Weekly Reading – 6/10/16 (Another Late Edition)

I suppose you can call this the “Great and Holy Council” edition.

• Chase Padusniak, “The Pan-Orthodox Council: A Greek Catholic Perspective,” Patheos – Greek Catholics have an understandably high interest in the (potentially derailed) “Great and Holy Council” which is supposed to take place later this month, but posts like this strike me as helpful. The reason I am linking to it, however, is to highlight that contrary to what certain online Orthodox apologists are saying, Greek Catholics do not wish ill on Orthodoxy, nor do we want the Orthodox to succumb to the same problems currently afflicting the Catholic Church. At the same time, it would be wrong to hold Padusniak’s statement that “Byzantine Catholics want to disappear” as normative, or even sensible. We wish to exist — in full ecclesiastical unity with our estranged Orthodox brethren.
• Fr. Cyril Hovrum, “As Pan-Orthodox Council Approaches, Conflicts and Uncertainty Intensify,” Catholic World Report – If you want an excellent overview of the history, trials, and aspirations for the upcoming Orthodox council, this is an excellent place to begin. Fr. Hovrum also surveys many of the conflicting interests at play going into this gathering of Orthodox prelates, including the devastating effect phyletism has had on intra-Orthodox relations for centuries.
• Fr. Andrew Louth, “Some Reflections on the Approaching Great and Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church,” Public Orthodoxy – Fr. Andrew Louth, emeritus professor at Durham and a convert to Eastern Orthodoxy, offers his thoughts on the Orthodox council, particularly its contentious public agenda. Louth also shines some additional light on the behind-the-scenes conflicts which are animating the decisions of some local Orthodox churches not to attend the council.

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