While I've been listening to shows sponsored by an Eastern Orthodox web site, I have to admit I wasn't really keeping tabs on what our sister church is up to.
When I saw Pope Francis ask for a day of prayer over the situation in the Ukraine, I figured that the Orthodox were surely doing the same, since a clash between Russia and Ukraine would be spiritual fratricide pitting Orthodox against Orthodox (okay, Western Ukraine has some Catholics in it, but my point stands).
I was shocked to see that the political dispute is also a religious one. The Patriarch of Moscow is fuming at the decision of other Patriarchs (Constantinople and Alexandria, specifically) to recognize the independence of the Kiev Archbishopric.
I spent a whole evening trying to untangle all of this, and I'm still not sure who did what to whom when, but our eastern brethren are currently going through all manner of schisms.
The lesson here is not that the Eastern Orthodox are better or worse than the Catholic Church but rather that all institutions, even churches, are prone to error.
At the same time, there are always new churches being created who brag about their purity and lack of scandal. To this one can only say: "Just wait, you'll get one."
I know some disgruntled Catholics have serious problems with Pope Francis, and some speak of leaving the Church because of it. The problem is where to go? If one truly believes that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, then there aren't a lot of options. Eastern Orthodox is about it, and as we've just seen, their hierarchy isn't praying for peace so much as pronouncing anathemas on each other.
No one is perfect.
Chateau Lloyd 
Leave a comment