PURITAN NEWS WEEKLY

www.puritans.net/news/

1/30/03

 

 

VATICAN SEEKING TO DRAW IN ORTHODOX CHURCHES

 

  

By Al Hembd

Correspondent

 

 

 

The Pope, through his henchmen, is actively laboring to bring several Orthodox sects back into the Church of Rome, under the monarchical

Tyranny of the Pope of Rome.  I say "monarchical tyranny," because none of the Orthodox Churches, despite their hierarchical form of gov't,

believe in the absolute rule of any one bishop.  They believe, with the historic Church, in the preeminence of synods.

 

Interesting fact: papal infallibility was not even the official doctrine of the Church of Rome until 1871, at the First Vatican Council (called

Vatican I).  The manner in which Piux IX railroaded this doctrine through the ecumenical council is well documented at the following website:

http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/papaldogma.htm.  (The website is maintained by the Eastern Orthodox.  Yes, their idols are

abominable.  But at least, they do not worship the man of sin!)

 

Among other things, the website notes that, at Vatican I, the Italians, who constituted a minority of professing Roman Catholics in Europe, had

More representatives in the Council than the rest of Europe combined.

 

"Pius IX was the longest reigning pope, possessing personal charm and enjoying great popularity. He was also considered highly

impressionable, capricious, impulsive and unpredictable. These characteristics were attributed to his epilepsy. 13 It is this Pope Pius IX who was

absolutely determined to have his office dogmatically defined as the infallible instrument of God by a council of the Church."

 

"At the First Vatican Council the approval of the passing of Papal Infallibility was almost guaranteed from the beginning. First, by the

incredibly unequal representation which was highlighted during the Council by a pamphlet, whose author was believed to be Georges Darboy,

Archbishop of Paris entitled, The Liberty of the Council and the Infallibility. This pamphlet claimed that while Italy had two hundred and seventy

bishops, the rest of Europe had only two hundred and sixty-five. Closer scrutiny reveals that twelve million German Roman Catholics were represented by nineteen bishops while seven hundred thousand inhabitants of the Papal States were represented by sixty-two. Three anti-Infallibilist Bishops of Cologne, Paris and Cambrai represented five million souls. It is little wonder that the German bishops who formed the backbone of the anti-Infallibilist complained of being overwhelmed by Italian and Sicilian bishops."

 

It's easy to see by the above quote that the "deck was stacked."

 

And now, this "deck-stacker" is working to get the Copts, the Byzantine, and the Armenian Orthodox back under his iron rule.

 

Below follows the Vatican's news release on this.  "Monophysitism," by the way, is the doctrine that Christ did not have a human soul--that

the Holy Spirit was His soul.  This, of course, is an error--because the divine nature cannot suffer, and yet, we know that Christ suffered in His

[human] soul.  His soul was made an offering for sin.

 

The Copts, Armenians, and Byzantines were for a long time given over to the error of the early heretic Eutyches, but have since rejected it.

They need, however, to maintain their historic resistance of the lie of papal infallibility.

 

>From Zenit.org

 

 

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Steps Being Taken to Overcome an Ancient Schism

Relaunching of Dialogue with Early Churches That Split After

Chalcedon

 

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Rome is witnessing a new

ecumenical development aimed at overcoming a 1,500-year-old schism.

 

Representatives of the early Eastern Churches, separated both from

Rome as well as from the Byzantine Orthodox Churches during the Council of

Chalcedon, in 451, are in the Vatican through Wednesday, to

relaunch a second phase of dialogue leading toward full unity.

 

In the first phase of dialogue, John Paul II and these Christian

Churches signed important joint declarations on the nature of Christ, to

Overcome one of the principal reasons for the schism that arose when these

Churches rejected the conclusions of Chalcedon, which defined the divine and

Human nature of Christ.

 

Given the alleged Monophysitism, past years of dialogue with Rome

Have clarified that the schism originated over problems of communication

And language in understanding Christological faith. (Monophysitism held

That Christ had only one nature.)

 

The clarification is demonstrated, for example, in the joint

Declaration signed by John Paul II and the Armenian Catholicos Karekin I in

1996 in which both professed that "Christ is the Word of God made flesh,

perfect God in his divinity, perfect man in his humanity."

 

In addition to the Armenian Apostolic Church, these Churches

comprise the Orthodox Coptic Patriarchate of Egypt, the Syro-Orthodox

Patriarchate of Antioch, the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia, the Orthodox Church of

Eritrea, and the Syro-Orthodox Church of Malankar.

 

A statement issued today by the Vatican Press Office said the

meetings with the representatives of these Churches will take place at the

headquarters of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

 

"The first meeting is preparatory in character and hopes to

establish the topics and methods of the future dialogue," the document clarifies.

 

Members of the committee responsible for preparing the course of

This dialogue will have a papal audience Tuesday.

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