Where are Catholics going and should we follow the same path?
The Phanar and the RCC are preparing for joint Easter celebrations in 2025 amid calls for the Orthodox-Catholic unification. But with whom and on what terms would it be?
Over the past few decades, starting with Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, we have repeatedly heard about the need to unite the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches.
This need is dictated by the Gospel texts that "let them all be one" (John 17:21), as well as by the belief that Christians should unite in the face of modern challenges and threats in the world. Especially these unifying processes have intensified in the last 5-10 years.
Is Easter 2025 a step towards unity?
Representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Church, from simple theologians to Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis, speak about the imminent achievement of unity.
Patriarch Bartholomew has said several times that there is no other path for the Orthodox Church at the moment, and the decision on unity with the Roman Catholic Church is inevitable and cannot be reconsidered.
The Catholics themselves are actively preparing for 2025. Here are the words of the Pope: "We are preparing a meeting in 2025. With Patriarch Bartholomew, we want to come to an agreement on a single date for Easter. We want to mark the anniversary of the Council as brothers, and we are preparing."
This date is not chosen by chance. According to Patriarch Bartholomew, "On this day, the eternal message of the Resurrection resounds more profoundly than ever as our non-Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters celebrate the resurrection of our Lord from the dead by celebrating Holy Pascha. We pray to the Lord of Glory that the upcoming celebration of Easter next year (2025 – Ed.) will not be just a random event, but rather the beginning of a unified date for its celebration by both Eastern and Western Christianity."
Therefore, the date of the first joint liturgy of Catholics and Orthodox after a 1000-year break seems very realistic. But there is not much time to implement the plan. In addition, within the Orthodox Church, there is considerable resistance to the plans of the Phanar and the Vatican for unification. For example, Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus from the Church of Greece believes that "the rule of celebrating Easter for the Orthodox Church is unchangeable, and changing it is 'a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and the Divine inspiration of the Church, which teaches that the Holy Spirit dwells in it, and that communion with heretics, such as modern anti-Chalcedonians, Roman Catholics and Protestants, is canonically impossible.'"
Perhaps, there is a desire to implement the plan as quickly as possible to minimize such voices, and there is a need to explain the haste with which the Phanar and the Vatican are preparing to unite.
A second reason, in our opinion, probably lies in Patriarch Bartholomew's desire to go down in history as the head of the Church of Constantinople under whom the great schism between the Orthodox and Catholics was overcome.
What divides Orthodox and Catholics?
Taking into account these two reasons, it can be understood why Patriarch Bartholomew says that Orthodox and Catholics are divided by purely historical and ritual, not doctrinal, issues because history is easier to rewrite than doctrine. However, in the case of the Roman Catholic Church, we can say that not only in historical terms but also in ritual and cultural-moral relations, we have more problems and disagreements with Catholics than it might seem at first glance. Let's provide specific examples.
For instance, recently, Cardinal Reinhard Marx from Germany conducted a mass, pouring a huge pile of soil in front of the altar. During the sermon, Marx stated that "man comes from the earth, from dust, and is part of the environment".
In 2020, the top leadership of the Roman Catholic Church participated, for the same ecological reasons, in the so-called "catechism of Pachamama", a pagan deity from South America. And two years later, the Pope himself took part in a pagan "purification rite". The shaman invoked spirits, fumigated the Pope with "sacred smoke" and performed ritual movements, to which Francis did not react in any way.
Therefore, should it be surprising that a few weeks ago in a Catholic church in the USA, a pagan ritual involving an Indian shaman was performed before the start of the Mass? During this ritual, several women danced around the altar to the sounds of a tambourine and the shaman's chanting. Archbishop Viganò, a hierarch of the Roman Catholic Church, stated that "the shamanic ritual at the beginning of the service is a blasphemous act that desecrates the cathedral of the Diocese of Superior (Wisconsin)" and "the Church of Bergoglio (i.e. the Pope - ed.) is a sect".
The cardinal is absolutely right. Because the number of sacrilegious acts committed in Catholic churches just recently is so great and so shocking that they cannot be explained away as mere coincidence.
For example, on 4 May 2024, in Switzerland, a woman calling herself an "artist" sat on the throne located on the altar of a Catholic church for three hours as a protest against war, and also to emphasize feminist trends in the Roman Catholic Church.
In Venice, in one of the ancient Catholic churches, an exhibition of men's underwear took place, symbolizing "identity and loss, emphasizing the body as a political place and humanizing invisible lives affected by war and terror". Moreover, a Catholic church in Italy displayed paintings that contained homosexual innuendos and depicted Christ surrounded by LGBT people.
And again, the immense attention to sexual minorities, as well as the blasphemous acts committed in Catholic churches, cannot be called a coincidence. Because Pope Francis signed a document allowing the "blessing" of same-sex couples, and despite the disagreement of many laypeople, bishops, cardinals and priests of the Roman Catholic Church, this document is already being used as a justification for ritual "blessings" of same-sex marriages, as in the case of the "blessing" of two lesbians in a Catholic church in Chicago, USA.
Is unification possible?
If we add to all this the German Catholic movement known as the "Synodal Path", whose representatives seek to undermine traditional Catholic theology regarding homosexual marriages, the ordination of women and traditional moral and ethical doctrine, it becomes obvious that the Catholic Church has already strayed quite far not only from its foundations, as expressed in the Catechism, but also from the foundations of common Christian morality. And there is no doubt that over time the gap between the Gospel and the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church will only widen. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, by entering into communion with Catholics, will embark on the same path as they.
It is for this reason that we need to understand that mere desire for unity with Catholics is not enough for that unity to be achieved. Because we cannot agree with things that deviate from the teaching of the Church. And even if we were to resolve all doctrinal issues with Catholics (which is unlikely), the examples we have cited of blasphemous treatment of the sanctity of the church, the Mass, traditions, and the moral and ethical theology of the Church in general would prevent us from achieving the desired unity. Because all attempts at external unity with those who blaspheme will lead to a rejection of the essence of the Orthodox faith and ultimately of Christ.
And therefore, the next time you hear discussions about how Orthodox should celebrate Easter, Christmas and other holidays together with Catholics, as well as serve the liturgy and receive communion from the same chalice, just ask yourself: should this be done before a woman sits on the throne or after? Because the answer to this question will determine not only the unity of Orthodoxy and Catholicism but also your eternal fate.
