Is the Eastern Orthodox Church part of the Catholic Church?

Is the Eastern Orthodox Church part of the Catholic Church?

Full Question

I didn't understand your comment about the Eastern Orthodox Church being part of the Catholic Church. I thought the Orthodox were in schism.

Answer

They are. The answer to which you refer ("Quick Questions," August 1991, p. 29) spoke of Eastern-rite Catholics as part of the Catholic Church, not of the Eastern Orthodox as part of the Catholic Church. While these two groups share a similar liturgical and cultural tradition, they’re distinct.

Eastern-rite Catholics are part of the Catholic Church, despite differences in custom and liturgical practice from Western Catholics. While Eastern Orthodox Christians have much in common with Catholics, they’re still in schism--they’ve split off from the legitimate authority of the pope--and therefore aren’t Catholics.

Overcoming the rift between the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy is at the top of Pope John Paul II’s ecumenical agenda. Mistakes were made on both sides, so we should pray for the Holy Spirit’s aid in healing old wounds and restoring full communion between the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff 

JESUS IS WITH US EVERY MOMENT OF OUR LIVES-VIDEO

What's the Catholic understanding of virtue?

What's the Catholic understanding of virtue?

Full Question

As an Evangelical who's investigating Rome, I'd like some clarification (preferably biblical) on the meaning of the term "virtue," which I've always understood to mean generic holiness. In Catholic writings virtues are sometimes called "theological" and other times "moral." What's the difference?

Answer

The word "virtue" is used as a synonym for goodness or sobriety or some likable personality trait, but the Church uses the term in a much more precise way. Virtues are special graces given by God to the soul for the accomplishment of particular objectives. They inhere in the soul and are subject to strengthening or weakening. The Church distinguishes between two general categories of virtues: theological and moral.

Faith, hope, and charity are called theological virtues because they are the most important characteristics in a Christian’s life, as Paul explains in Romans 5:1-5 and 1 Corinthians 13:13. They pertain (exclusively, in the case of faith and hope, and primarily, in the case of charity) to one’s relationship with God.

Faith is the grace of believing in God’s love for us and in his revealed truths (Lk 1:45, Jn 11:25-26, Eph 2:8). Hope is the grace of trusting God will be true to his promise to save us from eternal death if we turn to him in repentance (Rom 5:2, 8:25; Heb 6:17-20; 1 Pt 1:3-5). Charity is a two-fold grace with the primary effect of moving the will to love God fervently and above all things and with the secondary effect of intensifying love for our neighbor (Dt 6:4-6; Mt 22:36-40, 25:31-46; Mk 12:28-31; Rom 13:8-10; 1 Cor 13:1-13).

Moral virtues are so called because they help us live within the moral parameters set forth by the gospel. Chief among them are prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, also known as cardinal virtues (derived from the Latin cardo, meaning hinge, because on them hinge all other moral virtues).

Prudence is the grace to form correct judgments (Mt 10:16; 1 Pt 4:7). Justice assists us in dealing equitably with others (Prv 21:21; 1 Tm 6:11). Temperance helps us subdue our sensual appetites and make proper use of God’s creatures (1 Cor 6:12, 10:23-24). Fortitude helps us persevere despite temptations to sin and despair (Rom 8:32-35, Jas 5:10-11). Other moral virtues are humility (Mt 18:1-5), patience (Heb 10:36-37), obedience (Rom 13:1-7), chastity (1 Cor 6:15-20), piety (Eph 5:15-20), and veracity (Eph 4:15, 25).

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

Who are the Melkites?

Who are the Melkites?

Answer

They're Byzantine Catholics who opposed the Monophysites and who were faithful to the Byzantine emperors in their support for the orthodox Christology of Chalcedon (451). Their support of the emperors is evident in their name. Melkite comes from the Arabic word malek or melek, meaning king or emperor.

Originally part of the Greek Schism, the Melkites were reunited with Rome in the 18th century.

Melkites follow the Byzantine rite in Arabic and are illustrative of the Catholic Church's unity within diversity.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff 

If I feel I cannot defend my faith adequately, is it right to slam the door?

If I feel I cannot defend my faith adequately, isn't it right to slam the door on persistent non-Catholic missionaries?

Full Question

When missionaries come to my door, I just tell them to go away. Some are persistent, so I have to slam the door in their faces. Don't you think this is the best approach for someone who doesn't know much about the Catholic faith? I don't have confidence that I can explain the faith fully.

Answer

No, it's not the best approach, either for the missionaries or for you.

It's not the best approach for them because you look rude. What do you think that tells them about the Catholic faith? We'll tell you: It tells them the Catholic faith makes bad Christians. Now we know you're not a bad Christian, but all they know of you is the door being slammed in their faces.

Your technique is also bad for you because it gives you an excuse not to learn more about your religion. If you made a resolution to talk with missionaries in the future, you'd find yourself doing a little homework. It doesn't matter how long you've been away from school--no one is too old to learn.

Besides, learning about our faith is both easy and fun. Many Catholics kick themselves for having put off studying for too many years. Now, after just a little time with the books, they have a better appreciation for their faith and find the Mass, the Bible, and their devotions mean much more to them. Don't hide behind a door. Learn your faith--and proclaim it!

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

What is the millennium the television preachers talk so much about?

What is the millennium the television preachers talk so much about?

Answer

"Millennium" comes from the Latin mille (thousand) and annum (year). Revelation 20:4 mentions a thousand-year period which is usually called the millennium. In speaking of the saints, Revelation 20:4 says "they came to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years."

Based on this passage many people have taught that, after the Second Coming, Christ will reign on Earth for a thousand years. The belief Christ will come before the millennium is called premillennialism. Many television preachers are premillennialists.

Other Christians hold that the millennium is not a literal thousand-year period, but a figurative one used to refer to the time in which Christ reigns on earth through his Church. This time has not yet come.

Some who accept this view believe the world will get better under Christian influence and that there will be a time when society as a whole will be Christianized. This is their version of the millennium.

In this view, Christ will return after the millennium to judge the living and the dead. This idea is called postmillennialism.

There are also those who believe the millennium is symbolic of the entire age of the Church. They point to Bible verses which speak of Christ reigning in heaven now. This is called amillennialism (no millennium), although some prefer to called it realized millennialism because it doesn't deny the millennium, but merely interprets it as a symbol of the Church age.

The Catholic Church has never defined which position is correct. Still, most Catholic theologians have been amillennialists or postmillennialists. We can't think of any who have been premillennialists.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

What is pantheism?

What is pantheism?

Answer

Pantheism is the belief that God is everything and everything is God. Some versions of pantheism aren't quite this crude, but all tend to be monistic--seeing reality, both God and his creation, as essentially one thing.

Some pantheists say we're all part of God, since we're all part of the universe which is God. Others see the universe as the embodiment of the divine essence. In either case individual existence is illusory, since all that is is one.

This reduction of everything to a sort of divine cosmic soup means than fundamental reality (God) is ultimately impersonal. The distinction between persons and things is discarded.

On the psychological level, if the essential distinction between God and his creation is abolished, then you and I are God. We can, in effect, create our own reality.

If this is so, then whatever problems exist in the world are, in the final analysis, self-inflicted, either because we are God and have forgotten it or we're all one and don't know it. From the Christian perspective, this is just a repetition of the serpent's promise to Eve (Gn 3:5).

Eastern religions like Hinduism are pantheistic. The New Age movement, to the extent it's a Westernized version of Eastern religion, is also pantheistic.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff