Those Who Have a True Apostolic Succession -
Without the Fullness of Faith
Photius (815-897) is considered the founder of the great schism between the East and
West. Ignatius, rightful patriarch of Constantinople, was replaced by Photius, after Ignatius
had been banished for trying to correct the vices of the young emperor, Michael the
Drunkard. Pope Nicholas I declared Photius' election illegal, but Photius arrogantly responded
by claiming to excommunicate the pope for agreeing to add the word
filioque1 to the Creed. When Michael III died, Photius was deposed
and Ignatius restored to the Patriarchate, but Photius flattered his way in with the new
Emperor Basil I, organized a strong party, and these demanded Photius' appointment on the
death of Ignatius. Pope John XIII agreed and absolved him from all censure. Photius
greatfully responded by renewing his old arguement over filioque, and was again
excommunicated after a council he had persuaded the pope to call.
The Eastern Churches today, originally under the jurisdiction of one of the four great Eastern
patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople and Jerusalem. They are divided into
Uniats (q.v.) of which there are nine groups, all united to Rome, and non-Uniats (q.v.)
consisting of eight groups of churches which have long been separated from Rome as a result
of the Eastern schism and heresies.2
Today, the Greek Orthodox Church comprises about nine million members, located mainly in
Greece.
The Russian Orthodox, located principly in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth
of Independent States, numbers about 50 million.
Other Orthodox denominations include the Church of Serbia - 8 million, Romania - about 20
million, Bulgaria - about 8 million, Georgia - about 3 million, Cyprus - less than 500,000,
Poland - about 1 million, Albania - less than 200,000, and America - about 1
million.3
Unfortunately, one cannot write about schismatic churches without relaying the following
from the Old Testament. Core, or Korah, rebelled from the true authority established by God,
and was punished for doing so. (Emphasis added to Scripture text)
Numbers 16:1-34
Korah, son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, (and Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, son of
Pallu, son of
Reuben) took two hundred and fifty Israelites who were leaders in the community, members of the
council and
men of note. They stood before Moses, and held an assembly against Moses and Aaron, to whom
they said,
"Enough from you! The whole community, all of them, are holy; the Lord is in their midst.
Why then
should you set yourselves over the Lord's congregation?" When Moses heard this, he fell
prostrate. Then he said
to Korah and to all his band, "May the Lord make known tomorrow morning who belongs to him
and who is the
holy one and whom he will have draw near to him! Whom he chooses, he will have draw near him.
Do this:
take your censers (Korah and all his band) and put fire in them and place incense in them before
the Lord
tomorrow. He whom the Lord then chooses is the holy one. Enough from you Levites!" Moses
also said to
Korah, "Listen to me, you Levites! Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has singled you out
from the
community of Israel, to have you draw near him for the service of the Lord's Dwelling and to stand
before the
community to minister for them? He has allowed you and your kinsmen, the descendants of Levi,
to approach
him, and yet you now seek the priesthood too. It is therefore against the Lord that you and all your
band are
conspiring. For what has Aaron done that you should grumble against him? Moses summoned
Dathan and
Abiram, sons of Eliab, but they answered "we will not go. Are you not satisfied with having led us
here away
from a land flowing with milk and honey, to make us perish in the desert, that you must now lord it
over us?
Far from bringing us to a land flowing with milk and honey, or giving us fields and vineyards for
our
inheritance, will you also gouge out our eyes? No, we will not go." Then Moses became very
angry and said to
the Lord, "Pay no heed to their offering. I have never taken a single ass from them, nor have I
wronged any one
of them." Moses said to Korah, "You and all your band shall appear before the Lord tomorrow -
you and they
and Aaron too. Then each of your two hundred and fifty followers shall take his own censor, put
incense in it,
and offer it to the Lord; and you and Aaron, each with his own censer, shall do the same. So they
all took their
censers, and laying incense on the fire they had put in them, they took their stand by the entrance
of the meeting
tent along with Moses and Aaron. Then, when Korah had assembled all his band against them at
the entrance of
the meeting tent, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire community, and the Lord said to
Moses and Aaron,
"Stand apart from this band, that I may consume them at once." But they fell prostrate and cried
out, "O God,
God of the spirits of all mankind, will one man's sin make you angry with the whole community?"
The Lord
answered Moses, "Speak to the community and tell them: Withdraw from the space around the
Dwelling".
Moses, followed by the elders of Israel, arose and went to Dathan and Abiram. Then he warned
the community,
"Keep away from teh tents of these wicked men and do not touch anything that is theirs: otherwise
you too will
be swept away because of all their sins." When Dathan and Abiram and come out and were
standing at the
entrances of their tents with their wives and sons and little ones, Moses said, "This is how you
shall know that it
was the Lord who sent me to do all I have done, and that it was not I who planned it: if these men
die an
ordinary death, merely suffering the fate common to all mankind, then it was not the Lord who
sent me. But if
the Lord does something entirely new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them alive
down into hell,
with all belonging to them, then you will know that these men have defied the Lord." No sooner
had he
finished saying all this than the ground beneath them split open, an the earth opened its mouth
and swallowed
them and their families (and all of Korah's men) and all their possessions. They went down alive to
hell with all
belonging to them; the earth closed over them, and they perished from the community.
St. Peter spoke about lay people becoming a holy priesthood - but not in the sense that
every
man becomes his own priest - only "to offer up spiritual sacrifices". An example of this is during
the
Catholic Mass, where the non-ordained offer themselves (their own body, soul, joys,
sufferings, actions and sacrifices) to God, at the same time the priest offers up the Body of
Christ.
Schisms were certainly a concern in the formation of the new Christian Churches, as St. Paul
states in
1 Corinthians 12:20-25,
"But now there are many members, indeed, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I
don't
need your help, nor the head to the feet: I don't need you. Yes, much more those that seem to be
the
more feeble members of the body, are more necessary: And those that we think to be the less
honorable members of the body, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and those that are
our
less attractive parts, have more attractiveness. Our attractive parts have no need, but God has
tempered
the body together, giving the more abundant honor to that which needed it, so there might be no
schism in the body, but the members might be mutually careful for one another."
In regard to present-day schismatic Churches: God shows His mercy and patience in the New Testament, and no longer "opens the ground" to every schismatic group. Dialogue between them and the Vatican continues on a regular basis, in the hope of unity under one shephard. An example of this can be seen in the following quote:
Common Declaration Signed in the Vatican
By Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Bartholomew I
June 29, 1995
"2. This dialogue - through the Joint International Commission - has proved fruitful and has made substantial progress. A com-mon sacramental conception of the Church has emerged, sustain-ed and passed on in time by the apostolic succession. In our Churches, the apostolic succession is fundamental to the sanctification and unity of the People of God. Considering that in every local Church the mystery of divine love is realized and that this is how the Church of Christ shows forth its active presence in each one of them, the Joint Commission has been able to declare that our Churches recognize one another as Sister Churches, responsible together for safeguarding the one Church of God, in fidelity to the divine plan, and in an altogether special way with regard to unity."
Melkite, a word from the Syriac and Arabic meaning "king", was originally used to refer to
those within the ancient Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, who accepted the
faith
professed by the Byzantine Emperor after the Council of Chalcedon (451). Now the term more
often
refers to Byzantine Catholics originating within those three Patriarchates.4
A schism took place within the Patriarchate of Antioch in the early 1724 on the death of Patriach
Athanasios III Debbas. He had designated as his successor Sylvester, a Cypriot monk, who was
supported by the Aleppo party and the Patriarch of Constantinople. In the mean time, the
Damascene
party had elected as patriarch a strongly pro-Catholic named Cyril to be Patriarch of Antioch.
Sylvester was ordained by the Patriarch of Constantinople and was recognized by the Ottoman
government. Cyril was deposed and excommunicated. In 1729, Cyril's election was recog-nized
as
valid by Pope Benedict XIII, but he was not given the pallium until 1744.5
The main cause of friction between the Vatican and this Eastern Rite group in the 1800's was not
so
much the definition of papal infallibility, but the fear of losing their Byzantine identity as they
became
more integrated into the Latin-styled Roman Catholic Church.6 This in fact did
occur
with the Maronite Catholic Church, but with seemingly little angst from their patriarchs.
Footnotes:
1. The word expresses the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, as
from
one principle, and by one act of love. The Greeks first objected to its' insertion in the Nicene
Creed.
However, the filioque expresses the ancient Christian tradition of the Greek Fathers of the
Church. - The New Catholic Dictionary.
2. New Catholic Dictionary, quoting Fr. Adrian Fortescue's book, The Orthodox Eastern
Churches.
3. Compiled from The Eastern Christian Churches, A Brief Survey (1993 edition). some of
the
figures have been rounded or generalized to account for the six year lapse in time.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
