around trying to convert every Serb who isn't either firmly Orthodox, or confused by religion as a whole.

We really need an effective plan to combat this plague.

[Thomas]

AS I understand it, The Patriarchs in the Roman Catholic Church rank beneath the Cardinals. The Patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches have for the most part been made Cardinals to equalize them with the real power of the Cathiolic Church, the College of cardinials---technically, only through the college may any of them be elected the Roman Patriarch, the Pope.

In Christ,
Thomas

Corrected for spelling not content

[Tags:]

OrthodoxChristianity.net > General Forums > Christian News (Moderator: serb1389) > Topic: MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE ALARMED AS GREEK CATHOLIC ACTIVISM MOUNTS