With the Second Vatican Council came a call for the Eastern Catholic Churches to rediscover their authentic Tradition, Theology and Liturgy. This was recognized as a necessary pre-requisite for true ecumenical dialogue with the Orthodox Churches. The Armenian Catholic Church, as one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, is thus at a turning point in her history. Now, Elder Rome herself, has called us to continue our process of self rediscovery and full recovery of our authenticTradition. This includes the continuing removal of foreign elements and Latinizations within our Chruch and Liturgy (e.g. the loss of giving infants Holy Communion, etc.).
A major step in this process was taken by the Fathers of the Armenian Catholic Holy Synod when they restored our authentic Havadamk or Creed -eliminating the added "Filioque" (i.e. the phrase "and from the Son"). But much more remains to be done. It is important for Armenian Catholics to recall that the Armenian Church, which first reunited with the Latin Church during the Cilician Kingdom, at that time "did not call itself Catholic for the simple reason that such a name could have equivocality [having two or more meanings], confounding them with the Franks and Latins. This Church preferred to call itself Orthodox [Ooghapar in Armenian] in the full sense of the term, rather than Catholic." (The Armenian Church and its Future, H.E. Garabed Amadouni). The time has come for us to rediscover our authentic Orthodox heritage and perspective which was so zealously maintained by our Holy Fathers of the Cilician era.
Realizing that our call is to be Orthodox in Communion with Rome, we must not be content to be Latinized, Armenian Catholics. It was formerly believed that the mission of Eastern Catholics would be to bring the Orthodox "back into the fold" of the Catholic Church. Now it is becoming increasingly obvious that our true service to the restoration of unity is our living the Orthodox Faith in Communion with our brethren of the Latin Church: maintaing our authentic theology and Tradition. It is only when we celebrate our authentic Liturgy and follow our authentic Theology as true Eastern Churches, in peace, equality and Communion with the Latin Church that there will be a convincing reason for our Orthodox Mother Churches to consider full Communion with the Catholic Church. Orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos Ware once remarked that when he heard the Melkites make the Eastern Church's case at Vatican II, he felt that this was the voice of Orthodoxy being made known at the Catholic Council. THIS IS OUR CALLING: to be the Voice of Orthodoxy within the Communion of the Catholic Church.
Eastern Catholics have not yet realized this call. Let us pray for our beloved Bishops of our Holy Synods to be dedicated to this process of recovering our Apostolic, Orthodox heritage as true Eastern Churches within the Catholic Church. The Articles and Church Documents on this site, and especially on this page, are aimed at assisting in this endeavor. |
