ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="doctitle" --> <title>The Voice Of Orthodoxy</title> <style type="text/css"> <!-- body { background-color: #ecedf2; } .style81 {color: #0C5ADC; font-weight: bold; } .style82 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; } --> </style></head> <BODY LEFTMARGIN=0 TOPMARGIN=0 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0> <table width="784" height="111" border="0" align="center" bordercolor="#E9E9E9" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <tr> <td height="45" bgcolor="#9999FF"> <p align="center"><font size="+6" COLOR = #990000> THE VOICE OF ORTHODOXY</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="45" bgcolor="#9999FF" valign="top" > <p align="center"><b><font size="+2"> <i>A Bimonthly Conservative Journal To Defend The Apostolic Faith, Morals And Canons Of The Ancient Orthodox Church.</b></i> <strong> <table width="784" border="0" align="center"> <tr> <td align = "left">Volume : XIII</td> <td align = "center">NOVEMBER- DECEMBER 2009</td> <td align = "right">Issue : 6</td> </tr> </table> </strong> <marquee scrollamount="2" direction="left"><i>ORTHODOXY: THE TRUTH BEARER; FOR REQUESTS CALL: 773-480-7273</i></marquee> </p> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="784" height="758" border="0" align="center" bordercolor="#E9E9E9" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <tr> <td width="164" height="182" rowspan="2" valign="top" bgcolor="#9999FF"><br /> <table width="96%" height="75" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#9999FF"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="153" valign="top"> <table> <tr> <p><img src="../../images/st.mary.jpg" width="153" height="209" /></p> </tr> </table> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#eef5f9"> <td bgcolor="#ecedf2" height="14"><table cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="98%" align="center" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="15%" height="16"><div align="right"> <div align="justify"><font color="#333333" size="2"><width="8" height="9" /></font></div> </div></td> <td align="justify" width="85%"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#333333" size="2"><a href="../../default.html">Home</a></font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#eef5f9"> <td bgcolor="#ecedf2" height="14"><table cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="98%" align="center" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="15%" height="16"><div align="right"> <div align="justify"><font color="#333333" size="2"><width="8" height="9" /></font></div> </div></td> <td align="justify" width="85%"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#333333" size="2"><a href="../../current.html">Current Issue</a></font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#eef5f9"> <td bgcolor="#ecedf2" height="21"><table width="99%" height="18" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="15%"><div align="right"> <div align="justify"><font color="#333333" size="2"><width="8" height="9" /></font></div> </div></td> <td align="justify" width="85%"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#333333" size="2"><a href="../../archives.html">Archives</a></font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </br> <font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Sponsors &gt;&gt;</strong></font><br /> <table width="98%" height="159" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#ecedf2"> <tbody> <tr bgcolor="#eef5f9"> <td width="149" bgcolor="#ecedf2" height="23"><table cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="100%" align="center" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td><div align="justify"></div> <font color="#333333" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="style45"><b>Coming Soon..</b></font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="EditRegion13" --> <table width="620" border="0" align="center"> <tr> <td width="614" height="476" valign="top"> <br> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="6" face="Times New Roman"><b>WHO IS A CATHOLIC?</b></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>By Chor-Episcopos Dr. Kyriakos of Chicago</b></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><b>(Chief Editor, <i><a href="http://thevoiceoforthodoxy.com" target="_blank">thevoiceoforthodoxy.com</a></i>)</b></font> <br> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>About forty years ago I had the opportunity to visit the prelate of the Orthodox (Russian) Diocese of Chicago, Archbishop John of blessed memory, a very saintly prelate whose sanctity was well known among his people. During our conversation the Archbishop asked me where I was studying.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b> At Loyola, a Catholic University , I replied.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b> No, don t say that; we are the Catholic Church; that s why they are qualifying themselves as  Roman Catholics . . . . We are the Catholic Church , Archbishop John said.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>In almost all Roman Catholic official documents, such as dogmatic pronouncements and encyclicals, prior to Vatican II, the Roman Church itself regularly used  Roman Catholic (Ecclesia Romana Catholica) to signify its name. It was after Vatican II, due to the insistence of the uniates, the Roman Church began to use  Roman Catholic to denote its Latin rite wing. Thus the uniates began to emphasize that they are not  Roman , but Greek, or Syrian, in order to win acceptance among the Orthodox that they are THE local Church, not Roman. But in international media and religious circles the Latins and Uniates are generally called Roman Catholics, because they are all under Rome, and they profess the Roman faith.</b></font> <br> </p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>Unfortunately, some Orthodox Christians shows a very unhealthy allergy when it comes to the point of accepting that they are  Catholics . However, the Byzantine Orthodox Churches, when they were being established in America as ethnic orthodox churches, called themselves the  Greek Orthodox Catholic, or Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic, or Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Church or Archdiocese . It is a shame that some Orthodox do not identify themselves as  Catholic when they also profess,  We believe in the One, Holy, CATHOLIC, and Apostolic Church . It is high time for us to teach our generation what the terms  Orthodox and Catholic mean. </b></font></p> <p> <WBR> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b> <WBR> </b></font></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>With this prefatory note let me get to the historical and theological significance of these terms.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>In the beginning of the fourth century, the church was divided on a theological assumption made by a priest-monk called Arius. Arius began to teach that the second person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus, was not consubstantial with the Father. He insisted that Jesus was begotten by the Father, but was not co-eternal with the Father. In other words, Jesus Godhead was inferior to the Father, and His Godhead was not complete as that of the Father. To make it simpler, Jesus was not completely God, but a creation of God (Mar Thoma Dionysius, Aarhus Statement 1964). It was to resolve this major heresy that the Council of Nicea (325) was convened by Emperor Constantine, and it was finally settled.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Council empathically concluded that the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, was consubstantial with the Father in essence and existence, and every divine attributes; whatever attributes the Father possesses in His Godhead, the Son possesses equally, no less, no more, except the Fatherhood. The majority of Christianity accepted this symbol of faith.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>During this period the Eastern part of the Church called themselves  Orthodox to distinguish themselves from the minority that followed the Arian teachings. The word  Orthodox does not mean  true or genuine faith as many have understood.  Orthos in Greek means  true or genuine but  doxa in Greek does not mean faith, it means  praise or glory or worship. According to the Creed accepted at Nicea, the adoration or praise given to the Godhead is never true or genuine if it is not also directed to the second person of the Holy Trinity as true God. The Father and Son (and the Holy Spirit) are different persons in the Trinity, but are one and the same God. It is this Triune God the people of God, redeemed by the second person of the Trinity, adore in the Church on earth, in the Eucharist and in their regular worship. If the Son was not worshipped equal to the Father, such worship was not true or genuine. In order to emphasize that they were the true worshippers, the majority that followed Nicea called themselves  Orthodox (worshippers of the Triune God with three distinct persons but in ONE substance of the Godhead).</b></font> <br> </p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>In the western part of the Church, which was the Church under Rome, the term  Catholic became more popular during this period. Of course they did not undermine the significance of the word,  Orthodox .  Catholic was a term more commonly used by the western and eastern fathers even before Nicea and it meant  universal applicability . It was accepted at Nicea as one of the notes, or distinguishing marks, of the Church, to signify that the Church was for all the creations of the universe. During this period, the western Church was comparatively much smaller than the Eastern Church; Christianity had not reached beyond the Alps (except Spain). Italy was the only predominantly Christian region in Europe (Greece belonged to the Eastern Church). Actually it was the churches of the East </b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>which were under several patriarchates that rendered meaning to the word  Catholic , because of the vastness of the eastern churches within the Eastern portion of the Church. Therefore, the West accepted the term  Catholic in order to emphasize the fact that they were part of the universal faith of the larger Church that worshipped the true Godhead of Jesus. So, the words,  Catholic and  Orthodox meant the same as far the faith or practice of the post-Arian period was concerned, although etymologically both terms had different significances. Parenthetically, the East also used the word  Catholic commonly before and after Nicea to signify the true genuine Church, because one of the purposes of the Church was the universalization of Christ s Gospel.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Roman Church began to identify itself as  Catholic with the emphasis that it was the Church  universally accepted as a global denomination of Christendom, or that it was the Church that reached all corners of the universe and that it was everywhere in the world. The Roman Catholic Church also taught that it was the meaning of the word  Catholic , mentioned as one of the notes of the Church in the Nicene Creed. The codifiers of the Creed did not dream that meaning at all. In fact, the word  Catholic simply signifies that the Church is meant for all peoples of the earth, regardless of color, or ethnicity. The Roman Catholic Church became a global Church only after Spanish and Portuguese colonization in Asian and South American countries during the colonial period. It was the Spanish and Portuguese colonial missionaries who took the Roman faith to these countries, including India.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>During the Constantinian period, the Western Church did not have a practice of using the phrase  Roman Catholic in order to designate its church, because catholicity was never the note of one particular local church, although each church was and is part of the global universal/ catholic church; and in that sense every church is catholic. However, this trend changed in the West after the Great Schism between Rome and Byzantium (10</b><sup><b>th</b></sup><b> century). Rome began to assert that it was the true claimant and heir of catholicity, and that Rome was the seat and center of the true Church, and that the Church of Rome was the true successor of the Church established by Christ on the foundation of the apostles, particularly of Peter. Thereafter, the West began to use  Roman , in order to claim that the note of catholicity was its sole possession, which the East never accepted. The West also continued to teach that no other Church but Rome was Catholic and that if a Church was not in communion with the Roman Pope it was not Catholic. The East always believed that it was Catholic despite Rome s claim. Actually the East taught that Rome had separated itself from the true Catholic Church, and does not, in strict sense, possess the notes of Christ s Church!</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>Now we turn to the theological consideration of the word,  Catholic .  Catholic means  universal ,  according to the totality , or  in keeping with the whole . </b></font></p> <p> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Church is catholic in more than one sense.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Church is catholic because Christ is present in her, and Christ is a</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>CATHOLIC ENTITY. St. Ignatius of Antioch says:  Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church (Ad Smyrn. 8, 2). Christ is the head of the Church and this body has Christ s total presence. This implies that she receives the fullness of salvation (Eph. 1, 22-23) from him. Christ s presence is carried primarily through the valid apostolic succession of the priesthood that comes from Christ Himself and from the sacraments administered by this priesthood. Neither any Roman Catholic theologians nor the Roman Church has ever questioned the validity of Orthodox priesthood or sacraments. In this sense, Christ is totally present in the Orthodox Church and she is CATHOLIC. The Orthodox Church was endowed with this note since the Pentecost, and it will continue to be catholic until the last judgment.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Church is catholic because she was sent out by Christ on a mission to the entire human race all over the world (see the observation above All men, all races are called to belong to the ONE people of God, to the Catholic unity of Christ s people. All men were given only one human nature, and God intends to gather them as one, as one redeemed race. This universal mission for the whole human race is carried out by the Church. The Church embraces all humanity, and she is intended for all human beings, past, present and future.</b></font> <br> </p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>All local churches are also catholic when they participate in this universal mission, and when they share the faith of the apostolic church and the valid apostolic succession of the priesthood to administer the sacraments and preach the gospel of Christ for the salvation of their people and when their people are joined together under the ecclesiastical government run by a valid episcopate. In order to maintain the Catholic character, the local/ national churches are to be in communion with other churches that are Catholic. This communion is between the baptized people of the other churches who profess the same faith in its entirety and maintain the same priesthood and sacraments. In other words, it is not a communion between two patriarchs, it is between the people of God in different regions of the world. The Roman Catholic Church also asserts the Catholic character of the Orthodox Churches based on this communion:  With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 242) Pope Paul VI, talking about this communion as a prerequisite for a local church s catholicity, emphasizes that the Orthodox Churches  lack little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord s Eucharist (Paul VI, Discourse, December 14, 1975). Although the Orthodox Churches do not require an approval from a Pope for their Catholic character, it is interesting to note that Rome does not hesitate to recognize their catholicity. </b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>Often a bigger church, claiming direct apostolicity, might deny the catholic character of a local church on the issue of legitimacy or canonicity. For example, Rome might demand its approval for the local church to be legimimately organized in order to emphasize her so-called prerogative of legitimizing any church on the ground of its pre-eminent place in the old Roman Empire or of Peter s primacy or universal jurisdiction which is attributed to the Pope. If the local churches do not accept her ground for such a prerogative, such claims do not bind them. Eastern theology does not entertain such claims of another local church, whether it is bigger or pre-eminent, or of direct apostolic origin. Such claims may render them a more honorable place among the churches, not a jurisdictional authority or canonical oversight.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>It is the People of God of a national church that ultimately justify its regional status or legitimacy or canonicity. However, it has to abide by the apostolic faith of the fathers of the Church, and possess, without any doubt, a valid apostolic succession of the priesthood in order to proclaim Christ s Gospel and to administer the sacraments for the salvation of its people. It is in these local churches, and in the global church formed out of them that the Catholic Church exists.</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><b>To conclude: Orthodox Christians, when someone asks you if you are a Catholic, do not hesitate, tell him proudly:  I am a Catholic, but not a Roman Catholic. I am an Orthodox Catholic, truly worshipping Jesus, the Son of God, with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the Holy Trinity, and ethnically I am a Russian Orthodox, or a Greek Orthodox, or a Syrian Orthodox, & . . </b></font></p> </td> </tr> </table> <!-- InstanceEndEditable --></td> </tr> </table> </body> <!-- InstanceEnd --></html>