Hello...
Stop beating yourself up. Take a step back...and look at the whole picture...
Catholic Church and Orthodox Church are:
-Churches of Aposotlic Succession
-Have 7 Sacraments
-Have true Priesthood
So therefore, these two Churches are TRUE Churches.
That's all you need to know...and these things will norish your soul...mainly the Sacraments.
The differences between Eastern and Western Churches all boils down to semantics, really.
Just avoid Church politics...just FOCUS on spiritual growth...whatever it takes to help you get closer to G-d.
Okay?
SPDundas
Deaf Byzantine
This is the first post I've read today and I've begun this day with a huge smile! Thank you, because this is exactly what I needed to read. Of course it then begs the question that if this is so, why not simply convert to EO since, liturgically speaking, this is where I am the most fulfilled. I asked point blank the GO priest if he believed the CC had valid sacraments and his only words were, "I can only speak for my church and not for anyone else's." Sometimes what someone does not say is more revealing than what they do say.
"The Eastern Churches & The Papacy" by S. Herbert Scott. . . .And I would submit that withholding knowledge of this your struggle from your spiritual father would be a *bad* idea. I know from experience. . . .I will keep you in my prayers, God bless.
I've been reading Ware's The Orthodox Church and appreciate the recommendation above. I meet regularly with spiritual director (as recent as yesterday) and he knows everything. I do not believe at first he grasped the magnitude of this, but he does now.
Glad,
8. Take some time off (I suggest a week if you can swing it) and go to a good Monastery for some serious prayer and spiritual discernment.
John
Actually, next week I'm on retreat at a hermitage. It's an RCC hermitage, silent (nearly 7 days), handful of retreatants, with a chapel with icons, a version of an iconostasis which I hadn't realized was based on the Eastern Church, although not an elaborate version. I've been "praying and praying and praying" and if it weren't for that, I should've lost all of my peace.
Again, thank you everyone for being so helpful and it's reassuring to read your posts, especially those who've already been through this.
Glad