Questions Answered – June 2019

Attending a Greek Orthodox Wedding Question: Is it permissible for a Catholic to attend either the ceremony or reception of a Catholic marrying a Greek Orthodox at a Greek Orthodox Mass without a Catholic priest present? Answer: The … [Read more...]

Autumn Book Reviews

Behold the Man: A Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality by Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2015), xi + 279 pp. Reviewed by Dr. Joshua M. Evans. Catholics and Protestants: What Can We Learn from Each Other? … [Read more...]

Orthodox Christians and the Modern Church

With the recent meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, and all Russia, it is important and helpful to remind ourselves of developments in the Church’s teachings regarding our Eastern brothers. This article explores how l … [Read more...]

Worth a Thousand Words: Iconography as Language

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” as the saying goes. This common phrase hints at something deeper: the profound ability of images to communicate ideas. This should not surprise us. Words are signs, pointing to something beside … [Read more...]

Reverence for Truth in Ecumenical Prayer

Introduction The ecumenical movement faces an ongoing lull. Hopes for a speedy restoration of full unity amongst Christians following the Second Vatican Council have simply not been fulfilled. There are only a couple of occasions in the … [Read more...]

Nilus Cabasilas and a Modern Greek Theologian on “the Heresy of Anti-Papism”

Nilus Cabasilas (c. 1295-1363) succeeded Gregory Palamas on the archepiscopal throne of Thessalonika, and was one of the most distinguished Byzantine intellectuals and theologians of the 14th century. He was heavily involved in the … [Read more...]

The Primacy of the Pope As Viewed in Dissident Byzantium by Symeon of Thessalonica (1416/7-1429)

Acknowledging that the primacy of the pope is the greatest dogmatic obstacle to the reunion of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the Greek Orthodox scholar Demetrios Bathrellos has attracted attention to the view held by the dissident … [Read more...]

New Evangelization and Ecumenism

Ecumenism is the effort to re-compose unity among divided Christians. The “new” evangelization is the effort of the Catholic Church to reach out in new and effective ways, first to its own immense membership...  From left: Rev. Jurgen Lii … [Read more...]

Confronting the Claim of Eastern Orthodoxy to be the True Church

Understanding the conflicting claims of Catholicism versus Eastern Orthodoxy Among the lapsed from the Catholic Church in the turbulent post-conciliar period are those Catholics who became so disenchanted with the liturgical disarray and … [Read more...]

The Crusades and the Catholic-Orthodox Schism

BYZANTIUM AND THE CRUSADES. By Jonathan Harris (London: Hambledon Press, 102 Gloucester Avenue, London NW 1 8HX, 2003). Available in US through Palgrave Macmillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Tel: +1 800 672 2054 www.palgrave-usot.com 256pp, $29.95.

During his pontificate, one of John Paul II’s chief goals was to improve relations with the Orthodox Church, making reunion a more viable possibility. Only certain pontiffs during the medieval period were comparable to his efforts in this m … [Read more...]

Lowliness of the Forerunner

THE FRIEND OF THE BRIDEGROOM: On the Orthodox Veneration of the Forerunner. By Sergius Bulgakov; translated by Boris Jakim, (Eerdmans Press, 255 Jefferson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49503, 2003) PB $28.

The classic Deisis icon depicts the intercession of the Blessed Mother and John the Baptist. With Christ firmly at the middle, the Deisis represents the consummation of the old covenant and the beginning of the new, the first fulfilled by … [Read more...]