Doctrine of Eastern Orthodox Churches edit

a different paradigm

While the Catholic Church divinely received , as by conciliar authority.[1]

According to Larchet, Maximus "recognizes that the pope has the power to bind and to unbind, that is, to adjudicate exclusion from the Church and reintegration into it, not only with regard to the bishops of his church but also with regard to the patriarchs."[2]

Larchet wrote that Maximus saw "the church of Rome as reference and norm in dogmatic matters" against the monothelitism and monoenergism of his time.[3]

Siecienski suggests that scholars should examine the works of Maximus for patristic period insight about primacy.[1]


Doctrine of Oriental Orthodox Churches edit

a different paradigm

As of 2015, the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches produced two documents.[4]

Doctrine of Assyrian Church of the East edit

a different paradigm

Interpretation of Protestant ecclesial communities edit

a different paradigm

Role in Christian ecumenism edit

Pope Leo XIII wrote, in Satis cognitum (1896), that Maximus the Confessor taught that obedience to the Bishop of Rome "is the proof of the true faith and of legitimate communion."[5] Maximus is one of a few Eastern saints whose works support the primacy of the Bishop of Rome.[6][a] Schmemann wrote that because "Roman historians and theologians have always interpreted this evidence in juridical terms, thus falsifying its real meaning, their Orthodox opponents have systematically belittled the evidence itself."[9] Siecienski comments that this dialectic argument is evolving into scholarly historical criticism and interpretation.[8]


Pope Paul VI wrote, in Ecclesiam suam (1964), that "primacy of honor and jurisdiction" is an apparent obstacle for separated brethren to reconciliation which he promoted; but, by eliminating the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, "the Catholic Church would no longer be catholic" and without a "supreme, effective, and authoritative pastoral office," he reasoned, "the unity of Christ's Church would collapse."[10] "There would be as many schisms in the Church as there are priests," Paul VI quoted Jerome.[11] Paul VI wrote that it "is not a supremacy of spiritual pride and a desire to dominate mankind, but a primacy of service, ministration, and love."[10]

In the rapprochement, after Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I, in the Catholic–Orthodox Joint Declaration of 1965, rescinded the mutual 11th century anathemas and desired that Christians "overcome their differences in order to be again 'one' " in full communion,[12] the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church was formed in 1979.


Ecumenical dialog expanded after Pope John Paul II Ut unum sint.[1]

Ecumenical dialog produced two significant documents, according to Siecienski, Gift of Authority (1998) and the Ravenna Document (2007).[1]

The Ravenna Document, presented as a "basis for future discussion of the question of primacy at the universal level in the Church,"[13] recounts that "the fact of primacy at the universal level is accepted by both East and West" and "is a practice firmly grounded in the canonical tradition of the Church" but "there are differences of understanding with regard to the manner in which it is to be exercised, and also with regard to its scriptural and theological foundations."[14]



Notes edit

  1. ^ Scholarly opinion, in the 21st century, is that these works by Maximus are probably genuine.[7] Siecienski wrote "that these texts were written at a time when Rome alone held the line against heresy."[8] According to Larchet, Maximus wrote that this "sovereignty and authority on all holy churches that are on earth" was divinely received from the incarnate Word of God by the church of Rome.[2]

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c d Siecienski 2015, p. 556.
  2. ^ a b Larchet 2006, p. 190.
  3. ^ Larchet 2006, p. 194.
  4. ^ JICTD-OOC 2009; JICTD-OOC 2015.
  5. ^ Maximus Confessor & ad Petrum illustrem, as quoted in Leo XIII & Satis cognitum, n. 13), see Siecienski (2015, p. 554)
  6. ^ Larchet 2006, pp. 188–190; Siecienski 2015, pp. 552–554.
  7. ^ Siecienski 2015, p. 552.
  8. ^ a b Siecienski 2015, p. 554.
  9. ^ Schmemann 1995, pp. 163–164, quoted in Siecienski (2015, p. 554)
  10. ^ a b Paul VI & Ecclesiam suam, n. 110.
  11. ^ Jerome & Against the Luciferians, n. 9, as quoted in Paul VI & Ecclesiam suam, n. 110), also quoted in Leo XIII & Satis cognitum, n. 14)
  12. ^ Paul VI & Athenagoras I 1965, n. 1, 5.
  13. ^ Ravenna Document 2007, n. 46.
  14. ^ JICTD-OC 2007, n. 43.

References edit

  • Jerome. "The Dialogue Against the Luciferians" . In Schaff, Philip; Wace, Henry (eds.). A select library of the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of the Christian Church. 2. Vol. 6 (American ed.). Buffalo: Christian Literature – via Wikisource.



  • Maximus Confessor. Defloratio ex Epistola ad Petrum illustrem (in Latin). {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |chapterurl= (help)


  • Siecienski, A. Edward (2015). "Maximus the Confessor and ecumenism". In Allen, Pauline; Neil, Bronwen (eds.). The Oxford handbook of Maximus the Confessor. Oxford handbooks. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-199673-83-4. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)