| On Western Christianity Since 1054 |
The United American Orthodox Catholic Church (UAO) acknowledges that we, along with all Eastern Orthodox Christians, share a common heritage with Roman Catholics and Protestants. For 1000 years after Pentecost, the Church was united in faith. Where heresy and schism arose to challenge the Christian faith, time and again the Church drew together defend what it had always understood to be Apostolic Tradition, the historic Christian message articulated in the Patristic writings, endorsed by the Seven Ecumenical Councils, embodied in the Nicene Creed, and abiding in the Holy Scriptures.
Political and cultural factors in the ancient world led to the division of the Roman Empire, which became formally Christianized during the 4th century. The Latin-speaking Western Roman Empire soon fell to Germanic “barbarians,” and the bishop of Rome was culturally and politically distanced from his fellows in the more secure (at least at that time) Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire. From the 9th through the 13th Centuries, the bishop of Rome pressed for innovations in the Catholic faith by seeking sole authority over the Church and by assenting to and later supporting the addition of a phrase (filioque) to the Nicene Creed. The schism between what became the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches is officially dated at 1054 when Pope Leo IX excommunicated Patriarch Michael (Kerularios) of Constantinople over disputed lands in Southern Italy, but hope for reconciliation held until the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 during which the Hagia Sophia was desecrated by Western Christians of the Fourth Crusade. Horrified Christians of the East, who had looked to the West for aid in repelling the relentless onslaught of Turkish invaders no longer felt that Westerners were Christians in the same sense as they.
The Roman Catholic Church continued to evolve Christian teaching beyond that delivered by the Apostles. The sale of indulgences and the notion of purgatory, among other innovations, contradicted the clear teaching of the Apostles that salvation by grace through faith is found in Christ alone. Such were the abuses of faith and practice under Rome that the German monk Martin Luther sought to question them in an open forum in 1517, but he was rewarded with persecution and, ultimately, excommunication from Rome in 1520. Luther was joined in his protest by other Reformers, notably Zwingli, Calvin, and Knox. (The Churches of the Anglican Communion also resulted from a break with Rome, though for the personal advantage of Henry VIII rather than over doctrinal matters.) Unfortunately, the Reformation overcorrected the errors of Rome, and Protestants, instead of returning to the Orthodox Church, rejected important elements of the Church.
These events took place hundreds of years ago, yet they influence the beliefs of Christians to this day. The UAO contends that the Roman Catholic Church continues to advance as Christian doctrine ideas which are foreign to Apostolic Tradition, including, as mentioned above, the addition of filioque to the Nicene Creed, the immaculate conception and the bodily assumption of the Theotokos, papal supremacy and infallibility, and the liturgical reforms of Vatican II.
We further contend that Protestants, however noble their intentions, have foresaken important aspects of the Christian faith. They have demonized the veneration of icons, emphasized preaching over the sacraments, abandoned the three-fold ministry of bishop, priest, and deacon, and exchanged the historical witness of the whole Church for personal preference in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.
We acknowledge the Truth that is communicated through Western Christian traditions, but we note with dismay the error mixed almost inextricably therein. While appreciating our common heritage with Roman Catholics and Protestants and sharing with them the name “Christian,” the UAO affirms that only in the Churches of the Eastern Orthodox Tradition has been preserved the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church founded at Pentecost.
Sources: Elwell, Walter A. ed. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker. 1984. Gonzales, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Vol.1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. HarperSanFrancisco. 1984. Langer, William L. ed. An Encyclopedia of World History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1948. Meyendorff, John. Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions. Crestwood, New York: svsPress. 1989. Walton, Robert C. Chronological and Background Charts of Church History. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1986. Ware, Timothy. The Orthodox Church. New York: Penguin. 1980.
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