Roman Catholic Church

The term Catholic Church in modern parlance refers to non-Orthodox communities in communion with the heterodox Bishop of Rome, the Pope. It arose in Western Europe, parts of Eastern Europe, and parts of the Middle East (particularly in the area of modern day Lebanon) after the Great Schism in 1054 A.D. In 1054 a schism between Rome and the other patriarchal sees resulted from widening differences between the Church at the West. The cause of the schism was initially a dispute over papal authority and the soundness of theology surrounding the term filioque, a word which was interpolated by the West to the Creed for use in its own liturgy without the consent of the Bishops and contrary to the decision of the First Council of Epheseus (431). Nevertheless, the effects of the schism were not immediately felt everywhere, and it was only over time that the current complete lack of communion between the Church and those under Rome's influence became widespread.

Today, the main differences between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church continue to be the inclusion of filioque in the Creed and the scope of papal authority. Consequent to papal authority, however, the Roman Catholic Church has made pronouncements of doctrine since the Great Schism (such as Purgatory, the Immaculate Conception, original sin and papal infallibility), which are not sanctioned by the Bishops of the Church. These pronouncements, and the theological understanding behind them, present another obstacle to the unity of the heterodox Catholics and the Church.

Furthermore, most Orthodox also believe that there has developed a distinct difference in the therapeutic method (Nafpatkos, Illness and Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition). This difference is rooted in fundamentally different diagnoses of the human condition, including original sin, the fall, human nature, and finally the cure of the soul, which is sanctification or theosis.

Heresies

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Other heresies

Filioque

Main article: Filioque.

The Pneumatological heresy of the filioque was the immediate cause of the schism between the East and the West. This heresy takes the form of a single Latin word, the titular filioque, inserted into the Nicene Creed.

Even though the change looks small, the implications are enormous because pious doctrine considers the three Persons of the Holy Trinity to be identical in nature. They are distinguished only in Person, each Person being known by the unique quality which differs from the other persons—the Father being unoriginate, the Son being begotten, and the Spirit proceeding. In sharing the unique property of the Father as origin with the Son, the filioque contradicts the divinely revealed doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Moreover, the filioque is the addition of what was previously unheard of to that which was received from the very words of the Lord, preached by the Apostles, and was handed down by the Fathers. The Lord clearly taught that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father; if it were otherwise He would have taught it so.

See also

• For the pre-Schism Orthodox Church of Rome, see Church of Rome.

Sources

• Catechism of the Catholic Church - This is the new standard in Roman Catholic teaching, published with the intent to be the basis for local catechisms around the world.

External links

• Official website of the Vatican

Orthodox Christians on Roman Catholicism

• Roman Presidency and Christian Unity in our Time by Thomas Hopko
• A Survey of the Relations between the Byzantine and the Roman Churches. – (Milton V. Anastos ) Myriobiblos Library, Church of Greece
• The Schism of the Roman Church – (Jοhn Ν. Karmiris) Myriobiblos Library, Church of Greece