In the above picture, I am seen with Abba Nathanial, the bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Colorado. Keep in mind as you read this article that the Ethiopian Catholic Church (which maintains seven valid sacraments and is in communion with Rome) is different from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (which maintains seven valid sacraments but is not in communion with Rome.) In the above picture and the following pictures, I am seen with a member of the clergy of the latter.
Why? It is not because I am going Eastern Orthodox. It’s simply because I made a new friend who is not Catholic. But touring his Church made me admire my own true and old Roman tradition for reasons that are forthcoming in regards to not only liturgy, but also firmness of the faith.
The word ecumenical means “plan for the whole home” meaning all solid bishops came together for a purpose. That purpose of ecumenism in the First Millennium of Christianity was usually to eradicate heresy. For example, the first nine original Ecumenical Councils called bishops from all over Christendom to ferret out heresies against Christ’s Divinity and two natures (God and man.) Such Councils included bishops from East and West (for example, Ethiopia and Italy.) Everyone (except heretics) were both Catholic and Orthodox at that time.
However, at the Great Schism of 1054, many of the Eastern Bishops broke from Rome. (The Eastern Orthodox would clearly say we Roman Catholics broke from Orthodoxy at that same date.) But both groups of Eastern and Western clergy to this day who put God ahead of man would say we can’t pray with the other one. Why? Because prayer is comm-union (union with) it would insincere at best—unpleasing to God at worst—to pray with someone with whom we do not have true communion.
Thus, when I spent an afternoon with Abba Nathaniel, he gave me a tour of his Church. He later brought me to the Denver Ethiopian festival. But here’s the thing: We never prayed together all day. Why? Because we both understand we can love schismatics, but we cannot pray with schismatics. And technically, we both consider the other to be just that—schismatic.
This might strike some people as harsh, but every time I meet an Eastern Orthodox cleric who does not want to pray with me, I admire him a lot. And hopefully he admires at least my sincerity, if not my adherence to Roman Catholicism. This is because we both understand we are called to love God more than my neighbor.
And this is the great mistake that all the modern Roman Catholic Popes made in praying with not only schismatics, but even infidels and pagans as we saw in Assisi 1986. Such abominations are not only offensive to God. They teach the world that they do not need to convert to Christianity. What a mockery of the cross that we rarely see from Eastern Orthodox.
In that sense, most Eastern Orthodox clergy are ironically more like our old-school Roman Popes in their rejection of false ecumenism than our last five post-Vatican II Roman Popes and our Western modernist clergy. It pains me deeply to write such things, but I dare any writer to prove me wrong and email me the evidence to the contrary. See the above link to Pope John Paul II at Assisi 1986 before you write me. My email is on my Donate Page, but you don’t have to donate to email me, obviously.
In any case, Abba Nathaniel and I had a beautiful day together, even though we never prayed together. That is true friendship until the wounds of schism are healed and we are one again, as Christ prayed. This is because pretending like we are one before we are does no one any good.
Abba Nathanial is showing me his vestments in the above picture. The fact that the ancient Roman Rite and Orthodox Rite (and everything in between) still uses extremely elaborate vestments shows that Christ expected all Apostles (who went both East and West) to use rich materials in liturgy. This might sound obvious to most of you, but keep in mind that Vatican II apologists erroneously maintain today that the Novus Ordo is somehow older than the Vetus Ordo in the West. This error is called “antiquarianism” and a good two-part piece was recently done here at NLM to disprove it.
The Ethiopian bishop is here showing me items for Divine Liturgy. Of course, only clergy may distribute the Holy Mysteries and everyone receives Holy Communion on the tongue. This again shows that the modernist “traditions” that began in the 1960s have absolutely no base in Apostolic Christianity. Why? Because lay people touching Holy Communion with their hands is found in none of the 23 Rites of the Eastern Churches (neither Orthodox, nor Catholic) except perhaps the Maronites of Lebanon who felt the need to follow Rome at Vatican II. Thus, if TLM Catholics and Ethiopian Orthodox both maintain the holiness of the liturgy in many of the same ways, you know these ways must be extremely old.
The bishop and the deacon and myself at the Ethiopian festival of Denver. This bishop lives in total poverty, unlike our bishops who live in luxury as they are funded by the Democrats as seen here. Nevertheless, this Ethiopian bishop spent the little he had on me to purchase a $50 shirt for me, as seen in my hands. Later, I gave him a nice gift, too.
St Mary Ethiopan Orthodox Tewahido Church, Aurora, CO, USA. This is one of the most beautiful icons I saw in his Church.
