Russia and the Constantinople Patriarchate (e-book) (used book) | bookbook.eu

Description

Russia's dialogue with the Constantinople Patriarchate is part of the history of the Church. Any history consists not only of positive, but also of negative components of the very subject of history. Moreover, there has not been a "golden age" in the history of the Church. Each century has confronted the hierarchy and the people of the Church with new difficulties, dangers, and challenges of the times. The Church has always suffered from heresies and schisms. But most of all, the Church has suffered and suffers from its envious and selfish hierarchs, those truly "blind leaders" (Matthew 23:16,24). The ancient fathers of the Church were annoyed about this, for example Gregory the Theologian, who wrote to Basil the Great: "When will you stop biting each other over the possession of dioceses, as (may your God-loving holiness forgive me) dogs over a thrown bone? This is what the struggle of ambition, or, I am afraid to say, of selfishness, brings you to. The Church historian describes not only the holiness of the Church, but also Her mistakes, the careless actions of the priesthood, bearing the imprint of the popular element and popular predilections. What was greater in the dialogue between the two Churches (Russian and Constantinople) - error or holiness?