Reuniting Rome With The Orthodox (how The Great Schism Unfolded—and Might Yet Be Healed)

By (author) Solzhenitsyn, Dmitri; Introduction by Cleenewerck, Laurent; Afterword by Nichols, Aidan
Description:

A scrupulously fair exploration of how the Catholic and Orthodox churches were split asunder—and what a path to union might look like.

In Reuniting Rome with the Orthodox Dmitri Solzhenitsyn provides a careful theological and historical reflection on the prospects for full communion between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. He argues that Orthodox–Catholic reunification is not only a moral imperative but also a possibility, especially in light of recent dialogue between the churches.

Solzhenitsyn traces the arc of Orthodox–Catholic relations from the churches’ shared apostolic heritage to their growing divergence to the Great Schism of 1054. He contends that the breakdown was ultimately fueled as much by a failure to practice love and charity as by doctrinal conflict. And he finds hope for unity in the gradually warming relations between the churches seen since the nineteenth century, as evidenced by symbolic reciprocal gestures and genuine theological breakthroughs.

Solzhenitsyn ends by offering a constructive vision for reunion, focusing on the core theological obstacles of papal authority and the filioque while also addressing broader Orthodox attitudes and the practical mechanics of reunion. In the end, he calls readers, Orthodox and Catholic alike, both to imagine what restored communion might look like in lived experience and to work—and pray—for unity.

Table of contents:

Introduction by Fr. Laurent Cleenewerck

Chapter 1: Why Unite?

Chapter 2: Early Church History - Doctrine, Structure, and Primacy

The Beginning

Arianism and Other Early Heresies

Further disputes: Nestorianism, Monophysitism, and the Council of Chalcedon

Early Ecclesiastical Structure

Primacy through Chalcedon (451)

Chapter 3: The Emperor, de facto Roman primacy, and Continued East-West Divergence in the Early Medieval Period (452–800)

Introduction: General Developments from the Fifth to the Ninth Century

Post-Chalcedonian East-West Relations: the Acacian Schism

Justinian’s Reign: Imperial Dominance over Rome

A Gradual Recovery of Papal Independence: from Justin II until the Monothelitism Controversy

Deepening East-West Tensions: the Monothelitism and Iconoclasm Controversies

Competing Ecclesiologies in the Post-Chalcedonian Era

Diverging Liturgies and Practices Before the Schism

Chapter 4: The Great Schism (800–1204)

Introduction to the Great Schism

The Photian Schism

Between Photius and 1054

The Schism of 1054

From 1054 through the Sack of Constantinople (1204)

The Filioque from Inception through the Sack of Constantinople

Chapter 5: After the Schism: Efforts at Reconciliation (1204–1800)

The Second Council of Lyons (1272–1274)

The Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438–1445)

Uniatism and other Post-Florence Developments

Chapter 6: Modern Catholic-Orthodox relations and developments (1801–2025)

The 1848 Exchange Between Pope Pius IX and the Orthodox Patriarchs

Later Nineteenth Century: Major Vatican Developments and Continued Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue

The Twentieth Century: A Brief Overview

Vatican II

The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue, Munich and Uniatism

Et Unum Sint (1995) and other Developments under Pope John Paul II

Ravenna Docu