Is the implication here that the Ecumenical Patriarch is naive? Episcopal authority aside, someone simply doesn\'t rise that high in an organization that gave us the word \"Byzantine\" without a healthy bit of savvy.
I agree with Fr Athansios. The canonical boundary of the Church is decided by the Patriarch. Who is in communion with whom depends on who is remembered in the diptychs, hence all the furor in the past with some bishop \"forgetting\" to commemorate some other one.
I also don\'t see the problem with dialogue. Filioque is certainly not a problem any more. Also the primacy is the major issue between us; the common ground is vast. We shouldn\'t throw out the baby with the bath water.
Talking to them doesn\'t mean that we demean our own Church, nor does it mean that we have to start out thinking everyone is right. Nevertheless, we can learn from the Catholics about our own Church, not because they have something that we don\'t, but because as individuals we\'re ignorant and fall short of the truth.
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